Graham Kislingbury

We rarely go to movies on weeknights, but Tuesday we decided to go to Pix Theatre for its monthly “Classic Cinema Series.” Tuesday’s offering was “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” a movie that I saw at age 11 when it came out in 1964. All I remembered was that it starred Debbie Reynolds.

The Pix got a fairly good turnout for a 45-year-old musical being shown on a Tuesday night. It was corny and some of the transitions to the songs were hilarious, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Debbie Reynolds sang, danced and acted her way to a well-deserved Oscar nomination in “Molly Brown.”

When I left the theater, I had a bunch of questions. And that led to spending about a hour and half Wednesday evening on the Internet getting answers and watching You Tube videos.

I had forgotten, for example, that Debbie Reynolds starred with Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor in singing in “Singing in the Rain,” which came out in 1952 when she was 20. She did so much rigorous dancing in rehearsing for the role that her feet bled, Reynolds recalled in one interview.

And I didn’t know that Reynolds, now 77, started a studio for dancers in 1979.

The leading man in “Molly Brown” was Harve Presnell, a great singer whom I had never heard of. Or so I thought. After Googling his name, I recognized him from photos taken in recent years. Presnell was also a fine character actor, with notable roles in “Fargo” and “Saving Private Ryan.” He died in June at age 75.

I probably spent as much time Wednesday night doing online learning about “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” stars as I did sitting at The Pix watching the movie the night before.

So let me share some of what I found. The You Tube videos below are “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” trailer, Harve Presnell singing with Julie Andrews on the “Julie Andrews Hour” (in 1972 or 1973) and Debbie Reynolds singing “You Made Me Love You” from “Irene.”

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