Posted by “Judy Garland, Movie Starlet, is just a nice kid who enjoys being her age and who quits acting when not before the camera.” – Virginia Irwin, 1939
November 21, 1928: “The Gumm Sisters” performed in their hometown of Lancaster, California, as part of the Kiwanis Club Lunch at the I.O.O.F. Hall.
November 21, 1930: “The Gumm Sisters” performed again as part of the “Big Brother Ken” show at Walker’s Department Store in Los Angeles, California. The sisters were part of the same show at Walker’s on November 8th and 15th. This show must have been during the day. The notice above, “News Of the Cafes” noted the “Hollywood Starlets Trio” as one of the acts appearing nightly at the Roosevelt Hotel. The sisters had gone by the “Hollywood Starlets Trio” name several times in late 1930 and early 1931. The notice mentions that they’re “a group of pretty girls who can sing.”
November 21, 1933: “The Gumm Sisters” sang at actress Dorothy Granger’s twenty-first birthday party in Los Angeles, California.
November 21, 1936: Here’s a fun ad for Pigskin Parade, from The Rick Smith Collection. Thanks, Rick!
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography pages on Pigskin Parade here.
November 21, 1938: The beginning of a week of filming on the “Lion’s Forest” set for Judy, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, and Toto too!
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
November 21, 1939: Judy’s weekly appearance on “The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope.” No recording of the show is known to exist, so it’s unknown what Judy sang.
November 21, 1939: Judy was ready for Thanksgiving. These photos taken of Judy with this turkey dinner platter are the only known non-Oz publicity photos of Judy in her “Dorothy Gale” costume. Also included is an ad for a Thanksgiving Day sale on Judy Garland dresses.
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
November 21, 1939: “Sweet Sixteen” by Virginia Irwin. Judy was actually seventeen. The article presents Judy as a down-to-earth normal girl:
Unlike her top-flight contemporaries, Deanna Durbin and Mickey Rooney, who feel their fame and show it, Judy’s just a nice, none-too-good-looking little lady who has sense enough to quit acting when the director yells “cut” and be herself outside the movie business. In my estimation, you just can’t include Judy in the Hollywood infant menace that is Temple, Rooney, Durbin and the rest of the movie youngsters.
November 21, 1940: “Judy Garland Sings.” Judy’s role in Strike Up The Band is her “perfect role” thus far. According to the article which makes the claim that’s what Judy said. Also in theaters, Little Nellie Kelly.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Strike Up The Band here.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on Little Nellie Kelly here.
November 21, 1942: Judy appeared in Pershing Square in Los Angeles raising money for the war effort and also promoting For Me And My Gal. Community “sing-alongs” of nostalgic and patriotic WWI songs were promoted around the country in conjunction with showings of the film in local theaters, all monies raised went to the war effort. Also included is an odd article in which producer Arthur Freed claimed that servicemen did not like patriotic songs.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on For Me And My Gal here.
November 21, 1942: “Liberty” magazine.
Scan provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on For Me And My Gal here.
November 21, 1943: Girl Crazy was new in theaters.
Photos: Two tie-ins for hairdos that used Judy’s image to sell them, two photos, and an ad.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on Girl Crazy here.
November 21, 1944: The Clock finished filming. The last scenes to be shot were those on the “Exterior Loading Platform” set. Time called: 6 p.m.; dismissed: 10:30 p.m.
The total cost of the film was $1,324,000. It grossed $2,783,000 and gave Judy raves from critics and audiences for her first straight dramatic role.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Page on The Clock here.
November 21, 1944: Premiering tomorrow in St. Louis, Missouri: Meet Me In St. Louis.
November 21, 1945: The Decca Records cast album of songs from The Harvey Girls received this nice write-up in the “St. Louis Post.”
Check out The Judy Garland Online Discography’s Decca Records The Harvey Girls pages here.
Check out The Judy Room’s Filmography Pages on The Harvey Girls here.
November 21, 1946: Judy gave a dramatic performance (non-singing) in the original radio drama “Drive-In” broadcast by CBS-Radio as part of their “Suspense Theater” series.
The drama was written by Judy’s friend, mentor, and vocal coach Kay Thompson and her husband William Spier. The couple was also the godparents of Judy and her husband Vincente Minnelli’s daughter, Liza Minnelli.
