by Chris Feil
The Gershwin musical Girl Crazy was immortalized on screen by Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in 1943, shortly after it arrived on Broadway and brought with it a handful of legendary numbers from the songwriting duo. George and Ira Gershwin are part of the American musical fabric, having crafted a treasure trove of a songbook where the source material has become irrelevant to the legacy of the songs themselves. Indeed, Girl Crazy would later be expanded and reconfigured to make one of the first jukebox musicals Crazy For You.
So even with screen legends like Garland and Rooney, the legendary tracks still only compare to decades of plentiful versions we have heard since. And while neither star (both carrying essentially the entire film’s musical weight) create definitive versions of these Gershwin songs, how could you? Part of the film’s charms from a contemporary perspective is how the musical numbers don’t feel encumbered by having to match a legacy...
Here’s the thing about some of these golden ages star vehicle musicals: the films were sometimes more interested in bolstering the star persona or chemistry of beloved pairings than emphasizing the music. Take for instance how it makes “Could You Use Me?” into a set piece for Mickey Rooney’s aw shucks comedic charms. While the goofiness is appropriate to the swinging flirtations in the song, it’s the star that’s given the spotlight over the melody. But maybe what the modern musical is missing is more leading men dancing on and off of moving cars.
But sometimes the reverence for star power is the appropriate thing, even in an all timer track. “But Not for Me” is a traditional park and bark number, the kind of thing best served by allowing an actress to simply emote in place. The song is emotional journey enough and a reliable heartbreaker throughout its history no matter the singer, and many have made magic of it. As sung by Garland here, it takes on one of the most understated readings in memory, perhaps even all the more sad for its quietly devastated approach versus the overwroughtness other singers have taken it to.
Perhaps this softer rendition is also partly why it never became a staple to the Garland songbook while it became top tier, oft revisited Gershwin. But it still serves as the best balance the film has between serving star power and musicality.
Where Girl Crazy does place music first (mostly) is in the reliable showstopping chutzpah of “I Got Rhythm”, a peak Gershwin track that defies context and meaning for the sake of simple rousing melodic power. It makes you want to put on a show to save the barn (Whose barn? Literally any barn.) and this cowboy rendition is chintzy charming. With the iconic line “who could ask for anything more?” you sort of have to meet the audience in kind and give them everything they need to survive.
And yet it still ends on the frame being filled with the faces of our two stars. Would asking for anything more than this be a fools errand? History dictates no.
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