Features the song, "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight", which Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe had originally written for the 1956 stage musical "My Fair Lady," but which was deleted during out-of-town tryouts. Lerner was against including the song in "Gigi", but was effectively overruled by Loewe, producer Arthur Freed and director Vincente Minnelli. (The song contains the couplet, "'On to your Waterloo,' whispers my heart./ Pray I'll be Wellington, not Bonaparte" - arguably an odd sentiment for a French girl to express. In "My Fair Lady", the song was intended for Eliza Doolittle, who was, of course, English.)
Gaston's walk through Paris while singing "Gigi" uses camera magic to make parts of Paris which are miles apart seem adjacent to each other. This technique, called "creative geography", was created and named by French filmmaker Jean Cocteau.
This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1991.
Audrey Hepburn was the first choice to play Gigi since she had played the role on stage in 1952, but she was making Funny Face (1957) at the time and declined.
Producer Arthur Freed's interest in the story developed in 1953 after Anita Loos expressed interest in adapting her play as a musical, and after he was able to convince the film industry's Code Office to view the story as condemning rather than glorifying a system of mistresses. Arthur Freed paid Colette's widower $125,000 for the musical rights, and bought out Loos' play version for $87,000.
Leslie Caron's singing voice was overdubbed; however, original demo recordings of "Night they Invented Champagne" and "The Way You Look Tonight" sung by Leslie exist and have been released on CD.
As described in Minnelli's autobiography, the film crew wanted to cover the famous mirrored walls in Maxim's because the camera and spotlights reflected in them, but Minnelli contended that they had to be uncovered since they were the signature of the restaurant. The cinematographer was finally able to work with this by putting suction cups on photo flood lights.
The day after the movie won its nine Oscars, M-G-M telephone operators were instructed to answer all phone calls with, "Hello, M-Gigi-M."
The cat in the movie reacted violently whenever it was in a scene with Leslie Caron, but director Vincente Minnelli insisted on having that particular cat, so it had to be heavily drugged. This is especially obvious during "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight".
With only four letters, this movie has the shortest title of any film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) is the longest.
This was the final MGM musical that was produced under the auspices of the studio's Arthur Freed Unit, which had been responsible for MGM's lavish musical productions for three decades. Even though several other musicals had been produced at MGM into the 1960's, "Gigi" is often referred to as the studio's last traditional musical.
Aunt Alicia:
Bad table manners, my dear Gigi, have broken up more housholds than infidelity.
Gaston:
The only people who make love all the time are liars.
Aunt Alicia:
Liane d'Exelmans has commited suicide... again!
Aunt Alicia:
Love, my dear Gigi, is a thing of beauty like a work of art, and like a work of art it is created by artists. The greater the artist the greater the art. And what makes an artist?
Gigi:
Cigars and jewelry?
Aunt Alicia:
Gigi, you're from another planet.
Gigi:
Is that the scandalous Madame d'Exelmans?
Gaston:
Yes that's 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.
Aunt Alicia:
Such stupidity is without equal in the whole history of human relations.
Madame Alvarez:
One has to be as rich as you are, Gaston, to be bored at Monte Carlo.
Aunt Alicia:
Marriage is not forbidden to us, but instead of getting married at once, it sometimes happens we get married at last.
Gaston:
Imagine this if you can: Here is a girl, living in a moldy apartment, decaying walls... worm-ridden furniture, surrounded by filth...
Honore Lachaille:
You're ruining my lunch!
Gaston:
My heart was touched. I wanted to help her. I offered her everything: house, car, servants, clothes, and me!
Honore Lachaille:
And?
Gaston:
She turned me down.
Honore Lachaille:
Turned you down?
Gaston:
Turned me down!
Honore Lachaille:
It is impossible!
Gaston:
It is not impossible - it just happened!
Gaston:
I was refused, rejected, rebuffed and... repudiated!
Gigi:
[referring to emerald ring] Who gave it to you, Aunt?
Aunt Alicia:
A King
Gigi:
A great king?
Aunt Alicia:
No, a little one. Great kings do not give very large stones.
Gigi:
Why not?
Aunt Alicia:
In my opinion it's because they don't feel they have to.
Gigi:
Well, who does give the valuable jewels?
Aunt Alicia:
Who? Oh the shy, the proud, and the social climbers because they think it's a sign of culture; But it doesn't matter who gives them, as long as you never wear anything second rate. Wait for the first class jewels Gigi. Hold on to your ideals.
Honore Lachaille:
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.
Gaston:
Whose luncheon are you taking me to today?
