Posted by “The pretty actress with the pug-nose and saucer eyes proved to be a veteran trouper as she pulled out all the tricks of show business. She danced, clowned and chatted through her songs, telling stories of her travels. But most of all she gave the audience the Garland treatment – plenty of nostalgia and plenty of volume and emotion…” – Jean Rooney, “The Atlanta Constitution, 1961
April 13, 1935: “The Garland Sisters” (Judy and her sisters) performed at the B’nai B’rith Annual Midnight Matinee Benefit at Grauman’s Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California.
April 13, 1937: Judy’s weekly appearance on Jack Oakie’s “Oakie’s College” radio show broadcast on CBS Radio. Judy had only one song on this broadcast, “Blue Hawaii.” Other guests included Edward Everett Horton, the comedy team of Shaw and Lee (Al Shaw and Sam Lee), Georgie Stoll and his orchestra from Hollywood, and Benny Goodman “and his “swingsters” from the CBS theater in Manhattan.
Unfortunately, no recording of this show is known to exist, but we do have the transcript. Download the complete transcript of this show here (PDF).
Text for the clipping with the photo:
Today’s picture is of Judy Garland, little 14-or-15-or-16-year-old-or-somewhere-along-in-there-singer on Jack Oakie’s College, 9:30, WABC. She isn’t very old, but Sophie Tucker – THE Sophie Tucker – has nominated the girl as her successor to the title, “red hot mama” singer. You listed in tonight, and you’ll catch on to what Soph means.
April 13, 1938: Here’s a blurb that lets readers know that Judy had a deaf poodle and was allegedly training it via vibrations. It hasn’t been verified if Judy really had a deaf poodle or if this was another example of the MGM Publicity Department’s fanciful tales to keep stars’ names in the papers. It was most likely the latter.
Also shown above are photos of Judy and Deanna Durbin ready for scrapbook collectors to clip out.
April 13, 1939: An MGM recording session for some of the underscoring of The Wizard of Oz, including the “Intro to Rainbow” which is the intro music to Judy’s vocal of “Over the Rainbow.” Judy pre-recorded her vocal on October 7, 1938.
Listen to Takes 1 through 4 here:
Note: In 1995, when Rhino Records reissued the soundtrack remastered from the pre-recording sessions, they mistakenly used an alternate take of the “Intro to Rainbow.” All reissues of that soundtrack (both the deluxe and single-disc editions) feature this alternate take. The 2017 CD set “Soundtracks” corrected that error. Additionally, the “Soundtracks” remaster does not have that volume increase on the “where” in the second “somewhere.” That volume jump is a flaw resulting from the shoddy early-1990s remixing of the song that’s included in all of the Rhino CD releases (except the “Story and Songs” CD which was taken from the film’s soundtrack and not the pre-recording sessions).
Listen to the stereo version of “Over the Rainbow” with the correct intro here:
BONUS: Listen to the surviving takes for the other prerecordings made on this day.
2509 – “Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Dead” Insert 1 – Take 5:
2510 – “Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Dead” Insert 2 – Take 8:
2511 – “Good Fairy Vanishes – segue Follow Brick Road” – Take 5:
2512 – “The Great Wizard” – The audio for these 10-second takes is not known to exist.
2514 – “Miss Gulch” – Take 2:
2515 – “The Crystal Gazer” – Take 3:
Additional Bonus Track:
“The Crystal Gazer” remastered in stereo.
Also on this date was this early notice (lower right in the ad below) about the film placed by MGM in the trade magazine “Film Daily.”
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
April 13, 1939: Judy made a second appearance on the CBS “Tune-Up Time” radio show, broadcast out of New York where she was still appearing in person at Loew’s State, and other Loew’s theaters in the New York area. It’s unknown what Judy sang.
Also in the papers was this blurb about Judy losing a hat. The finder was offered a chance to see Judy’s performance and to meet her. There’s no word whether the hat was ever found.
April 13, 1940: “Picturegoer” magazine featured this nice colorization of an MGM studio portrait taken in 1939.
April 13, 1941: Here’s an article about bandleader Paul Whiteman, which includes this great photo of Whiteman with Judy and Mickey Rooney, in Strike Up The Band (released in 1940).
April 13, 1941: Ziegfeld Girl.
April 13, 1944: Judy posed with Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis and Charles Coburn at a reception given in Hollywood by Ira Gershwin and his wife. Davis, who was the highest-ranking black officer in the U.S. Army, was in Los Angeles for the premiere of The Negro Soldier at the Ambassador Theater.
In other news, not one but two Judy Garland planes were fighting Nazis in Italy.
April 13, 1945: The Harvey Girls filming continued on location in Chatsworth (at the time just outside of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley) on the “My Intuition” number (which was ultimately deleted). Time called: 10 a.m.; Judy arrived at 11 a.m.; dismissed: 2:35 p.m.
