Judy in Pigskin Parade

J and I have recently gotten on a Judy Garland kick.  We always liked her and love watching Meet Me in St. Louis every year during the holidays, but we decided we wanted to branch out and see more. So, he started collecting her movies on DVD. Yesterday we had a mini Judy marathon starting with her first movie, Pigskin Parade, which was made in 1936 when Judy was just 14.  It was a cute little film.  Judy, of course, was awesome in it.  And it was fun to see Jack Haley, who later starred as the Tin Man with Judy on the Yellow Brick Road.

Next up, we watched The Harvey Girls from 1946. It’s a fun “out west” film, but several musical numbers were scaled back as we learned from the extras on the DVD.  Had they left them in, Judy wouldn’t have definitely been more front and center.  It was fun to see a young Angela Lansbury though.  Ray Bolger also played a comedic character role; he was the Scarecrow in Oz  with Judy in 1939.

A young a beautiful Angela Lansbury in The Harvey Girls

After this, we watched a movie called The Clock, directed by Vincent Minnelli.  Vincent, of course, directed Judy in Meet Me in St. Louis where they fell in love.  They had a child together who you might have heard of, Liza. The Clock was made in 1945 and I really enjoyed it because it’s a non-musical so we really got to see a different side of Judy.  She stars opposite Robert Walker, who died just six years later at the age of 32.  It was an amazing film that really captures a side of war time soldiers on leave which we don’t see too much in films. I highly recommend it.  It kind of reminded me of Sleepless in Seattle in a way.  Great film!

Lastly, we watched Summer Stock. This film was made in 1950 and has a Green Acres feel to it since it takes place on a farm.  Lots of laughs and catchy tunes.  Gene Kelly stars with Judy.  They first shared the screen in a film called For Me and My Gal which we watched a few weeks ago.  Gene, and Judy, are both amazing together. The extras on the DVD share a sad story that Judy was very tired during this film and it was delayed quite a bit due to her health.  Costars said she was always late or never showed up, or worked just a few hours.  But that it was totally worth it because she was amazing.  They really supported her during this film, especially Gene because Judy had helped jump start his career. There’s a tap solo Gene does with a newspaper that was just amazing. One of Judy’s most well known numbers, Get Happy!, is also in this film and was the last number she did with MGM. And I admit, it was brilliant!

It was also great to see Marjorie Main in 2 of these films.  She was in Harvey Girls and Summer Stock. She was the maid in Meet Me in St. Louis.  Marjorie, Ray, Jack, Gene, and so many others shared the screen with Judy in several films so I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see them in different roles.  What a pleasure it must have been to get to work with her!  Her talent and joy for her singing definitely shines through.  She’s absolutely one of the best performers of all time!