Posted by “I’ve never been so happy in my life!” – Judy Garland, 1960
July 14, 1932: The first of a three-night engagement for “The Three Gumm sisters” at the Fox Dome Theater in Venice, California.
July 14, 1938: This early notice about Judy’s casting in The Wizard of Oz was published in Australia.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
July 14, 1939: This two-page ad appeared in the “Film Daily” trade publication promoting the upcoming release of The Wizard of Oz and several other MGM films.
On this day at MGM, Judy was filming the “God’s Country” number for Babes in Arms. Time called: 9:00 a.m.; lunch: 12:30-1:30 p.m.; dismissed: 5:45 p.m.
Also on this day, Judy and her mother, Ethel Gumm, signed a modification to an existing agreement between Loews, Inc. (MGM) and Gletman, Caopp, and Sadowskiy, Inc., of New York to market silk, rayon, and wool dresses as tie-ins to The Wizard of Oz.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Babes in Arms here.
July 14, 1941: The first day of filming on Babes on Broadway consisted of scenes shot on the “Interior Nick’s Cafe” (“Nick’s Cellar”) set. Judy was not in the scenes shot on this set, but she did have wardrobe tests for the film.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Babes on Broadway here.
July 14, 1943: This photo was approved on this day by the Advertising Advisory Council for publication. MGM used it as part of their promotion for the upcoming release (November 26, 1943) of the last of the Judy/Mickey “Let’s Put On A Show” musicals, Girl Crazy. On this day Judy was on her second USO tour of Army camps and did not return to LA and MGM until mid-August.
The back of the photo reads:
THE CAMERA KEEPS AND EYE ON JUDY … between scenes of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “Girl Crazy.” Judy co-stars once again, and for the eighth time with Mickey Rooney. She sings and dances to music by George Gershwin, played by Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra. There’s Nancy Walker, Rags Ragland, Frances Rafferty, Gil Stratton and Robert Strickland in the supporting cast. The film is produced by Arthur Freed and directed by Norman Taurog.
1. Judy relaxes between scenes and chats with Director Norman Taurog, Kay Williams, and Katherine Booth.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Girl Crazy here.
Photo provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
July 14, 1944: For unknown reasons, Judy had a late start scheduled for her rehearsals of “The Interview,” a.k.a. “A Great Lady Gives An Interview,” a.k.a. “Madame Crematante” routine for Ziegfeld Follies. Time called: 4 p.m.; dismissed: 9:30 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Ziegfeld Follies of 1946 here.
July 14, 1946: This blurb appeared in the “Macon Telegraph and News – Sunday Morning” newspaper promoting Judy’s latest hit, The Harvey Girls.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Harvey Girls here.
Scan provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
July 14, 1947: Judy and Gene Kelly pre-recorded “Be A Clown” for The Pirate. Time called: 1 p.m.; dismissed: 4:50 p.m. Note that the playback disc is dated July 17, 1947, which is the date the disc was made, not the date of the pre-recording session.
Listen to “Be A Clown” (Take 11) here:
Listen to the cued playback disc of “Be A Clown” here:
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Pirate here.
Playback disc image and recording provided by Hisato Masuyama. Thanks, Hisato!
July 14, 1948: Decca Records released their last Judy Garland single, Decca Single #24469, which featured “I Wish I Were In Love Again” and “Nothing But You.” Judy is accompanied by Griffith and Goodwin on twin pianos for both songs.
Judy recorded both on November 15, 1947, which was her last recording session for the label. “I Wish I Were In Love Again” is not to be confused with her popular duet of the song with Mickey Rooney, recorded a year later at MGM and released on MGM Records.
All of Judy’s Decca recordings have been released over the years in various formats. The best release is the boxed set “Smilin’ Through The Singles Collection 1936-1947” released in 2011. It’s the definitive collection of Judy’s Decca recordings featuring new remasterings of the recordings with the latest, and amazing, technology.
