Posted by “I could sing all night for you.” – Judy Garland, Las Vegas, June 15, 1965
June 15, 1935: A fateful event in the life and career of Judy Garland. She and her sisters, as “The Garland Sisters,” were appearing at the Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
It was during this engagement that Judy adopted the name “Judy” as her stage name. She had been going by her birth name, Frances. The agent Al Rosen was on hand and would be partly responsible for Judy’s successful audition at MGM that following September.
June 15, 1936: Judy was in New York, her first time in the city and her first MGM-sponsored personal appearance event. While in the city, Judy made several radio appearances including one on this day. The second clipping is a notice about the show, printed a couple of days after, and mentions that she sang “On Revival Day.” The show was broadcast by the local WHN radio station.
June 15, 1937: Judy’s weekly appearance on CBS Radio’s “Jack Oakie’s College” featured her renditions of “There’s A Lull In My Life” and “Johnny One Note.” No recordings from this show are known to exist.
Download the complete transcript of this show here (PDF).
As with the notes on April 20th, the transcription notes “original interpolation by Roger Edens” in the portion of the song where Judy goes into lyrics that are not Rodgers & Hart (the original songwriters). This verifies that Edens did in fact create the “special material.”
“Johnny One Note” was most likely the same arrangement as Judy’s premiere of the song on April 20, 1937, also on Oakie’s show. That performance has survived, check out the video below:
The note below was also published on this date, telling the story of how Judy received birthday presents in January but held onto them until her real birthday, only to discover two stale birthday cakes. The MGM publicity department was certainly creative!
June 15, 1937: Judy’s sister, Sue, who was living in Las Vegas, Nevada, was one of the entertainers appearing at the opening of the State LIne Country Club in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The promotional text notes that Judy was going into production on “The Ugly Duckling” the title of which was thankfully changed to Everybody Sing. Frank Morgan is noted as one of the stars of the film although he ultimately did not appear. He might have been originally cast in the role of Judy’s character’s father.
SUE GARLAND – Songstress and Tap Dancer Extraordinary. Sister of JUDY GARLAND, Radio and Movie Star now with Jack Oakie in Radio and Pictures. Featured in “The Broadway Melody of 1938,” to be cut in a month. Also starring in the “Ugly Duckling” with Billie Burke, Allan Jones and Frank Morgan, now going into production.
June 15, 1939: Babes in Arms filming continued with scenes shot on the following sets: “Interior Barn Theater,” “Rosalie’s Dress[ing] Room,” “Night Interior Palace Theatre.” Judy wasn’t in any scenes on the last two sets. Time called: 9 a.m; lunch 12:20-1:20 p.m.; time dismissed: 5:40 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Babes in Arms here.
June 15, 1940: Here is an ad placed by MGM in the trade magazine “Motion Picture Herald” that includes Andy Hardy Meets Debutante in their lineup of films.
Also in the magazine was the following. In the “What The Picture Did For Me” feature, Douglas Miller of the Rex Theatre in Taber, Alberta, Canada, had this to say about The Wizard of Oz: “The kids and myself liked this show but most of my regular patrons stayed away because they thought it was a full length feature cartoon.”
The magazine’s feature on theater displays included one for Babes in Arms in Peurto Rico.
June 15, 1941: Judy’s engagement celebration (to her first husband, David Rose) was attended by over 600 guests at Judy’s home. The event was covered in the fan magazines.
June 15, 1945: Judy married her second husband, Vincente Minnelli, at her mother’s home. MGM Studio chief, Louis B. Mayer, gave the bride away. Judy and Vincente left that night on the Santa Fe Super Chief for their honeymoon in New York City.
Also on June 15, 1945: This fascinating article about Vincente’s dad, V. C. (Vincent [without the “e” at the end]) Charles Minnelli, which includes this rare photo. Although they were originally from the midwest (Vincente was born in Chicago), the elder Minnelli and his late wife (Marie, stage name Mina Gennell) had settled in St. Petersburg, Florida, five years prior for Mrs. Minnelli’s health. The article provides some great details about V.C.’s career as a director, like his son. Click on the image to read the article.
