Deep in My Heart(1954). Biographical musical about the life of operetta composer Sigmund Romberg, who wrote the music for The Student Prince, The Desert Song, and The New Moon. Leonard Spigelglass adapted the film from Elliott Arnold's 1949 biography of the same name. Stanley Donen directed and Eugene Loring choreographed.
The film, which takes its title from "Deep in My Heart, Dear," a song from "The Student Prince," which has cameos by nearly every singer or dancer on the MGM lot at the time. These include Cyd Charisse, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Howard Keel, Gene Kelly and his brother Fred Kelly (their only on-screen performance together), Tony Martin, Ann Miller, James Mitchell, Jane Powell, and the ballerina Tamara Toumanova. Robert Easton and Russ Tamblyn both make uncredited appearances.
Some highlights of Fred Kelly's career:
Winner of three Donaldson awards, which were the precursor of the Tony Awards: one for acting (presented by Helen Hayes), one for comedy (presented by Charlie Chaplin), and one for dance (presented by Antoinette Perry, for whom the Tony awards are named).
Directed The Ice Capades.
Introduced the mambo to the New York City dance scene.
Invented the cha-cha.
Taught a young man named John Travolta to dance in Oradell, NJ.
In the movie Meet Me in St. Louis, the song “The Boy Next Door” was based on Fred and his wife, Dottie, who was his childhood sweetheart. They lived next door to each other in Pittsburgh.
Fred produced, directed, or was otherwise involved with the first television drama series, soap opera, cooking show, and talk show - a true television pioneer.
