News

As When Calls The Heart (Wcth) Season 12 winds to an end, Hearties everywhere have enjoyed watching the current installment of stories that have taken place in Hope Valley.

With that said, Wcth stars, Erin Krakow (Elizabeth Thornton) and Kevin McGarry (Nathan Grant) recently talked about how they pushed for change on a specific episode this season.

The Time For Change Is Now!

During an interview with The Edify Show, McGarry revealed a change that he and Krakow pushed for during Season 12’s, Episode 7, titled, “Dance the Night Away”. Elizabeth and Nathan went undercover as they investigated the double eagle coin.

They pretended to be a married couple Danny and Diane Dimarco, and at one point, sang a duet to, “You Made Me Love You”.

In the Edify interview, McGarry noted that the original song the show wanted was, “For Me and My Gal”.

However, McGarry and Krakow didn’t want to sing that song,...

The stars of When Calls the Heart seem happy with the storylines this season. However, reactions have been mixed among Hearties. Some believe that the show needs to shake things up. Fortunately, Hallmark has been making changes. Even the show’s co-stars, Erin Krakow and Kevin McGarry, offered input in one of this season’s episodes.

An Integral Change

The big change occurred in Season 12, Episode 7, “Dance the Night Away.” Krakow and McGarry’s respective characters, Erin and Nathan, went undercover as part of an investigation into the double eagle coin. They pretend they’re a married couple named Diane Dimarco and Danny Dimarco. In a new interview with The Edify Show, McGarry shared that their characters had to sing during the episode. The original song was “For Me and My Gal.”

Krakow and McGarry didn’t want to sing this particular song. Instead, they wanted their characters to perform “You Made Me Love You.

Judy Garland‘s most iconic role is Dorothy Gale in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), and her most acclaimed is Esther Blodgett/Vicky Lester in “A Star Is Born” (1954). But this Judy fan of more than 40 years picks “Meet Me in St. Louis” as her favorite. Beautifully filmed in Technicolor, with one of Garland’s best soundtracks, as well as a film that changed the actress’s life in many ways, the Vincente Minnelli-directed Christmas musical film debuted eight decades ago on Nov. 22, 1944, in St. Louis, and had its New York premiere on Nov. 28. Read on for more about the “Meet Me in St. Louis” 80th anniversary.

Based on a series of stories by Sally Benson, “Meet Me in St. Louis” depicts a year in the life of the Smith family through a series of vignettes, from the summer of 1903 until the spring of the following year, culminating at the 1904 World’s Fair in St.

Gene Kelly was born August 23, 1912 and passed away February 2, 1996 at the age of 84. A true entertainer that could do it all: sing, dance, act, and direct. He was a perfectionist in his work and uncompromising when a vision was in sight. Throughout his career he was always breaking boundaries where no one thought could be possible. Early Life Ever since Gene and his siblings were young their mother wanted them to take part in the arts. Unfortunately, their mother’s dream had to wait due to the family’s income. It was not until Gene started school that his mother enrolled him and his siblings into Dance School. Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values and mission statement here – Media has the...

In 1939, Judy Garland went over the rainbow, and the world would never be the same again. Garland, who'd first gained major fame singing, dancing, and acting alongside Mickey Rooney, was suddenly catapulted to superstardom. From her roots in vaudeville, Garland had been performing her whole life, and she eventually became one of the world's most beloved stars. Her singing voice is completely unmatched, and it was backed up with intensity, passion, and unparalleled charm. Though her personal history is not without difficulty -- and Rene Zellweger won an Oscar for portraying part of that history in "Judy" -- Garland is largely remembered as one of Hollywood's most beloved actresses.

Looking through Garland's career, it was her latter years that offered opportunities for rich experimentation. Though she still appeared in musicals, after her MGM contract expired, she boldly took risks, such as starring in an animated feature and an epic courtroom drama.

The world was at war 80 years ago. The United States was grieving over the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 by the Japanese military and the defeat of our forces that month at Wake Island. And then the beloved Carole Lombard, her mother, servicemen and the crew perished in a plane crash west of Las Vegas on January 16, 1942. She was returning to Hollywood after raising 2 million in a war bond drive in Indianapolis.