June 15, 1948: Columnist Sheilah Graham reported in her June 14 column (published on June 15) that Judy would travel to London and “the Bohemian part of” Paris to make a film for MGM. Whatever that overseas project was, if there ever was one, it never happened. At this point in her life, it might have done Judy some good to get away, even if it was connected to making a film for MGM. Graham also notes that Judy and Fred Astaire’s new musical finally had a title, the (incorrect) “The Barclays of Broadway.”
On this day, Judy was in rehearsals for The Barkleys of Broadway. Time called: 1:30 p.m.; Judy arrived on time; dismissed 5:15 .m.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Films That Got Away” section for details about The Barkleys of Broadway.
June 15, 1949: Here are a couple of fun ads promoting the recent re-release of The Wizard of Oz in theaters. This was the first time the film was re-released. Note how the larger ad promotes: “Over The Rainbow” and other hit songs on M-G-M RECORDS!. MGM Records did not release a soundtrack album for the film until 1956 (check it out here) but it did release albums with other performers who performed a variety of songs, including “Over The Rainbow.”
Check out The Judy Room’s Extensive Spotlight Section on The Wizard of Oz here.
June 15, 1950: Judy had another rehearsal for Royal Wedding. She was due on the set at 2:00 p.m.; she arrived at 2:50 p.m.; Dismissed: 4:25 p.m.
Columnist Edith Gwynn reported that Judy’s personal and professional life was back on track and she was very happy.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Royal Wedding here.
June 15, 1954: Judy pre-recorded “I’ll Get By” and “You Took Advantage of Me” for the “Born in a Trunk” number for A Star Is Born. Time started: 2 p.m.; finished at 4:45 p.m.
After the pre-recordings, Judy then rehearsed more of the “Born in a Trunk” number until 5:30 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Extensive Spotlight on A Star Is Born here.
Photos provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
June 15, 1956: Judy’s upcoming nightclub debut (July 16, 1956) was in the news.
June 15, 1965: Judy was released from UCLA (she had suffered an allergic reaction to prescription medications on June 12th) and immediately flew to Las Vegas for her opening night at The Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Judy’s two-week engagement outdrew every other hotel on the strip and garnered, again, amazing reviews. Judy’s shows started at 10:30 p.m. and she was backed by the Allen Brothers and a 31-piece orchestra under the direction of Nick Perito.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
The opening night was a filled-to-capacity house of 900 people who gave her several ovations and as one report noted, even the waiters stood and cheered, “and waiters haven’t been known to cheer in recent years, oldtimers here noted.”
This audio was recorded on opening night (June 15) (zip file).
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
June 15, 1969: The last time Judy sang on stage.
Judy appeared at The Half Note nightclub in Greenwich Village, NYC. Anita O’Day was appearing there. O’Day was staying with Judy and Mickey Deans at friend Charlie Cochran’s apartment. The latter three went to see Day at the nightclub, where Day invited Judy on stage to sing “Day In, Day Out” and “Over the Rainbow.” An audiotape of Judy and O’Day having an impromptu “jam session” which was restored and remastered and released on the wonderful 2014 CD set “Swan Songs, First Flights.”
These two photos above are dated this day and are believed to be the last photos ever taken of Judy Garland. Judy is seen with her friend Bob Jorgenson. The photos were provided by Bobby Waters. Thanks, Bobby!
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
June 15, 2009: This article about the upcoming Blu-ray debut of The Wizard of Oz in celebration of its 70th anniversary was published in the weekly trade magazine “Home Media Magazine.”
Unfortunately, the extended “If I Only Had A Brain” was not remastered in high-definition as touted in this article and other press releases. When the set was re-released with new packaging and new collectibles in 2013 for the 75th anniversary it was still in standard definition.
Check out The Judy Room’s DVD page for details about this release and tons of photos of the various versions here.
June 15, 2021: The Warner Archive released this sparkling new restoration of Ziegfeld Follies. The image quality is absolutely incredible. Here are some before and after pics that show the previous standard DVD release compared to the new Blu-ray.
