Posted by “The Garland voice is a powerfully dramatic instrument. It can leave the blase a-tremble, can stir the apathetic to cheers and never fails to mobilize a sort of musical catharsis in the multitude.” – Ernie Santosuosso, The Boston Globe, 1967
September 1, 1934: Here is another ad for the newly christened “Garland Sisters” (Judy and her two sisters) and their engagement at the Uptown Theater in Chicago, IL.
September 1, 1937: MGM placed this multi-page ad in the “Film Daily” trade paper, touting the success of Broadway Melody of 1938.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Broadway Melody of 1938 here.
September 1, 1939: Three Wizard of Oz tie-in ads. The first is from the Hotel Bingham in Binghamton, New York, telling people to see the film and then have dinner in their restaurant; the second is an ad for free tickets if you’re able to find your name in the want ads in Logan, Ohio; the last one is from Coshocton, Ohio, where there was a special “Kiddie Show” featuring balloons, Oz gifts, and even Judy Garland Dresses available to early attendees.
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 Biography 1939 Page.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
September 1, 1939: Here’s an ad for the new Decca Records album of songs from The Wizard of Oz. The album is not a soundtrack album instead, it’s an album of studio recordings of some of the songs from the film. The original soundtrack album market was still several years in the future.
Only “Over The Rainbow” and “The Jitterbug” are Garland vocals. The “vocal trio” who accompanies Judy on “The Jitterbug” is none other than the song’s composer Harold Arlen as The Scarecrow with Bud Lyon as The Tin Man, and Garney Bell as The Lion. The remaining songs are performed by the Ken Darby Singers.
This was actually the first Judy Garland “album” ever released. Previously Judy’s recordings for the label were released as singles and would continue to be, with a few more albums to come in the 1940s. Judy recorded both of these vocals on July 29, 1939.
Listen to “Over the Rainbow” here:
Listen to “The Jitterbug” here:
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 Biography 1939 Page.
Check out The Judy Garland Online Discography’s Pages on the Decca Records version of The Wizard of Oz here.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
September 1, 1939: More Ozzy ads, reviews, and articles.
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 Biography 1939 Page.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
September 1, 1939: “Photoplay Studies” published this extensive article about 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 Biography 1939 Page.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
September 1, 1939: Two articles and an ad. The first is about the different ways in which various singers and actors sing/perform for the film microphones. The second is a note about Judy and Mickey Rooney’s upcoming new film Babes in Arms as well as one of the earliest mentions of Arthur Freed’s pet project, Ziegfeld Follies, which was filmed in 1944, 1945, and 1946, and finally released in 1946 as Ziegfeld Follies of 1946.
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 Biography 1939 Page.
The ad featured Jack Haley’s latest gig, in Philadelphia, mentioning The Wizard of Oz.
September 1, 1939: Judy is one of the subjects of this article published in the fan magazine “Screeland” titled “The Untouchables.”
September 1, 1939: The September issue of the “Radio Mirror” fan magazine featured a rare photo of Judy out on the town with bandleader Artie Shaw. Shaw was one of her biggest crushes, but even as the text of the article notes, he saw her only as a friend. He would soon marry Lana Turner, which devastated Judy and left her inconsolable.
September 1, 1943: This nice collage of collectible photos was published in the fan magazine “Photoplay.”
September 1, 1943: Also featured in “Photoplay” is this blurb about Judy and an article about MGM’s new star Van Johnson which mentions Judy. Several years later, Johnson co-starred with Judy in In The Good Old Summertime.
September 1, 1943: Girl Crazy, Thousands Cheer, and Meet Me In St. Louis are mentioned in this MGM ad published in the trade magazine “Film Daily.”
September 1, 1944: Filming resumed on The Clock with Vincente Minnelli as the film’s new director. The first scenes shot under Minnelli’s direction were those on the “Interior Rodin’s Thinker” and “Interior French Gallery” sets.
Judy was due on set at 10 a.m. but didn’t arrive until 10:53 a.m. The fault wasn’t hers. She was in makeup at 8:55 a.m. but they gave her the wrong fall for her hair, hence the delay. She arrived on set at 10:53 a.m. and was ready for filming at 11:02 a.m. Time dismissed: 6:40 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Clock here.
September 1, 1948: This photo appeared in the September issue of Photoplay, part of an article about Judy. Thanks to the person who commented (see the bottom of the page) the rest of the article is now included.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Pirate here.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Easter Parade here.