How would Hollywood and audiences respond to World War II? They certainly didn’t shy away from the war. If you look at the top 10 films of the year, there are some escapist films but also movies dealing with the global conflict.

In fact, the No. 1 film of the year William Wyler’s “Mrs. Miniver” broke records at Radio City Music Hall in New York playing 10 weeks. Production began on the stirring, sentimental drama about a British...

Judy Garland, who would have turned 100 years old this week, wasn’t just billed as “the world’s greatest entertainer” – in her time, she really was.

Garland was much more than just little Dorothy Gale from Kansas who once had an adventure in far-off Oz. She spent 45 of her 47 years in show business, eventually making 34 feature films and more than 200 radio appearances, releasing 80 singles and 12 albums, making 60 TV appearances (including 30 of her own shows), and doing 1,100 concerts.

“She had the amazing ability to convey joy and pathos and humor and sincerity and honesty,” says author and Emmy-winning producer John Fricke (“Judy Garland: A Portrait in Art and Anecdote”), “yet by giving of herself on that level, she had no guard, no protective shield. She was a million percent vulnerable.”

See More: Judy Garland: Her Life in Photos

Just watch 16-year-old Judy sing “Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz...

Everything is coming up Judy Garland this year because the beloved performer was born a century ago on June 10th. TCM is making Garland its “Star of the Month” and the Criterion Channel is offering its own retrospective. Warner Archive is releasing three of her films on Blu-Ray: 1941’s “Ziegfeld Girl”; 1942’s “For Me and My Gal” and 1945’s “The Clock.” There are many celebrations taking place around the country in honor of her centennial including at the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery where Garland is now buried. And there’s even a new perfume — “Judy-a Garland Fragrance by Vincenzo Spinnato” — that will be unveiled at a birthday gala in Los Angeles.

I don’t know about you, but I converted to “Judy-ism” at the age of five when I first saw her beloved 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz” on TV.

“You think anything’s going to stand in the way of us playing the Palace this time? Oh no, not even a war.”

Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in For Me And My Gal (1942) will be available on Blu-ray June 7th from Warner Archive. It can be purchased at the Warner Archive Amazon Store

Judy Garland got top billing at the mere age of 20 as the central star of this quintessential classic that introduced none other than Gene Kelly, making his film debut as her co-star.

Directed with panache by the legendary maven of the movie musical Busby Berkeley, the films casts Gene and Judy as young vaudeville performers Harry Palmer and Jo Hayden.

The pair dream of stardom, but the United States enters World War I and Harry receives his draft notice–trapping the two between their obligation to each other’s dreams and their duty to their country.

Sometimes it’s like they read your mind—or just notice upcoming releases as you do. Whatever the case, I’m thrilled that the release of Terence Davies’ Benediction played (I assume!) some part in a full retro on the Criterion Channel this June, sad as I know that package will make me and anybody else who comes within ten feet of it. It’s among a handful of career retrospectives: they’ve also set a 12-film Judy Garland series populated by Berkeley and Minnelli, ten from Ulrike Ottinger, and four by Billy Wilder. But maybe their most adventurous idea in some time is a huge microbudget collection ranging from Ulmer’s Detour to Joel Potrykus’ Buzzard, fellow success stories—Nolan, Linklater, Jarmusch, Jia Zhangke—spread about.

Criterion Editions continue with Bertrand Tavernier’s Round Midnight, Double Indemnity, and Seconds, while Chameleon Street, Karen Dalton: In My Own Time,...

The 1952 classic “Singin’ in the Rain” is hailed by many as one of the greatest films ever made. And yet it has also become the subject of countless myths regarding its production over the past 70 years.

During a press day for the film’s 4K Uhd release, TheWrap asked Patricia Ward Kelly, Gene Kelly’s wife and biographer, what was the biggest myth she could dispel about “Singin’ in the Rain” and she was candid: “Almost everything that you read on the internet.”

