Posted by “I was raised in a vaudeville family; we had lunch for breakfast, dinner for lunch and a show for dinner. From age 5 my appetite for entertainment was keener than my taste for food.” – Judy Garland, 1963
November 3, 1933: “The Gumm Sisters” performed as part of the Opera House Program at the Hamburger Memorial Home for Jewish Orphans in Hollywood, California.
November 3, 1934: “The Garland Sisters” continued their engagement at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California. The engagement began on November 1st and ended on the 7th. On this day Edwin Schallert mentioned the sisters in his review of the theater’s program. It’s probably the first time Schallert referenced Judy in his column. It wasn’t the last. The film playing during the engagement was The Count of Monte Cristo.
November 3, 1935: Judy sang at the Frank Fey Opportunity Night at the Cafe Trocadero in West Los Angeles, California.
November 3, 1938: Dorothy got a new look, the one we see in the final film. Thank you, George Cukor! Filming resumed the next day (November 4) on the revised cornfield set with both Dorothy and The Scarecrow sporting revised looks along with the revised Cornfield set. The photos of Judy and Ray Bolger on the Cornfield set are dated November 3 which indicates that this might have been a dress rehearsal.
The first triptych photo shown here was 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
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
November 3, 1939: Judy’s star was definitely high with her two hits “The Wizard of Oz” and Babes in Arms playing in theaters around the nation as these two similar notices (from two separate papers) show.
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.
November 3, 1941: Judy sang “Share a Little” on the radio show “Motion Picture Industry Community Chest Drive” broadcast out of Los Angeles by KFWB radio station. No recording of this performance is known to exist.
November 3, 1942: Judy had a very extensive sitting at MGM’s portrait studio with famed photographer Eric Carpenter. Here are some of the results. It’s fascinating to see how subtle changes in Judy’s hair, makeup, and clothing along with changes in lighting and angles can create such different looks.
November 3, 1943: Judy’s first recording session for Meet Me In St. Louis was devoted to pre-recording the songs “Boys And Girls Like You And Me” and “Over The Bannister.” Also recorded on this day was “You and I” with Denny Markas and the film’s producer, Arthur Freed, providing the vocals for stars Mary Astor and Leon Ames. The version of “You And I” recorded on this day went unused. The song was re-recorded on January 13, 1944.
“Boys And Girls Like You And Me” had been written by Rodgers and Hammerstein for the Broadway show “Oklahoma!” but was cut. In Meet Me In St. Louis it was the centerpiece of a sequence that took place in the narrative after “The Trolley Song” during which Judy’s “Esther Smith” and Tom Drake’s “John Truitt” walked around the unfinished fairgrounds. The entire sequence was cut. The footage no longer survives so the pre-recording was accompanied by stills in a video first released as an extra on the late-1980’s VHS edition of the film.
Listen to “Boys And Girls Like You And Me” Take 8 here:
Listen to “Boys And Girls Like You And Me” Pick-up Take 5 here:
Listen to “Over The Bannister” Take 2 here:
Listen to “Over The Bannister” Pick-up Take 3 here:
Listen to “You And I” Take 2 here:
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Meet Me In St. Louis here.
November 3, 1944: The Clock filming consisted of more scenes shot on the “Exterior Seal Pool” set. Time called: 10 a.m.; dismissed: 12:15 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Clock here.
November 3, 1945: Filming on Till The Clouds Roll By continued on the “Sunny” number on the “Interior Circus” set. Time called: 10 a.m.; dismissed: 4:10 p.m.
Check out The Judy Room’s Extensive Spotlight on Till The Clouds Roll By here.
November 3, 1947: Judy had wardrobe tests for Easter Parade scheduled for 11 a.m.; she arrived at 11:40 a.m. Then she had rehearsals scheduled at 1 p.m.; she arrived at 1:10 p.m.; dismissed: 4 p.m.
UK sheet music scan provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Easter Parade here.
November 3, 1950: Judy’s habit of singing “for free” has been well documented. Peers spoke in awe of how she’d sing all night at parties but then not show up the next day or be unable to perform on set. That was more a reflection of the turmoils Judy experienced at MGM than on Judy as a professional. This Walter Winchell column makes a quick note of how easily Judy would, as one peer noted, “squandered” her talents.
November 3, 1953: A Star Is Born filming continued with this wardrobe test, as well as scenes shot on the “Interior Tunnel Under Stage” and “Interior Stage Dressing Room” sets. Judy also had some wardrobe tests and a hair test of the blonde wig. Actress Jean Simmons visited the set and was photographed with Judy. The photo with Simmons was most likely taken at the end of the day. According to Louella Parsons’s column the following day, Simmons joined Judy and her husband Sid Luft for dinner this night at Chasen’s.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on A Star Is Born here.
