TCM just showed Gigi again on Sunday. I like Leslie Caron more and more every time I see her nowadays. Apart from An American in Paris, I think her biggest hits were movies named after a character she played where the name is a repeated two-letter first-syllable beginning with a consonant and ending in the letter “I”: Gigi, and Lili. These were so big for her, you’d think they would have stuck with the formula. That’s what Hollywood usually does! She could have made lots more of them: Bibi, Cici, Didi, Fifi, and Mimi. And if those did well too, then they could just make up new ones and just go down the alphabet, like: Hihi, Jiji, Nini, Pipi, Riri, Sisi, etc., all the way up to Zizi. Think of how much more famous she would be had they followed that plan! She might still be making them! (But they might have to round the alphabet again, with movies like Gigigigi, Lililili, etc. Or maybe just a different way of writing it, like giGi, or Gi Gi, or G.G. Who knows, maybe G.G. Allin was trying to follow her path to success!)
And I know what you’re thinking: Why not do this with An American in Paris instead? So then they could have made An American in Marseilles, An American in Cannes, An American in Monte Carlo, An American in Bordeaux, etc. Then, if they did well, they could have moved on to different countries. (Yes, I know Monte Carlo isn’t in France. I just put it in there to annoy French people.) And each time, Leslie Caron would be the love interest for Gene Kelly, who’s trying to make it as some artist or whatever in whichever city they’re in. He’s done a painter, so then he could be a failed sculptor, a failed photographer, a failed puppeteer, a failed ballet dancer, a failed poet, etc., all being chased by Nina Foch with a different accent in every city. It couldn’t have missed! Why didn’t they do it? (They’d do it today! No movies that makes money, or even those that don’t, are allowed to go sequel-less. It simply isn’t done!)
