75 Years of Dorothy Gale

"For nearly forty years this story has given faithful service to the Young in Heart; 

and Time has been powerless to put its kindly philosophy out of fashion. 

To those of you who have been faithful to it in return...and to the 

Young in Heart...we dedicate this picture."

Do you remember the first time you saw The Wizard of Oz? I know I don't. It's one of those movies that has always been there, a staple of most peoples' childhood. Growing up in the 90s, it was a big deal when TBS or whatever station would play The Wizard of Oz on TV. It only happened once, maybe twice, a year! I grew up a little girl in Kansas, mostly living in the country & tornadoes were just a part of life. It was fun to see Dorothy growing up in Kansas on my television, with the Hollywood version of a tornado. Are you shocked that's not quite how they look, how the twister looks on The Wizard of Oz? While it's been fun being a real life version of Dorothy (okay, in my head I am), trust me when I tell you the The Wizard of Oz references I hear from people when I tell them where I am from are so overplayed and totally not funny. But my fake laugh has gotten pretty believable!

An early costume test for Dorothy

A Scarecrow makeup test

Flying monkey costume test

Buddy Ebsen in a Tin Man costume test.

He was the original Tin Man but was allergic to the aluminum

makeup, therefore replaced by Jack Haley.

Dorothy and her sidekick, Toto

Judy Garland looks stunning in this photo

 "A place where there isn't any trouble.

Do you suppose there is such a place...?"

"What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, 

or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage!"

"Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?"

"I'll see you reach the Wizard, whether I get a heart or not."

"And now, my beauties, something with poison in it, I think."

"Don't get excited. Obstacles make a better picture."

-Director Victor Fleming

The Wizard of Oz is said to be the most watched film

in history.

The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman's in Hollywood on August 15, 1939.

It was released nationally on August 25, 1939.

It was not a box office success, contrary to belief.

It wasn't until it's re-release in 1949.

Walt Disney originally wanted to make The Wizard of Oz into a movie after

the success of his Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

However, MGM owned the rights to the book.

This issue of Movie Life was released prior to the release

of The Wizard of Oz. It featured photos of Judy Garland's

early life.

"Gaiety! Glory! Glamour!"

That pretty much sums it up in this 1939 movie poster.

A 1970 reunion of Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Margaret Hamilton.

At the time, they were the last remaining main characters from the film.

They still had it.

The best thing about The Wizard of Oz is how timeless it is. Here we are, 75 years after its initial release, and I can sit with my toddler and watch it, and he is thoroughly entertained. I know it will continue on for generations. It's so easy to get lost in that wonderful Technicolor land of Oz with Dorothy and all her friends. We feel Dorothy's sadness when she can't get home to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry on their farm in Kansas. We feel elated along with her when she finally clicks her heels together and wakes up in her own bed. 

My love for Oz will never end.

Until next time,

...away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me.

It's been 45 years since Judy Garland passed away. Instead of focusing on her tragic end, I want to celebrate the joy she brought to Old Hollywood and to millions of people throughout the decades. 

Judy was born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. She was the youngest of three girls, and her family nicknamed her "Baby". The three Gumm sisters started performing song and dance routines as young girls in their Episcopal Church and in their father's movie theater. In 1926, the Gumm family moved to California, where it didn't take long for the girls to get started in motion pictures. In 1934, the sisters changed their name to Garland, and they appeared together until 1935 when oldest sister Mary Jane was married.

Mary Jane, Dorothy Virginia, and Frances Ethel, 

1920s

The Gumm Sisters

Judy eventually signed a contract at age 13 with Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Judy would soon garner attention by singing her rendition of You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It) to Clark Gable at his birthday party. It would lead to a part in Broadway Melody of 1938 where she would sing the same song to a photo of Gable. 

Judy, age 13. Judy always felt out of place & not as beautiful

as the girls she went to school with at MGM, including Ava Gardner, Elizabeth

Taylor, and Lana Turner. 

Judy c. 1935 

Judy would soon start her series of musicals with fellow MGM star and lifelong friend, Mickey Rooney, in 1937, starting with Love Finds Andy Hardy. The pair would go on to appear in 13 films together. However popular the Andy Hardy series was, Judy's life would change when she was cast as the lead character, Dorothy, in 1939's The Wizard of Oz. It's one of the all time greats, a film every child has seen. I was born and raised in Kansas, just like Dorothy, so The Wizard of Oz means a great deal to me. 

Mickey and Judy in Love Finds Andy Hardy.

"I'm not a witch at all! I'm Dorothy Gale, from Kansas."

The 1940s were a plethora of musicals for Judy Garland. Standing under 5 feet tall, the little girl with the big voice delighted audiences in musical films such as For Me and My Gal (with Gene Kelly), Babes on Broadway (with Rooney), Meet Me In St Louis, and Easter Parade (with Fred Astaire), among many others. 

"I was born at the age of twelve on the MGM lot."

-Judy Garland

Judy was so gorgeous in the 1940s.

"I made all these great musicals with Judy Garland. It was all

about me going into a barn and saying, 'Let's put

on a show.' That's what me and Judy did."

