Judy Garland and The San Diego Rabbit Hole

One of my very favorite Judy Garland dance numbers is “When The Midnight Choo Choo Leaves For Alabam” with Fred Astaire from Easter Parade. She matches the master step for step, and her joy and exuberance during the entire dance keep your eyes focused on her, not Astaire.



I recall reading many years ago that actor/dancer Bobby Van (part of Garland’s 1958 Town and Country Club engagement) had told Judy that “Alabam” was one of his favorite numbers. Garland proceeded to perform the intricate number without skipping a beat, even though the film had been made over ten years before. I attempted to find the story and looked through all my Garland books (I do have a few!) and could not locate it. I hate when that happens! I couldn’t find the anecdote online, either, but in searching for it, I discovered something else. Garland performed in San Diego July 8-9, 1955 at the Russ Auditorium, located inside the old San Diego High School. Sadly, the building no longer exists. I hate when that happens, too!

Naturally, I went down a rabbit hole, wanting to know more about the Russ Auditorium. In doing so, I found this clip (no sound) showing Judy in rehearsal:



A program for Bill Robinson’s 1946 performance at the Russ:



Ray Charles:



Here’s what the auditorium looked like:



The exterior of the old San Diego High School, affectionately known as “The Old Gray Castle”:



A 1949 photo of my Dad in front of the High School when he was part of the cheerleading squad. Anyone able to figure out which one he is?



Thanks for the rabbit hole, Judy!

UPDATE! Judy expert supreme John Fricke was kind enough to have this info forwarded to me. Apparently my memory is on the fritz; it was Ken Berry, not Bobby Van, who was taught “Alabam” by Judy:

[Ken Berry] shyly approached Judy at a party circa 1963 (after one of the Billy Barnes revues in which he performed and of which she was a fan). He told her how much he loved that “Easter Parade” routine — and how, once a year on Easter, he’d watch the film on TV. Each time, he said, he’d try to memorize a little more of it. Judy asked him if he wanted to learn it, got up from the conversational circle of people with whom they’d been talking, and (fifteen years after the fact) taught him the steps. Decades after that party, when Ken was working on the “Mama’s Family” TV series, there was an episode wherein Mama (Vicki Lawrence) organized a group of senior citizen women into a performing troupe. [The episode was called “Mama’s Girls” and originally aired on February 6, 1988] Their show grew out of meeting at a dance class, earlier in the program, where Vicki and Dorothy Van (playing Cousin Effie) spontaneously lead several others in a spirited “Midnight Choo Choo.” The vocal arrangement and choreography (credited in the show crawl to Ken Berry) was pretty much that of “Easter Parade”!

See more Judy Garland photos at my main website.