Kelly, who is also curator of the Gene Kelly archives, is baffled by the amount of misinformation about the film that continues to perpetuate online. “There’s more mythology out there now than there is factual information about it, and the myths seem to just keep perpetuating. I’ll bust a myth and then somebody will say, ‘Oh that’s not true,’ even though I’ve just...

An artist doesn’t always know they’ve created the “greatest ever” of something.

Gene Kelly certainly didn’t. And yet many cinephiles would say “Singin’ in the Rain” is the greatest-ever movie musical. Those who are on the fence about it now have another chance to assess: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment just released a 4K ultra-hd Blu-ray restoration of the movie, which Kelly co-directed with Stanley Donen, for its 70th anniversary.

In a new interview with IndieWire, Kelly’s widow and biographer, Patricia Ward Kelly, talked about the idea of cinematic greatness and what exactly it means — including for when we talk about new movie musicals being made today. Are today’s musicals pushing the medium forward the way “Singin’” did? Are they expressing as personal of a vision? Are they trying to do something new?

Though not naming names about specific recent musicals, Kelly thinks her husband would...

Former DGA president Paris Barclay is set to receive the DGA Honorary Life Member Award in recognition of his leadership in the industry, contribution to the guild and the profession of directing, and for his outstanding career achievements. The award will be presented at the 73rd annual DGA Awards on April 10.

“Paris is one of the statesmen of our industry, and his leadership has been transformative – whether on set creating iconic television, at the negotiating table fighting for our members, or as a champion for a fair and equitable world,” said DGA president Thomas Schlamme. “Behind the camera, he is an innovator whose award-winning work is part of the zeitgeist of our culture. And no matter how busy his schedule, he always makes room for mentorship, leading the way for so many diverse voices.”

Barclay, who was the first African-American and openly gay president of the guild, served as DGA...

Last weekend was a major one in Hollywood, thanks to the 2017 Emmys!

Sarah Hyland got her hands on Ferrari Trento wine when she stepped into the Backstage Creations Giving Suite at the Emmys on Sept. 17.

Photo: Invision/Arnold Turner and Willy Sanjuan

One day earlier, Shameless co-stars Shanola Hampton and Emma Kenney showed off their #PilotPurpose Mottos at the Pilot Pen & Gbk Pre-Emmy Awards Celebrity Gift Lounge on Sept. 16.

Photo: Pilot Pen

Pics: See All the 2017 Emmys Red Carpet Arrivals!

Debra Messing made sure to keep Zyrtec on hand to keep allergies at bay as she got ready for Emmy weekend events on Sept. 16.

Photo: Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com

Julianne Hough, Nina Dobrev and Lea Michele kicked off the weekend by meeting up at the pre-Emmy Variety and Women in Film 2017 TV bash, at Gracias Madre in West Hollywood, California, on Sept. 15, where guests sipped on specialty Svedka Vodka cocktails during the soiree, which was presented...

On this day in history as it relates to showbiz...

1865 Mary Surratt arrested as a conspirator in the assassination of President Lincoln. Robin Wright played her in the movie The Conspirator

1912 Opera singer/actress Martha Eggerth (For Me and My Gal) born in Budapest. She died just a few years ago

1918 Great actor / star William Holden (Picnic, Sunset Blvd, Sabrina, Network)  born in Illinois...

Apologies, gentle Judy fans. While I intended to bring you the usual dose of morning Garland sunshine, I failed in meeting either the requirement for sunshine or the morning deadline. In this case, however, that’s probably for the best. Considering the subject of this film, it is probably better that you have a cup of coffee and a bite to eat before you sit down to watch it. This week, I’m breaking with tradition slightly. While Judy Garland does not sing any numbers in Judgment at Nuremberg, this is a performance and a movie that must be seen.

The Movie: Judgment at Nuremberg (UA, 1961)

The Writer: Abby Mann (screenplay)

The Cast: Maximilian Schell, Burt Lancaster, Spencer Tracy, Marlene Dietrich, Richard Widmark, Judy Garland, directed by Stanley Kramer

The Story: When Stanley Kramer decided to adapt Abby Mann’s dramatization of the Nuremberg trials, Judy Garland was not his first choice for Irene Hoffman,...

