Legendary Film Career

BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938 [1937]

Notes

When Judy's supporting role was incorporated into this film it was titled BROADWAY MELODY OF 1937. The film took so long in planning and pre-production that, by the time it was ready to be released, the referenced year had to be changed to 1938. Her part encompassed only a few brief scenes, bu she was assigned three major songs as well.

Judy's excitement about the film was rapidly equaled- if not eclipsed- by the success she was having with a specialty number 'Dear Mr. Gable: You Made Me Love You'. Written for her to perform at Clark Gable's birthday party in February 1937, the routine was given a rousing reception and thereafter slotted Garland for appearances on radio, at a Hollywood benefit, an intra-corporate dinner, and for a national convention of film exhibitors. In every instance, the impact of her rendition and the material was uproarious, and the song was quickly shoehorned into an already jam-packed BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938.

Due to last-minute rewrites, the Garland rendition [with a children's choir] of 'Yours and Mine' was cut from the final edit of the picture. A more regrettable loss came with the deletion of the three and a half minute Judy- and chorus- arrangement of 'Your Broadway and My Broadway'. It opened the mammoth finale of the film and was purportedly trimmed because of time constraints. Listening to Judy's prerecording today [the film footage itself is not known to exist], it seems possible there may have been additional reasons for the number's elimination. It's difficult to imagine how the rest of the cast, regardless of their star power, could have followed her.

Garland came seventh in the picture's credits, but after early reviews repeatedly heralded her, MGM hastily prepared additional ad copy that positioned Judy just after the top billed Robert Taylor and Eleanor Powell. She was touted as "the greatest little hot singer since the first talkie!" Concurrently, the "Gable" song gave her not only an immediate new level of public awareness but it also led to a successful single record and a contract with Decca Records.

BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938 was well received, even abroad. More than 65,000 customers flocked to see it during its two week premiere launch at the Empire, MGM's flagship theater in London.
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Recollections


"Her {Judy} first picture for Metro was one in which I also appeared BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938. Her amazing talent was apparent when she sang a special arrangement created by Roger Edens. It showed a little girl writing a fan letter in which she confessed her hopeless, adolescent love for the star of stars, Clark Gable. Her performance in this number, to the tune of 'You Made Me Love You' was a real classic. Judy became known in the trade as Metro's answer to Deanna Durbin, who was then in her heyday. She soon passed Deanna and everyone else along the way as she rose to the top of stardom. Judy was the greatest all-around talent, I have ever encountered in show business. She could do anything, and she did it in a way that was just- Judy." - George Murphy



"One day, Arthur Freed came into the rehearsal hall and said, "Meet your new dancing partner." And there was this gangly [fourteen] year old, Judy Garland. She was very friendly, very easy to get along with, and very talented. She was a sensation in Broadway Melody; that established her as someone who was to be reckoned with. And I taught her the little shim-sham-shimmy number which we did together in the finale." - Buddy Ebsen



"The picture wasn't good, and I was only fair. It was okay for Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor. For them it was just another picture. Judy Garland was the only one in the whole cast in whom I saw great possibilities. I said to L.B. and to everyone on the lot: 'Judy, if carefully handled and groomed, will be the big MGM star in a few years.' My predictions were right." - Sophie Tucker [1945]



"BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938 was the film that made Judy Garland a star. All of us who watched her perform on the set knew immediately that little Judy had that extra something that would make her one of the screen immortals. She had that magnificent quality. Her voice could make you laugh or cry almost at the same time. There was never anyone like her." - George Murphy



"Do you know what Miss Tucker did? She gave up her lunch hour every day to coach me. She taught me every trick she had learned from her years as a stage star. If I do put a song over, it's because of Sophie Tucker. The only thing I didn't like about me in Broadway Melody was the first line I had to speak; 'Aw the Claytons are a bunch of hams!'. It was so precocious. I hate anything precocious; I'm not precocious at all. I think like a grown up, and I like to be with older people and talk to older people, but I am not a grown up, and I don't want to be. So I didn't like the first line, but after that it was all right. And I think the song about Clark Gable [which I meant] sort of evened things up." - Judy Garland

THOROUGHBREDS DON'T CRY, 1937

Notes

THOROUGHBREDS DON’T CRY was the first of ten pictures that featured both Judy and Mickey Rooney, although this was the only time she was billed ahead of him in the credits. New Zealand teen Ronald Sinclair was listed third. After additional film roles in his youth, Sinclair slipped behind the cameras as an adult and enjoyed a successful decades-long career as an editor. Nearly thirty years later, Garland jokingly recounted the film’s back story, explaining Sinclair’s instantaneous rise to prominence; “They had arranged for [THOROUGHBREDS] to be made with the leading child star at the time, who was Freddie Bartholomew. But Freddie’s voice was changing, so they got a new boy, Ronald Sinclair- and just put him into this starring role. And it was kind of a rough go on him, I guess; they ground him into little bits of cement or something [afterwards as] no one has heard of him since- not even as a person.”
Although structured as a “dramedy”, THOROUGHBREDS found script space for two Garland songs, both of them rejects from the Arthur Freed-Nacio Herb Brown score for BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938. The first ‘Got a Pair of New Shoes’, was prerecorded in a lengthy vocal arrangement and then considerably tightened for the scene which it was used. The second, ‘Sun Showers’ was completely eliminated from the release print, although Judy’s soundtrack survives.
THOROUGHBREDS DON’T CRY didn’t pretend to be anything but a combination “B” picture and showcase for its worthy child stars. The film also boasted the old-pro contributions of C. Aubrey Smith, Forrester Harvey, and Sophie Tucker though. As a result, it topped double bills across the country. Another cast member was teenage Frankie Darro, who had appeared on the same vaudeville bill with the Gumm Sisters in 1934 and was briefly engaged to Judy’s sister, Jimmie.
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Reviews
NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE: “An appealing picture, especially for children. Miss Garland does several imitations nicely. Mickey Rooney gives a really fine performance.”