Learn more about Judy’s Decca Records and all of the various releases in The Judy Garland Online Discography’s “Decca Records” Section.
Listen to “I Wish I Were In Love Again” here:
Listen to the alternate version of “I Wish I Were In Love Again” here:
Listen to “Nothing But You” here:
Disc images from the Rick Smith Collection. Thank you, Rick!
Currently, in theaters, Easter Parade was proving to be MGM’s biggest hit of the year thus far.
July 14, 1955: Judy’s concert, “The Judy Garland Show” was touring the west coast, including Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. On this day she was in Eugene, Oregon. This ad was used to promote the show. The article at the top right explains Judy’s arrival and how the reporter/photographer team was dubious about the reception they’d get since Judy “has been termed ‘so temperamental.'” It also reports about Judy’s recent smash success in Long Beach, California.
The second article was written by Dorothy R. Powers for the “Spokesman-Review” out of Spokane, Washington. Powers had spoken to Judy by phone while Judy was in Eugene.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
Also on July 14, 1955: The re-release of The Wizard of Oz was still opening in theaters nationwide. This was the film’s second and last re-release before it was sold to TV. The rest, as they say, is history.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
Also on July 14, 1955: Erksine Johnson’s column included this paragraph about Rita Moreno’s dubbing jobs, which allegedly included singing “The Trolley Song” in Spanish for Meet Me In St. Louis in the Spanish-speaking markets. it’s unclear if this is true or just more fiction from the columnists. In 1962, Judy would lose the supporting actress Oscar to Moreno. Judy was nominated for Judgment at Nuremberg, Moreno for West Side Story.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Meet Me In St. Louis here.
July 14, 1959: Judy’s opera house tour continued with her opening night at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. It was the final engagement of the opera house tour. The final night was Saturday, July 18th. The arrivals were covered by the local TV station, but that footage is not known to exist.
Program scans from The Bobby Waters Collection. Thanks, Bobby!
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
July 14, 1960: These photos were taken of Judy upon her arrival in London, England. She gave a press conference in London during which she said: “I’ve never been so happy in my life. My children – three of them – are well integrated. My marriage is just perfect. My voice is just great.” This is true, at least the voice part because in just a few weeks she began recording what became known as “The London Sessions,” which are some of her best studio recordings.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
July 14, 1963: Judy was sued by attorney Patrick Cotes-Preedy for 1,000 pounds ($2,800) in unpaid telephone bills. Judy stayed with Cotes-Preedy while she was in London the year before filming I Could Go On Singing.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
July 14, 1966: London’s “The Times” published its review of A Child Is Waiting which for some reason had not made it over to the UK since its release in 1962.
The review is republished here by the National Film Theater for a showing in 1993. Note the notice at the end of the printout about David Shipman’s new Judy Garland biography. Shipman was a program consultant to the National Film Theatre.
Scan provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on A Child Is Waiting here.
July 14, 1989: Drama in Munchkinland! The 50th-anniversary celebrations for The Wizard of Oz were underway, with the special edition VHS and laserdisc versions of the film coming in August. The little people who played the Munchkins were getting much-deserved attention, but one little person was cashing in even though, according to the rest of the real Munchkins, he was never a part of the film.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
Another interesting post. What surprises me is how LONG the theatrical runs of Judy’s films were. “The Harvey Girls” was released in January of ’46….but still playing in July??? There were tons of movies released every week, so I always thought the runs of old films were much shorter than today. What I continue to learn from this great site!
While going through the newspaper archives it’s surprising to find that some films were still playing well over a year after their release. This is due to the fact that sometimes it took a while for the films to make their way from the big cities down to the small towns. I think that sometimes films had return engagements due to their popularity. I suspect that sometimes the studios sent films out to pad the bills. The studios owned the theaters back in those days. However, these weren’t official, promoted “rereleases.” I have even seen “Pigskin Parade” in theater ads as late as 1940 and 1941.