Posted by “After every song she sang, the applause was deafening.” – Review of “Summer Stock” by Aline Mosby, 1950
August 6, 1935: The first night of a two-night engagement for “The Garland Sisters” (Judy and her two sisters) at the Hotel Miramar in Santa Monica, California.
August 6, 1936: Judy returned to NBC Radio’s “The Shell Chateau Hour” broadcast live from WEAF Radio, Los Angeles.
It was Judy’s third and last appearance on the show. She sang “Revival Day” and “After You’ve Gone.” This is the earliest known recording of Judy singing “After You’ve Gone” which she would memorably perform in 1942’s For Me And My Gal before it became a staple of her concerts.
The two performances survive on record, presented here. The sound quality isn’t the greatest but Judy shines through, regardless.
Listen to “After You’ve Gone” here:
Listen to “On Revival Day” here:
More Judy Garland on Radio at The Judy Room’s “Judy Sings! On The Radio” page.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on For Me And My Gal here.
August 6, 1937: Judy had just begun work on Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry when she stopped by the MGM Portrait Studios to be photographed by the studio’s famed photographer, Eric Carpenter.
Also on this date, Judy’s tenth appearance on Frank Morgan’s limited series of 15-minute radio shows. Little is known about these shows outside of what the newspapers tell us, which do not include the actual contents, just the scheduled listings. No recordings are known to survive.
Judy was listed as being a part of the shows that aired on June 6th, 14th, 21st, 28th; July 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th; and August 2nd, 6th & 9th. She’s not listed in the final three episodes on August 16, 23, & 30. No recordings are known to exist of any of the shows nor is there any information as to what Judy sang.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry here.
For other Garland radio performances from this era and other eras, check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Sings! On the Radio” pages.
August 6, 1939: Judy and Mickey Rooney left Los Angeles for a series of four one-day theater appearances on the East Coast en route to the New York premiere of The Wizard of Oz. The duo would, of course, promote both Oz and the upcoming release of Babes in Arms.
Photos: MGM took several posed photos of Judy and Mickey leaving for the East Coast for use in their extensive promotions of both The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Arms. The first photo is a rare snapshot taken at the same time, provided by Hisato M. Thanks, Hisato!
More details and images of all of Judy’s activities during that golden year of 1939 can be found on The Judy Room’s Garland Centennial 1939 Page.
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.
Also on August 6, 1939: Judy and Mickey’s upcoming personal appearance at the Poli Theater in Hartford, Connecticut, was promoted in the Hartford Courant, while the NYC premiere of The Wizard of Oz at the Capitol on August 17th was also promoted. Included here is a coloring contest from the Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) and a favorite Judy portrait published in The Pittsburgh Press.
More details and images of all of Judy’s activities during that golden year of 1939 can be found on The Judy Room’s Garland Centennial 1939 Page.
Here is the complete article from “The New York Times” about MGM’s make-up guru, Jack Dawn.
August 6, 1940: Filming on Little Nellie Kelly continued with scenes shot on the “Exterior Cliff Top” set. Time called: 9 a.m.; dismissed: 6 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Little Nellie Kelly here.
August 6, 1943: Two reviews for Presenting Lily Mars.
August 6, 1946: It’s reported that Judy appeared on the AFRS Command Performance radio show on this date, but no other information is known. Most of the Command Performance shows were pre-recorded and then put on disc for distribution to the troops overseas as well as on network radio in the U.S., so it’s possible that this was a recording date and not an air date.
August 6, 1949: Both In The Good Old Summertime and the first theatrical re-release of The Wizard of Oz were playing to great success in theaters around the country.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on In The Good Old Summertime here.
August 6, 1949: The trade magazine “Showmen’s Trade Review” included this photo of a window display in Canada for Easter Parade (released in 1948).
August 6, 1950: Advance buzz from previews of Summer Stock was nothing short of amazing. Judy had been out of films for almost a whole year but her personal problems kept her name in the papers. MGM and many in Hollywood thought she was washed up but judging from the response by audiences and the critics, Judy’s career was far from over. “A crowd of hard-boiled Hollywood press gave Judy the kind of ovation that any big star dreams of getting. After every song she sang, the applause was deafening … When she sang the lines about singing all those blues away, the audience cheered.”
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Summer Stock here.
August 6, 1950: This uncredited article reports on the great reception Summer Stock was getting, in spite of Judy’s recent well-publicized troubles. The article was correct on one thing, it was Judy’s last film – for MGM. She and the studio parted ways on September 29, 1950.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Summer Stock here.
August 6, 1953: A Star Is Born starring Judy Garland and Victor Mature? According to Louella Parsons, it could have happened!
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on A Star Is Born here.
August 6, 1954: Here is a wonderful love letter to Judy from entertainment legend Eddie Cantor, with a good-natured ribbing of his longtime friend George Jessel.
August 6, 1956: Newspapers reported on Jerry Lewis stepping in to help Judy on stage at The New Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas. Judy was performing on Saturday night, August 4th, when she was stricken with laryngitis. Lewis jumped on stage to give her a hand and finish out her show for the night.
It might seem unusual to us in this era of instant news 24 hours a day, but back then news usually took at least one full day to hit the papers at which point a photo and caption such as this one would then appear for several days, even weeks, after the event.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
August 6, 1961: It seems as though The “Garland Cult” was firmly in place and in attendance at Judy’s concerts by 1961. The earliest mention of the uniqueness of a large percentage of Judy’s audiences and their reactions to her presence on stage goes back to at least the mid-1950s (see the August 5, 1956 entry in this series). Here, Associated Press staff writer Hugh A. Mulligan reports in great detail about the “uninhibited idolatry of [Judy’s] worshipers” and how Judy was “in danger of being immolated on the altar of her spectacular success.
At this time, Judy was between shows at the Convention Hall Ballroom in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She had recently given her Carnegie Hall concert there on August 4th and returned on August 8th.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
August 6, 1964: The next to last recording session Judy would ever do, for records, took place at Capitol’s EMI Studios in London. Judy recorded “The Land of Promises” and “It’s Yourself,” both from Lionel Bart’s show “Maggie May.”
Judy arrived at 9:15 p.m. and did a run-through of the two songs. After a “tea break,” she recorded the songs from 10 – 11 p.m., requiring only four takes per song.
The two songs, along with “Maggie May” & “There’s Only One Union” were released in September of 1964 on a special “extended play” 45rpm record.
Listen to “The Land of Promises” here:
Listen to “It’s Yourself” here:
August 6, 1966: Judy’s marital problems were the hot topic of Garland news. The couple was separated and headed toward divorce.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
August 6, 1967: Judy’s third, and final, Palace engagement which began on July 31st and ran through August 26th, was still a big hit and was still getting great reviews. It was a triumph for Judy.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
August 6, 1989: The 50th anniversary of the premiere of The Wizard of Oz was just around the corner. Here is a small sampling of the many articles about the event which was the first big film event-anniversary since the home video “revolution” took over in the early 1980s. The studios and companies that owned classic films realized they had a lucrative market, especially with special editions of films (and their stars) reaching milestones. Now we get a special anniversary edition of Oz every five years!
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
August 6, 1989: While the celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz was in full swing, Judy’s (and MGM’s) 1944 masterpiece Meet Me In St. Louis was Broadway-bound. Here is a nice article about the film’s songwriters, Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, currently celebrating their 75th birthdays.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Meet Me In St. Louis here.
August 6, 2009: Turner Classic Movies puts the focus on Judy as part of their “Summer Under The Stars” theme for the month of August. Notable is this wonderful poster created for the channel’s showing of The Pirate.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on The Pirate here.