Though nobody foresaw it at the time, 1948 was a major turning point in what would be Judy Garland’s last few years at MGM. After the one-two Freed Unit punch of Easter Parade and Words and Music at the beginning of 1948, Judy was supposed to head straight into her third Arthur Freed film,The Barkleys of Broadway. With Fred Astaire coaxed out of retirement, the duo of Astaire and Garland looked to be a new box office guarantee. Unfortunately, what wasn’t a guarantee was Judy’s health. After two months of rehearsal, Judy backed out of The Barkleys of Broadway, to be replaced by Ginger Rogers. This decision sounded the death knell for her partnership with Arthur Freed, the producer who had created the Judy Garland formula. Judy was too tired, too thin, and too weak to go on filming, until another producer from her past swooped back into the picture: Joe Pasternak.

Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...

Judy Garland was wrapping production on one movie and starting production on another when she filmed a cameo for the WWII wartime musical, Thousands Cheer. Despite the fact that Garland was one of MGM's biggest stars, this cameo with José Iturbi was the first Technicolor movie she had made since The Wizard of Oz four years previous. The films between Oz and Thousands Cheer, though large in spirit, were small in budget due to Great Depression constraints. However, the onset of World War II brought about an audience boom - everyone was going to the movies to catch a newsreel and escape the fears of the war. As a result, budgets were about to skyrocket as MGM began to give Judy Garland big and colorful sets, costumes, and scenery to match her big and colorful voice.

The Movie: Thousands Cheer (1943)

The Songwriters: Roger Edens,...

Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...

 In 1942, Judy Garland met a man who would come to be one of her biggest onscreen costars and supporters at MGM. When he was cast in For Me and My Gal opposite Garland, Gene Kelly was as upstart Broadway star, hot off Pal Joey and trying to make the transition to Hollywood stardom. According to Kelly, Judy Garland eased that transition; she was gracious, she was giving, and she was a consummate professional. Gene Kelly, stage dancer, learned how to perform for the camera by watching Judy Garland.

The Movie: For Me And My Gal (1942)

The Songwriters: Edgar Leslie & E. Ray Goetz (lyrics) and George W. Meyer (music)

The Players: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, George Murphy directed by Busby Berkeley

The Story: The title number of For Me And My Gal shows off the unique partnership Garland and Kelly shared.

• Ryan Gosling may direct and star in a biopic of famed director and choreographer Busby Berkeley. Warner Bros. has optioned Jeffrey Spivak’s book Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley for Gosling and Marc Platt (Drive) to produce. Berkeley was known for his elaborate, geographic dance numbers in studio musicals such as 42nd Street and Golddiggers of 1933. He moved on to directing films like Babes on Broadway and For Me and My Gal. It’s still very early in the process, and no writer is currently attached. [THR]

• Channing Tatum is reportedly in talks to co-direct an adaption...

Shirley Temple dead at 85: Was one of the biggest domestic box office draws of the ’30s (photo: Shirley Temple in the late ’40s) Shirley Temple, one of the biggest box office draws of the 1930s in the United States, died Monday night, February 10, 2014, at her home in Woodside, near San Francisco. The cause of death wasn’t made public. Shirley Temple (born in Santa Monica on April 23, 1928) was 85. Shirley Temple became a star in 1934, following the release of Paramount’s Alexander Hall-directed comedy-tearjerker Little Miss Marker, in which Temple had the title role as a little girl who, left in the care of bookies, almost loses her childlike ways before coming around to regenerate Adolphe Menjou and his gang. That same year, Temple became a Fox contract player, and is credited with saving the studio — 20th Century Fox from 1935 on — from bankruptcy. Whether or not that’s true is a different story,...

It feels like Oscar's upcoming "In Memorium" segment this year is going to be extra exhaustingly sad. One of the tiny reasons among many larger ones that I wish they hadn't moved the Honorary Oscar to another event is that the eldest artists of the cinema shouldn't only be viewed through the prism of final goodbyes, you know? This past week we lost two more actresses, both of whom might feel right at home when they hear heavenly choirs.

