n the summer of 1957 the cast and crew gathered in Paris to begin principal photography on Gigi. The launch party was held at one of Paris' most famous restaurants, Maxim's, where Minnelli would later shoot some of the film's most memorable scenes.

Gigi began shooting on location in Paris during the late summer of 1957. It was important to both Vincente Minnelli and production designer Cecil Beaton that the film capture the spirit of Paris and be faithful to the turn-of-the-century period in which the story was set. Minnelli intended to shoot certain scenes in some of Paris' most famous locations including the Palais de Glace, Maxim's, and the Bois de Boulogne.

As he often did with his films, Minnelli looked toward the art world for inspiration on how each scene should look. He found inspiration in the work of French caricaturist Sem whose sketches had been admired by Colette herself when she was writing the original characters in Gigi. For the opening sequence in the Bois du Boulogne he looked to the work of artist Constantin Guys. Boudin's work served as the inspiration for the beach sequences in Gigi. In addition, Minnelli also threw in some Art Nouveau to represent the character of Honoré Lachailles. "Our reasoning for using the influence in the settings," said Minnelli in his 1974 autobiography I Remember It Well, "was to show how avant garde Chevalier's character would be, using the brand-new style in his bachelor digs."

While most of the Gigi shoot went smoothly, there were a few difficulties, beginning with the trouble associated with shooting on location. "The hazards of weather, traffic, sound pollution, and television antennas, added to the difficulty of obtaining police permits, were nearly insurmountable," remembered Leslie Caron in her 2009 memoir Thank Heaven. "...the scenes in the Bois de Boulogne were hellishly difficult to film; there was so much traffic - carriages, promenading crowds, everything coming and going in complex motion. We had to repeat the shots many, many times."

Caron described filming inside Maxim's as a "nightmare." Minnelli was given only a few days to get the important shots he needed inside Paris' most famous restaurant. It was a beautiful but tight space, and it had the added challenge of its signature mirrors along the walls, which could easily reflect the cameras and lights if the crew wasn't careful. "From the sidewalk entrance to the dining area, the space was crowded like an anthill," said Leslie Caron, "full of technicians trying to set up the lamps, the black flags, the cables and sound equipment-a constant flow of ladies in evening dresses with hats bigger than the waiters' trays, makeup artists wiping the sweat off the gentlemen's brows, the blaring playback music drowning all else, adding to the confusion."

Another unexpected problem emerged while shooting a particular scene in Gigi involving actor Jacques Bergerac. His character, who is having an affair with Gaston's paramour Liane (Eva Gabor), is supposed to be an expert ice skating instructor. There was a very important scene between Bergerac and Gabor that was scheduled to be filmed at the Palais de Glace at 9:00 A.M. one morning. Cameras were all set to roll when a significant detail was revealed: Bergerac couldn't skate. "...the cameras never turned. No filming began," said Alan Jay Lerner in his 1978 autobiography The Street Where I Live. "Unfortunately, no one had asked Jacques Bergerac if he knew how to skate. Because no one had asked him if he could, Jacques never asked if he had to. If they had or he had, they would have discovered that the closest Bergerac had ever been to ice was opening the Frigidaire." To deal with this unexpected twist, the crew quickly came up with a device for Bergerac to wear while he was on ice skates that would prevent him from falling. The device meant that Bergerac could only be shot from the waist up. While the original scene ultimately had to be cut way down due to these limitations, Minnelli was finally able to get what he needed on camera.

Relationships among cast members during the making of Gigi were positive and professional, though some people found that Maurice Chevalier could be somber and demanding at times while Leslie Caron found Chevalier to be aloof. "His attitude seemed to be, 'You know me on the screen, but you don't really know me at all,'" said Caron according to the 1993 biography The Good Frenchman: The True Story of the Life and Times of Maurice Chevalier. One crew member added, "He was grumpy. He made his demands - whether for a chair in the shade, a sandwich, or a glass of water - imperiously. He never acknowledged the existence of the crew."

Still, others on the set found Chevalier to be a charming man who was conscientious, worked hard and took his role very seriously. "Maurice was the infinite professional: always punctual, always courteous, always frank, always encouraging, always working header than everyone else," said Alan Lerner.

Leslie Caron enjoyed working with co-star Louis Jourdan, though he could sometimes be a challenge. "Louis Jourdan, one of the handsomest men in Hollywood, was not comfortable with his image, yet his wit and self-deprecating humor were rare and unique...," said Caron in her autobiography. "He tended to express his angst with constant negative comments about Minnelli's staging, but instead of having it out with Vincente, he poured his grudges out on me. I was quite exhausted to hear, every time the camera stopped, his litany of grievances."

Caron found her female co-stars more enjoyable to work with. "Hermione Gingold was nothing like her stern character in the film," she said. "Irreverent, naughty, and fun, she had a great appetite for life, like a cat lapping up a bowl of milk." Caron also loved Isabel Jeans, who played her Aunt Alicia in the film. "Isabel Jeans was sweet and very disciplined," she said. "She never undid her corset at lunchtime like we all did, and she kept the straight back of a real pro from morning to night."

