Today would have been the 86th birthday of Judy Garland. So, I thought I'd look back on one of my favorite Hollywood stories.
In 1936, Judy Garland and another actress on the MGM lot, Deanna Durbin, teamed up to make a 10 minute film for the studio as a screen test of sorts.
That film was called EVERY SUNDAY
A simple film, basically an excuse for both to show off their differing musical talents.
When the film was completed, Louis B. Mayer headed off to Europe for his vacation.
While there, the studio realized that the contracts to both actresses were coming up for renewal.
They called him and asked him what he wanted to do.
"Dump the fat one!" was his response.
Since neither was fat, they didn't know what he meant.
They figured he meant Durbin, so let her contract expire.
When Mayer returned, he was livid. He meant for them to dump Garland. But, they were stuck with her.
Durbin went on to quickly be picked up by Universal where her films (THREE SMART GIRLS, 100 MEN AND A GIRL) were so popular that she is often credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy
While Judy was VERY jealous of Durbin early on, a few years later she made a film for MGM called THE WIZARD OF OZ, which did alright.
Much of this story has been disproven in recent years. But what is a fact is that Mayer never got over losing Durbin as, for a while, she was the biggest star in Hollywood.
Sadly, Durbin, who is still alive and living in France, isn't remembered today, with only a few of her films available on DVD, at least in the US. Yet Garland is still a legend.
You can read my earlier piece on Deanna Durbin here.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
HOLLYWOOD STORY: Judy Garland and MGM
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2 comments:
Actually, Deanna Durbin had already left MGM before EVERY SUNDAY (1936) was produced. Deanna's Universal contract was signed in mid June, but EVERY SUNDAY was not filmed until early July. Because of her old contract with MGM, Deanna was obligated to take part in the filming of EVERY SUNDAY - no big deal considering THREE SMART GIRLS didn't start production until September of the same year. And let it be known that Deanna Durbin's mailbox is NOW flooded with fan mail - way to much for the grand old lady to read and answer. My DD website is extremely popular which shows that Deanna Durbin has NOT be forgotten!!!
Alex (Administrator)
www.deannadurbindevotees.com
Thanks for the info!
As I mentioned, it has pretty much been disproven. But, it still gets repeated quite a bit.
And glad to hear she is still popular. I just wish someone at Universal was a fan, where they would release more of her films on DVD. 19 of the 21 made it to DVD in the UK, but other than one US set (and some bootlegs) they seem to have forgotten her.
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