Per the assistant director’s notes: “No satisfactory take, but Judy refused to do another take as horse frightened her by moving too fast (horse was very fractious): compelled to do another setup using double.” A double of Judy, not the horse!
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Harvey Girls here.
Photos provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
April 13, 1946: Ziegfeld Follies of 1946.
April 13, 1949: Filming continued on Annie Get Your Gun, specifically scenes shot on the “Interior Pullman Car” and “U.S. Travel Montage” sets. Judy had a makeup call for 7 a.m.; due on the set at 9 a.m.; she arrived at 8:59 a.m.; lunch: 12:00-1:00 p.m.; time dismissed: 5:15 p.m.
None of the footage of these scenes is known to exist but we do have these costume tests that represent what Judy might have worn had the scenes been shot.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Annie Get Your Gun here.
April 13, 1954: A Star Is Born filming consisted of retakes of the carhop scenes shot at Stan’s Drive-In which was located at Sunset and Cahuenga, Los Angeles, California. Time started: 4 p.m.; finished: 8:35 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Extensive Spotlight on A Star Is Born here.
Photos provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
April 13, 1956: This photo was taken of Judy on the Southern Pacific “Lark” (train), on her way back to Los Angeles from San Francisco. She’s sporting the tape on her leg given to her by doctors after she aggravated a recently sprained ankle from dancing earlier in the evening. The original sprain probably happened while Judy was traversing one of the city’s many steep hills!
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
April 13, 1960: This wonderful Hirschfeld art was created to promote the upcoming Saturday Evening Post’s feature on socialite and hostess Perle Mesta’s life. Can you name everyone (without cheating)?
The Post’s feature included a story about Judy not making it to one of Perle’s parties until 1 am at which point the guests finally had dinner and they (and Judy) sang until 3 am. The clipping below is another article that gives more info about Perle. The Saturday Evening Post issue hit stores on April 16, 1960.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
April 13, 1961: Judy’s phenomenal 1961 tour took her to the Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia. The review published the following day raved about her performance. A second article published that same day featured a photo of Judy arriving in Atlanta. Included is an ad noting Judy’s concert, the film Pepe (released in 1960), and Atlanta TV viewers were treated to Till The Clouds Roll By (1946) and A Star Is Born (1954).
The review:
GARLAND TOUCH STILL STRONG
Judy Reminisces; Atlantans Cheer
By JEAN ROONEY
The little girl with the big eyes and sobbing voice can still belt out a song. Judy Garland hit Atlanta for her concert debut Thursday night at the Municipal Auditorium and took the audience home in her sequined pocket.
Little Judy has grown up since Andy Hardy and Wizard of Oz days but she has never lost her ingenue charm.
PACKED HOUSE
A nearly-full house of 40-ish aged Atlantans turned out to reminisce through “The Bells Are Ringing,” “You Go to My Head” and all the old favorites of the war years.
Judy did them proudly, looking trim and acting almost as lively as in her child movie star days. She was all dressed up – in a blue satin jacket over a short black dress for her first act. She switched to slim black slacks and a sequin-covered blouse after intermission.
The pretty actress with the pug nose and saucer eyes proved to be a veteran trouper as she pulled out all the tricks of show business. She danced, clowned and chatted through her songs, telling stories of her travels.
But most of all she gave the audience the Garland treatment – plenty of nostalgia and plenty of volume and emotion in such old favorites as Foggy Day, Zing Went the Strings of My Heart, I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.
The old quiver and sob is still in her voice but the volume has been turned up since Judy sang little girl songs in the movies. She could give Ethel Merman competition now.
BLUES TO TORCH SONGS
She switched from blues to torch songs, out-sobbing Jolson as she did. The audience sobbed and grew starry-eyed as they reminisced with her.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
April 13, 1963: This article about “Judy’s Number One Fan” Wayne Martin appeared in The Los Angeles Times.
Martin had been an ardent fan of Judy’s from the very beginning of her MGM career after having first seen her perform in Chicago in 1933. He amassed a huge collection of Garland memorabilia that became a legend in the Garland fan community although some have claimed that his collection was more talk than substance but they might have seen just the remnants of it after he had fallen on hard times. The article mentions his plans to donate his collection to the Hollywood Museum. That never happened. His collection ended up scattered to the winds before his death in 1993. To this day he could probably still be considered her greatest fan because he was there from the beginning to the end and Judy liked him, chatting with him on the phone on many occasions. Unbeknownst to her, he recorded most of them and whether one approves of his tactics the phone calls give us a bit of more understanding of Judy Garland the person.
Included with this article (below) are pages from the “Garlands For Judy” December 2013 issue which features a great article about Martin written by Randy Henderson. Download the whole issue here (PDF).
