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Gigi Overview:

Gigi (1958) was a Comedy - Musical Film directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by Arthur Freed.

The film was based on the novel of the same name from & Musical Play written by Sidonie Gabrielle Colette published in 1944 (novel); Nov 24, 1951 - May 31, 1952 (play performed at Fulton Theatre, NY).

SYNOPSIS

Set in Paris at the turn of the century, this delightful Lerner-and-Loewe musical, based on a story by Colette, follows a precocious French girl as she is groomed into a would-be courtesan and blossoms into a stunning woman. The story provides plenty of opportunity for Minnelli and MGM to pull out all the stops in its first musical production shot on location.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Gigi was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1991.

Academy Awards 1958 --- Ceremony Number 31 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: William A. Horning, Preston Ames; Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Keogh GleasonWon
Best CinematographyJoseph RuttenbergWon
Best Costume DesignCecil BeatonWon
Best DirectorVincente MinnelliWon
Best Film EditingAdrienne FazanWon
Best Music - ScoringAndre PrevinWon
Best Music - SongMusic by Frederick Loewe; Lyrics by Alan Jay LernerWon
Best PictureArthur Freed, ProducerWon
Best WritingAlan Jay LernerWon
See More Oscar Winners

Gigi BlogHub Articles:

Thank Heaven For GIGI (1958) (1)

By Margaret Perry on Oct 13, 2012 From The Great Katharine Hepburn

Thank Heaven For GIGI (1958) "GIGI" is the shortest title of any movie to have won the Academy Award for best picture. The day after the film won nine Oscars at the 1959 Academy Awards, telephone operators at the studio answered the phones with a cheery "M-Gigi-M!" The original story was wr... Read full article

Thank Heaven For GIGI (1958)

By Margaret Perry on Oct 13, 2012 From The Great Katharine Hepburn

Thank Heaven For GIGI (1958) Labels: Alan Jay Lerner, Andre Previn, Anita Loos, Cecil Beaton, Colette, Frederick Loewe, Gigi (1958), Hermione Gingold, Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier, MGM, My Fair Lady (1964), Vincente Minnelli "GIGI" is the shortest title of any m... Read full article

Thank Heaven For GIGI (1958) (2)

By MargaretPerry on Oct 13, 2012 From Margaret Perry

“Caron leads the cast in a contest to see who can be the most French.” (TV Guide) “No doubt inspired by the finicky claustrophobic sets and bric-a-brac, the cast tries (with unfortunate success) to be more French than the French.” (Time Out New York) “I am too old for w... Read full article

Guest Blogger: Author Gigi Amateau interviews Author Joseph Papa

By Google profile on Jul 18, 2011 From Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog

About MeBlogger, Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog and more. Please add my Google profile to your circles. When Elizabeth Taylor passed away earlier in the year, one of my favorite authors Gigi Amateau tweeted the fact that she had met Taylor briefly years ago. I tweeted her back asking if she'... Read full article

“Gigi” – Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier

By Art on Jul 10, 2011 From Classic Cinema Gold

“This story is about a little girl. It could be about any one of those little girls playing there. But it isn’t. It’s about one in particular. Her name is Gigi.” ~ Honore Lachaille (Maurice Chevalier) . “Gigi” is a 1958 musical film produced by Arthur Freed and... Read full article

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Gigi Quotes:

Manuel: Listen to your uncle, Monsieur Gaston. He's an old campaigner.
Aunt Alicia: Such stupidity is without equal in the whole history of human relations.
Gigi: [pointing] Is that the scandalous Madame d'Exelmans?
Gaston Lachaille: Yes, that is she. Tell me, Gigi, the way that you express yourself... does you grandmother hear you talk this way?
Gigi: She doesn't listen to me much.
Gaston Lachaille: May I come in?
Madame Alvarez: Please, Gaston... no papers... no scandal.
Gaston Lachaille: Madame, will you do me the honour, the favour... give me the infinite joy of bestowing on me... Gigi's hand in marriage?
Madame Alvarez: Thank Heaven!
[discussing Gigi's lessons with Aunt Alicia]
Madame Alvarez: Last week she taught her to eat cold lobster to perfection.
Gaston Lachaille: What in heaven's name for?
Madame Alvarez: She says it's extremely useful.
See More Quotes from Gigi
Gigi Facts
Jacques Bergerac, who plays the skating instructor Sandomir, did not know how to skate.
Writers Colette and Alan Jay Lerner chose Audrey Hepburn for the title role, which she performed on stage in 1952. Unfortunately, in 1958 Hepburn was busy with other films and could not commit.
The song "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore" was inspired by a discussion from an aging Maurice Chevalier about his waning interest in wine and women in favor of performing for cabaret audiences.
According to Vincente Minnelli, when shooting in the French restaurant Maxim's the film crew the restaurant's famous mirrored walls to be covered up because they would reflect the equipment, but Minnelli contended that they had to be seen (and uncovered) as they were the hallmark of Maxim's. Eventually cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg resolved the matter satisfactorily, by putting suction cups on photo flood lights.
By mid-July 1957, the songwriters had still not come up with the title song. One evening, Frederick Loewe was at a piano while Alan Jay Lerner was indisposed in the bathroom, and when Loewe began playing a particular melody, he later recalled Lerner jumped up, "his trousers still clinging to his ankles, and made his way to the living room. 'Play that again,' he said." That melody ended up as the film's title song.
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