Juanita Moore and Lana Turner and their screen daughters in "Imitation of Life"

When I think of Juanita Moore (1922-2014) and her classic Oscar-nominated performance in the Douglas Sirk melodrama Imitation of Life (1959), I nearly always think of a scene she isn't even in! My mind always rushes to her character's own funeral. 

Is there a sung funereal performance more moving than Mahalia Jackson's "Trouble of the World"?

Trouble of...

Oscar-nominated ‘Imitation of Life’ actress Juanita Moore has died Juanita Moore, Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominee for the 1959 blockbuster Imitation of Life, died on New Year’s Day 2014 at her home in Los Angeles. According to various online sources, Juanita Moore (born on October 19, 1922) was 91; her step-grandson, actor Kirk Kahn, said she was 99. (Photo: Juanita Moore in the late ’50s. See also: Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner photos at the 50th anniversary screening of Imitation of Life at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.) Juanita Moore movies The Los Angeles-born Juanita Moore began her show business career as a chorus girl at New York City’s Cotton Club. According to the IMDb, Moore was an extra/bit player in a trio of films of the ’40s, including Vincente Minnelli’s all-black musical Cabin in the Sky (1942) and Elia Kazan’s socially conscious melodrama Pinky (1949), in which Jeanne Crain plays a (very,...

Marta Eggerth: Operetta and film star — a sort of Jeanette MacDonald of Central European cinema — dead at 101 Marta Eggerth, an international star in film and stage operettas who frequently performed opposite husband Jan Kiepura, died on December 26, 2013, at her home in Rye, New York. The Budapest-born Eggerth had turned 101 last April 17. (Photo: Marta Eggerth ca. 1935.) Although best known for her roles in stage musicals such as the Max Reinhardt-directed 1927 Hamburg production of Die Fledermaus, and various incarnations of Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow, Marta Eggerth was featured in nearly 40 films. The vast majority of those were produced in Austria and Germany in the 1930s, as the Nazis ascended to power. Marta Eggerth films Marta Eggerth films, which frequently made use of her coloratura soprano voice, include Max Neufeld’s drama Eine Nacht im Grandhotel ("A Night at the Grand Hotel," 1931); the Victor Janson-directed musicals Once There Was a Waltz...

Viennese operetta and film star of the 30s who fled to America after the Anschluss

Between the two world wars, during the so-called "silver age" of Viennese operetta, the coloratura soprano Marta Eggerth, who has died aged 101, reigned supreme on stage and, above all, on screen. In the films of the 1930s, the blonde, wide-eyed beauty's bright bell-like tones and charming personality provided a welcome relief from ruinous inflation, world depression and the approaching sound of Nazi jackboots.

The leading operetta composers of the day, Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán, Oscar Straus, Robert Stolz and Paul Abraham, all wrote songs for her films. However, by 1938, after the Anschluss, with the exception of Lehár, all of them, being Jewish, had fled Vienna for the Us. Eggerth and her husband, Jan Kiepura, the celebrated Polish tenor, who both had Jewish mothers, also left Austria for America, where they continued their singing careers.

Hitler loved Viennese operetta,...

With the back-to-back departures of Peter O'Toole and Joan Fontaine I've been really bummed about losing great artists from Hollywood's Golden Age. The Golden Age is roughly considered to be from Hollywood's 1930s through the 1950s. I still hadn't recovered from the loss of Eleanor Parker, an underappreciated actress I had honestly planned a retrospective of but never got around to.

This morning in my movie grief I inadvertently killed dozens of people off on twitter by claiming there were only six stars of the Golden Age still living. So consider this list my penance. In the past I've published a semi-annual list of all living Oscar-vets in any capacity. It ws never meant to be a morbid countdown list but a way for us to honor people while they're still theoretically conscious of our appreciation for their indelible contributions. So though I normally publish such a list on Ms.