Check out The Judy Room’s “Garlands for Judy” page with links to all the issues here.
The article:
JUDYLAND MUSEUM
Garland’s Life Recorded by Fan
BY ART SEIDENBAUM
In an apartment on Beachwood Drive a man lives alone with a dog and the collection of a lifetime – Judy Garland’s lifetime.
From Wayne Martin’s balcony you can see the larger-than-life letters that spell Hollywood across the hills. Inside his living room, which he calls Judyland, is the larger-than-life presence of Miss Garland. Photographs and posters pockmark the walls. Scrapbooks and picture albums clutter the cabinets. Phonograph records and file cabinets fill up the tabletops. For 27 years, Martin has been the self-committed curator of the world’s most complete personal museum. If Judy Garland claims the most rabid responses of any star left in the system, then Martin of all fans is the inter-stellar champ
Starting With Gumm
Even a quick inventory is impressive: more than one dozen scrap books tracing Miss Garland from the time she was a little girl named Gumm in Minnesota to the present; one-half dozen photo albums plus stills from 28 motion pictures; programs from Garland live appearances; eight scripts; nearly 100 tapes, including 18 MGM movies, radio shows and television programs; recording on all three speeds from the 30’s to the present; paintings; even fragments of costumes.
Almost daily, the collection grows. Martin haunts the newsstand at Hollywood Boulevard and Las Palmas, researching and purchasing every new piece of Garland information, from item to interview. Studios send him any new photographs. His fellow fans from all over the country Kindly send any bits and pieces that they find.
Greatness Sensed
In 1936, at a late teen age when most young men are moonstruck, Wayne Martin was already hopelessly starstruck. He saw a short subject with two young singer, one named Durbin, the other Garland. From then on, Judy became a preoccupation. “I took one glimpse of this child and I was completely fascinated,” admits Martin. “I sensed there was a greatness there.”
He submerged his spare time in the success of somebody else. For the next 14 years, the star to whom he hitched his hobby remains a total stranger. Then, in 1950, through the good offices of CBS, Martin enjoyed the first of several short meetings with Miss Garland. Dutifully, over the years, he has written to her. Once in a while, she has answered in what Martin calls her left-handed longhand. “Her friends have told me,” he says, “that she considers me about as old hat as family, that I shouldn’t be unhappy because she doesn’t write more often.”
His support has never wavered. “I’ve collected the good and the bad. The whole legend of Garland is made up of many things, including the illnesses and the heartaches.” Martin says he always sensed a great strength and force in Judy; in times of trouble, he sent her notes of cheer or religious faith.
Having seen her magic sooner than Judy’s fans of today, Martin has tried to define what inspires the frenzy and fanaticism of her followers. “As soon as the overture starts, a feeling comes over the whole audience – the anticipation and the love. When she sings, there’s a cray from her being.” Somewhere in that wail, thinks Martin, is the secret: people want to help her.
Giving so much to Garland over the years has cost him. Wistfully, Martin admits, “I have friends I love dearly and sometimes they show resentment for my concentration on Judy. I’ve had to explain two levels of affection.” And others who may not have been resentful, were not respectful either. “I used to get a lot of kidding, but now that my collection has reached such proportions, people take it more seriously than they used to.”
Gift Planned
The Hollywood Museum has told Martin that it would be happy to have the Garland artifacts. He plans to make them a gift to the museum in a couple of years, believing that he can thereby share the treasures with other Judy followers while still adding and augmenting at home.
Between cataloging and collecting, he makes a modest real-life living assisting writers and doing free lance journalistic chores. His ambition: to combine the two worlds and do a book on Miss Garland. It would be the most documented dissertation of its kind. Of all the dozens of magazine stories on Judy during the last few years, constant reader Martin picks two as being the most accurate – Shana Alexander’s article for Life and Jim Goode’s series for the now defunct Show Business Illustrated.
For fresh material, he also strongly recommends Judy’s new film, United Artists’ “I Could Go ON Singing,” which he has already seen three times. In it, Martin claims, Judy reaches a new peak as a dramatic actress.
Standards Raised
Amidst the mementos, Wayne Martin appears to lead a tranquil, vicarious life. In a strange, semi-scholarly way, he has raised the standards of fandom at the same time he has sacrificed himself. He does not pester Judy, makes no demand upon her in return for his loyalty; all she must do is be.
Leaving the peculiar jumble of Judyland, one first feels pity for the thoughtful, gentle man inside. On second thought, Martin has more company than many other lonely people in this world. And maybe he is happier and less sick than many of us who, like his idol, are out there clashing and competing and making comebacks every day.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
April 13, 1964: Judy took part in a fashion show at the Hollywood Museum in Universal City along with other celebrities.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.