Editing Gene Kelly (section)

==Early life==
[[File:GKellyPittSeniorYB.jpg|thumb|Kelly's senior picture from the 1933 yearbook of the [[University of Pittsburgh]]]]

Kelly was born in the [[East Liberty (Pittsburgh)|East Liberty]] neighborhood of [[Pittsburgh]]. He was middle of 5 children of James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a [[phonograph]] salesman, and his wife, Harriet Catherine Curran.<ref name="yudu">{{cite web|url=http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1saux/HeritageGazetteVol12/resources/8.htm|title=Heritage Gazette Vol. 12 no. 1: Entertainment and Recreation |date=May 2007|publisher=content.yudu.com|access-date=October 27, 2014|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235136/http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1saux/HeritageGazetteVol12/resources/8.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> His father was born in [[Peterborough, Ontario|Peterborough]], Ontario, Canada, to an Irish Canadian family. His maternal grandfather was an immigrant from [[Derry]], Ireland, and his maternal grandmother was of German ancestry.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Gene Kelly: A Biography|author=Hirschhorn, C.|date=1975|publisher=Regnery|isbn=978-0809282609|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d3wdAQAAIAAJ|access-date=October 27, 2014}}</ref> When he was eight, Kelly's mother enrolled him and his brother James in dance classes, along with their sisters. As Kelly recalled, they both rebelled: "We didn't like it much and were continually involved in fistfights with the neighborhood boys who called us [[Sissy|sissies]]&nbsp; ... I didn't dance again until I was 15."<ref name="Thomas">{{cite book | last=Thomas | first=Tony | title=The Films of Gene Kelly – Song and Dance Man | publisher=Carol Publishing Group | year=1991 | location=New York | isbn=0-8065-0543-5}}</ref> At one time, his childhood dream was to play [[shortstop]] for the hometown [[Pittsburgh Pirates]].<ref name="post-gazette">{{cite web|url=http://old.post-gazette.com/ae/20030709rawson0709p5.asp|title=On Stage: Kate Hepburn, Richard Rauh and old Nixon|publisher=old.post-gazette.com|access-date=October 27, 2014|archive-date=October 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025144931/http://old.post-gazette.com/ae/20030709rawson0709p5.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>

By the time he decided to dance, he was an accomplished sportsman and able to defend himself. He attended St. Raphael Elementary School<ref name="straphaelelementaryschool">{{cite web|url=http://www.straphaelelementaryschool.net/alumni.html|title=St Raphael Elementary School|publisher=straphaelelementaryschool.net|access-date=October 27, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008220742/http://straphaelelementaryschool.net/alumni.html|archive-date=October 8, 2014}}</ref> in the [[Morningside (Pittsburgh)|Morningside]] neighborhood of Pittsburgh and graduated from [[Peabody High School (Pennsylvania)|Peabody High School]] at age 16. He entered the [[Pennsylvania State College]] as a journalism major, but after the [[1929 crash]] he left school and found work in order to help his family financially. He created dance routines with his younger brother [[Fred Norbert Kelly|Fred]] to earn prize money in local talent contests. They also performed in local nightclubs.<ref name="Thomas" />

In 1931, Kelly enrolled at the [[University of Pittsburgh]] to study economics, joining the Theta Kappa Phi fraternity (later known as [[Phi Kappa Theta]] after merging with Phi Kappa).<ref name="Hirschhorn">{{cite book | last=Hirschhorn | first=Clive | title=Gene Kelly – a Biography | publisher=W.H. Allen | year=1984 | location=London | isbn=0-491-03182-3 }}</ref> He became involved in the university's [[University of Pittsburgh Stages|Cap and Gown Club]], which staged original musical productions.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=pittyearbooks;idno=1933e49702;view=image;seq=0163 | page=158 | title=The Owl | year=1933 | publisher=University of Pittsburgh | location=Pittsburgh, PA | access-date=June 9, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922085929/http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=pittyearbooks%3Bidno%3D1933e49702%3Bview%3Dimage%3Bseq%3D0163 | archive-date=September 22, 2012}}</ref> After graduating in 1933, he continued to be active with the Cap and Gown Club, serving as the director from 1934 to 1938. Kelly was admitted to the [[University of Pittsburgh School of Law|University of Pittsburgh Law School]].<ref>{{cite book | url=http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=pittyearbooks;idno=1938e49702;view=image;seq=203 | title=The Owl | year=1938 | page=198 | publisher=University of Pittsburgh | location=Pittsburgh, PA | access-date=June 9, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922090018/http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=pittyearbooks%3Bidno%3D1938e49702%3Bview%3Dimage%3Bseq%3D203 | archive-date=September 22, 2012}}</ref>

His family opened a dance studio in the [[Squirrel Hill]] neighborhood of Pittsburgh. In 1932, they renamed it the Gene Kelly Studio of the Dance and opened a second location in [[Johnstown, Pennsylvania]] in 1933. Kelly served as a teacher at the studio during his undergraduate and law-student years at Pitt. In 1931, he was approached by the Beth Shalom Synagogue in Pittsburgh to teach dance, and to stage the annual [[Kermesse (festival)|Kermesse]]. The venture proved a success, Kelly being retained for seven years until his departure for New York.<ref>cf. Hirschhorn, p. 33.</ref>

Kelly eventually decided to pursue a career as a dance teacher and full-time entertainer, so he dropped out of law school after two months. He increased his focus on performing and later said: "With time I became disenchanted with teaching because the ratio of girls to boys was more than ten to one, and once the girls reached 16, the dropout rate was very high."<ref name="Thomas" /> In 1937, having successfully managed and developed the family's dance-school business, he moved to New York City in search of work as a choreographer.<ref name="Thomas" /> Kelly returned to Pittsburgh, to his family home at 7514 Kensington Street, in 1940, and worked as a theatrical actor.<ref>1940 US Census via Ancestry.com</ref>