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Debate Over Gene Kelly Statue in Pa.

January 16, 2002

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS




Filed at 1:40 a.m. ET



PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The debate raging in Pittsburgh's art
circles these days revolves around a young hoofer who made
it big, dancing and singing in the rain.

The city wants to honor native son Gene Kelly, the
choreographer, director and consummate song-and-dance man
who died in 1996 at the age of 83.

But the debate over where the statue should go and what it
should look like has become biting and personal, waged on
newspaper editorial pages as well as in private
conversations.

The proposed statue is a 14-foot rendition of Kelly as Don
Lockwood dancing with a lamppost during the signature
number of his 1952 movie classic, ``Singin' in the Rain.''

Some say the statue -- to be created by local sculptor
Susan Wagner -- belongs on a traffic island at the western
entrance to the city, near Point State Park. Others argue
it belongs in Pittsburgh's Cultural District, near the
city's theaters and a new high school for the performing
arts.

Others just say it better look good.

Thomas Sokolowski, director of The Andy Warhol Museum, said
in a letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last month that
the proposed statue ``comes closer to the lumbering
footfalls of Fantasia's hippo ballerinas than the grace of
Mr. Kelly.'' He said that if it were to stand near Point
State Park, the first thing visitors would see is ``what I
regard as a fourth-rate amateur bowling league trophy.''

Ouch.

That touched off angry responses defending Wagner's
work. Wagner created statues of baseball greats Roberto
Clemente and Willie Stargell that stand outside the
Pirates' PNC Park.

One letter writer said Sokolowski's comments were ``vague,
subjective and mean-spirited.'' Another said they came
``from the director of a museum dedicated to a man who made
a living copying the labels of soup cans.''

Meanwhile, the Gene Kelly Statue Committee, formed in the
last few years, has determined that the statue should stand
at the traffic island and wants to begin raising the
$500,000 needed to erect it, said committee member Aviva
Radbord.

The city council has approved the transfer of the highly
visible site to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy as a
first step.

Richard Armstrong, the Henry J. Heinz II director of the
Carnegie Museum of Art, is among those, however, who say
the traffic island doesn't afford enough access for
pedestrians.

``It would be something you'd pass by without recognizing
anything about it,'' Armstrong said. ``(The proposed site)
just seems silly.''

Perry Jubelirer, a 76-year-old former dancer who studied
with Kelly as a boy, agreed, saying people should be able
to reach the statue easily.

``Gene had a wonderful smile,'' he said. ``I want them to
get up and see that smile.''

In any case, Kevin McMahon, the new president of the
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, said he's happy people in
Pittsburgh are engaging in a spirited debate over something
other than the Steelers' playoff chances.

To argue so over a statue, he said, ``is a great sign for
the city'' and its arts community.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Gene-Kelly-Statue.html?ex=1012173894&ei=1&en=20df63e8fd55a1db



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