Posted by “She was every extraordinary woman I have known wrapped into one, but far bigger than life, and, above all else, touched with genius” – Gerold Frank, 1975
July 27, 1937: These photos were taken of Judy in her Broadway Melody of 1938 costume. The photos were set up to look as though she was on the MGM recording stage. The reality is that these are posed photos taken in the studio’s portrait gallery by studio photographer Virgil Apger. At this point, Judy had already completed her work on the film, her last recording session having been the previous May.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Broadway Melody of 1938 here.
July 27, 1938: Love Finds Andy Hardy.
July 27, 1939: This two-page ad promoting The Wizard of Oz (and other MGM films) appeared in the “Film Daily” trade newspaper. Also included here is an ad promoting theatre managers.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
July 27, 1940: In celebration of the third year of the Andy Hardy series, the “Loews-men” in New England came up with a unique promotion idea.
July 27, 1941: These photos were taken of Judy and David Rose on their way to Las Vegas. The couple was accompanied by Judy’s mom, Ethel, and stepfather.
Judy had called in sick to MGM the day before, putting the company of Babes on Broadway on temporary “layoff” as they could not shoot around her. No doubt she was preparing for the Vegas trip.
Later that night, actually at 1 a.m. on the morning of July 28th, Judy and Rose were married. It was the first for Judy and the second for Rose, who had previously been married to Martha Raye.
Judy wired Babes on Broadway producer Arthur Freed by Western Union Telegram, to his home on 634 Stone Canyon Road in Los Angeles at 2 a.m., stating “Dear Mr. Freed, I am so very happy. David and I were married this AM. Please give me a little time and I will be back and finish the picture with one take each. Love, Judy.”
The assistant director’s notes for the production state that the company was on “layoff due to Miss Garland.”
The marriage lasted, officially anyway, until 1944. Although it was a happy marriage in the beginning, the demands of the studio on Judy got in the way. It’s known that Judy had at least one abortion during the marriage, possibly two, at the insistence of both her mother and the studio. To Rose’s credit, he never spoke nor gave any details about their marriage. He died in 1990 after a successful career as a composer. He composed the famous “The Stripper” and “Holiday for Strings” as well as several films and TV shows including Little House on the Prairie.
July 27, 1941: Here are some examples of Judy in the various columns. The first is a style column written by Margarett Byers that explains the “new” more mature Judy Garland is the result of her hairdo, with some really fun artwork. The second is all about the rash of engagements of MGM’s young female stars. The third tells the story of Judy and her fiance, David Rose, at Cafe Lamaze, and Judy getting tipped by a drunk patron for singing “Home on the Range.”
July 27, 1941: The official release date of the MGM “air trailer” for Life Begins for Andy Hardy. These “air trailers” were just that, film trailers designed to be played on the air by radio stations. Many times they included songs, music, and dialog that did not make the final cut of the released films. In this case, an outtake of “Easy To Love” as sung by Judy was included even though in the final film she doesn’t sing any songs at all (save for a bit of “Happy Birthday To You”).
Listen to the air trailer here:
Disc image from The John Newton Collection. Thanks, John!
July 27, 1943: Judy’s grooming tips.
July 27, 1945: Judy was scheduled to appear on “The Jerry Wayne Show” on CBS Radio but postponed due to illness. It’s possible that the illness was the first sign of morning sickness. Judy’s appearance was rescheduled to August 10, 1945.
July 27, 1947: Hedda Hopper reported that Judy’s recent collapse (and unpublicized suicide attempt) would mess up MGM’s production schedule, especially the upcoming production of Easter Parade which was still planned to co-star Judy with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. At this time Judy was at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, for a much-needed rest and withdrawal from prescription medicines. She began work on Easter Parade in September.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Easter Parade here.
July 27, 1950: Columnist Jimmie Fidler was concerned that Judy wouldn’t be able to handle the alleged proposed professional schedule planned for her.
July 27, 1952: This spread appeared featuring photos of some of the attendees at the Friars Club event on June 29th in which Judy was the second woman to be honored. Oddly enough, there’s no photo of Judy!
July 27, 1954: Here’s a great article about George Cukor and his adoration of Judy and her talents. “This girl is magnificent,” he’s quoted as saying, among other accolades.
On this day at Warner Bros., Judy was filming the “Born in a Trunk” number for A Star Is Born, specifically scenes shot on the “Interior Backstage” and “Interior Stage” sets. Time started: 7:00 p.m.; finished: 1:20 a.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on A Star Is Born here.
July 27, 1955: A few more ads for the current theatrical re-release of The Wizard of Oz.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
July 27, 1956: Columnist Bob Thomas provides an amusing Garland quote when relaying the story of Judy’s neighbor, Humphrey Bogart, returning home from the hospital.
When I told Judy Garland I was going to pay a call on her neighbor Humphrey Bogart, she said: “I hear he’s grumbling again. That’s awfully good news. I went to visit him after he got home from the hospital, and he was very sweet and nice. I said to myself, ‘Oh, dear, he really is sick!”
Photo: Judy boards the bus that Bogart & friends chartered to see her in concert in Long Beach, California on July 11th.
July 27, 1961: The newly released “Judy at Carnegie Hall” 2-record set was, of course, a hit!
Check out The Judy Garland Online Discography’s Judy at Carnegie Hall pages here.
July 27, 1969: Capitol Records released five singles of tracks from “Judy at Carnegie Hall” which prompted this rather negative review in which the critic, Douglas Watt, felt that Judy was “past her prime” when the concert was recorded!?!
Also, Decca Records re-released their 2-LP set “The Best of Judy Garland” originally released in 1963.
Check out The Judy Garland Online Discography’s Decca Records Section for more details about all of Judy’s recordings for the label and the many re-releases.
July 27, 1974: A rare showing of one of the episodes from Judy’s 1963/64 series, “The Judy Garland Show.” Shown this night was “Episode Twenty-Three” informally titled “Songs From The Movies” taped on February 21, 1964, and aired on March 8, 1964.
Judy sang: “Once In A Lifetime” and “I Feel A Song Coming On” (medley); “If I Had A Talking Picture Of You” and “Toot, Toot, Tootsie” (medley); “Dirty Hands, Dirty Face”; “Love Of My Life”; “The Boy Next Door”; “On The Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe”; “Alexander’s Rag Time Band”; “You’re Nearer”; “Steppin’ Out With My Baby”; “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows”; “The Man That Got Away”; “Be A Clown” and a reprise of “Once In A Lifetime.”
July 27, 1975: “How Judy Garland Used Her ‘Extra Senses’ On Audiences – And Men.” This article was written by “Judy” author Gerold Frank. The book was the first in-depth biography about Judy to be published and to this day it is still one of the best.
Another classy, fascinating entry, Scott! A couple of notes on David Rose. When I was a kid, my mom woke up me in the middle of the night to tell me some radio station was doing a tribute to Judy. Two male broadcasters, were playing her records and talking about here career. In the process, they got a few people on the phone to talk. One of them was David Rose, long divorced from Judy, who had been dead about seven years. If memory serves, Rose stated something like, “Well, you woke up”, and tried to collect his thoughts. He then said some nice things about Judy before saying goodnight. Also, if I recall, he did contribute his thoughts to Gerold Frank for “Judy” concerning his brief marriage to her. But other than those two occasions, he took the classy road, and never discussed Judy.
Rose was a classy guy in that respect. I have always wished that someone would have done a solid interview with him. Maybe they tried and he declined.