Growing up, my favorite movie was Gigi.
Vincente Minnelli’s Paris
as a breathtaking canvas
filmed in a brutal heat wave.
The director had jangled nerves,
then whooping cough,
then he was bitten by a swan. 

On screen: joie de vivre.
Colette brought to life
with Maurice Chevalier & Leslie Caron. 
As a kid, I read Chevalier’s risqué memoir
three times.

Minnelli was born in a tent show.
Too shy to be an actor, he designed costumes
his father thought were ‘never good enough.’

Escaping to Chicago,
as a window dresser, then to New York
as an art director, sporting a trace
of eye shadow & lipstick.
Soon, he was close with the Gershwins,
Diaghilev & Moss Hart. 

He’d design the Ziegfield Follies
then head to Hollywood to direct
Ethel Waters & Lena Horne
in the landmark Cabin in the Sky.   

The doomed marriage to Garland. 
Her pills & breakdowns; his semi-straight path.

Minelli would direct An American in Paris
with the greatest dream ballet ever filmed.
If you like drama, Some Came Running
with Shirley MacLaine & Sinatra.

A poignant scene in Tea and Sympathy—
the ‘sensitive’ hero coached
on how to ‘walk like a man.’

– Joan E. Bauer