Judy by the Numbers: "In Between"
Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at 9:30AM Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...
At age 16, Judy Garland already had six pictures and three years as a studio contract player under her belt. Judy's seventh picture would reteam her with Mickey Rooney for her first in many guest appearances in the wildly popular Andy Hardy series. Judy was worked hard - rumors of how hard include studio "medication" and rigid diets - and over the course of her MGM career she would average 3 pictures per year. The result was studio stardom at the expense of self. But incredibly, she never showed it when she sang.
The Movie: Love Finds Andy Hardy (MGM 1938)
The Songwriter: Roger Edens
The Players: Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Lana Turner, Lewis Stone, Fay Holden directed by George B. Seitz
The Story: Young Judy was on a roll, but her biggest smashes were still to come. After the success of Thoroughbreds Don't Cry, it became clear to the studio that Judy and Mickey had something together--at least onscreen. Their lifelong friendship translated to innocent romance on celluloid, though offscreen Rooney was busy chasing the newly-minted "Sweater Girl" Lana Turner, who was only a year older than Judy. Turner plays a naive proto-vamp in Love Finds Andy Hardy too. It's telling that even though there's only a small difference between their ages, Turner was an overnight sex symbol while Judy was dressed in frills and sang about being "too young for boys." It was a false formula, but it worked. Judy would continue to play young and naive for the next 8 years.
Reader Comments (8)
I have a limited fondness for the Andy Hardy movies. Since they were so popular they were used as a launching pad for many of the promising talents like Lana Turner and Kathryn Grayson so they usually have some point of interest, and I love Ann Rutherford, but an hour and a half of Mickey Rooney can be a bit much for me.
Judy is such a baby here which works great for the song. Good ole' MGM managed to work in a Clark Gable connection with her big You Made Me Love You number, of such things a star is built. Betsy Booth was a good fit for her and even though she continued to yearn for Andy through the rest of her appearances it's interesting how she and the character matured during those years. Then Metro pulled her out of it at just the right time, the same can't be said for Rooney.
Modern Descendant. Britney's "Not a Girl. Not Yet a Woman" number ;()
Just 2 things:
1) Poor Judy stuck in those frilly, high necked, cap sleeved dresses - no wonder she was dying to be a grown up.
2) Talent & Professionalism - when casting "Wizard of Oz", why did MGM audition anyone else ?
Garland is so ready for stardom, she must have been the surest bet since Secretariat, Barbra Streisand, or Adele. To watch her is to see a protean talent ready for take off.
This is the first song that is on "active rotation" on my ipod (I got sick of You Made Me Love You years ago). Judy does longing and melancholy better than anyone vocally, and when you see her acting it as well, she does that better than anyone else too!
I love how engaged she is facially while lip-synching this song. No line is wasted in telling the story of her character.
I will gladly watch any Mickey Rooney movie...as long as Judy is in it. :-)
PS love her side-eye when Judy declares that "all children bore me."
That voice. my god. i never tire of it... so beautiful. I look forward to Wednesday morning because of this now :)
Nathaniel - That is the most gayest reference I've seen today. Hats off to you!
LadyEdith - No jumping ahead! I promise we'll give The Wizard of Oz allllll the attention it deserves.
Dave in Hollywood - I love Judy's voice (obviously), but you bring up a really good point. She's a great lip-synch-er, which seems to be an undervalued talent.
As Judy's song selections in this film make clear, by the time of LOVE FINDS ANDY HARDY, MGM realized that Judy was not going to become a star through the "Little Girl With the Big Voice" belting style she'd displayed in her earlier films like THOROUGHBREDS DON'T CRY and EVERYBODY SING, and began creating a more wistful demure and passive image for her than the proactive independent characters like "Cricket West" and "Judy Bellaire" she'd played in these earlier films
From now on, almost without exception, her characters were invariably lovelorn (usually over Mickey) and the songs which were integrated into the plots of her films and defined her characters were the ballads/torch songs that expressed her frustrations, while her belting "swing" numbers were confined almost entirely to "performing spots"/"specialties such as, in this film, the numbers "Betsy" sings at the Christmas Dance.
Judy's stardom, I think, was predicated on her, more or less, becoming a junior version of Fox's Alice Faye, and perhaps this is one reason that MGM chose to excise the otherwise wonderful "Jitterbug" number from THE WIZARD OF OZ. Judy unquestionably was going to be a big star, but she was never going to become a star as a "Mini-Merman," even though she could belt out a song with as much (or more!) gusto and joie de vivre as Merman or anyone else.
Compare the start of this song to one of her later classics "It Only Happens When I Dance with You" from Easter Parade. What a difference ten years make.