The great Donald

Some friends and I recently had a lovely retro night at the Stanford Theatre seeing "Singin' in the Rain." I won't say anything about Gene Kelly, because what can you rave about Gene Kelly that hasn't already been raved?

But I could rave for hours about Donald O'Connor, Kelly's sidekick in the flick. Comedy is arguably the hardest thing an actor can attempt, and I bow at the feet of this man's snort-inducing mastermindedness. I admit I didn't even know Donald O'Connor's name before this, but now I do. Oh, king of backflips off the wall, why aren't you still around to coach us mere mortal actors?

O'Connor was born into a vaudeville family, and it shows. His kind of acrobatic silliness set to show tunes may be out of fashion in today's movies, but I would challenge any Jim Carrey to pull it off.

So I laughed myself silly during O'Connor's "Make 'Em Laugh" sequence. Then today I learned on IMDB that the poor guy had to take to his bed for three days after filming it. Check it out here. Then join me in fondly remembering the late Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor.