Gene Kelly in It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)
Vitals
Gene Kelly as Ted Riley, dancing gambler and World War II veteran
New York City, Fall 1955
Film: It’s Always Fair Weather
Release Date: September 2, 1955
Directed by: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen
Costume Designer: Helen Rose
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy first day of spring! As fairer weather sets in across the Northern Hemisphere, let’s flash back to the 1950s as the marvelously multi-talented Gene Kelly tap-danced on roller-skates in the MGM musical satire It’s Always Fair Weather.
The film was critically acclaimed when it was released in September 1955, but the box office failed to recoup the budget, perhaps the result of the story’s more downbeat aspects or audiences’ changing taste away from lavish dance-oriented musicals.
It’s Always Fair Weather centers around a trio of war buddies who reunite on October 11, 1955, primarily to make good on a $1 bet they drunkenly placed with a Third Avenue bartender exactly ten years earlier. While his two pals Doug Hallerton (Dan Dailey) and Angie Valentine (Michael Kidd) have spent the last decade growing their careers and families, Ted Riley (Gene Kelly) gambled his way into managing two-bit boxers while fighting his own self-loathing.
Ted, Angie, and Doug’s excitement will be short-lived as soon as it becomes clear that reuniting means actually having to spend time with each other.
Rather than the joyous reunion expected, the three quickly realize how much they’ve changed and grown apart from their wartime bond, now regarding each other as a hick (Angie), a snob (Doug), and a punk (Ted) via their respective internal monologues. Of course, a little introspection and—in Ted’s case, a growing romance with Jackie Leighton (Cyd Charisse)—helps the three men better appreciate each other and themselves.
What’d He Wear?
The October 11th reunion clearly sets the action in the midst of fall, though Ted’s cheery pink shirt—as well as the film’s title—remind me more of spring than autumn. The montage following our three heroes from 1945 through 1955 depicts Ted rotating through some flashier duds when compared to his straight-and-narrow pals, such as a tan suit, brown shirt, and pale-yellow silk tie and a bold black-and-white checked sports coat recalling the style of contemporary real-life gangster Bugsy Siegel.
This tasteful flash extends to Ted’s wardrobe on October 11, 1955, dressed in a dark-gray tic-woven suit detailed with white slubs, echoing the contemporary “atomic fleck” that was trendy through the jet age—a fashionably flashy alternative to the more businesslike “man in the gray flannel suit.”
Ted’s suit jacket generally follows the conventional design for single-breasted tailoring, with notch lapels rolling to a two-button stance. The cut echoes the full yet flattering styles of the ’50s, with a drape cut that informs the roomy chest and the wide and straight padded shoulders. The sleeves are roped at the shoulders and finished with three buttons—not full-size buttons but still slightly larger and more spaced apart than standard cuff-buttons.
The ventless back and straight jetted hip pockets (sans flaps) are also hallmarks of ’50s tailoring. Ted dresses the jacket’s welted breast pocket with a neatly folded pale-pink pocket square, made from a cotton that appears to be a shade lighter than his pink shirt.
The suit’s matching trousers harmonize with the jacket, rising to Gene Kelly’s natural waist and styled with double reverse-facing pleats that assure a proportional roominess through the legs down to the cleanly cuffed bottoms. The trousers have straight vertical on-seam side pockets, but—typical of the time—no back pockets. Ted holds them up with a narrow black double-ridged leather belt that closes through a shining gold-toned single-prong buckle.
Ted’s solid pink cotton shirt maintains the consistent sense of character suggested by his unique suiting—neither are particularly flash on their own, nor do they threaten to clash with each other, but together they create the image of a self-assuredly interesting sense of style.
The shirt boasts fashionably fussy details like a pinned collar and double (French) cuffs, both of which Ted fastens with gold jewelry—a gold safety-style collar pin and ridged oblong cuff links, respectively. The soft edges of the collar recall the rounded “club collar” prominently worn through the early 20th century. The shirt buttons up a front placket and also has a breast pocket.
Pinned collars look their best when the wearer keeps his shirt and tie both tightly fastened at the neck. Until the climactic brawl at the end of It’s Always Fair Weather, Ted follows convention by keeping his straight black knitted silk tie firmly knotted in a four-in-hand, hanging down in front of the collar pin.
Ted completes his look with a charcoal felt self-edged trilby, detailed with a dark-brown scaled band. (A brief glimpse at the leather sweatband shows a gilt-inlaid manufacturer’s logo, which may be Cavanagh, the same New York-based hatmkaer which crafted Frank Sinatra’s famous lids.)
On the run from the mob, Ted ducks into a skating rink where he talks the manager into swapping hats and jackets so that he can blend in among the fellow skaters. Ted then takes to the rink wearing the manager’s light-gray Donegal tweed newsboy cap and a yellow satin bomber jacket with red piping and purple trim, including the large “ROVERS 3” badge across the back.
Realizing that the ruse worked, Ted retrieves his own hat and coat from the manager but, in the excitement, doesn’t realize that he’s still wearing the roller skates attached to his black leather cap-toe oxfords until after he completes the optimistic performance of “I Like Myself”—considered to be the high point of It’s Always Fair Weather.
These skates follow a simple design that was still worn through the 1950s, consisting of four wheels rigged to a foot-shaped metal panel with side-guards and leather straps anchored to the heel that buckle over the wearer’s instep. While these allowed a skater to continue wearing their own shoes (without slipping into skates polluted by countless others sweating through their socks), they’re considerably less safe and supportive than the full-shoe skates more commonly seen today.
According to IMDB, Gene Kelly purchased the skates himself from Pioneer Hardware, a block away from his home on Beverly Drive.
Ted wears a gold watch with a round white dial on his left wrist, likely Gene Kelly’s own wristwatch.
What to Imbibe
Tim (David Burns), the bartender with whom the boys made their bet, pours out shots from a bottle labeled “Golden Delight” during their reunion. This fictional bourbon label was used in many MGM productions through the 1950s, including The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Some Came Running (1959), and Ride the High Country (1962). Though the label describes it as a bourbon, Doug refers to it as Scotch.
When Ted overhears sophisticated businesswoman Jackie Leighton order a Scotch Old Fashioned at the Turquoise, he comments to her, “That’s what I like, an old-fashioned girl. I’m an old-fashioned boy myself.”
A year ago, I included Kelly Tesoriero and Jordan Hughes’ Vine Pair recipe for a Scotch Old Fashioned in my post celebrating Logan Roy’s last birthday on Succession, but Jackie’s order feels like an appropriate time to reprise it here:
- Mix two ounces of blended Scotch, a teaspoon of Demerara (or simple syrup, if necessary), two dashes of aromatic bitters, and two dashes of orange bitters in a mixing glass and stir with ice
- Pour the concoction into a rocks glass over a large ice cube
- Garnish with a “nicely manicured” orange peel
How to Get the Look
Gene Kelly in It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)
While it may not be the most comfortable outfit for roller-skating, Gene Kelly’s sharp gray suit, gold-appointed pink shirt, and dark knitted tie exemplifies smartly incorporating color to celebrate the onset of fairer weather ahead.
- Dark-gray (with white atomic fleck) tic-woven suit:
- Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
- Double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
- Pink cotton shirt with pinned club collar, front placket, breast pocket, and double/French cuffs
- Gold safety-style collar pin
- Gold oblong cuff links
- Black knitted silk tie
- Black double-ridged leather belt with gold-toned single-prong buckle
- Black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes
- Charcoal felt trilby with dark-brown scaled band
- Gold wristwatch with round white dial on gold bracelet
- Pale-pink straight-folded pocket square
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
You don’t have to hang around with me all evening. I wish I didn’t have to hang around with myself.
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