September 1, 1950: Billy Rose’s latest “Pitching Horseshoes” column first appeared in papers around the country. Summer Stock had been released in August 1950. It was a hit, garnering Judy great reviews with some articles mentioning the film as her return after “a brief illness” (her very public suicide attempt that previous June). Rose, obviously a Garland fan, famously called her a “national asset” and “Al Jolson in lace panties.”
An Open Letter to Judy Garland
MISS JUDY GARLAND
CALNEVA LODGE
LAKE TAHOE, CALIF.
DEAR JUDY:
WHAT WITH a non-stop phone, a couple of columns to write, and the arguments incidental to a new television show I’m working on, last Thursday was one of the longest days I remember, and by the time 7 o’clock rolled around I was as low as a policeman’s arch.
Too jittery to relax, I put my hat on and strolled over to Broadway, and on 46th Street I met a movie critic who was on his way to a private showing of your new picture, “Summer Stock.” On the par of the mood and moment I invited myself along.
A hundred minutes later I walked out of the projection room with a slaphappy grin on my face, and the midget miracle which had catapulted me out of the drench and into the dazzle was a chunk of talented girl called Garland.
You see, Judy, I hadn’t seen you on the screen in quite a while, and I had almost forgotten how all-fired good you are. I found your portrayal of a fair girl in “Summer Stock” as convincing as a $20 gold piece, and when you leveled on Harold Arlen’s old song, “Get Happy” – well, I was Al Jolson in lace panties, Maurice Chevalier in opera pumps!
Naturally, you’re wondering why I’m taking heart in ball-pen and writing you this love-and-kudos letter right out in the open.
WELL, LIKE everyone else, I read the front-page stories about you a couple of months back, and from the lies between the lines I sensed that you had been having a bout with the Jim-jams yourself, and that you no longer cared much whether school kept or not.
This letter – and I know it’s plenty presumptuous – is to point out, in case you haven’t thought of it yourself, how important it is to millions of people in this country that school continue to keep for Judy Garland and that she continue to do her stuff in the movies.
“Aw, shucks,” I can hear you say, “I ain’t that important.” Well, let’s see if I can’t get it across to you with a few succinct statistics:
Approximately 60,000,000 people go to the movies each week, and at least half of them, at one time or another, figure to see a big razzmatazz musical like “Summer Stock.”
Okay – pick up a pencil and do a bit of multiplying and dividing, and you’ll find that your inspired shenanigans in this one film will contribute three billion minutes or six thousand years of sparkle to this pesky persimmon of a planet.
AND THAT, my plum, is more than the average mortal could hope to accomplish in a hundred reincarnations.
It gets down to this, Judy: In an oblique and daffy for to foray, you are as much a national asset as our coal reserves – both of you help to warm our insides.
And the day you stop making pictures, you’re going to take a lot of warmth out of the lives of millions of Bills and Betties who live in furnished rooms and cook their breakfasts on hot plates – me-and-my-shadow folk for whom a Judy Garland movie is the best available substitute for the kiss in the dark that never happens.
Your devoted fan,
BILLY ROSE
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Summer Stock here.
September 1, 1950: Here are ads and reviews of Summer Stock.
September 1, 1955: Judy’s fourth recording session at the Capitol Records studios in Hollywood, California. Judy recorded “Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe” for the “Miss Show Business” LP.
Listen to “Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe” here:
Check out The Judy Garland Online Discography’s “Miss Show Business” pages here.
September 1, 1955: The second re-release of The Wizard of Oz was playing all over the country. Here is a short article about how the film made Judy a big star.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
September 1, 1958: Judy arrived in Chicago for her upcoming concert at Orchestra Hall. She stayed at the Bismark Hotel, and she gave a press conference where this photo was taken, with her husband Sid Luft in the background.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
September 1, 1965: During the previous night’s show at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California, Judy proudly announced that she and Mark Herron were going to be married. Judy’s engagement at the theater was for six shows. Although Judy stated they would be married on September 19th the couple waited and were actually married on November 14th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
September 1, 1967: Judy had just triumphed at The Boston Common in Boston, MA the day before making a special visit to the Veterans Administration Hospital, also in Boston. Judy personally visited about 80 veterans and sang a few verses of “Over the Rainbow. She then did a brief “concert” in the movie room of the hospital for about 50 people. She sang “Just in Time”; a duet of “Bye, Bye Blackbird” with her conductor Bobby Cole; and closed with “Over The Rainbow.”
Below are a few reviews of Judy’s triumph at the Boston Common.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
September 1, 1967: Judy’s next engagement: The Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” here.
