It’s hard to think of spring without remembering the April showers that herald the coming of beautiful flowers in May.  It is also a time that makes it easy to recall the wonderful 1952 movie, “Singing in the Rain.”  But did you know the song by the same name was published in 1929 with lyrics by Arthur Feed and music by Nacio Herb Brown?  The song, itself, has quite a history.

“Singing in the Rain” was first performed by Doris Eaton Travis in 1929 at The Hollywood Music Box Revue where it became a hit and was recorded by a number of artists, notably Cliff Edwards, who also performed the number with the Brox Sisters in the early MGM musical The Hollywood Revue of 1929. B.A. Rolfe and his Lucky Strike Orchestra recorded it and Annette Hanshaw performed the song in her album Volume 6; Jimmy Durante performed it in the movie, Speak Easily (1932); and Judy Garland in Little Nellie Kelly 1940). Others have continued to perform the music throughout the years.

The song is known today as the centerpiece of the musical film Singin’ in the Rain in which Gene Kelly memorably danced to the song while splashing through puddles during a rainstorm. The film was only a modest hit when received; however, it was accorded its legendary status by contemporary critics. It is now frequently regarded as one of the best musicals ever made and the best film ever made in the “Arthur Freed Unit” at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It topped the AFI’s Greatest Movie Musical list, and is ranked as the fifth greatest American motion picture of all time in its updated list of the greatest American films in 2007.  All this because of dancing and singing in the rain!