Judy Garland: We Saw Your Face!

In the 1954 Garland film, “A Star is Born,” there are many moments of self-deprecating humor. NOBODY did that better than Judy! In this particular scene, her character (Esther Blodgett) is on set at the Oliver Niles Studio. Serving as a stand-in for the star, Esther is dressed in a luxurious mink coat, pampered over by wardrobe and makeup as she prepares for her first scene. The director coaches her just before the cameras roll: “Alright, now you know what I want, Esther. Put your arm out the window like this and you say ‘goodbye.’ It’s farewell, Esther, so give it all that you got!” Things start out well enough as Esther follows the directions to the letter:



In her excitement, Esther forgets that only the hand and arm should be visible to the camera. Her face peeks out the window and one of the crew shouts, “We saw her face!” causing filming to halt.



The director angrily admonishes her after she ruins the first take, “Just the arm and the hand; I don't want to see your face!” In the following takes, Esther cowers back in the seat to avoid being seen. Even through just the waving hand gesture, Garland conveys the despondency of her character who knows full well that this bit part will do nothing in propelling her to stardom.



In this publicity still, we see that gorgeous face that still brings joy to millions.



See more Judy Garland photos at my main website.

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.

When My Sugar Walks Down The Street

Judy Garland's 1954 "A Star is Born" is almost as famous for the uproar caused by the roughly 30 minutes that were trimmed from it AFTER the movie had debuted across the country. Warner Brother executives felt that the greater amount of times the movie could be shown (thanks to the deletions) would mean higher profits. Their strategy backfired, and the sales of the movie trailed off when the public wasn't as enamored with the less compelling film that resulted. Here is a still from one of the musical segments removed after the first preview, "When My Sugar Walks Down The Street." During the "Born in a Trunk" sequence, Garland's character learns that her mother has passed away and she must fill mama's shoes on the stage, singing and dancing this joyous tune while silently mourning her loss. That's showbiz folks.



Judy Judy Judy and more Judy at my main website.

Happy Birthday, Judy!

In honor of what would have been her 94th birthday, today's post is a tribute to Judy Garland. Although she didn't sing a note or look her most glamorous, Judy tore up the screen with a memorable performance in 1961's "Judgment at Nuremberg." Nominated for an Oscar, Garland is shown here with director Stanley Kramer.

This closeup view could yield many memorable captions!



More Judy at my main website.

Happy 90th Birthday, Judy Garland!

In honor of what would have been Judy Garland's 90th birthday, I'm posting a few seldom seen shots of her from 1965.

Videotaped on July 9, 1965 at NBC Television Studios in Burbank, "The Andy Williams Show" had Judy opening the show with "On A Wonderful Day Like Today" (with Andy).



In addition, she sang "Get Happy," and a medley with Williams consisting of "Why Don't We Do This More Often?", "On The Atchison, Topeka, And The Santa Fe," "Over The Rainbow," "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby," "You Made Me Love You," and "The Trolley Song." This episode aired on September 20, 1965. Here's the Trolley Song portion of the medley:





Guest star David McCallum, enjoying his fame from "Man From UNCLE" (also an NBC series), attempts to branch out as a song-and-dance man.



Can you imagine being in the audience for this?



The minimalist sets are very cool; yes, even thrift can be chic! As I so often say, less is more.



See more Judy Garland photos on my Judy Garland web page.

Screen Gem Saturdays: Perry & Judy

The February 28, 1966 episode of the Kraft Music Hall featured Perry Como, Judy Garland, and Bill Cosby. These four consecutively shot photos show Perry & Judy getting ready before the show actually started.



According to Scott Schecter's exhaustively researched book, "Judy Garland: The Day-By-Day Chronicle of a Legend," this episode was taped on February 20, 1966 in color. Unfortunately, only a black and white version survives today. Apparently Carol Burnett was in the audience during taping.



Judy sang a medley of "If You Feel Like Singing, Sing"/"It's A Grand Night for Singing" (with Perry and chorus); "What Now, My Love?"; "Just in Time"; "In My Baby's Loving Arms" (with Perry); a medley that included "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby"/"Over The Rainbow"/"The Man That Got Away" (a duet with Bill Cosby); "Bye, Bye, Blues"/"For Me and My Gal" (with Perry); and "Side by Side" with Como as well. For her solo, "What Now My Love?" Judy's gown was covered in feathers. During taping, she folded her arms and clucked, joking "If I have to wait any longer for this to start, I'll lay an egg in this dress!"



