Judy Garland Musical Special (General Electric Theater)

Last updated
"Judy Garland Musical Special"
General Electric Theater episode
Judy Garland Musical Special (1956).jpeg
Judy Garland Musical Special (1956)
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 28
Directed by Alex Segal
Featured musicBernard Green
Original air dateApril 8, 1956 (1956-04-08)
Running time30 minutes
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Easter Gift"		Next →
"That's the Man"
List of episodes

"Judy Garland Musical Special" was an American television special that was broadcast by CBS on April 8, 1956, as part of the television series General Electric Theater . [1] Created by Richard Avedon, the special featured Judy Garland performing seven songs, most against simple, dark sets.

Contents

The program

After introductory comments from Ronald Reagan, the production began with Garland in the spotlight on a dark stage singing "I Feel a Song Coming On."

She then notes: "I have a feeling that there's much too much talk going on in the world today so you're going to get very little from me but I'm a singer and I just like to sing". Still in the spotlight on a darkened stage, she sings "I Will Come Back", a song that her parents sang in vaudeville.

Garland introduces Joe Bushkin who plays an instrumental piece on piano. Bushkin then plays as Garland sings "Last Night When We Were Young." They follow with "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries."

Garland moves to a set featuring a makeup table and mirror and a framed photograph of her boy Joe. She dons a robe and sings "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face."

After a commercial break, Peter Gennaro dances to a jazz song. Garland enters and sings "Come Rain or Come Shine" as she dances with Gennaro and flirts with Bushkin and drummer Jack Costanzo.

On a metal circular staircase, Garland sings "April Showers." She departs up the staircase as the credits roll.

In closing comments, Reagan says, "There's only one Judy Garland."

Cast

The program featured: [2]

The broadcast was introduced by Ronald Reagan.

Production

The special was Garland's second for television. It was broadcast by CBS as part of the General Electric Theater program on April 8, 1956.

The producer was Garland's husband Sid Luft. Ralph Nelson directed, and photographer Richard Avedon was the show's creator. Dance sequences were choreographed and danced by Peter Gennaro. Nelson Riddle provided the music. Garland's gowns were provided by Galanos. Albert Heschong was the art director. [2]

Reception

The program received mixed reviews.

In The New York Times, J.P. Shanley called it "a high-voltage production" in which Garland sang "with captivating style." He singled out the "Come Rain or Come Shine" number with Gennaro's dancing and Costanzo's bongo drums as "imaginative and effective." [3]

Critic John Crosby of the New York Herald Tribune praised it as "a thorough-going triumph." He described it as "a very simple show" where the focus was on Garland's singing which she delivered "with that overwhelming authority she has." [4]

In The Philadelphia Inquirer, Harry Harris criticized Richard Avedon, who "created" the show, for getting "so carried away by his first chance to use offbeat lighting effects on TV that he lost sight of the fact that Miss Garland was more than just another prop." He praised the simple, sentimental approach to the "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face" number, but otherwise opined, "Everything was over-produced -- frantic, jittery, unpleasant." [5]

Related Research Articles

Judy Garland American actress, singer, dancer, vaudevillian, television presenter and radio personality (1922–1969)

Frances Ethel Gumm, best known and addressed by her stage name Judy Garland, was an American actress, singer, dancer, vaudevillian, television presenter and radio presenter. With a career spanning 45 years, she attained international stardom as an actress in both musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage. She is widely known for playing the role of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Renowned for her versatility, she received an Academy Juvenile Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Special Tony Award. Garland was the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, which she won for her 1961 live recording titled Judy at Carnegie Hall.

Mel Tormé American recording artist

Melvin Howard Tormé, nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells.

Peter Gennaro was an American dancer and choreographer.

<i>The Harvey Girls</i> 1946 film by Robert Alton, George Sidney

The Harvey Girls is a 1946 Technicolor American musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer based on the 1942 novel of the same name by Samuel Hopkins Adams, about Fred Harvey's famous Harvey House waitresses. Directed by George Sidney, the film stars Judy Garland and features John Hodiak, Ray Bolger, and Angela Lansbury, as well as Preston Foster, Virginia O'Brien, Kenny Baker, Marjorie Main and Chill Wills. Future star Cyd Charisse appears in her first speaking role on film.

