Posted by “I hope you heard Judy’s performance of ‘Morning Glory’ on the radio. She only broke your heart – that’s all.” – Producer Arthur Hornblow, Jr., 1942
October 29, 1932: “The Gumm Sisters” had two engagements on this day. First up was a performance for “The Little Club” which was the club’s opening of the dance season, held at the Coconut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Secondly, they took part in a radio broadcast with Uncle Tom Murray and the Hollywood Hillbillies broadcast out of Los Angeles by both KFI and KECA Radio.
October 29, 1936: More about Pigskin Parade including a really fun Zenith advertisement. Betty Kern of The Dayton Herald didn’t care for the film very much. Even so, she liked Judy, “..and Judy Garland, who, in the spot she is in, does alright by herself.”
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Pigskin Parade here.
October 29, 1937: Here’s another printing of the photos of Judy and “the gang” at the amusement park.
October 29, 1938: “Judy’s Dull Day.” This uncredited article published on this day claims that if it hadn’t been a dull day at MGM when Judy “first appeared at the Metro casting office” she might not have been allowed to sing and thus get a contract. It’s impossible to imagine any day at MGM being “dull.”
October 29, 1938: Here’s a nice review and ad for Judy’s latest film, Listen, Darling.
October 29, 1939: One of the photos that Judy and Mickey Rooney posed for while in New York City on August 23rd was published as the cover of the New York Daily News’ Sunday newspaper insert. Included is a review and newspaper ad.
October 29, 1942: In her recent column, Hedda Hopper reported that producer Arthur Hornblow claimed that Judy, rather than fellow MGM star Lana Turner, was more representative of the American girl.
October 29, 1943: This ad appeared in the “Film Daily” trade paper, promoting MGM films including Girl Crazy and Thousands Cheer.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Girl Crazy here.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Thousands Cheer here.
October 29, 1944, and 1945: While we tend to think that films of the Golden Age played theaters for a week, maybe two, then went back to the vaults, but quite a few films circulated for several years after their release dates.
Here are two examples, one of For Me And My Gal playing to good business in 1944 (two years after its release) and one for Presenting Lily Mars in 1945 (two years after its release).
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on For Me And My Gal here.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Presenting Lily Mars here.
October 29, 1944: Judy was well into filming on The Clock but that didn’t stop MGM from sending out this photo of Judy on the set of Meet Me In St. Louis. Louis premiered a month later in St. Louis, Missouri, on November 22, 1944.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Meet Me In St. Louis here.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Clock here.
October 29, 1945: Here’s an interesting article about how Japanese soldiers would try to “break down the morale of prisoners [by circulating a] report Deanna Durbin and Judy Garland had met death.” Fascinating.
Also on October 29, 1945: Judy continued filming the “Who?” number for Till The Clouds Roll By on the “Interior Stairs” set. Time called: 10 a.m.; Judy arrived at 10:47 a.m.; dismissed: 5:35 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Till The Clouds Roll By here.
October 29, 1947: Music rehearsals for Easter Parade consisted of the rehearsals of “Strut” and orchestrations for Judy’s solo, “Mr. Monotony.” Time called: 2:30 p.m; Jud arrived at 2:45 p.m.; dismissed: 4:10 p.m.
Photo: Italian poster for Easter Parade provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Easter Parade here.
October 29, 1948: Here is another two-page spread placed by MGM in the trade magazine “Motion Picture Herald.” Among the amazing lineup of films were Judy’s Easter Parade and Words and Music.
October 29, 1953: Filming on the second, and ultimately deleted, version of “The Man That Got Away” for A Star Is Born continued. This day was focused on medium close-up shots.
The original version shot on October 20 featured Judy in a pink blouse. For this second version, she was filmed in a brown dress designed by Mary Ann Nyberg. Judy arrived on set each of these three days at 10 a.m. She finished at 5:50 p.m. on October 27th; 4:45 on October 28th; and 6:15 p.m. on October 29th. The final film version, with the dark blue dress, was filmed in late February 1954.
A total of 27 takes were filmed over those three days. Each time the number was filmed in one long continuous take. According to assistant director Earl Bellamy, Judy would give her all, then rest for 15 minutes, then do it all over again. Every take was brilliant.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on A Star Is Born here.
October 29, 1956: The upcoming premiere of The Wizard of Oz was, and had been, getting good press. The premiere was on November 3rd and turned out to be a milestone in the history of the film.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
October 29, 1958: The news hit the papers that Sid Luft’s (Judy’s husband) ex-wife Lynn Bari had opened another court case the previous day, seeking custody of her son with Sid, John Luft. Bari testified that Judy monitored the phone calls between Bari and her son when her son was staying at Judy and Sid’s home. Bari eventually won the case and was given full custody.
October 29, 1960: Judy’s second concert at The Olympia Theater in Paris, France. She had opened at the venue the previous night.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
October 29, 1961: Judy was in concert at The Forum in Montreal, Canada.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
October 29, 1961: This article isn’t really about Judy, it’s about the famous artist Al Hirschfeld, but one of his caricatures of Judy is featured. Hirschfeld created several wonderful caricatures of Judy over the decades.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
October 29, 1964: Due to the incredible response to the recent announcement that Judy and Liza would appear in concert together at The London Palladium, a second concert was announced on this day scheduled for November 15th. The first show was scheduled for November 8th.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
October 29, 1968: In the early morning hours, Judy, John Meyer, his friend Larry Lowenstein, and Jenny Wheeler (Judy’s new secretary), drove in Lowenstein’s Mustang to his studio apartment on the sixth floor of a high rise called the Sea Verge (because it overlooked the ocean on the New Jersey Shore). Later that afternoon, Judy’s foot was treated by Dr. Lester Barnett of the Monmouth Clinic; the day ended with Judy and John having a massive food fight at dinner, practically destroying Larry’s apartment!
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
October 29, 2012: The United Kingdom edition of the Blu-ray of Meet Me In St. Louis was released.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Meet Me In St. Louis here.
October 29, 2013: The fantastic companion book to the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz was released. The book is one of the top three books about the making of the film that has ever been published. It was written by Jay Scarfone and William Stillman, the same duo responsible for the recent (and equally fantastic) “The Road to Oz” book. The fabulous design was provided by Raphael Geroni, who also created the printed inserts. Some examples are provided here (Thank you, Raphael, for sharing them!).
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
Some images were provided by Harper Collins Publishers. The Wizard of Oz: The Official 75th Anniversary Companion by William Stillman and Jay Scarfone. Published by Harper Design, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; © 2013 by Author. Authors’ credit: Scarfone/Stillman Collection
October 29, 2019: For the 80th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, Warner Home Video debuted the film on disc in the 4K format. Included in the release was an additional Blu-ray disc. All of the digital extras were copied over from the previous releases, the only new item here is the film remastered in 4K Ultra HD.
For extensive details and more images, check out The Judy Room’s Media Page devoted to this release.
Best Buy had an exclusive tin case version only available in their stores or on their website.
October 29, 2022: The first day of a two-week retrospective of Judy’s life and career in Japan, part of the commemorative events surrounding this centennial year of Judy’s birth.