The review of this show from the Philadelphia Inquirer had this to say:

"Miss Garland, introduced as 'my little friend, Liza's mother,' was in good form…and scored in a 'singing' medley, in musical answers to Bill Cosby's clue-seeking questions, and i other ditties, alone and with her harmonious host."

See more Judy Garland photos on my Judy Garland web page.

Screen Gem Saturdays: Summer Stock Swan Song

Judy Garland's unintentional final film at MGM was "Summer Stock." Released in 1950, this light and frothy barnyard musical was definitely a step back as far as prestige goes for MGM's #1 musical star. Designed as a movie that could be easily filmed without taxing its troubled star too much, great pains were taken to make sure that the experience would be as pleasant as possible. Mickey Rooney was originally slated to be the romantic interest, but his star had already begun to descend while Judy's was still on the upswing, so Gene Kelly was hired instead.



Fighting an addiction to the pills she had grown accustomed to taking to help her lose weight, sleep, and then wakeup, Judy's body was physically exhausted. Throw in a troubled marriage, and the poor girl should have been on vacation, not filming a movie with strenuous dance routines.

Although the finished film is wonderful and still a treat to watch, Judy's fluctuating health is noticeable as her weight goes through a number of changes from scene to scene. At some points, she has some of the healthy weight that she'd picked up while resting and nursing herself back to normal.



In the "Get Happy" number, filmed as an afterthought when the rest of the movie was already in the can, Judy is extremely trim, making audiences wonder if this scene had been recycled from an earlier movie.



Judy's final publicity still sitting with the studio produced these two images; although looking slim and trim, she also seems to have lost a bit of the sparkle that she was known for. Filming back-to-back blockbuster musicals had taken its toll, and Judy was ready for a vacation.



Instead of a vacation, Judy was rushed into replacing a pregnant June Allyson in "Royal Wedding." Finally, her body gave out. Worn to exhaustion, the studio put her on suspension and in the end, depending upon who you believe, she was either fired or let out of her contract at her own request.



Her leaving of the studio may have been sad, but boy what an exit. The "Get Happy" number from "Summer Stock" is about as good as they get. Here is an Al Hirschfeld caricature of Judy wearing the tuxedo jacket ensemble that she sported in that scene.



See more Judy Garland photos on my Judy Garland web page.

Screen Gem Saturdays: Relaxing in Oz

"The Wizard of Oz" is one of the most beloved movies, and also the source of one of Hollywoods most desired collectibles, The Ruby Slippers. However, Judy Garland didn't wear the Ruby Slippers ALL the time. In this rehearsal shot, you can see Judy taking it easy by wearing a pair of what appears to be bedroom slippers.



Life is not always glamorous in Hollywood!

To follow-up on the Major's request from yesterday: I do have an alternative angle of the small world shot featuring one of the Little Pigs posing with me and my cousins. I believe it was taken on my brother's Polaroid camera.





See more Judy Garland photos on my Judy Garland web page.

Screen Gem Saturdays: Happy Belated Birthday, Judy!

Yesterday was the 89 anniversary of Judy Garland's birth. Despite the fact that she has a huge body of work for her brief 47 years, she will always be best remembered as Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" (1939). Many have attempted her signature song from that movie, "Over The Rainbow," but nobody has even come close to topping her heartfelt rendition.

Along with the effervescent Mickey Rooney, Judy was part of one of the most famous screen duos of all time. Here are the two MGM stars in 1941's "Babes on Broadway." Between 1939-1941, Rooney was the top box-office star, eclipsing even Clark Gable. Today though, Garland's star shines as bright (if not brighter) as it did back then, while Rooney's standing has definitely slipped. Why is that?



Garland's performances are timeless; her characters are still beloved today. As someone who never felt she quite measured up to her peers, Judy's performances radiated that heartbreaking vulnerability, endearing her to audiences even more.

"Meet Me In St. Louis" (1944), under the loving direction of her soon-to-be-husband Vincente Minnelli, was her first truly adult role. 60+ years later it is still great entertainment, despite its simplistic plot revolving around the day-to-day machinations of a family who might be uprooted (albeit briefly) from their home in St. Louis for a new life in New York City. Racy stuff, indeed! Here, Judy lovingly observes the World's Fair with Tom Drake:



This postcard shows Judy in period costume as a Harvey Girl waitress in 1946's "The Harvey Girls." Her rousing rendition of "On The Atchison Topeka & The Santa Fe" propelled it to Oscar-winning glory.



Despite these career highs, Judy is also known for a number of bumps along the way. One wonders of all the fantastic things she could have done with the role of Annie Oakley in the musical "Annie Get Your Gun" (1949) if she had been well enough to finish the film. Here she is, looking lost in a costume test:



"A Star Is Born," the 1954 musical directed by George Cukor, is almost as well known for what was cut from it as it is for what still survives. Here's a still from the "Lose That Long Face" number that was deleted shortly after release so that the film could be shown more times per day. Fortunately, the majority of the cut footage has been found and reinstated.