"There's No Business Like Show Business" is an Irving Berlin song, written for the 1946 musical Annie Get Your Gun and orchestrated by Ted Royal. The song, a slightly tongue-in-cheek salute to the glamour and excitement of a life in show business, is sung in the musical by members of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in an attempt to persuade Annie Oakley to join the production. It is reprised three times in the musical.

"Come Rain or Come Shine" is a popular music song, with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was written for the Broadway musical St. Louis Woman, which opened on March 30, 1946, and closed after 113 performances.

Joe Bushkin American jazz pianist

Joe Bushkin was an American jazz pianist.

"If I Were a Bell" is a song composed by Frank Loesser for his 1950 musical Guys and Dolls.

"I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" is a song from the 1956 musical My Fair Lady, with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. It was originally performed by Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins who also performed it in the 1964 film version.

"But Not for Me" is a popular song originally written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for the musical Girl Crazy (1930) and sung by Ginger Rogers.

"This Can't Be Love" is a show tune and a popular song from the 1938 Rodgers and Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse when it was sung by Eddie Albert and Marcy Westcott. The lyrics poke fun at the common depiction of love in popular songs as a host of malignant symptoms, saying, "This can't be love because I feel so well."


"Embraceable You" is a popular jazz song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The song was written in 1928 for an unpublished operetta named East Is West. It was published in 1930 and included in the Broadway musical Girl Crazy where Ginger Rogers performed it in a song and dance routine choreographed by Fred Astaire.

Hal Mooney, born Harold Mooney, was an American composer and arranger.

"How About You?" is a popular song composed by Burton Lane, with lyrics by Ralph Freed. It was introduced in the 1941 film Babes on Broadway by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

"Get Happy" is a song composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics written by Ted Koehler. It echoes themes of a Christian evangelical revivalist meeting song.

"You Took Advantage of Me" is a 1928 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart, for the musical Present Arms (1928), where it was introduced by Joyce Barbour and Busby Berkeley as the characters Edna Stevens and Douglas Atwell. The characters were formerly married, but still have romantic feelings for each other. On opening night, Berkeley forgot the lyrics and had to scat and hum the entire second verse. Berkeley also claimed that his nonsense lyrics for the improvised second verse left Hart "almost apoplectic", but the audience was amused and Hart later forgave him. The song was subsequently included in the 1930 film Leathernecking, an adaptation of Present Arms.

"(You'd Be So) Easy to Love" is a popular song written by Cole Porter for William Gaxton to sing in the 1934 Broadway show Anything Goes. However Gaxton was unhappy about its wide vocal range and it was cut from the musical. Porter re-wrote it for the 1936 film Born to Dance, where it was introduced by Eleanor Powell, James Stewart, and Frances Langford under its alternate title, "Easy to Love". The song was only later added to the 1987 and 2011 revivals of Anything Goes under the complete title "You’d Be So Easy to Love".

Jack Costanzo American musician

Jack Costanzo was an American percussionist.

Georgie Stoll was a musical director, conductor, composer and jazz violinist, associated with the Golden Age of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals and performers from the 1940s to 1960s. He was also later credited as George E. Stoll.

Liza " is a song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn. It was introduced in 1929 by Ruby Keeler in Florenz Ziegfeld's musical Show Girl. The stage performances were accompanied by the Duke Ellington Orchestra. On the show's opening night in Boston on June 25, 1929, Keeler's husband and popular singer Al Jolson suddenly stood up from his seat in the third row and sang a chorus of the song, much to the surprise of the audience and Gershwin himself. Jolson recorded the song a few days later on July 6, 1929, and his rendition rose to number nine on the charts of the day.

References

  1. ↑ "Judy Garland to Make Triumphant TV Return". The Scrantonian. April 8, 1956. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 Credits taken from kinescope of the program.
  3. ↑ J.P. Shanley (April 9, 1956). "Judy Garland Returns". The New York Times. p. 51.
  4. ↑ John Crosby (April 11, 1956). "Radio and Television". The Baltimore Sun– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Harry Harris (April 9, 1956). "Screeing TV". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 20.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.