For Musical Nerds

BuzzFeed definite proof that The Little Mermaid's Prince Eric was a homo 

The Exploding Kinetoscope best words I've ever read about Judy Garland's For Me and My Gal

Pajiba more of those new photos from Into the Woods

Miscellania

Sillof's Workshop look at these Amazing custom toys, If Dr Seuss wrote Jurassic Park

Grantland Mark Harris joins me in my eternally losing war against Category Fraud (this time with Daniel Brühl in Rush) and talks Enough Said, too 

The Film Doctor five notes on Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, now on DVD

L Magazine see, I'm not the only one that thinks Cuarón's Gravity is a disappointment!

/Film wait they're making Fargo into a TV series and it's the William H Macy role that's the lead? Don't they know that people loved that movie because of Chief Marge Gunderson?

Elephantitis

Finally, Mnpp reminded us that...

Top 10 Aliya Whiteley 28 May 2013 - 06:55

The 1930s to the end of the 20th century saw the release of some classic tap dancing movies. Here's Aliya's pick of the 10 best...

Either you love movies in which people suddenly break into tap dance routines to express their innermost desires, or you hate them. If you hate them, you’re in luck – they pretty much don’t exist in modern film any more.

Having said that, there have been some great dancing moments in the last few years, such as Amy Adams having a me party in The Muppets, or Meryl Streep bouncing up and down on the bed in Mamma Mia! But these aren’t tap dances, and they’re much more about enthusiasm than skill. Or High School Musical, Take The Lead and others give us great modern or ballroom dancing, but within the context of people putting on a show,...

Happy Centennial to Gene Kelly (and all film fans who love him)!

100 years ago on this very day Eugene Curran Kelly was born in Pittsburgh. His mom pushed him into dance class but he didn't commit to becoming a dancer until the age of 15. At 29 fame hit with Broadway's "Pal Joey." Almost immediately thereafter he accidentally (or at least halfheartedly since he intended to return to stage) lept from the stage to the screen and stayed, starting with a co-starring role in For Me and My Gal (1942, previously covered -- he credits Judy Garland with teaching him how to act for cameras). Kelly remains the best silver screen song & dance man of all time (sorry Astaire!) and since musicals are the perfect genre, making full use of every tool available to filmmakers aurally and visually, he also happens to be one of my ten favorite movie stars ever of either gender.

One good thing about working for AfterElton is I know a big chunk of our readership likes, enjoys, and spends a lot of its extra time thinking about stars of the past. You have to keep those names bouncing around in your head since they're little replenishable vitamins, surges of endorphins when brought up correctly. That brings me to today's topic: Judy Garland's onscreen paramours. Garland would've been 90 yesterday, and I didn't get to properly commemorate this. But here's for compensation: I'm bringing you the definitive list of Judy's five hottest costars. Come on, boys, get happy!

5. James Mason

A Star is Born is one of the great films of the '50s, a heartbreaking and unforgettable journey. The heroine's story gets nearly as tragic as Judy's own, particularly in '54 when she lost the Best Actress statuette to Grace Kelly in a year when she was the expected shoo-in.

Ultra Culture "the stills photographer is here? fetch me my viewfinder at once!" Hee

Movie|Line on the weirdly surprising colors of the new EW issue featuring The Help. (More on this film right here very soon.)

Wet Asphalt "how to write a book in three days" regarding Michael Moorcock (of Elric of Melnibone fame. Weird that Hollywood's never managed to make that into a franchise)

Scott Feinberg thinks The Artist will be a good case study for Oscar. Will a silent film catch on in today's marketplace?

lemonwade doesn't mind the lack of Supes' spit curl but don't get him started on those cape pleats.

Show Blitz Game of Thrones director Brian Kirk in discussions to helm Thor 2. er... i worry about this. Thor's saving grace was its humor and Game of Thrones biggest problem as a series is its humorlessness (believe me the book has humor... admittedly of the gallows kind.