Photos provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
November 3, 1954: A Star Is Born
November 3, 1956: A TV tradition was born when CBS presented the very first television showing of The Wizard of Oz on their “Ford Star Jubilee” program. Judy watched some of the broadcast from backstage in her Palace Theatre dressing room. “Cowardly Lion” Bert Lahr and Judy’s daughter Liza Minnelli hosted the broadcast.
Listen to their introduction here:
In conjunction with the broadcast, MGM Records released its first soundtrack album of songs from the film (see photo) which was the first Oz soundtrack album ever released. The album was a milestone in that it featured both songs and dialog recorded directly from the film’s soundtrack to present a seamless listening experience. It was the only Oz soundtrack (released in various formats over the years) until 1989 when CBS Special Products released an expanded version on CD. This release also featured the deleted “Jitterbug” pre-recording on CD for the first time.
Check out The Judy Garland Online Discography’s pages on the soundtrack of “The Wizard of Oz” here.
The next broadcast of the film was in 1959, which is when the annual airings began and the film became entrenched in the American psyche. Due to these annual airings and later the home media releases, The Wizard of Oz became, and remains, the most-seen film in history.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
November 3, 1958: The mono version of “Judy In Love” was released by Capitol Records. The stereo version was not released until February 16, 1959.
“Judy In Love” was Judy’s first album to be recorded and released in stereo. Previously, the only stereo recordings Judy had made were the MGM pre-recordings and the pre-recordings for the soundtrack to A Star Is Born (1954). None of these were released on record. The MGM pre-recordings were mixed to make balanced mono tracks for the films, and the A Star Is Born soundtrack was released on record in mono. Those were not released in stereo to the public until the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.
“Judy In Love” is the opposite in theme from her previous album, “Alone” in that it focuses on more upbeat songs about, obviously, being in love.
Download the original mono version here (zip file).
The mono and stereo versions of “Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart” are different takes whereas the rest of the songs are the same takes on both LPs. Oddly enough,” “Judy In Love” did not hit the charts, as most of Judy’s albums did.
November 3, 1960: The “Europe 1” radio station broadcast the recording they made of Judy’s concert at the Olympia Theater in Paris, France on October 28, 1960.
Download the concert here (zip file).
The concert was released on CD in 1994 and 2005, the former titled “Judy Garland a Paris” and the latter titled “Judy Garland Live in Paris.”
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
November 3, 1961: “Judy at Carnegie Hall” – “Two hours of just POW!”
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
Check out The Judy Garland Online Discography’s “Judy at Carnegie Hall” pages here.
November 3, 1963: Episode Twelve of “The Judy Garland Show” at CBS Television City, Stage 43, Hollywood aired on CBS-TV. The show was taped just two days prior on November 1, 1963, which was a fast turnaround. Originally the show that Judy taped with Mickey Rooney (which was the first show of the series to be taped) was to air this night. The change was so last-minute that many papers did not get the notice in time and printed that the Rooney show would be aired. The Rooney episode finally aired on December 8, 1963.
Judy’s guests were Vic Damone and Zine Bethume. Judy’s songs included:
“From This Moment On” (the audio for this was pre-recorded on October 31st for Judy to lip-sync to – listen to the recording here:
“Be My Guest” (with Damone and Bethume)
“Moon River”
“Getting To Know You” (with Bethume)
“Porgy and Bess” Medley (with Damone, also pre-recorded on October 31st – audio here:
“All-Purpose Holiday Song” (with Damone and Bethume)
“Smile”
“Rock-A-Bye Your Baby”
“Maybe I’ll Come Back”
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
November 3, 1963: Three versions of the same article.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
November 3, 1964: Judy attended the opening night of “High Spirits” in London, England, with Mark Herron.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
November 3, 1967: The first of two nights of Judy in concert at Seton Hall in South Orange, New Jersey. Judy sang “Get Off Looking Good” which was the song she wanted to sing in Valley of the Dolls rather than “I’ll Plant My Own Tree.”
The photo above right of Judy in performance at Seton Hall might be from this night or the November 4th performance.
Listen to the November 3rd concert here (zip file).
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
November 3, 1968: Judy made another early morning appearance at the “Three” nightclub in New York City, with John Meyer. This was followed by a business meeting at the Candy Store, a gay bar where Judy and John met with the money men who Tom Green had mentioned wanted to have Judy lend her name and prestige – and an occasional appearance – to a nightclub which these “gentlemen” would run. The club was to be located at East 63rd Street in New York City. Judy would be paid $5,000 in advance in cash, under the table, and receive a percentage of the room’s gross, also off the record. Ultimately, these “gentlemen” were not deemed to be suitable business associates, when they stated they could “make” Mr. Green stop “bothering her.” That was the end of Judy’s career in the nightclub business.
Photo: Judy in 1968, dated December 31, 1968.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
November 3, 2014: The UK version of the latest edition of The Wizard of Oz on Blu-ray was released. The set included the Ultraviolet and digital-download versions.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
Those portraits by Eric Carpenter are stunning! Judy was certainly gorgeous at age 20.
She sure was!