Judy by the Numbers: "Good Morning!"
Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at 8:00AM
Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...
Freed, Garland, & Edens c. 1930s
After the whirlwind that was The Wizard of Oz, it may seem like a letdown for Judy to return to the Mickey & Judy musicals of before. However, she returned with two things she hadn’t had before: A-level star status, and the Freed Unit. The former made her a major box office draw, which meant that her movies had bigger budgets and better material. The latter meant that Arthur Freed - a writer turned producer who’d flitted in and out of Judy’s career since she started at MGM - could use those budgets and material to put on shows unlike any MGM had produced.
The Movie: Babes in Arms (MGM, 1939)
The Songwriters: Nacio Herb Brown (Music), Arthur Freed (Lyrics)
The Players: Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Charles Winninger, Guy Kibbee, directed by Busby Berkley
The Story: At its inception, The Freed Unit consisted of 8 men: Arthur Freed, director Busby Berkley, Roger Edens, dance director Chuck Walters, music director Georgie Stoll, art director Cedric Gibbons, writer Fred Finklehoffe, and cameraman Ray June. These eight (minus Finklehoffe) created the four biggest Rooney/Garland musicals by ingeniously recycling popular material (like the Rogers & Hart musical Babes in Arms) with new material (written or borrowed from elsewhere), lavish musical numbers, and a fairly conventional backstage musical plot. Berkley and June added a visual element that hadn’t been seen in teen musicals before. But despite this increased complexity, at their heart the movies still relied on the unbeatable chemistry of Mickey & Judy.
previously: "The Land of Let's Pretend" (1930), "The Texas Tornado" (1936), "Americana" (1936), "Dear Mr Gable" (1937), "Got a New Pair of Shoes" (1937), "Why? Because!" (1938), "Inbetween" (1938), “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart” (1938), "Over the Rainbow" (1939)
Reader Comments (13)
Well that's a bright and cheery way to start the day.
At least Judy is on a more even footing with Mickey in this one than when she played Betsy Booth to Andy Hardy. And of course this is the genesis for the whole "Hey kids let's put on a show in the barn and save the day!" series of films that the pair are so identified with.
Plus Judy sings a beautiful version of "I Cried for You" on a bus.
I haven't even had my morning tea and I feel quite cheery and ready to meet the day already.
Judy gets a somewhat better wardrobe in this one, and it is impossible to be unimpressed by how wonderful Rooney & Garland are at singing together. Their voices really harmonized to sound natural and pleasant.
These days with auto-tune it's difficult to come across such naturalness. This is going to sound strange, but this duet reminded me of James Corden and Adele in his carpool karaoke. That unabashed love of singing, is actually pretty rare to see these days. Infectious.
So many things to say about this post. Arthur Freed was a genius. He started the tradition of what today you would call a mash up…..in movies. From this great Rodgers and Hart musical he pulled all but 2 songs, yet those songs appear in many other Freed musicals. And MGM ( Freed) wasn’t above re-using songs that had or would be in other movies Good Mornin’ being the best example here.
July is so special and this musical chemistry with Mickey Rooney outshines anything they ever did in the Andy Hardy movies. And while her legacy will always rest on her ballads; it’s so fun to see and hear her swing in up tempo. Freed knew what he was doing; he gave her an appearance in Words and Music to sing Johnny One Note, a Rodger and Hart song he had cut from this show. (Which of course, Anne Marie you must promise to showcase later his year. )
Leslie19 - Just for you, I promise. :)
Joel6 & LadyEdith - I have to ask, do you two have RSS feed notifications set up for this series? You're always the first to comment!
I hope everyone has a bright & cheery morning!
I woke up late this morning and this was the perfect way to start. It's so swell to see Judy's confidence grow each week. That's one of the neatest tricks about these chronological series... watching it all happen weekly. She's just inches away from adult stardom here despite still playing teen movies.
Babes in Arms has several good numbers, tho
Anne Marie- I don't. I just know that if it's Wednesday morning that means Judy's gonna be there to brighten up my day, whether she's glowing and shiny or torchy, and I pop onto the site and unfailingly she's there to turn the trick. Love the series and the clips! Thanks for pulling this together.
First of all, I prefer this (more basic) version to the one in Singin' in the Rain. And part of the reason is that, as much as I adore Judy (and this series is about her), this clip really shows what a charismatic performer Rooney was. There's an edge to him that's kinda sexy and almost scary at times. And they sound great together, of course. (Love Judy's hair and makeup.)
Anne Marie - I'm just an early riser most days, no notifications necessary. Thanks for making Wednesdays more fun.
Fellow devotees: Do you think I'm crazy to compare Garland & Rooney to Adele & Corden?
@ LadyEdith
Short answer: yes.
Longer answer: you may be on to something with Corden, but I can't find anything of Judy in Adele, not even in that car ride. That's almost a whole nother species of performer and lady. (And I like both of them.) Now with Jennifer Hudson, on the other hand, as weird as it sounds, I saw a Judy-Mickey chemistry.
Judy from 1939 to about 1946/48 is just sublime. The singing, the acting, the charisma. And they got the hair and makeup and costumes mostly right for her during these years.
A couple of trivia questions here. Wasn't Babes In Arms well thought of at Oscar time? I seem to recall it got a couple of good noms. And was this the start of Mickey & Judy's boxoffice dominance? Were they Top Ten stars? Surely Mickey at least?
Mickey and/or Judy were in the Top 10 from 1938-45, except in '44.
Paul, you are so right about Mickey. I just loved the Noel Coward bit.
If you're taking requests, Anne Marie, please, please, PLEASE do not overlook "It Only Happens When I Dance with You" from Easter Parade, which is in my top
fiveten screen song performances of Judy's. ;-)