Posted by “Playing the lead as Dorothy from Kansas, Judy Garland is sweet and thoroughly convincing … and good use of her grand voice was made in a half-dozen clever, light songs which are lilting interludes.” – Uncredited review, 1939
August 24, 1930: No, that’s not Judy in the photo. It’s now-forgotten little dancer Rasella Arlo as featured in the Los Angeles Times. What’s of interest here is Arlo was in both Bubbles and The Wedding of Jack and Jill which were two short films, both released in 1930, that Judy and her sisters, as “The Gumm Sisters,” participated in due to their association with the Meglin Kiddies organization. These two films were the last films the sisters appeared in until their 1935 appearance in the short La Fiesta de Santa Barbara.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page with details about all of The Gumm Sisters Shorts here.
August 24, 1932: Here’s an ad for the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles that lists “The Gumm Sisters – Blue Harmony.” The sisters began their engagement the following night.
August 24, 1933: The first night of a weeklong engagement for Judy and her sisters, as “The Gumm Sisters,” at the Warner Brothers Hollywood Theater in Hollywood, California. The girls were billed as “Harmony at its best.”
August 24, 1934: The first night of a three-night engagement for “The Gumm Sisters” at the Marbro Theater in Chicago. This was just after their appearance at the Oriental Theater at which time George Jessel renamed them “The Garland Sisters.” Jessel was able to help them book more Chicago appearances, including this one. Unfortunately, they were billed as “The Glumm Sisters” as seen in this newspaper ad. They would not be billed as “The Garland Sisters” until August 31st.
It’s been reported that the sisters had a week-long engagement, but the newspapers ads only promote the girls as seen above on the 23rd (promoting the following night), the 24th, 25th & 26th. After that, the ads list “The Dodge Sisters” as part of the stage acts.
The images above are in the order listed in the paragraph above. Note how they’re listed as “The Glumm Sisters” then “Glum” (only one “m”) then “Gumm” and finally “Glumm” again.
August 24, 1937: This two-page ad appeared in the “Film Daily” trade paper promoting Broadway Melody of 1938.
On this day, Judy was up the California coast in the Bay Area for a couple of personal appearances accompanying the film. First up, she was in-person at a matinee showing of the film at the Fox Theater in Oakland in the East Bay (the two clippings that indicate “tomorrow” were published on the 23rd).
Judy had been in San Francisco since the 22nd (or possibly the morning of the 23rd) appearing at the Paramount Theater on the 23rd before each showing of the film including matinees. The ad below for the Fox Theater notes that Judy was scheduled to appear at 2:45 pm which would conflict with her appearances across the bay in San Francisco at the Paramount Theater (1:00 pm and 3:00 pm showings – Judy appeared at 12:50 & 2:50 respectively). It’s possible her appearance in Oakland was at an earlier showing and the ad from the 23rd has the wrong time.
The “San Francisco Examiner” noted that Judy was disappointed to find it sunny, expecting to see some of the famous fog.
After her two appearances at the Paramount, Judy (and entourage) returned to Los Angeles.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Broadway Melody of 1938 here.
August 24, 1938: This photo was taken by one of MGM’s studio photographers for use in promotions. There’s no word on exactly what Judy’s supposed to be making. Maybe it’s pancake batter?
August 24, 1939: Judy and Mickey Rooney took a break from their shows at the Capitol Theater and made a quick visit to the World’s Fair. Newsreel footage and photos show them chatting with New York’s Mayor LaGuardia.
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.
August 24, 1939: This ad appeared in various film trade magazines.
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 24, 1939: Judy and Mickey are a couple of troupers. Julia McCarthy reports on the duo’s photo session at The News One and Three Color Studio (August 23rd) for New York’s Daily News newspaper.
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.
August 24, 1939: More Ozzy ads and reviews.
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 24, 1940: Filming continued on Little Nellie Kelly with more scenes shot on MGM’s Back Lot #2, the New York Street, specifically the St. Patrick’s Day Parade scenes (including “It’s A Great Day For The Irish”) as well as scenes on the “Exterior 10th Avenue” set.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Little Nellie Kelly here.
August 24, 1944: Director Fred Zinnemann was removed from The Clock and replaced by Vincente Minnelli. The production was on “layoff” for two days, restarting on August 26 at which time Judy was not needed. She returned to the production on August 28.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Clock here.
August 24, 1953: Judy hadn’t been in her new home for very long, and had just begun work on A Star Is Born when a fire broke out in her bedroom forcing her to evacuate. Luckily, the fire wasn’t extensive and no one was hurt.
Check out The Judy Room’s ESpotlight on A Star is Born here.
August 24, 1955: These photos were taken of Judy in rehearsal for her very first television appearance, her special that premiered the new “Ford Star Jubilee” series on CBS-TV.
August 24, 1957: For weeks the NBC affiliate WFLA-TV had been promoting the acquisition of classic MGM films to air on their channel. Of course, Judy’s films were a big part of the line-up. MGM held out on selling its films to TV longer than the other studios. But they, just like the other studios, saw that there was easy money to be made in renting their libraries of classic films to TV.
August 24, 1958: This news item promoted Judy’s upcoming engagement at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, beginning on September 4th.
August 24, 1960: The news that Judy might take up permanent residence in England made the papers for several days.
August 24, 2008: AOL listed “The Judy Garland Show” at #34 in their list of the best shows of the 1960s.
August 24, 2010: Warner Home Video released this single-disc version of their 70th-anniversary edition of The Wizard of Oz.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
