Posted by “I was 22 and married and portraying a 15-year-old lovesick kid. Brother – that really took some acting.” – Judy Garland, 1944
August 19, 1929: Judy and her sisters, “The Gumm Sisters” were still performing as part of the Meglin Kiddies “56 Clever Tots” at Loew’s State Theater in Los Angeles, California. The engagement lasted through August 21.
August 19, 1937: Two reviews of Broadway Melody of 1938. The Los Angeles Times liked the film and considered Judy’s numbers as “bright moments.” However, Mildred Martin of The Philadelphia Inquirer wasn’t impressed. Judy Garland struggling gamely with some of the most embarrassing material to find its way onto the screen … Director Roy Del Ruth’s attempt to turn Judy Garland into a baby edition of Sophie Tucker proves not only a mistake but will disappoint those who remember Judy’s delightful work as Stuart Erwin’s hill-billy little sister in “Pigskin Parade.” The “You Made Me Love You” sequence in which Judy sings, a la Tucker, to her Clark Gable scrap-book is a frightening example of bad taste. She sure got that one wrong!
Above is an example of how Judy wasn’t quite the star she soon would be. MGM, or perhaps the newspaper, placed the image of the film’s stars, Robert Taylor and Eleanor Powell, over Judy. Soon enough that would never happen again!
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Broadway Melody of 1938 here.
August 19, 1938: Love Finds Andy Hardy was still enjoying its initial run in theaters. Included here is an ad for “Youthful Hats – Styles worn by Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin.”
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Love Finds Andy Hardy here.
August 19, 1939: Back to school with The Wizard of Oz.
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.
August 19, 1939: More Ozzy reviews and ads and photos.
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.
August 19, 1939: “Harlemites” were guests of Judy and Mickey on August 15th during the big luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria. Two to four teens from each of the Loew’s theaters in the New York area were selected a day in advance. It was quite the event!
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.
August 19, 1940: Judy’s first real screen kiss makes the news. On this particular day, Judy was filming Little Nelly Kelly with scenes on the “Interior Kelly Flat” set. Time called: 9:00 a.m.; dismissed: 6:03 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Little Nellie Kelly here.
August 19, 1943: Two blurbs. The first one mentions that Judy was to play the lead in the film version of the stage hit “The Belle of New York.” It was a title that was on producer Arthur Freed’s wish list for a long time. He finally produced the film in 1952 but with Vera-Ellen and Fred Astaire. The second blurb mentions the upcoming USO Tour that Judy was a part of.
August 19, 1944: For the second day in a row, Judy and co-star Robert Walker were both out sick from the production of The Clock. However, on the evening of August 19, Judy appeared on the “Command Performance” #134 radio show with Danny Kaye, Lauritz Melchior, and Helen Forrest.
Listen to, and download, the show here:
Judy’s rendition of “I May Be Wrong” has been remastered and was included in the 2010 “Lost Tracks” CD set as well as the 2015 “Best of Lost Tracks” CD.
Listen to, and download, that remastered version here:
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Clock here.
August 19, 1944: Erksine Johnson’s column was devoted to Judy’s new dramatic role in The Clock as well as her insomnia which was beginning to make the news along with her workload.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Clock here.
August 19, 1945: Here’s more about Judy’s heavy workload. Si Steinhauser’s column for The Pittsburgh Press included this paragraph about Judy canceling guest appearances on the radio due to her health. At this time Judy was still on her honeymoon in New York with Vincente Minnelli. They returned to Los Angeles that September.
Also included above is a fun article about the “Ziegfeld Girls” of Ziegfeld Follies.
August 19, 1948: Columnist Jimmie Fidler chastised Judy for not taking proper care of herself. Judy kept assuring people that she was “feeling fine” but Fidler questioned that if that were the case, why all the smoke screen about a nervous collapse and an enforced rest cure? Was there some other reason for her replacement in one of the most ambition films on MGM’s schedule? If, on the other hand, she is in poor health, why the Sam Hill doesn’t someone give her the sound spanking she would seem to need and send her to bed, where she should be?
August 19, 1948: Here is another ad placed by MGM in the trade magazine “Film Daily.”
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Easter Parade here.
August 19, 1949: Regardless of her recent well-known personal struggles, Judy was enjoying success with both In The Good Old Summertime and the re-release of The Wizard of Oz still playing in theaters.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on In The Good Old Summertime here.
August 19, 1950: Columnist Dorothy Kilgallen wrote a “fan letter” to Judy, telling her to cheer up and take care of herself. Judy’s suicide attempt in June made headlines and she went on what was supposed to be an extended vacation. During that same time, Summer Stock opened and had audiences cheering and applauding Judy’s numbers as though it were a live performance. Judy’s fans rallied to her side rather than giving up on her, which is what many in Hollywood feared would happen. Little did they know some of her greatest triumphs were ahead.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Summer Stock here.
August 19, 1950: Columnist Erksine Johnson noted Judy’s success in Summer Stock and a newfound Helen Hayes quality in her acting.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Summer Stock here.
August 19, 1955: These two photos were taken of Judy during early rehearsals for her very first TV special on CBS-TV’s “Ford Star Jubilee,” broadcast live and in color, on September 24, 1955.
Around this same time, Judy signed a five-year contract with Capitol Records, her first recording contract since her short-lived contract with Columbia Records in 1953, and her first long-term recording contract since her Decca Records contracts in the 1930s & 40s.
