Friday, March 28, 2008
A LESSON FROM JUDY GARLAND
Here in one video are two terrific songs from Judy Garland's first feature, "Pigskin Parade." How old is she here? 14? 15? 16? Something like that.
She does a great job on the first song,"Texas Tornado," and when you hear it you think, "Well, that's it. She's not going to do better; nobody can,"...then she proceeds to top herself with the second song, which is nothing less than masterful.
This second song (which I've just forgotten the name of) must have been especially hard to sing. The lyrics and melody are awkward in the extreme. You get the feeling that she decided to make a big splash and if she couldn't do it with a good song, she'd hunker down and do it with a bad song. Listening to this is like watching soldiers fight door-to-door. She broke down the song into parts and somehow found a way to beat life into each separate segment.
I learned something important from this performance: if you can't find the perfect project to show the world what you can do, take the godawful project you're stuck with and force it to be great, one scene at a time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
25 comments:
Another great find. That second song is amazing, Judy almost sings the disjointed parts as different characters.
Dear Sir, Pretty good for a girl who had just turned 14!
It's Love I'm After sounds like a Medley. The rhythms don't match, you can even see it if you watch her hands. Perhaps the composer was clearing out some unused melodies on some B-Picture.
Look out for the Texas Tornado!
Man, that's gilding the dog turd alright!
MGM in the mid 1930's had dozens of top-notch Broadway songwriters on staff and "It's Love I'm After" is the best they could come up with? Yet the young Judy Garland plates that feces golden, thanks to her rep as "the little girl with the big voice", vocal coaching by Roger Edens and probably a ton of amphetamines Louis B. Mayer personally administered via iron lung, the pinnacle of Art Deco modernity, in his private office, where he ate steak during the Great Depression. That fucker is dead now.
With Judy Garland, Uncle Eddie has discussed all my favorite artists. My life is complete! Take me now, Lord! I'm ready to go!
Some animation/comics professionals I have been aware of through my life, I hold in the highest respect due to their Turd Polishing. Yeah, I know, it's inherently a backhanded compliment at best.
Hey, they have kept working.
But they have taken projects no one else would touch with a ten foot pole, followed through with all the crappy ideas their bosses foisted upon them, and despite these roadblocks to creativity, they have thrived. They have put a sheen on the shinola. They have found ways to please themselves, and surprise those that have stumbled upon said projects. embarrasing in premise, and found something worthwhile in something that would normally keep someone sane away due to its subject matter (usually some licensed crap being raped by the suits).
But the sheer tenacity, and chutzpah, to take that road apple and find nuggets of gold within... hey, I have to admire that.
But is it considered selling out, if you do take the bad work, yet miraculously make the best of it?
Thirty years it was considered selling out, anon #2. Today people can't wait to do it. Just look at freakin' American Idol.
Anonymous asked: "...is it considered selling out, if you do take the bad work, yet miraculously make the best of it?"
Richard Williams achieved the best years of his studio's commercial life by following that dictum.
"...if you can't find the perfect project to show the world what you can do, take the godawful project you're stuck with and force it to be great, one scene at a time."
That's what you did with Tiny Toons, Eddie. And what Spielberg did with JAWS.
I had to watch this twice to fully appreciate your point, Uncle Eddie. Partly because I'd never seen it ( I'm really only familiar with Judy post-OZ ), but also because I didn't fully appreciate the first song as much as the second.
I also realized that, as a northerner, I HADN'T heard the sound of a good ol' cowhead making making love to his gal, and I'm familiar with the nudey films. I sensed loss.
But the second time was great because I found her working the change of pace and tempo, almost undertaking characters in each change. It's good for me, historically speaking, because I have a file of songs I enjoy where the tempo changes often during the song.
Latest entry: "It's Love I'm After" by Judy Garland
Previous entry: "Money" by Pink Floyd.
Thanks again for another great post!
- trevor.
I really admire people who- no matter what crummy job they've been handed- do it to the utmost. My dad lived his whole life that way.
That last paragraph should be in a book of quotations:
"If you can't find the perfect project to show the world what you can do, take the godawful project you're stuck with and force it to be great, one scene at a time."
- Eddie Fitzgerald
I love that. To will something to greatness by sheer force of personality and against all odds and interference. Yes!
Judy Garland rocked the house! IMO, she was one of the best singers in the 20th century. She could sing AND entertain.
I too like your quote, and I think I'll use it myself. I think that this can apply to life in general.
"If you can't find the perfect project to show the world what you can do, take the godawful project you're stuck with and force it to be great, one scene at a time."
