Two young sailors on leave in Los Angeles, Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) and Joseph Brady (Gene Kelly) end up unexpectedly spending the duration of their leave together pursuing the strikingly beautiful aspiring singer, Susan Abbott (Kathryn Grayson). Having watched several films with a slightly older and more seasoned Sinatra, I was shocked by Sinatra’s role and performance in the film. Sinatra’s character lacked the confidence and prowess which came to be associated with him as a star, spending more time and effort fawning over Kelly’s character in a sort of hero worship than over Grayson’s character. Sinatra spends many scenes just watching Kelly work his magic with the ladies and witnessing Kelly spin his juicy stories for fellow sailors. Few moves which Sinatra makes are done without a glance seeking approval from Kelly. Consistently throughout the movie, Kelly leads and Sinatra follows, trying to mimic Kelly but having his attempts seem awkward and out of character instead. To be clear, Sinatra's ability to act is not under question but it is the role and how he inhabits that particular role at which I am looking.
Kelly’s charisma and charm had the power to seduce the female audience; whereas the male audience either begrudgingly admired his smooth talking or outwardly wished they could have the same power. In the scene in which he called his lady friend on the phone in front of the rest of the sailors, his flashing dimples and suggestive voice set the tone for his masculine dominance and established his character in the film. He was funny, sweet, good-hearted and had an overall dominating presence. The little boy who wished with all his heart to be a sailor looked up to Kelly as the ultimate sailor. Kelly’s character flourished in the midst of women and men and he seemed like a leader even though the viewers could see his tendency to embellish the truth and they could also witness his vulnerabilities.
In contrast, Sinatra came on the screen as a bumbling and skinny sailor who retained the innocence and awkwardness that comes with childhood. He looks up to Kelly so much throughout the film that the viewers tend to follow his stare and join in on looking at Kelly. Only when smiling or singing a ballad did Sinatra steal the show and give the audience a glimpse of the dynamic and confident entertainer he would grow into. Sinatra’s painful shyness in the role of Clarence kept him from truly talking to Grayson’s character. When combining his lack of the ability to speak to pretty girls with his gawky frame (in comparison to Kelly), Frank had to end up with another female--hence the Brooklyn character. Grayson’s character was out of his league.
The relationship between Sinatra and Kelly’s characters bordered on homosexual in how physically close they would get to each other in conversations and also the distance between their faces and facial expressions. This was especially apparent in the scene when Kelly is sitting on the couch in the little boy’s house, talking on the phone with his lady friend. Sinatra listens in and cuddles onto the back of Kelly. They also get very close when singing and bragging about their falsified night on the town with their fellow sailors. By the end of the movie, while Sinatra does sing and end up with a girl, he seems to be closer in character and maturity to the little aspiring sailor boy than Kelly’s character. This casting could not have occurred later in Sinatra's career when he was more established as the lead man. Sinatra's character was endearing but not a threat to Kelly's dominant presence.