September 1, 1998: Rhino Records released “The Story and Songs from The Wizard of Oz.”
Warner Bros. re-released The Wizard Of Oz into theaters nationwide in late 1998. The re-release boasted a new print of the restored film, as well as a newly restored “digital” soundtrack. The soundtrack for the film had been remastered utilizing the original recording masters, including the existing separate stems. These stems allowed parts of the film to be remixed into true stereo, while the rest of the film was remastered to simulate stereo.
This special edition of the soundtrack album was released by Rhino Records to coincide with that theatrical re-release. It contains most of the songs and dialog recorded “directly from the soundtrack” of that newly restored digital soundtrack. The idea was to recreate and expand the listening experience many of us had enjoyed with the original M-G-M Records LPs, while also presenting that listening experience to a whole new generation of fans.
The sound quality of this disc is excellent. Sure, some of it is “simulated” stereo, however, it was the only CD that had “Over The Rainbow” as heard in the film, without that annoying jump in volume when Judy sings the second “somewhere” as it has been presented in all of the other Rhino CDs that include the pre-recording. The 2017 2-CD set “Judy Garland – Soundtracks” features the non-audio-jump version in its original mono format with the correct intro (all other versions used an alternate take). The 2022 CD “Judy at 100 – 26 Classics in Stereo!” presents the recording in stereo for the first time.
Even with the extant noises such as footsteps (etc.) included, the overall listening experience, especially in the “Munchkinland Sequence,” is vastly superior to the previous mono editions.
The beautiful packaging folds out to reveal a “pop-up” of the main characters, with nice photos on either side.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
Here is the original press release:
FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD IN STEREO WITH THE STORY & SONGS FROM THE WIZARD OF OZ, DUE SEPTEMBER 1 FROM TURNER/RHINO
Features All the Greatest Songs & Scenes from the Most Beloved Film in History
LOS ANGELES – With Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1939 masterpiece set for big-screen theatrical rerelease this Christmas by Warner Bros., the Turner Classic Movies Music/Rhino Movie Music soundtracks partnership take another trip down the Yellow Brick Road on September 1 with the release of THE STORY & SONGS FROM THE WIZARD OF OZ.
The new, nearly-78-minute audio CD features all the favorite songs and scenes from the original movie that tell the whole enchanting tale – in splendid stereo sound.
Songs on the new CD include the Academy Award-winning “Main Title” and “Over The Rainbow” plus “Follow The Yellow Brick Road”/”We’re Off To See The Wizard,” “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead,” “If I Only Had A Brain,” and more of Herbert Stothart’s superb musical adaptations of the Harold Arlen/E.Y. Harburg tunes.
Among the classic scenes featured are “Toto, I’ve A Feeling We’re Not In Kansas Anymore,” “Lions And Tigers And Bears, Oh, My!,” “The Great And Powerful Oz,” “March Of The Winkies (O Eee Ahhh, Eeeo, Ahh),” “I’m Melting,” and “There’s No Place Like Home.”
THE STORY & SONGS FROM THE WIZARD OF OZ stars the voices of Judy Garland (Dorothy); Frank Morgan (The Wizard); Ray Bolger (The Scarecrow); Bert Lahr (The Cowardly Lion); Jack Haley (The Tin Woodman); Billie Burke (Glinda); Margaret Hamilton (The Wicked Witch); Charley Grapewin (Uncle Henry); Clara Blandick (Aunt Em); and the Singer Midgets (The Munchkins), with backing from the M-G-M Studio Orchestra and Chorus.
The new CD is based on the legendary 1956 mono soundtrack LP released by M-G-M Records, which sold five million copies. Due to technical limitations at the time, the original LP’s running time was 39 minutes; the new Turner/Rhino stereophonic edition doubles that.
Turner/Rhino’s THE STORY & SONGS FROM THE WIZARD OF OZ will be available at retail, via RhinoDirect at 1-800-432-0020, and/or via the Rhino Website at <http://www.rhino.com/ordering/ordering_index.html(catalog #75516), for a suggested list of $16.98.
A new Oz STORY & SONGS Featured Title page will be posted in early September on the Rhino Website at <http://www.rhino.com/features/75516p.html>. And more information about Turner Classic Movies and its program schedule can be found at <http://www.turner.com/tcm>.
Here’s the last bit of the Photoplay article-
https://archive.org/stream/photoplayjuldec100macf_3#page/n335/search/%22punch+in+judy%22
Fantastic, thank you!