By Paul Miller
When the star of Singing in the Rain, Debbie Reynolds, broke up with Eddie Fisher in 1959, her home insurance rates went up on the theory that: “there is more safety when there’s a man about the house.”
Her co-stars in the film had perhaps, a more positive view of insurance as they frequently used it to gain publicity. Gene Kelly for example, insured his legs at Lloyd’s, against risk of injury, for $1,000,000. A similar policy was taken out for Cyd Charisse by MGM. They insured hers in 1952 for $5,000,000, making them the most valuable legs in the world.
Underwriters at Lloyds have, since around 1910, put together policies that cover financial loss caused by the cancellation of an outdoor event due to rain. They became widely-known after many business owners took them out for the day of the coronation of George V and his wife Mary. At a 20% rate, underwriters issued a policy that would: “pay a total loss only in the event of .20 of an inch of rain falling between midnight on the 22nd of June and midnight on the 23rd June, 1911.” They were purchased by shopkeepers and by those with seats to let for the occasion. Many were also bought by ladies who had “spent quite amazing sums on their coronation frocks.”
One rain claim was paid by Lloyd’s in 1921 to Duchess Decazes, organiser of the Fete Bagatelle in Paris. Her policy stated that: “all expenses would be paid by Lloyd’s if the observers stationed at the top of the Eiffel Tower noted more than two millimetres of rain after eleven o’clock in the morning.” At 6pm, the rainfall was officially reported at three and a half millimetres. A claim of 500,000 francs was duly paid.
Amateur golfers were buying Golfer’s Combination policies from Lloyd’s throughout the 1920s that included rain coverage. One syndicate that underwrote these was the firm of Cornwall & Stevens. Mr. Cornwall said in 1923: “A man can estimate what a game is worth to him and take out an insurance policy to cover any loss due to weather.” Also insured against rain was the 1974 fight between Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier, for which, over $20,000 was spent on a $500,000 policy.
A Connecticut politician also covered himself against the weather in the 1960s. He decided that if rain kept enough voters away from the polls to ruin his hopes of office, he would at least be compensated. He bought a policy that promised payment it rained more than two-tenths of an inch on election day. It rained. However, he won the election and the Connecticut General Insurance Co. avoided paying out.
Perhaps the most expensive shower for underwriters came in the sixties during production of the film Dr. Doolittle. 20th Century Fox had insured against rain interrupting the shooting in St. Lucia and London, but soon after shooting began, St. Lucia ran into its worst rain in 40 years, while London’s weather was typical. The rain cost the film’s insurers $200,000 – calculated as $150,000 for St. Lucia and $50,000 for London.
