I don't recall if one of those "film historians" mentioned if the Chevalier role had been present before, but the gist of it was that his presence, along with his "Gigi" co-star Louis Jourdan, necessitated giving them musical numbers and to build up Chevalier's part in particular. Of course, and this is me speaking, not the film historians, in the original, Jourdan's role was the male lead, but that had to be rethought and songs redistributed since Frank Sinatra was top-billed. |