Judy by the Numbers: "Vaudeville Medley"
Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 8:30AM Anne Marie has been chronicling Judy Garland's career chronologically through musical numbers...
On September 29th, 1963, The Judy Garland Show finally premiered. With a backlog of several episodes already in the can, CBS chose to start the show with the seventh filmed episode, which guest-starred Donald O'Connor. Reviews of Judy were favorable, though reviewers were less enamored of Jerry Van Dyke and the variety show format. But unfortunately the network's fears about Bonanza were realized: The Judy Garland Show garnered a miserable (for the time) 18 rating, compared to Bonanza's juggernaut 35 rating. As always, the network and the production team was left scrambling to make new changes.
The Show: The Judy Garland Show Episode 7
The Songwriters: Various, arranged by Mel Torme
The Cast: Judy Garland, Jerry Van Dyke, Donald O'Connor, directed by Bill Hobin
The Story: Despite some dismal Nielson ratings, the Donald O'Connor episode would prove to be a sweet walk down memory lane for Judy Garland. Though they had never starred in a movie together, O'Connor and Garland knew each other from their days on Vaudeville, when O'Connor was a child dancer and Garland was still one of the Gumm Sisters. Garland and O'Connor reminisce, sing, and dance together, inadvertantly proving something Norman Jewison hadn't quite figured out yet: Judy Garland's power on television came from her long history on stage and screen. While Jewison would continue to make segments poking fun at Garland's legend, fans were tuning in precisely for that legend, and they were very protective of how their star was shown. As Saturday Evening Post reviewer Richard Sherman Lewis lamented,
"The absurd notion of debasing Judy's reputation as a legendary figure and molding her show into an imitation of other prosaic variety shows has been a disaster where it hurts most, in the audience polls."
Despite these protestations, Judy Garland - and by extension her show - would garner a devoted television fanbase that tuned in every Sunday night at 6pm.
Reader Comments (4)
This makes me so sorry that the two of them were never paired in a film together, their performance is so smooth and warm. I can't see them as a romantic couple but something like Royal Wedding where they would have played brother and sister would have been ideal and actually been more believable than the ultimate pairing of Fred Astaire and Jane Powell was.
All of these show clips are gold and it's such a shame the network threw them away against something that at the time was obviously unbeatable.
A good variety show made you feel you were in the host's living room . This was a special feeling, the kind of intimacy McLuhan talks about in the cool medium of TV.
And Judy and Donald just look like they are having fun.
Anne Marie, I'm pretty sure The Judy Garland Show and Bonanza were on at 9 pm on Sundays. (The ABC show in that time slot was a Law and Order precursor that like Judy only lasted one season against the NBC western.)
Leslie19 - Good point about MacLuhan! That intimacy is crucial to the format.
Paul Outlaw - Blast. Somehow I didn't catch that. Thanks!