Judy by the Numbers: "Johnny One Note"
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 at 8:31AM Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...
There's a musical number I should be showing you for this week's post. It's the last musical duet between Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland captured on film, as part of her guest appearance in the Rogers & Hart biopic Words and Music. It's a fun but slightly awkward number. Despite the joy of seeing Mickey & Judy reunited after half a decade apart, there's also a sense that they're almost too mature for their mugging. They're still sweet together, but the frenetic energy of youth has been replaced by practice. Contemporary audience must have agreed to some extent, since the Judy Garland number that made a hit off this movie was not her nostalgic reunion but rather a signature brassy belter.
The Movie: Words and Music (MGM, 1948)
The Songwriter: Richard Rogers (music) and Lorenz Hart (lyrics)
The Players: Mickey Rooney, Tom Drake, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Janet Leigh directed by Norman Taurog
The Story: Full confession: I have a selfish reason for choosing "Johnny One Note" this week. It has been (improbably) the most requested song outside of "Over The Rainbow." It even tops "The Man That Got Away"! The Rogers & Hart belter may have been cut from the movie verson of Babes in Arms, but nine years later it landed Judy another solid hit. And why not? It's Judy at her best - big presence, big joy, big voice!
Though Judy probably didn't know it at the time, 1948 was her zenith at MGM. Her relationship with MGM was souring rapidly. The story would become familiar too quickly: marriage on the rocks, trouble with pills, and too many missed shoot days. Over the next three years, she would make only three more films with MGM and the Freed Unit. Her talent was undeniable, but soon her problems were as well.
Reader Comments (6)
Such an alive zesty performance. From what I've read Judy breaking out in song like this was not an uncommon occurrence at parties, though I doubt there were coordinated musicians at the ready to lift her up onto tables.
She's a bright spot in this awful picture, actually it's only half awful...the half without musical numbers being both total fiction and utter crap with a dreadful mopey performance by Rooney. But aside from Judy this contains the amazing Slaughter on Tenth Avenue with Gene Kelly & Vera-Ellen.
Back to the Judy portion, the thing I noticed but is rarely commented on is that Judy is wearing two similar but definitely different dresses in each number which wouldn't matter except that both are at the SAME PARTY!!! Plus she seems to be a bit heavier around the middle in Johnny One Note.
Janet Leigh, who was cast as Mrs. Richard Rodgers in this and was just starting out, wrote about filming one of Judy's scenes in her autobiography. The cast and crew were gathered on the soundstage mingling about and waiting for someone to arrive. According to Janet as Judy walked onto the set you would have thought that the Queen was arriving...but then she added that at that point at MGM Judy was just that.
i've actually seen this movie when i was a little little kid but i remember nothing about it. So it's fun to see this number highlighted.
I CONFESS I have been waiting for this number and it IS my favorite Judy Garland song I think it is the ultimate Judy number. Its big and brassy and dammit it HARD to sing (I know I have tried) . That repeated interval is not easy; many singers go sharp or flat on the low note that anchors it. And then there is that sustained note. That whole note is Judy’s mark. Little Miss Leather Lungs? This is Judy’s money in the Bank. No one could sustain a whole note better, not Merman who warbled, not Rosemary Clooney whose delivery was styled, but not in your face. And she towers ove ALL the wispy sopranos, and lets not talk about the dancers who were dubbed.
This will always be my favorite Judy Garland song.
Amazing how opinions can vary. This is one of my least favorite (if not THE least favorite) celebrated Judy performances of all time. The primary reason is the song itself, which I've always hated. While I'm guessing it makes some narrative sense in its original context in the stage version of Babes in Arms, it's usually just an excuse for a belter to bray. Lyrically, it's just a Silly Song. I always prefer Judy as balladeer delivering a gorgeous song: and when she belts, I'll take her Piaf over her Merman any day.
(Anne Marie, I think Rooney's appearance on Judy's TV show features their last duets captured on film, although this is their last time duetting in a feature film. "I Wish I Were in Love Again" requires a little more nuance than the staging here allows, given that it's an ode to an abusive relationship. It would have great if perhaps inappropriate for these two former juvenile scene partners to pull aside the curtain a little in this adult performance.)
Paul Outlaw - Her show wasn't shot on film, so this is technically the last *filmed* performance they did together. I'm an archivist. I split hairs that way. ;)
All right, all right... ;-)