CHICAGO TRIBUNE: “Brilliant little JG again proves her right to the title of child actress. She’s a fine, natural actress.”

CONTEMPORARY NEWSPAPER REVIEW: “A good, hokey yarn about kids and horse racing. JG and Sophie Tucker help things along, and it’s all done so sincerely that the big race at the end becomes quite as thrilling as it’s supposed to be.”
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Recollections

“Something that I love to do is talk about a woman that I’ve always adored. I never tire of it, and we’ll always talk about Judy. I can give lectures on what kind of human being she was-and the talent she was.” – Mickey Rooney [1994]


“There was a moment I thought my career had taken an upswing. I was assigned to a role in THOROUGHBREDS, and Mickey was in the picture, too. But, unfortunately, we only had two real scenes together, and no chance to become acquainted under business conditions. Yet the film did some good, for the studio then had a part written in for me in the next Andy Hardy picture.”- Judy Garland

EVERYBODY SING, 1938

Notes

First developed in late summer 1936 as a generically described "Judy Garland story", EVERYBODY SING was known by at least two additional titles [THE UGLY DUCKLING , and SWING FEVER] before its release, nearly eighteen months later. It's the most obvious star vehicle of all the pre-WIZARD OF OZ Garland films, although she, Allan Jones, and Fanny Brice alternated first, second and third billing in press ads and on theater marquees.

Early drafts of the story featured and then dropped roles for Mickey Rooney, Freddie Bartholomew, and, "Spanky" McFarland [of the OUR GANG series]; the plot withstood similar permutations. Indeed, after two months of rehearsal, prerecording, and filming [some of it concurrent with production of THOROUGHBREDS DON'T CRY], EVERYBODY SING was nearly finished, but the storyline remained unresolved, and no one seemed able to ascertain the best way to present the show-within-a-show finale. Per a studio memo of Monday, November 15, 1937, "The company is now at a standstill until a decision is made", the communique then blithely and blindly concluded, "We are preparing to record and shoot this Friday and Satuarday." Meanwhile, a performance troupe called the Apple Dancers had been imported from New York and were on a weekly salary of $3, 000, but no one knew how best to use them once they'd arrived. Ultimately, they never appeared in the finished film.

A series of publicity photos of Garland in pseudo-Russian garb was posed and disseminated, although the number she and Brice were to share in such costumes never went beyond the rehearsal stage. It was replaced by the Fanny/Judy routine in which the former bought her prized radio characterization of "Baby Snooks" to the screen for the first time. That duet and the two individual numbers for Jones and Garland weren't even prerecorded until the second and third weeks of December. At the last minute, it was decided to retake Judy's bravura style solo 'Melody Farm', with the girl garbed in overalls [she had worn a simple dress in the original footage].

By January 1938 the production had extended into a fifth month, which was highly unusual for a routine Metro musical. Despite delays and waffling, however, the final cost of the picture was less than $600, 000, and MGM heavily promoted the film on Judy's behalf. She was alternately acclaimed as "the nation's new singing star" and 'the acting, singing sensation of the New Year.' It was no coincidence that the title finally decided upon for the movie was that of one of her hit songs from BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938.
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Reviews


CHICAGO TRIBUNE: "Very gay, very amusing, very tuneful... I recommend it to everybody. Little Miss Garland, completely sure of herself at all times... has a number of arresting scenes. One you'll find a hard time forgetting is that where Jones tells her she must go back to her parents. I cried a bit right there. Judy and Fanny tell you some interesting things to music in great style."


PICTUREGOER: 'JG sings swing songs with the air of a veteran. There is no doubt that this young lady will go far."


CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER: "Good fun. JG is now unquestionably the screen's No.2 juvenile singing actress [she hasn't had a chance to compete wholly with Deanna Durbin], and she comes through swinging it with song and comedy."
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Recollections

"EVERYBODY SING was a light, sophisticated musical comedy- and Judy was a delightful child. I fell in love with her, and I taught her all the dirty tricks a leading man could do, so that she'd be prepared. Because I knew this girl was going to have a great career. And she never forgot it. Whenever we went to a party, and she was there or came in, she'd run over and throw her arms around me and kiss me and thank me. This went on for years." - Allan Jones