Judy Garland day on TCM

[Elphaba]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 2:40pm

for those interested.

Anyone know who originally was supposed to be the female lead in
'In the Good Old Summertime', and why Judy ended up in the role?
(Mary-Ethel I'm sure you'll know this)

Updated On: 8/7/05 at 02:40 PM

Posted: 8/7/05 at 2:56pm

Elph, ah, don't let Marquise kid you....as he kids himself.

June Allyson was visibly pregnant and couldn't play the role in "Summertime."



Updated On: 8/7/05 at 02:56 PM

[bta212]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 2:57pm

Sadly, I would LOVE to know the answer.

I just watched/TiVo'd the Shop Around the Corner; one of those films I really love and always forget about.

I'm having a little trouble imagining Judy in lieu of Margaret Sullavan, but I'll give it a shot.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 4:43pm

very good Jose, and I should have know you'd know it! I also found it interesting that in the last scene when she and Van Johnson are walking in the park with their daughter, that it was none other than "she who cannot be named".

[bta212]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 5:00pm

LIZA LIZA LIZA LIZA!!!!!


ooops.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:22pm

Everyday is Judy Garland Day Chez PalJoey.

And Ethel Merman Day.

And Ella Fitzgerald Day.

<----- Oh, and Dolores Gray Day!

(Or, as it's known Chez DG: "Forgotten Actress Day")

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:24pm

And Judy is brilliant in Good Old Summertime.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:26pm

yes she was Glebb, it's one of my favorites of hers

[Atrias]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:26pm

I just watched part of one of them. It involved Judy fighting off prostitutes with a broom handle and Ray Bolger dancing erratically. I was somewhat confused.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:30pm

LOL Atrias! That's 'The Harvey Girls', M-G-M's answer to 'Oklahoma' and another brilliant Garland performance. Did you notice Angela Landsbury?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:34pm

That would be The Harvey Girls. The head prostitute was a young Angela Lansbury.

But The Harvey Girls is somewhat of an acquired taste, like oysters or dry sherry.

Just watch the "Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe" number--it's a classic that will make you want to watch more.

[luvliza89]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:41pm

I missed most of this today!

But I'm like PalJoey...everyday is Judy Garland day to me. I think I mention her at least once a day.

Do ya hear that comin down the line...

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:55pm

My big problem with HARVEY GIRLS is that (IMHO) Judy has NO chemistry with John Hodiack - But I think the AT&SF is the single greatest MGM musical number EVER.

Judy's performance in IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME is one of her very best - she's so FUNNY in it and looks healthy - not as skeletal or tense as she looks in THE PIRATE... a bit plumper and relaxed. There is a great anecdote about her behavior on the set. It's one of the rare Judy films that wasn't an Arthur Freed production - she was 'lent' to the less opulent Joe Pasternack 'unit' for it. Though Judy was known for being 'erratic' on the sets of her later Freed films (where she was usually directed by her husband), "Uncle Joe's" less pressured unit had no problems with her - she was on the set early, was completely professional, causing no delays or added expenses in shooting and was beloved by the cast and crew. Freed heard about this and asked Pasternack, "What do you do?" Pasternack replied: "Simple. We made her feel appreciated and loved. We treat her like a human being."

Updated On: 8/7/05 at 07:55 PM

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:57pm

chills.

[Atrias]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:59pm

I did notice Angela Lansbury. I was like, "Wow, she doesn't have wrinkles. Weird." But I couldn't understand why she was trying to go all smackdown on poor Judy...

[Elphaba]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 7:59pm

great insight master, thanks.

[Justice]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 8:17pm

I don't think any Judy performance can compare to "A Star is Born". Had Dorothy Dandridge not been nominated that year, my jopes would have gone to her, but sadly, they both lost to Grace Kelly.

She was also wonderful in that movie...god, what was the name? about a silent boy who is in a school that she teaches...One of her later films...What's amazing about that, was in that time period, not only was her life spiraling downhill, but she didn't get along with her co-stars, or John Cassavetes - who directed it (I think it's "When a Child Cries" or something...anyway...they didn't get along with her, but you could never tell that her life was in shambles by her amazing acting.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 8:22pm

A CHILD IS WAITING

[Justice]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 8:25pm

Yes,,,that was it.

[Yawper]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:09pm

"Though Judy was known for being 'erratic' on the sets of her later Freed films (where she was usually directed by her husband)"

Minnelli didn't direct another Garland film after The Pirate.

[Justice]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:12pm

I actually enjoyed the Pirate...

I have to say, I like pretty much all of her films, with the exception of the ones with Mickey Rooney...(I have to turn away from the Black Face in Babes in Arms...and can't blame Judy for that choice...but, more so, the Director...was it Busby Berkely?

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:37pm

The whole subject of minstrelsy is a social quagmire. Quite politically incorrect today, and not easy to view at all. However at the time of the film (1941) it was less the issue than it is today. Certainly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this was a staple of mass entertainment. Blackface aside, the minstrel number is quite a tour de force in BABES ON BROADWAY.

Busby Berkeley was the director of both BABES.


Updated On: 8/7/05 at 10:37 PM

[cudramacat]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:37pm

All I can say is yay for Summer Stock! That was a fun movie...Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in the same movie....yowser!

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 8/8/05 at 3:56am

"Minnelli didn't direct another Garland film after The Pirate."

He had a hand in a majority - often uncredited - in most of her previous films pre-GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME and post-ST. LOUIS. He directed her numbers in ZIEGFELD FOLLOIES and TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY, and some sources even credit him for the 'Fruit Concert' number in STRIKE UP THE BAND (for which Berkeley recieved credit).

[Justice]

Posted: 8/8/05 at 4:58am

Well, Jose,
Just because Blackface...or minstrelsy...was not an issue then does not give it any excuse to be right. It was still a form of racism, no matter what era.