Posted by “Judy Garland – Mistress of Melody/Star of Stars”
– “Hollywood Palace” advertisement
May 7, 1924: The musical comedy “Mary” was performed on this date in Hibbing, Minnesota. As this notice from April 27 notes, Judy’s mom, Ethel Gumm, directed a version of it in their nearby hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. It’s unclear if Ethel also directed this Hibbing version, but she most likely did. The two towns weren’t very far from each other.
May 7, 1934: Judy and her sisters, as “The Gumm Sisters” continued their engagement at the Million Dollar Theater in Los Angeles, California.
May 7, 1937: A milestone in Judy’s career. She pre-recorded “(Dear Mr. Gable) You Made Me Love You” for her MGM feature film debut in Broadway Melody of 1938.
“You Made Me Love You” Take 3
“You Made Me Love You” Tag Only – Take 1
“You Made Me Love You” Tag Only – Take 2
“You Made Me Love You” Final Version
“You Made Me Love You” Stereo Version
On February 1, 1937, Judy performed the song at Clark Gable’s thirty-sixth birthday party, held on the set of his film Parnell. At this point, the number had some different specialty lyrics (provided by Roger Edens) that were industry-centric and poked gentle fun at the news about an attempt by a woman to extort money from Gable. The woman had been arrested for the extortion attempt. She claimed that Gable, going by the name “Frank Morris,” had fathered her illegitimate child while visiting England in 1922. None of it was true; Gable had never been to England. The press printed the letter she sent Gable via MGM, which began “Dear Frank.” Edens rewrote the Bernie routine as “Dear Mr. Gable,” poking gentle fun at the incident, made more amusing by the fact that Garland was just a year older than the fictional Gable daughter.
Judy’s performance at Gable’s party was so impressive that she was taken that same evening to the Trocadero for her first public performance of the song. The lyrics we now know were added before Judy’s rendition of the song at an MGM dinner/dance on February 22nd.
The song has been remixed into true stereo. Listen to that version here:
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Broadway Melody of 1938 here.
Be sure to get the 2022 release “Judy at 100 – 26 Classics in Stereo!” which features new TRUE stereo remasters of many Garland hits!
May 7, 1939: Another day of recording the score of The Wizard Of Oz. Judy was not a part of this session.
Scene #2543 – “At The Gates of Emerald City” – Take 3
Scene #2544 – “Magic Smoke Chords” – Take 1
Scene 2545 – “Terrified Lion” – Take 2
Scene 2546 – “I Was Floating Through Space” & “Balloon Ascension” – Take 2
Scene 2547 – “Balloon Ascension” – Bar 5 – Takes 1 through 6
Scene 2548 – “Change of Guard” – Take 1
Scene 2548 – “Change of Guard” – Take 2
Scene 2549 – “Wizard’s Exit” – Takes 1 through 3
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
May 7, 1940: This wonderfully colorized photo of Judy and Mickey Rooney was published in “Look” magazine. The photo is one of several taken of Judy and Mickey in August of 1939 as they were “rushing to catch the train” heading east to New York and their appearances at the premiere of The Wizard of Oz.
May 7, 1951: This photo was taken of Judy as she was leaving Northolt Airport via the BEA Viking for Paris. Judy was taking a well-deserved holiday after her successful return to the stage at London’s Palladium. She traveled with her secretary and her makeup artist, Dottie Ponedel, who had been with Judy since first working with her in 1943 on Meet Me In St. Louis.
Note the crop marks on the photo. Those are there because this is a press photo that the newspaper marked for cropping when published (these were the pre-digital years, after all!).
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
Also, on this day, John Crosby included this blurb about the Bing Crosby (no relation) radio show, referencing how great Judy and Bing were when they appeared on the show together.
May 7, 1965: Judy returned to the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago, Illinois. She had previously appeared at the venue in 1962. Although she was plagued with vocal issues, she still received good reviews, and the show was a success. It was scheduled for 10 p.m., and the top ticket price was $10 (!!). Judy was paid $29,000 for this performance. The Allen Brothers provided an 18-minute opening act before Judy’s one-hour show.
Here is a zip file of MP3s of this performance.
May 7, 1966: Judy’s guest hostess appearance on “The Hollywood Palace” aired on ABC-TV. Judy taped the show on April 1st and on April 3rd. See the photo gallery below.
On April 1st, she taped “What The World Needs Now Is Love” and “Mr. and Mrs. Clown” (with Van Johnson). Because “What The World Needs Now Is Love” was a new song for Judy, it took her four takes before she got the lyrics correct and got a take that she thought was good enough. The intros to the acts were pretaped in advance, before the final taping in front of the studio audience.
The April 3rd taping consisted of Judy singing “Comes Once In A Lifetime” and “By Myself,” which were originally planned for taping on April 1st, but Judy was not in good shape so this follow-up taping was scheduled.
On April 27, 1966, columnist Sheilah Graham reported on Judy’s temperament while filming “The Hollywood Palace.”
May 7, 1966: The papers were filled with the news that Judy and Husband Number Four, Mark Herron, had announced that they were entering into a trial separation. Almost a year later, on April 11, 1967, Judy was granted a divorce from Herron, although it wouldn’t become final until February 11, 1969. Judy married her final husband, Mickey Deans, a month later, on March 15, 1969.
May 7, 1967: Here is an article explaining the Marie Torre case. In 1957, Torre wrote an article about Judy’s issues with CBS-TV and why she filed a lawsuit. Judy sued Torre, claiming that what Torre wrote was untrue. Torre was told to reveal her sources. She refused and ended up going to jail for contempt. The case went up to the Supreme Court, which declined a hearing. So the lower judgment stayed, and that’s when Torre served her jail time.
May 7, 1967: Judy taped her last primetime television appearance: “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to Hollywood,” an NBC-TV/Jack Paar special (her last US TV appearance was on “The Merv Griffin Show” on December 23, 1968).
“A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Hollywood” was videotaped in color at NBC’s Rockefeller Center, Studio 6B, in New York City, but only a B&W film print survives.
Judy was escorted by Sid Luft and Tom Green. She arrived at 6:20 p.m., and the taping started at 8 p.m. Judy was in good form but did not sound or look very well.
Several stories that Judy told were cut from the show: Judy told the story of Elvis pulling up in his car only a week before the taping to say he was a big fan but ignoring Paar, who was in the car with Judy; a “recreation” of her dance down the yellow brick road; the time she sang “God Bless America” on stage with a model who was made up as the Statue of Liberty but was so plastered she fell flat on her face while Judy was trying to sing the song!
The special aired on May 15, 1967.
