For all the times I’ve driven by it, I can’t believe it took me this long to finally go inside the Hollywood Heritage Museum, located across from the Hollywood Bowl on Highland Avenue. Housed inside the oldest movie studio in Hollywood (1912), the museum’s collection is jaw-dropping. Since today is the anniversary of Judy Garland’s birth in 1922, part one of this post is squeaking by just in time! From the collection of Woolsey Ackerman comes this blouse worn in Garland’s 1944 classic, “Meet Me In St. Louis”:
When Judy’s character, Esther Smith, mistakenly beats up the boy next door (Tom Drake), she is wearing this blouse.
These shoes were worn by Garland in the same movie, primarily in the “Skip to my Lou” and “Under the Bamboo Tree” musical numbers.
The shoes can be seen in this still from the movie with Joan Carroll, Lucille Bremer, Garland, Henry H. Daniels Jr., and Margaret O’Brien:
It would seem that the jeweled bow was lost at some point over the years:
This blouse (part of the museum’s permanent collection) was worn in 1938’s “Everybody Sing” starring Judy:
Here’s the number that Garland performs while wearing the same schoolgirl outfit. It is one of my favorite early Garland MGM songs, “Swing Mr. Mendelssohn.”
Also from the Ackerman collection is this original Judy Garland “Wizard of Oz” Dorothy doll by the Ideal Toy Company:
Need more Oz? How about this extremely rare 1939 Scarecrow doll:
Later this week I’ll share more gems from my trip to this incredible Museum. See more Hollywood Heritage Museum photos at my main website.
