Wow, mousepod ... you are correct. I hadn't thought of that, and it never occurred to me when I first fell in love with Singin' in the Rain as a child. But it would have been obvious to anyone seeing it in 1952 that the songs were all real tunes from the period portrayed in the film (i.e., the late 1920's.)
Not all of those songs were big hits of their day (though two or three were certainly well-known). Moulin Rouge went for very popular songs, not selected for the vanity of its producer (Arthur Freed used a bunch of his own songs from the '20s when he produced 'Singin' in the Rain' in the 50's).
But what a cool pedigree these two movies share. Just shy of fifty years apart, and two of the Best Movie Musicals of All Time!
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