Honore Lachaille:
Henri Trouvert.
Gaston:
Oh no!
Honore Lachaille:
We have to go! I'm meeting a heavenly creature there.
Gaston:
You're still young uncle, aren't you?
Honore Lachaille:
Not compared to her!
Honore Lachaille:
I must teel you that you upset all my plans for the weekend! I came prepared for battle, and an old wound
[pointing to his heart]
Honore Lachaille:
prevented me from charging.
Madame Alvarez:
I don't think she was your type anyway, Honore.
Honore Lachaille:
You were watching me?
Madame Alvarez:
Force of habit. When a pretty woman came by I alwaya had to watch you.
Honore Lachaille:
I'll tell you about that blue villa, Mamita. I was so much in love with you I wanted to marry you. Yes, it's true. I was beginning to think of marriage. Imagine: marriage, me! Oh no, I was really desperate! I had to do somethin, and what I did was the soprano!
Madame Alvarez:
Thank you Honore. That was the most charming and endearing excuse for infidelity I've ever heard.
Honore Lachaille:
Good afternoon. As you see, this lovely city all around us is Paris, and this lovely park is of course the Bois de Boulogne. Who am I? Well, allow me to introduce myself: I am Honore Lachaille. Born: Paris. When:
[laughs]
Honore Lachaille:
not lately. This is 1900, so let's just say not in this century. Circumstances: comfortable. Profession: lover, and collector of beautiful things. Not antiques mind you, younger things.
[glances at elderly woman passing by]
Honore Lachaille:
Yes, definitely younger. Married: what for? Now please don't misunderstand. Like everywhere else, most people in Paris get married, but not all. There are some who will not marry, and some who do not marry. But in Paris, those who will not marry are usually men, and those who do not marry are usually women.
Gaston:
I brought you some caramels.
Gigi:
Thank you, Gaston.
Madame Alvarez:
Gaston, you spoil her so.
Gaston:
The champagne is for you.
Madame Alvarez:
You spoil me too.
Aunt Alicia:
Did you work hard in school today? What did you study?
Gigi:
History. Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.
Aunt Alicia:
How depressing. What else?
Gigi:
English.
Aunt Alicia:
English? I suppose we must. They refuse to learn French.
[last lines]
Gaston:
Madame, will you do me the honor... the favor... give me the infinite joy of bestowing on me... Gigi's hand in marriage?
Madame Alvarez:
Thank heaven.
Gaston:
I'm sorry I kept you waiting, Uncle. Why didn't you come upstairs?
Honore Lachaille:
I was afraid I'd meet my brother and sister-in-law.
Gaston:
You would have.
Honore Lachaille:
I have to tell you... your parents bore me to death.
Gaston:
Me too.
Honore Lachaille:
But I've known them longer, so they've been boring me longer.
Manuel:
Listen to your uncle, Monsieur Gaston. He's an old campaigner.
Gaston:
[Gaston has just broken off with Liane] I've been weighing the idea of going to the country for a while.
Honore Lachaille:
You mean, leave Paris?
Gaston:
Yes. Why not?
Honore Lachaille:
Why not? That's the one thing you mustn't do. Do you want people to think you're despondent? Disturbed? If you leave, they will, you know. No, no. That would be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. No, no, no. For the next few weeks, you should be out every night. Maxim's, Moulin Rouge, Pre Catalan.
Gaston:
The Pre Catalan is closed.
Honore Lachaille:
Open it! You must be carefree. Devil-may-care. A different girl every night. Keep them guessing who's next. Play the game. Be gay, extravagant, outrageous!
Gigi:
Gaston, how are you? You look all in.
Gaston:
Is your grandmother home?
Gigi:
Yes, she is. Is that gold?
Gaston:
The handle, yes.
Gigi:
You must be very rich to have a gold handle on your cane.
Gigi:
Look, Gaston. Four yards of material in the skirt. Well, don't I look great ladyish?
Gaston:
You look like an organ-grinder's monkey!
Gigi:
An organ-grinder's monkey?
Gaston:
What happened to your little Scotch dress? - - And that ridiculous collar!
Gigi:
And what's wrong with that collar?
Gaston:
It makes you look like a giraffe with a goiter.
Gigi:
With all the talk there is about you, Gaston, I've never heard it said you had any taste in clothes.
Gaston:
[seeing Gigi dressed up] You look like a giraffe with a goiter.
Gigi:
Why did he fly off the handle? He knew I'd answer him back.
Gigi:
I don't know what you want. You told Grandmama...
