'Gigi' is still sweet

Five decades ago, Leslie Caron had no inkling that "Gigi" would become a legendary movie musical whose legacy is going strong today.

She remembers it well.

Caron was 26, a top star at MGM and mother of 3-month-old Christopher, when she flew to Paris the summer of 1957 to begin work on the lavish romantic film, considered today the studio's last great musical.

"I had to wean my son to start the film," she says. "I brought him to Paris with me."

In retrospect, Caron, 77, speaking by phone from her home in Paris, says, "It's really amazing when you make a film like that.

"It's nice and lovely and you're having a great time, but you never think it's going to be mentioned or screened 50 years later.

"It never occurs to you."

"Gigi," based on the popular 1945 story by Colette, revolves around a young Parisian courtesan-in-training whose platonic friendship with a playboy blossoms into romance.

Directed by Vincente Minnelli and featuring an original score by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe of "My Fair Lady" renown, "Gigi" also starred Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold. The film swept the Academy Awards, winning nine, including best film, director and song ("Gigi').

Caron, who was discovered at 19 by Gene Kelly to star opposite him in 1951's "An American in Paris," will be discussing "Gigi" on Friday with critic Stephen Farber at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The evening culminates with a screening of a new digital restoration of "Gigi."

If you miss her at the academy, Caron will also be appearing this weekend at the American Cinematheque's Aero Theatre. She'll be the guest of honor Saturday evening at the inaugural Santa Monica Puppetry Festival; and Sunday night, Caron will be in a discussion with film historian Leonard Maltin after a screening of her charming 1953 film "Lili," about a young orphan who ends up working in a puppet show in a traveling carnival.

The film earned Caron's first best actress Oscar nomination. Though she didn't receive an Oscar nomination for "Gigi," her performance as the naive schoolgirl who is transformed into a sophisticated woman is considered one of her finest.

The film reunited Caron with her "American in Paris" director Minnelli. "I adored him," Caron says. "He called me 'Angel,' and that was enough. He was so sensitive and had such an elegance and rhythm."