Posted by “[Judy was] the wildly unreasoning, utterly polarized star, the scared, guilt-ridden, immature small girl; and the warm, glowing, maturing woman who was my wife.” – Mickey Deans (Judy’s last husband), 1972
April 30, 1926: The first of a two-night engagement for Frances (Judy) and her entire family, under the stage name “Jack and Virginia Lee and Kiddies,” at the Garick Theater in Virginia, Minnesota.
April 30, 1932: “The Gumm Sisters” (Judy and her two sisters) performed as part of the Maurice L. Kusell Benefit for the Jewish Educational Fund at the Philarmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.
April 30, 1939: Judy returned to Los Angeles, and MGM, from her personal appearance tour to New York and went directly into rehearsals for her next film, Babes in Arms co-starring Mickey Rooney. The film was the first of their famous, and wildly popular, “let’s put on a show” series of musicals.
April 30, 1940: Filming on Strike Up The Band continued with more scenes shot on the “Exterior Delmonico’s” and “Interior Backstage” sets. Time called: 9:00 a.m.; dismissed: 4:20 p.m.
Later that evening Judy made her weekly appearance on Bob Hope’s radio show, titled “The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope” broadcast by NBC Radio. Judy sang “Ma, He’s Makin’ Eyes At Me.” No recordings from this show are known to exist, but Judy did sing the song nine years later as a duet with Bing Crosby on his weekly radio show broadcast on October 5, 1949.
Listen to “Ma, He’s Makin’ Eyes At Me” (Duet with Bing Crosby on October 5, 149) here:
Photo: Judy Garland with Jerry Colonna and Bob Hope on “The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope” broadcast by NBC Radio, circa early 1940.
April 30, 1941: Ziegfeld Girl.
April 30, 1942: Recording session for For Me And My Gal. Judy was not a part of this session. Her co-star George Murphy pre-recorded “I’m Sorry I Made You Cry” and with co-star Ben Blue, “Tell Me.” Both songs were not used, it’s unknown if they were filmed. Also recorded on this day was “What Are You Going To Do About The Boys?” with Ben Blue and The King’s Men.
Note that the Daily Music Report lists the title of the film as [The] Big Time. That was the original title for the film.
Listen to “I’m Sorry I Made You Cry” here:
Listen to “Tell Me” here:
Listen to “What Are You Going To Do About The Boys” (extended version) here:
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on For Me And My Gal here.
April 30, 1943: Both For Me And My Gal (released in 1942) and Presenting Lily Mars were currently in theaters, with Girl Crazy on the horizon.
April 30, 1943: Two record store ads that included Judy’s Decca singles of “For Me And My Gal” and “That Old Black Magic.”
Listen to “For Me And My Gal” (duet with Gene Kelly) here:
Listen to “That Old Black Magic” here:
Check out The Judy Garland Online Discography’s Decca Records Section here.
April 30, 1945: Production on The Harvey Girls continued. Judy was not needed from April 26th through May 2nd, but as this fun photo shows, her co-star John Hodiak filmed the fight sequence. A stunt double did most of the work for him which is painfully obvious when watching the film!
Photo provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Harvey Girls here.
April 30, 1947: Filming on The Pirate continued with scenes shot on the “Interior Reception Room” set. Time called: 9:45 a.m.; arrived: 10:25 a.m.; dismissed: 5:20 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Pirate here.
April 30, 1949: Filming on Annie Get Your Gun continued with more work on the “I’m An Indian, Too” number. Judy was due in makeup at 8:30 a.m.; due on the set at 10:00 a.m.; she arrived at 10:05 a.m.; lunch: 12:25-1:25 p.m.; time dismissed: 5:45 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography pages on Annie Get Your Gun here.
April 30, 1952: Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron poses with Judy at the piano to promote “Music Week” in Los Angeles. Judy was currently enjoying great success with her engagement at the Philharmonic in L.A.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
April 30, 1953: Judy was in Lexington, Kentucky, having just performed at the first annual Blue Grass Festival the previous day. On this day, Judy visited the children at the local Shriners Hospital.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
April 30, 1954: This wonderful article about A Star Is Born was published in “Collier’s” magazine.
Scans provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on A Star Is Born here.
April 30, 1957: Young Lorna Luft (Judy’s second child) interrupted Judy’s radio interview with “Nightline.” Apparently, the rest of the interview doesn’t exist.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
April 30, 1964: Judy was coming to Australia!
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
April 30, 1964: According to Hedda Hopper, Judy was planning on starring in a London stage production of “The Owl and the Pussycat” before heading to Australia. The London stage production never happened, but her concerts in Australia certainly did!
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
April 30, 1964: TV viewers in Philadelphia were treated to a showing of In The Good Old Summertime – in color!
April 30, 1972: This ad promoted the upcoming series of articles of excerpts from Mickey Deans’ book about his life with Judy in those last few years. Deans was Judy’s fifth and final husband. The book is titled “Weep No More My Lady.” I don’t consider it a real “biography” of Judy’s life although he does write about her years prior to meeting him based on what Judy had told him (and probably on what he had read). The book was, and is, controversial for many reasons not least of which, allegedly, Deans signed the book deal on the same day as Judy’s death.
April 20, 2019: Summer Stock premiered on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive. Check out the blog post here for details. This was the first in a new series of sparkling newly-remastered Garland films released on Blu-ray.
Check out The Judy Room’s Summer Stock Blu-ray page here.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Summer Stock here.
