Singin' in The Rain - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

• A similar plot had been used in the 1946 French film Étoile sans lumière (aka "Star without Light"), directed by Marcel Blistène, starring Edith Piaf and Mila Parély and later in the 1959 British film Follow a Star, directed by Robert Asher and starring Norman Wisdom and Jerry Desmonde.
• It has long been tradition at Kelly's hometown Pittsburgh Pirates games at PNC Park to play the scene from the film during rain delays.
• "Singin' in the Rain" is sung mockingly by Alex DeLarge, played by Malcolm McDowell, in the rape scene in Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange (1971). The Gene Kelly version was played during the end credits. Gene Kelly was reportedly disgusted when it was used in the film and walked away from McDowell at a party.
• The "Singin' in the Rain" routine has been parodied or imitated numerous times, including by Morecambe and Wise, Paddington Bear, The Wombles and in the animated film Robots (2005). The dance was also parodied, briefly, by The Goodies during their television episode "Saturday Night Grease", where the music for the dance sequence was "Singin' in the Rain". It was also once sung (very badly) by Bill Owen outside Nora Batty's house in an episode of Last of the Summer Wine. In Fame, Coco Hernandez (played by Irene Cara) dances in a puddle on a train station while singing "Singin' in the Rain".
• World Champion Canadian figure skater Kurt Browning did an on-ice (and water) recreation in a Stars on Ice television special.
• In Legal Eagles, Robert Redford sings and dances "Singin' in the Rain" when he cannot sleep.
• In the Pixar film Wall-E (2008), the robot Wall-E briefly swings himself around a light pole in an echo of the "Singin' in the Rain" number, even though the titular song was not used in the film.
• Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain" sequence is one of the opening scenes of The Great Movie Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Kelly approved his Audio-Animatronics likeness prior to its delivery to Florida.
• The dance to the title song is parodied in the Broadway musical Spamalot in the dance break to "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," complete with tap dancing in raincoats and twirling umbrellas.
• In The Simpsons episode "Brawl in the Family", Groundskeeper Willie was singing with an umbrella, but in acid rain.
• In the Family Guy episode, "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air", Joe, Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland and Stewie performed a partial rendition of the "Good Morning" dance routine. Also, in the episode, "Peterotica", Quagmire recreates the "Make 'Em Laugh" number.
• In the Glee episode "The Substitute," Will Schuester and Mike Chang perform the "Make 'Em Laugh" song and dance routine as a duo (which was the hallucination of a sick Will). The cast also performs a mash-up of "Singin' in the Rain" and Rihanna's "Umbrella" at the end of the episode.
• In the 1998 American remake of the film Godzilla, the main character Dr. Niko Tatopoulos sings "Singin' in the Rain".
• A 2005 Volkswagen Golf GTI commercial features Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain" sequence, but with Kelly performing hip-hop dance moves and a remixed version of the song playing in the background.
• In the 2003 film Shanghai Knights, Jackie Chan imitates Gene Kelly's dance moves (complete with umbrella) towards the end of a fight scene set in London, England. The original "Singing in the Rain" music plays over this sequence as a tribute.
• On The Muppet Show, the Muppets want Gene Kelly to recreate "Singin' in the Rain" on a reconstructed set, though all he finally does is hum it as he crosses the stage.
• In the animated cartoon show The Shoe People, the character Wellington sings the song. However it isn't raining he simply says "I know it's not raining really, but I can dream can't I?".
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt sang "Make 'Em Laugh" during the opening monologue when he hosted Saturday Night Live.
• In Fringe after he is removed from the Observer Corps. September takes the name Donald O'Connor becuase Singin' in the Rain was the first movie he watched with Walter Bishop.
• In the movie Silver Linings Playbook, Tiffany and Pat watch a clip of "Moses Supposes" and copy some of the dance moves for their routine.
• In an episode of Sesame Street, Grover stars in a production of Singin' in the Rain, where the special effects are different forms of weather from rain such as snow or wind. When they finally get rain, Grover yells "Cut!" When asked why, Grover replies "I don't want to get my fur wet!".
• In the episode of The Munsters Dance With Me Herman, Herman Munster sings the first few bars of the title song Singin' in the Rain after which he falls over a couch.