Debbie Reynolds as a Football

My little sister C sent me a link with a clip of a "football dance" from I Love Melvin (1953), which stars Debby Reynolds and Donald O'Connor. In this musical number, Debby Reynolds is dressed like a football, and she is tossed between the male football dancers players. I think this is such an interesting take on football: the men are crowding around the ball, like they are vying for a moment with a lady on the dance floor. Is it really that dissimilar to the actual sport?



I don't think I have ever seen I Love Melvin, but I know that it was made the year after Singing in the Rain. From what I read, though, it seems like Donald O'Connor ends up being the love interest in I Love Melvin, which is a role reversal from Singin' in the Rain (in which he played Gene Kelly's sidekick and funnyman). I remember reading that Gene Kelly wasn't that kind to Reynolds during the filming of Singin' in the Rain, who felt like she was an inferior starlet in comparison to him. It seems like Reynolds and O'Connor got along well off-screen.

This online biography for Donald O'Connor says that I Love Melvin was pretty much a dud of a film, but there is this really great scene (in addition to the football scene, naturally) in which O'Connor tap dances in roller skates:



I kind of wish I had chosen Donald O'Connor for one of the celebrities that I am studying this year. I guess I'll leave him for next year...