- Eddie Fitzgerald
she certainly does an amazing performance, but i wonder if its led by good editing? im not expert on movies or how they were done in the thirties, and she certainly has a tremendous voice! but i noticed a lot of her actions and mouth shapes didnt match the vocals. logically, thats how the movies would have been done. im just sayin'.
I don't see any incongruity in her mouth or gestures during "It's Love I'm After" at all. Puzzled as to what you guys are talking about--maybe it'[s how the YouTube clip plays for you. I see sync that is right on.
This was doubtless sung to a playback on the set, as was almost always done(the exceptions are rare). The tempo changes etc are typical for the period and Judy's already-famous "swinging it" a la Helen Morgan, the torchiest torch singer, and Judy's muse. That was her special gimmick(not meant disparagingly, she was a superb singer already), what got her her MGM contract.
Of course she wasn't famous on film for it--yet. But Pigskin Parade" got her noticed nationally where before she'd been limited to sensational live appearances with her sister Gumms at places like the theater that's now the El Capitan, singing before films. She also did a lot of radio from this time forward, including singing "It's Love I'm After" over & over. A little kid who sang so maturely was a great novelty. And of course she had huge natural charm.
It's neat to see Judy here in this film wearing practically no makeup at all; from this point on she'd never look quite this plainfaced again on screen. But PP was a B picture, and Judy was playing a kind of hillbilly kid.
Yeah, she sure gave every job her all, it's true. She belted--and sold--more than one dubious number in the years before "Wizard of Oz".
She wasn't using any amphetimines at this point at all, btw. That came several years later purely as a temporary diet aid, and wasn't a problem for a while after that.
Hi Eddie,
Thanks for liking my pencil toppers, ie from John's blog 'look what Hryma made'.
I'm just going through and thanking everyone who commented, it's fun! I've posted the one I made of you now too.
Cheers,
Hryma
It's funny, but the only performer who really reminds me of Judy as far as an actor AND a singer would be Zooey Deschanel. She even sounds like Judy sometimes when she sings ( see her in the movie ELF with Will Ferrell and you'll know what I'm talkin' about ).
Maybe that's why she played 'D.G' in the brief Sci-Fi Channel series 'Tin Man'.
Off topic I know, but what the heck, this IS the place for theories, right?
- trevor.
In most musicals the performers are 'woodshedding', or miming to the playback of their own pre-recorded tracks. That's what Garland is doing here and you can really tell it during the last few lines of the second song, where she isn't perfectly dead on. She got much better at it by the time she made "The Wizard of Oz", three years later.
This is pure gold!
"I learned something important from this performance: if you can't find the perfect project to show the world what you can do, take the godawful project you're stuck with and force it to be great, one scene at a time."
I dunno what those other cats are on about- I watched the video again and her lip synching looks dead perfect to me, even with that little quick phrase in the middle with the tricky timing. She totally sells the idea she's singing it live.
And I'm a stickler for this stuff. I've always watched mouths instead of eyes during conversations. I rarely know when people are lying to me, but I know the shapes their mouths make.
I'm sorry but I hate her.
"...if you can't find the perfect project to show the world what you can do, take the godawful project you're stuck with and force it to be great, one scene at a time."
Words to live by.
This movie ain't so bad- I remember there being a good harmonica scene...
I love Judy Garland.
What I see in the performance is that she always told a story when she sang. She didn't just sing words but the thought behind them; a lesson actors and animators should remember. That can transcend corny songs and even technically bad singing because the entertainment will shine through. I can't hold a tune in a basket, but that is my biggest criticism when I watch American train-wreck..er...I mean Idol. When some kid sings a song like Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay and he's bouncing around, happy, I do scream at the set, "Do you know what you're singing about?".
I remember seeing a clip of Judy Garland in her later years on her CBS show. I can't remember what she was singing, maybe something like The Man That Got Away. She was wearing a casual style of the day, caprice pants and one of those smocky "Laura Petrie" type tank tops. The orchestra was that typical swelling orchestral type jazz that was common in those old variety shows. Her performance was histrionic almost going into a tantrum. I said to myself , man, that's rock 'n' roll. OF course that wasn't intended but that raw emotion.....performers could learn from that...not just to hit the "right notes", whether actor, animator or musician.
...And she was a good actress, too. Rent Judgment at Nuremberg and see what I mean.
Hi, Eddie! Your blog rocks more and more every day. I love Judy, she was a genius.
I just posted a 1954 Shermlock Shomes story by Bill Elder. If you like it feel free to borrow any images.
Post a Comment