Listen to the show here:
Listen to the rehearsal recording here:
Photos: Original poster art by Meg Myers; Judy at CBS-Radio the night of the performance; Judy with Kay Thompson and William Spier at CBS-Radio the night of the performances; newspaper ads.
November 21, 1947: The first day of filming on Easter Parade was devoted to the shooting of the ultimately deleted “Mr. Monotony” number. Filming of the number lasted two days. On the 21st Judy was in makeup at 7 a.m. for her 9 a.m. call, and dismissed at 5:40 p.m. On the 22nd Judy was in makeup again at 7 a.m. for a 9 a.m. call, and dismissed at 11:40 a.m.
The edited number:
Many of the dailies from the two days have survived. The reconstructed number first appeared on the 1992 Easter Parade laserdisc. A different version, using different takes, was included in the 1994 theatrical release of “That’s Entertainment III.” The deluxe DVD and Blu-ray editions of “Easter Parade” include the complete number plus all of the existing dailies.
The surviving dailies:
The footage gives us a fantastic look at how musical numbers were filmed, take after take. Judy is in top form and performs each take as if it were her last. Complete brilliance.
Here is an alternate version using different takes:
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on Easter Parade here.
November 21, 1947: The latest edition of Hedda Hopper’s column was devoted to this interesting collection of feedback from the public after Judy and other stars asked on a recent radio show what they thought of the House Un-American Committee’s hearings in Washington about alleged pro-communism in the movie business.
November 21, 1949: This photo of Judy was taken on this day on the set of Summer Stock.
November 21, 1952: Judy’s second child (and first with her husband Sid Luft), Lorna Luft, was born – weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces – at St. John’s Hospital in Los Angeles. Lorna was nameless for four days while her parents debated over naming her Nora or Amanda before ultimately choosing Lorna.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
November 21, 1954: Here’s a fun ad for A Star Is Born plus another printing of Judy performing “Black Bottom.”
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on A Star Is Born here.
November 21, 1956: This full-page ad for RCA’s recent model of their color TV notes the films that will look great in color on their sets, including The Pirate, Easter Parade, and of course, The Wizard of Oz.
November 21, 1957: The Lufts (Judy, Sid, Lorna, and Joe) left England arriving in New York a few days later, then on to Chicago for Thanksgiving. While there, Judy spoke with longtime Garfan, Tom Cooper, who had made his own home movie version of A Star Is Born. On Thanksgiving night, The Lufts caught a train to California, arriving home on November 30, 1957.
Photo: The Lufts upon arrival in England on November 9, 1957.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
November 21, 1964: Judy was seen briefly on British television, sitting in the audience of the show “Juke Box Jury,” where a panel votes on new records. Liza was a member of the panel.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
November 21, 1967: The final installment of three condensed newspaper reprints of the “Ladies Home Journal” magazine article written by Judy.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
November 21, 1968: Judy and John Meyer went shopping at 2:30 pm. at Jordon Marsh, in Boston, Massachusetts. They bought $108.69 worth of items for the kitchen. About 4:15 p.m., Judy went downstairs looking for the cocktail lounge, where some people gathered around her. Eventually, she and Meyer were in the South Seas lounge. At about 10 p.m. they were dining at the Half Shell, a seafood house, where they met a married couple, Jim and Louis, and their friend Dick.
Check out The Judy Room’s “Judy Garland – The Concert Years” Section here.
November 21, 2016: The cable channel TBS celebrated the 60th anniversary of the TV broadcast premiere of The Wizard of Oz (November 3, 1956), with a special broadcast of the film. The images above were created by Oz fan Wayne Anthony Miller (although he has the date wrong, it was Sunday, November 21st when it aired).
Check out The Judy Room’s Spotlight on The Wizard of Oz here.
Wow. “Mr. Monotony”, unquestionably the greatest number of her “outtake” gems, although I agree it doesn’t belong in the movie. By contrast, both “March of the Doagies”, and “My Intuition” DO belong in “The Harvey Girls.”
What’s curious, is that Judy’s face is so much beautiful and youthful in “Monotony” than in the repeated (and utilized) “Get Happy”, where she looks super worn out. Yet her weight in “Get Happy” looks much, much more healthy.
Let’s just Get Happy that “Mr. Monotony” survived!!