Bless the Walter Reade theater and The Film Society of Lincoln Center. This summer has been so trying in so many ways, but the Judy Garland retrospective is bliss. It helps that the Walter Reade is such a great place to see older films what with great air conditioning, comfortable seats and a big screen. The same can't (unfortunately) be said for the other prime NYC HQ for cinephiles (Film Forum). Anyway, people often think of Judy as an icon of tragic catharsis: heartbreak voice, trembling gesture, short life... but then you see the movies and she's just got charm for miles, a full range from light touch to direct hit, and she's funny and dazzling.  Watching her proves far more joyous than tearful though sometimes the two come together.

I caught two consecutive features earlier this week from the brief moment between her ascendance (Dorothy Gale + all those Mickey Rooney...

The Lincoln Center and the Paley Center here in NYC have joined forces to celebrate the all-singing all-dancing legend that is Judy Garland! 

Shout 'Hallelujah', c'mon get happy!"

Once upon a time she was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer." Few celebrities have ever earned their PR self-mythologizing titles the way Judy G did. There's just no beating her for musical pleasure and cathartic heartbreak. And as if her sensational singing and dancing weren't enough, she was a fine actress, too!

I missed the first week of the celebration being in Michigan but I'll see what I can catch for the remainder of the summer program which ends August 9th. If you're not in New York City, you can always follow along at home as best you can with an impromptu DVD festival.

 

Still to come in the festival are...

Young Judy:

Everybody Sing (1938), For Me and My Gal (1942), Presenting Lily Mars...

Impressive retrospective of Judy Garland.s films will feature 31 titles including a presentation of seldom seen short films and rarities as well as a special .sing-along. screening of The Wizard Of Oz.

On the occasion of what would have been Judy Garland.s 89th birthday, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Paley Center have announced the details today for Fslc.s comprehensive retrospective of the peerless film icon.s work, All Singin., All Dancin., All Judy! which will screen at the Walter Reade Theater July 26 . August 9 and The Paley Center.s comprehensive retrospective of Garland.s television work,Judy Garland: The Television Years which will be presented July 20 . August 18.

With autumn marking the 75th anniversary of Judy Garland’s feature film debut (Pigskin Parade, 1936), the Film Society of Lincoln Center will screen 31 titles from July 26 . August 9, including each of her big-screen acting performances, to pay tribute to...

Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, George Murphy starred in For Me and My Gal Planet Of The Apes, Joan Crawford, Film Noir Classics: Packard Campus Thursday, June 2 (7:30 p.m.) Kid Galahad (Warner Bros, 1937) A mob-connected trainer grooms a bellhop for the boxing ring. Directed by Michael Curtiz. With Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart and Wayne Morris. Crime drama, romance, Black & White, 102 min. Friday, June 3 (7:30 p.m.) Tall In The Saddle (Rko, 1944) Rocklin, an experienced ranch hand, arrives in town expecting to start a new job only to find that his prospective employer was shot dead a few [...]...

Jane Greer, Robert Mitchum, Ramon Novarro in Don Siegel's The Big Steal Judy Garland would have turned 89 today. It goes without saying that Garland is one of the stars featured in the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation's June 2011 schedule. Unfortunately, the Garland screening of For Me and My Gal took place yesterday. So, it's too late for me to recommend it. However, I can still recommend several other gems awaiting movie lovers at the Packard Campus this month. Those include Franklin J. Schaffner's Planet of the Apes (June 10); Ranald MacDougall's Queen Bee (June 16); and the film [...]...

No 85 Judy Garland (1922-69)

She narrowly missed being "born in a trunk" on tour because her vaudevillian parents had gone off the road to manage a cinema with music hall acts in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. From taking the stage at the age of two, she remained in showbusiness up to her sudden death at 47 of an accidental drug overdose combined with illiberal use of alcohol while fulfilling nightclub engagements in London.

When she was four, her father had to relocate to Pennsylvania after importuning young male members of his staff. After working in a second-rate singing act with her older sisters and changing her name from Frances Gumm to Judy Garland, she was taken to Hollywood at the age of 13 by her fiercely ambitious mother (whom she later called "the real Wicked Witch of the West").

The biggest studio in town, MGM, added her to its roster of juvenile performers raised on the premises,...