The lines in the script that had so worried the Production Code office (The Gigi-Gaston exchange about the obvious expectations of a courtesan's sponsor) were finally shot. The PCA had agreed to wait and see how the scene played before making a final decision about whether or not the lines would have to be removed from the film. Luckily, there was no problem. "Leslie Caron spoke the line so innocently," said Vincente Minnelli, "that the code administrator's office withdrew its objections."

Filming wrapped on Gigi in October of 1957. As it went into post-production, Vincente Minnelli realized what a toll making Gigi had taken on him. "Gigi...so involved me that when it was over I discovered I'd lost thirty-five pounds during the filming," he said. Sadly, the production of Gigi had also seen the end of his marriage to second wife Georgette. As Leslie Caron discovered, Minnelli was a man completely dedicated to his work. "Vincente Minnelli was a driven man," she said. "In a trance for the duration of the film, he heard and saw nothing around him."

While Leslie Caron had already pre-recorded her Gigi songs using her own voice, it soon became apparent during post-production that it was not going to be good enough. Her singing would have to be dubbed. As Alan Lerner recounted in his autobiography, "Leslie is not only a superb dancer but a fine actress, and so it is not a criticism of her talent to say that her singing voice is not up to scratch, or if you will, too much up to scratch. To put it bluntly, it was not a pretty noise. Unfortunately she did not hear it that way. In the land of the stars, the gift for auditory illusion is not uncommon...There was no question she had to be dubbed...Arthur [Freed] was in complete agreement but like so many executives he was incapable of telling one of his stars something he or she did not wish to hear."

The unfortunate job of telling Caron that she was being dubbed finally fell to music supervisor and conductor André Previn. When he finally told her, Caron was dumbfounded. "I was destroyed by this piece of news," she admitted in her autobiography. "It is true that I didn't have a trained voice, but my pitch was very true, and I had worked hard..." According to Alan Lerner, Caron was nonplussed. "She was furious and doubly so because she had not been forewarned," he said. In the end it was a singer named Betty Wand who dubbed Caron's voice in Gigi. According to Lerner, Caron made a point to be present at Wand's recording sessions. "She was there, she told André, to supervise the recording and to make certain that every line would be sung with her intention and her motivation," he said. Still, Caron was never pleased with Wand's interpretation. "To this day," she said, "the childish cuteness of Ms. Wand and her artificial French accent hurt my ears."

In January 1958 Gigi was finally ready and a sneak preview was held at a theater in Santa Barbara. Alan Lerner was disappointed with what he saw. "The picture was twenty minutes too long," he said, "the action was too slow, the music too creamy and ill-defined, and there must have been at least five minutes...of people walking up and down stairs. To Fritz and me it was a very far cry from all we had hoped for, far enough for us both to be desperate." While the feedback from the sneak preview audience was generally positive, Lerner and Loewe felt strongly that many improvements could be made with the film. They felt at the very least that some re-writing would be necessary and the "I Remember It Well" number would have to be completely re-done.

Lerner and Loewe approached producer Arthur Freed with their concerns and suggested what needed to be fixed. The changes, Freed told them, would cost $330,000. He wasn't optimistic that MGM would agree to pick up the bill.

Lerner and Loewe scheduled a meeting with MGM executive Benny Thau. When Thau said no, the pair offered to buy 10% ownership of Gigi for $300,000. MGM, who was not convinced that major changes were needed with the film, refused. Then, the pair took a drastic measure-they offered to buy the actual print of Gigi for $3 million. MGM didn't know it at the time, but the move was a bluff. "[Head of MGM Joe] Vogel, Thau and Arthur [Freed] turned to stone...," said Lerner. "Fritz and I did not have $3 million, did not know where we would get three million dollars, and if Joe Vogel agreed, had no idea what in God's name we were going to do."

After talking privately, the MGM executives returned to the room. "[Vogel] was deeply impressed by our sincerity and faith in the film," said Lerner. "He was also deeply impressed with the success of My Fair Lady. And if we both felt as strongly as we did, the studio had no alternative but to put up the necessary $300,000." The gamble had paid off.

According to Lerner, the changes made to Gigi included a new director, Charles Walters, re-shooting the "I Remember It Well" number with Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold. Walters had to be used since Vincente Minnelli was already busy with his next film, The Reluctant Debutante (1958). Two scenes in Gigi's house were re-written and re-shot, again by Walters, and the musical score was gone over with a fine-tooth comb. "Fritz went over all the orchestrations with André from the lion's roar at the very beginning to the final frame before 'The End'," said Lerner. "André was in total agreement with Fritz's concept of a small orchestra, and the entire film was re-orchestrated." They desperately wanted Gigi to be a success. "The picture was gone over inch by inch in the projection room and every unnecessary line or visual effect was deleted...For that kind of painstaking work I have never known anyone with better judgment or a more unerring eye than Arthur Freed. It was here that he was at his most creative and most positive."

After several weeks of making these changes, a new and improved Gigi was ready to be previewed again. This time, according to Lerner, audiences didn't just like the film, they embraced it and applauded at the end.

by Andrea Passafiume