Gaston:
I know what I told your grandmother. We don't have to repeat it. Just tell me simply what you don't want... and tell me what you do want.
Gigi:
Do you mean that?
Gaston:
Of course.
Gigi:
You told Grandmama that you wanted to take care of me.
Gaston:
To take care of you beautifully.
Gigi:
Beautifully. That is, if I like it. They've pounded into my head I'm backward for my age... but I know what all this means. To take care of me beautifully means I shall go away with you... and that I shall sleep in your bed.
Gaston:
Please, Gigi. I beg of you, you embarrass me.
Gigi:
You weren't embarrassed to talk to Grandmama about it. And Grandmama wasn't embarrassed to talk to me about it. But I know more than she told me. To take care of me means that I shall have my photograph in the papers. That I shall go to the Riviera. To the races at Deauville. And when we fight, it will be in all the columns the next day. And then you'd give me up, as you did with InÈs des CÈvennes.
Gaston:
Who's been filling your head with all these old stories? How do you know about that?
Gigi:
Why shouldn't I know? You're world famous. I know about the woman who stole from you; the Contessa who wanted to shoot you; the American who wanted to marry you. I know what everybody knows.
Gaston:
These aren't the things we have to talk about together. That's all in the past, over and done with.
Gigi:
Yes, Gaston. Until it begins again.
Audio/visual unsynchronized: As Gigi enters Maxim's, the patrons are all mouthing the lyrics to a song that is not heard (due to editing changes).
Continuity: Aunt Alicia puts the green jar on the table twice: she reaches to put the jar down, the camera cuts to the same scene at an angle, and she reaches again.
Continuity: At the ice rink, the only couple that includes a skating instructor are dressed slightly differently than Liane and the instructor. He appears to have a black hat on and she a large black bow on her hat. These items have disappeared when we see a close up of them skating.
Crew or equipment visible: There is a large mirror in the background in the aunt's private chamber, and film and sound equipment and wiring are reflected in it.
Continuity: When Gaston comes to talk with Grandmother, he sits down and unbuttons his jacket. The camera turns to her, and back, he stands up, his jacket has magically buttoned itself, and he once again unbuttons it!
Continuity: When Gigi's grandmother tells Gaston why Gigi cannot go out with him, he unbuttons his vest as they sit down on the sofa. It is shown to be unbuttoned during their conversation. When he rises, however, it is buttoned and he unbuttons it again.
Version of
Gigi (1925)
Gigi (1949)
Edited into
Origine du XXIème siècle, L' (2000)
Referenced in
"What's My Line?: (1964-04-26)" (1964)
- Bennett Cerf tells Louis Jourdan that he thinks that "Gigi" is still the best musical ever made.
The Lion Roars Again (1975)
"Saturday Night Live: Peter Cook & Dudley Moore/Neil Sedaka (#1.11)" (1976)
- A skit revolves around a jailhouse production of Gigi
"Saturday Night Live: Ralph Nader/George Benson (#2.11)" (1977)
- mentioned during Youth Asks The Questions
Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
"Punky Brewster: Miss Adorable (#1.9)" (1984)
- Andy sings "Thank Heaven For Little Girls," a song from this musical.
"The Darling Buds of May: A Breath of French Air: Part 1 (#1.5)" (1991)
- Ma Larkin talks about Louis Jourdan in Gigi
"Mystery Science Theater 3000: I Accuse My Parents (#6.7)" (1993)
- "invited the cast"
The Making of 'My Fair Lady' (1994) (V)
My Father the Hero (1994)
Guarding Tess (1994)
"Mystery Science Theater 3000: Bloodlust! (#7.7)" (1994)
- Servo: (singing) The night they invented champagne.
Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995) (TV)
Clueless (1995)
The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (1996)
Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
What a Glorious Feeling: The Making of 'Singin' in the Rain' (2002) (V)
Mini's First Time (2006)
- "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" is written on a blackmail photo, this is the title of a song from this movie
The Beales of Grey Gardens (2006)
- Edie tells about a conversation that she and Lois had about Gigi
Featured in
That's Entertainment! (1974)
That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)
Precious Images (1986)
"MGM: When the Lion Roars" (1992) (mini)
The 65th Annual Academy Awards (1993) (TV)
That's Entertainment! III (1994)
Musicals Great Musicals: The Arthur Freed Unit at MGM (1996) (TV)
Wag the Dog (1997)
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions (2002) (TV)
The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003) (TV)
The 100 Greatest Musicals (2003) (TV)
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs (2004) (TV)
- Showing Top Songs