-Mickey Rooney

Gene Kelly and Judy in For Me and My Gal, 1942

Presenting Lily Mars, 1943

  

Publicity still as Esther Smith in Meet Me In St. Louis, 1944

With Meet Me In St. Louis co-star Tom Drake

Judy and friend Frank Sinatra. Frank would be Judy's 

daughter Lorna Luft's godfather.

With Easter Parade (1948) co-star, Fred Astaire

Judy met her first husband, Vincente Minnelli, on the set of her 1944 picture Meet Me In St. Louis. Vincente was the director, and they began a romantic relationship during filming. The couple married on June 15, 1945. Their only daughter, Liza, was born in March 1946. The pair divorced in 1951.

Vincente and Judy married in her mother's backyard.

Judy and baby Liza.

“It was no great tragedy being Judy Garland's daughter.

 I had tremendously interesting childhood 

years -- except they had little to do with being a child.”

-Liza Minnelli

Judy and Vincente divorced in 1951. Soon after, Judy employed Sid Luft as her manager, and would soon begin a relationship. They were married in 1952. Sid and Judy had two children together, Lorna and Joey. They divorced in 1963 after a seemingly rocky relationship. Judy would marry three more times in her life.

"When we got married in the early '50s, Judy was still very beautiful. 

She was only 5-foot tall -- just a shrimp of a girl, really -- but she 

had a very sensuous body, and up close, her skin was 

like porcelain, pure white. I was crazy about her. 

She had incredibly kissable lips."

-Sid Luft

Judy and Sid with Liza, Joey, and Lorna, 1960s

Unfortunately, Judy succumbed to pill addiction while living in London in 1969. She died in the early morning hours of June 22. It is said that there was a tornado around the same time she died near Salina, Kansas (which is right near my hometown) late at night on June 21. Maybe it's true, maybe it isn't, but I like to believe it is. Judy was a tornado of a woman, in a good way, and her presence and voice are missed terribly. 

Goodnight, Mickey

On Sunday, we lost another legend of the silver screen. Mickey Rooney passed away at age 93 in Los Angeles. He was one of the last surviving actors from the silent film era & the last surviving co-star of many of his movies from the 1930s & 1940s.

Born Joseph Yule, Jr on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York to Vaudevillian parents, Mickey began acting on stage at age 17 months in his parents' show. His parents separated in 1924 & in 1925, his mother moved him to Hollywood. She took him to an audition for a series of shorts where he starred as Mickey McGuire from 1927 to 1936. He then had to change his name from Mickey McGuire to Mickey Rooney for legal reasons. In 1934, Mickey signed a contract with MGM where they set him on the road to stardom by casting him as Andy Hardy in 1937's A Family Affair. The Andy Hardy series spanned 13 films until 1958. It was during this period he starred along newcomer Judy Garland and from there bloomed a deep friendship until Judy's untimely death in 1967. The two also starred in other films and musicals aside from the Andy Hardy series such as 1939's popular Babes in Arms. 

"Judy and I were so close we could've come from the same womb. We weren't like brothers or sisters but there was no love affair there; there was more than a love affair. It's very, very difficult to explain the depths of our love for each other. It was so special. It was a forever love. Judy, as we speak, has not passed away. She's always with me in every heartbeat of my body." 

-Rooney in the 1992 documentary MGM: When The Lion Roars

Mickey and Judy on set of Babes on Broadway, 1941

Mickey with Judy and friends at Judy's 17th birthday, 

June 11, 1939

Busby Berkeley, Mickey, Louis B. Mayer, and Judy Garland

on set of Babes on Broadway, 1941

Clark Gable, Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney, and Judy Garland 

for MGM, circa 1942

Mickey with Judy and her daughter, Liza

Mickey enlisted in the Army during WWII, where he served 21 months entertaining and supporting troops in America and Europe. The Army even awarded him a Bronze Star Medal for entertaining the troops in a combat zone. His film career was not great after the war ended, and he ended up doing one last film with Judy Garland and a couple of radio shows where he reprised his role as Andy Hardy. In the 1950s Mickey appeared on his own television show, The Mickey Rooney Show: Hey, Mulligan for a total of 32 episodes. He directed a feature film, My True Story, and also played in a television drama, The Comedian, for Playhouse 90. 

“The audience and I are friends. They allowed me to grow up with them. I've let them down several times. They've let me down several times. But we're all family.”

By the 1960s, Mickey had filed for bankrupcy as it was hard for a man who was only 5'3" to find work in Hollywood unless he was a young Andy Hardy. He found work in the theatre and unimpressive film roles but found the occasional gem like It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World & Breakfast at Tiffany's, though that role of the Asian next door neighbor was rather controversial. 1979 brought about the successful The Black Stallion which spawned several sequels and spin-off television shows, even through the 2000s. 

1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's

Mickey was married eight times, including to Ava Gardner for a year in the 1940s, before she became a movie star herself. He had 9 children, also, one of which he adopted from wife Carolyn Hockett's previous marriage. 

“I’m 5 feet 3, but I was 6 feet 4 when I married Ava."

Mickey's humor and charm will be missed. His classic movies will live on forever. We know he has gone to be with Judy again, and wherever they may be, they are surely happily reunited.

“You've got to recognize, there will never be another you. It has nothing to do with ego; it happens to be the truth. There will never be another person the same. There'll never be another you. There'll never be another me..."

Until next time,