"The Valley of the Dolls," 1967, most certainly would not have earned Judy an Oscar, but it would have been a delicious dollop of campy fun. All that survives of her brief time on the project are a few costume tests, a few minutes of footage, and a lackluster Andre Previn song, "I'll Plant My Own Tree."



What actually happened during filming is still up for debate. According to Modern Screen Magazine's August 1967 issue: "There would be mornings, and gradually there became too many of them, when the assistant director would knock on the door of her elaborate dressing room suite and call, 'Miss Garland…they're waiting for you on the set. Rehearsals are starting….' No answer from within. 'Judy! Are you all right?' he'd call again. No answer. The assistant would try the door. It was locked. Yet the workers at 20th Century-Fox knew she was there. She had been checked through the car entrance perhaps hours before. Puzzled, bewildered, the assistant would report back to the Valley of the Dolls company that Judy was 'unavailable.'"



The last photo for today is a shot of Judy in Chicago at the Ambassador Hotel, September 13, 1967, posing with her son, Joey Luft.



Here's a painting I did, based on an image used on the back cover of Gerold Frank's outstanding biography of Judy:



See more Judy Garland photos at my main website.

Screen Gem Saturdays: Judy at The Thunderbird

Judy Garland had a rep for not being reliable when it came to her performances. If you’ve ever seen Scott Schecter’s exhaustive day-by-day accounting of her life, you’d be exhausted just reading all of the engagements she DID show up for in her short 47 year life.

The on again, off again appearance of Judy Garland at the Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas took place on schedule as the veteran singing star opened to a standing ovation last night (6/15/65). The speculation was occasioned by two Garland illnesses within two weeks, first in Cincinnati and then in Los Angeles just hours before she was due on stage for the much publicized Thunderbird engagement.


Here are two 1965 photos showing some Judy fans posing in front of the marquee at The Thunderbird.





To see more Judy Garland photos, visit my main website.

Screen Gem Saturdays: The Wizard of Oz

It’s definitely one of my favorite movies; the ethereal glow of Technicolor, the memorable music, the terrifying witch, and the pitch-perfect performance of Judy Garland who anchors the entire film. Each time it has been released on home video, I have been right there with my wallet: from bootleg, to VHS, to DVD, to Ultra-Resolution DVD, and most recently in High Definition on Blu-ray. The screen captures look amazing; plenty of film grain, bright colors, and razor-sharp detail (maybe just a bit too sharp...especially when it comes to the hairs on Margaret Hamilton’s chin!).





In the original book by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy’s shoes were silver; today, the original ruby-version manufactured for MGM back in 1938 can fetch close to $1 million. Would they have caused as much of a collecting furor if they had stayed silver? Even reproductions can fetch $500-$1000 each. And just where the heck would you wear them?!?





How many have marveled over the transition from sepia to technicolor when the movie goes from Kansas to Oz? Whether it was a creative or cost-cutting decision, it is still magical. The colors of Munchkinland leap off the screen even more because our eyes have been conditioned to the drab pallette of Kansas beforehand. Judy’s facial expression says it all:



Judy Garland is such perfection in this movie that not only is it hard to imagine anyone else in the role (even adorable Shirley Temple), but hard to imagine her as a blond Dorothy. That’s right; as this early publicity photo shows, Judy Garland was originally dolled up with a big slab of makeup and curly blond locks. Famous Hollywood Director George Cukor (assigned to the project for a very short time) left a lasting legacy on this 1939 classic by demanding that Judy have her plastic face removed so that she would be the one real element in the film—and boy was that a fantastic judgment call. Almost makes up for him screwing up Marilyn Monroe’s unfinished film “Something’s Got To Give.” Almost.





A few other things changed along the way as well; one was the original casting of Buddy Ebsen as the Tinman. Breathing in the aluminum dust used in his makeup caused Ebsen to have to spend time recovering in an iron lung, giving Jack Haley the opportunity to take over the role and join Garland, Bolger, and Lahr in cinema immortality. Here’s one of the scenes Ebsen filmed before getting ill:



This elaborate musical number featured in the photograph below occurred after the Witch is killed and our favorite quartet triumphantly returns to the Emerald City. The movie was already too long, and this reprise of “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” was trimmed. A 1949 theatrical trailer actually has a brief clip (with sound) showcasing this segment.



See more “The Wizard of Oz” photos at my main website.