Judy’s first session for the label was on August 25, 1955. Most of the songs on the completed album were also performed by Judy on that “Ford Star Jubilee” special. The album, titled “Miss Show Business,” was released two days after the broadcast as a tie-in to the special.
Check out The Judy Garland Online Discography’s “Miss Show Business” here.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
August 19, 1965: The second night of two nights in which Judy sang at the Basin Street West nightclub in San Francisco. Judy was at the club to hear Duke Ellington. This photo was taken of Judy and Mark Herron enjoying Ellington’s show. Included is a notice about Judy’s upcoming appearance at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
August 19, 1966: Judy was in Mexico City performing at The El Patio Nightclub. This night was to be the third of a two-week engagement. Due to laryngitis, Judy had to cancel the engagement prior to this night’s performance. Judy and her companion Tom Green returned to Los Angeles the following day (August 20th). Judy’s replacement was Betty Hutton.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
August 19, 1998: This press release was sent out by Rhino Records announcing the upcoming release of “Judy Garland – Her Greatest Movie Hits.”
“I’ll Plant My Own Tree” from Valley of the Dolls (1967) was originally slated to be the final track on the CD, but Fox would not release the recording to Rhino.
Now, 20+ years later, we have the new “Soundtracks” 2-CD set which features most of the tracks on this single CD release, newly remastered and sounding better than ever imagined!
“C’MON, GET HAPPY”!
ESSENTIAL JUDY GARLAND SOUNDTRACK CD
DUE FROM TURNER/RHINO OCTOBER 27
Judy’s Best-Known Movie Songs
Spanning Her Career From 1936-1963
LOS ANGELES – On Tuesday, October 27, it’s showtime in Tinseltown as the Turner Classic Movies Music/Rhino Movie Music audio soundtrack partnership premieres its latest tour de force production – JUDY GARLAND IN HOLLYWOOD: HER GREATEST MOVIE HITS.
Packed with more than 78 minutes of music, the new CD is the first comprehensive single-disc collection of the legendary entertainer’s most famous film soundtrack performances – 23 tracks spanning all phases of her career, from 1936-1963 (see complete tracklist at the end of this release).
Turner/Rhino’s JUDY GARLAND IN HOLLYWOOD: HER GREATEST MOVIE HITS will be available at retail, via RhinoDirect at 1-800-432-0020, and via the Rhino Website at http://www.rhino.com/ordering/ordering_index.html(#75292), for a suggested list of $16.98.
As detailed in the excellent new liner notes by Grammy nominee Will Friedwald, Judy Garland was “born in a trunk” and already a veteran all-around entertainer in her early teens when offered an M-G-M deal. Her big break (at 16) was starring as Dorothy in 1939’s The Wizard Of Oz. From the “backyard musicals” with Mickey Rooney to the leading lady of Meet Me In St. Louis to the all-stops-out dramatics of A Star Is Born, Garland grew up on screen. Her always-formidable vocal talent paced her growth as an actress. Notwithstanding a troubled personal life, she was a true American icon by the time of her death in 1969 at age 47.
Now, three decades later, the Garland legend keeps growing as new generations discover her musical and cinematic legacy. She’s a mainstream pop artist whose catalog enjoys brisk sales. Garland’s profile has been boosted of late by daughter Lorna Luft’s best-selling autobiography and daughter Liza Minnelli’s return to the stage, and will increase in the next several months as a number of theatrical and TV movie projects now in development are released.
A new Judy Garland Featured Artist page will be posted by late October on the Rhino Website at: http://www.rhino.com/features/75292p.html. And more information about Turner Classic Movies and its program schedule can be found at <http://tcm.turner.com/HOME/>. Tie-ins are planned between the Rhino, TCM, and key Garland fan websites.
All original performances, not re-recordings or live re-creations, JUDY GARLAND IN HOLLYWOOD: HER GREATEST MOVIE HITS includes:
“The Texas Tornado” (Pigskin Parade, 1936)
“Dear Mr. Gable/You Made Me Love You (I Didn’t Want To Do It)” (Broadway Melody Of 1938, 1937)
“Over The Rainbow” (The Wizard Of Oz, 1939)
“I’m Nobody’s Baby” (Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, 1940)
“F.D.R. Jones” (Babes On Broadway, 1941)
“For Me And My Gal” (For Me And My Gal, 1942)
“The Trolley Song” and “The Boy Next Door” (Meet Me In St. Louis, 1944)
“On The Atchison, Topeka, And The Santa Fe” (The Harvey Girls, 1946)
“Look For The Silver Lining” (Till The Clouds Roll By, 1946)
“Mack, The Black” (The Pirate, 1948)
“Easter Parade” (Easter Parade, 1948)
“Johnny One Note” (Words And Music, 1948)
“Last Night When We Were Young” (outtake, In The Good Old Summertime, 1949)
“Happy Harvest,” “Friendly Star,” and “Get Happy” (Summer Stock, 1950)
“Gotta Have Me Go With You” and “The Man That Got Away” (A Star Is Born, 1954)
“Little Drops Of Rain” (Gay Purr-ee, 1962)
“Hello Bluebird,” “By Myself,” and “I Could Go On Singing” (I Could Go On Singing, 1963).
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Now, 20 years later, we have the new “Soundtracks” 2-CD set which features most of the tracks on this single CD release, newly remastered and sounding better than ever!
Check out The Judy Garland Online Discography’s page about this “Greatest Movie Hits” release here.
August 19, 2018: Judy was the star of the day on the Turner Classic Movies network, part of their annual “Summer Under the Stars” month in which each day is devoted to a different star.