Hollywood, like any major city, has a calendar full of important days and anniversaries, those time-honored occasions that are annually observed around town for a host of reasons.
And while March 24 might not technically appear inside Tinseltown date-keepers, any classic movie fan will recognize it as one of the key Hollywood holidays, at least in the fictional, fabulous sense. For that's the day, in "Singin' in the Rain," when our leading trio decides to turn a failing silent film — "The Dueling Cavalier" — into a lavish "talkie" musical.
But you won't need to wait for March 24 to get your umbrella-twirlin', puddle-splashin' fill of the 1952 MGM Technicolor classic: The beloved flick returns to 700+ cinemas around the U.S. to "Make 'Em Laugh" once again.
Note that the special TCM Big Screen Classics happening, which is helmed by Fathom Events, is very much a two-night-only thing. So don your galoshes, find the nearest theater featuring the film, and be there on Sunday, Jan. 15 and/or Wednesday, Jan. 18.
That's right: Jan. 15 and 18, 2017 are your dates. We're simply saying that March 24, which is weeks after the movie will screen large, is like an official "Singin' in the Rain" holiday and should be celebrated as such.
Really. Celebrated with actual cake, the kind of cake that a dancer might pop out of, only to see the actor she has a crush on but just bickered with is in the audience.
For has there been a more crackling satire of Hollywood in the six-and-a-half decades since the film tap-tap-tap'd its way into our hearts?
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And, as far as cinema-obsessed satires go, has there been a sweeter one? The Stanley Donen-directed treat deftly has you rooting for Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor while keeping a soft spot for Jean Hagen, the story's delightful (but don't-ever-cross-her) Lina Lamont.
Her nasally delivered lines are a comical throughline, but it was surely no easy feat to remain as happily haughty as Ms. Hagen so deftly does.
Surely, too, many Debbie Reynolds fans will be out on Jan. 15 and 18 to see one of her iconic performances, in honor of the beloved star, who passed away in December 2016 at the age of 84. Her charismatic, sunshiny take on the role help to set the template for actors playing actors for decades beyond.
It's also the 65th anniversary of the movie.
And while we're tying Tinseltown's cred to this most Tinseltownian of movies, let's throw down "Sunset and Camden" as an essential intersection in the "Singin' in the Rain" canon.
That's where Kathy Selden drives Don Lockwood early on in the film, as his drop-off point. And, as Kathy, Debbie Reynolds charmingly sings, rather than says, their destination point.
Thus the only thing to do, from here on out, is this: Pay a quick thought to the legendary film every time you pass through the Beverly Hills-based intersection, and pay the film another thought on its unofficial holiday, March 24, the very day that kicks off the "Good Morning" dance sequence.
But, first of all, before all of that, see it again, in theaters, on the big screen, this Jan. 15 and 18. Tickets? No need to visit Sunset and Camden; they're here.
