WEBVTT

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Good evening and welcome to the Hollywood
bab Bilonians. Hello, Hello, hello

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friends. This is your happy Hollywood
History host mister Ben Burke. Back today

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with that wonderful singer, actor,
and dancer of the Off Broadway and Broadway

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stage, Miss Ruby Rakos, as
we continue to discuss Vincent Minnelli's charming holiday

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musical Meet Me in Saint Louis from
MGM in nineteen forty four, starring Judy

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Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Lucille Brimmer, Leon Names, Mary Astor, Marjorie

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Main, Harry Davenport, and Tom
Drake. Only on the Hollywood bab Bilonians

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There, do you have, like
any other notes, anything that you really

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like to share? I would hear
the film itself. I think my favorite

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part is probably Margaret O'Brien is twoty. She's so strange, so morbid,

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you know, with giving her dolls
funerals and bearing them in the backyard and

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all the stuff with the Halloween was
very strange. I was Halloween in nineteen

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oh three, involving like a bonfire
in the street and like kids dressed as

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like little hoboes and like throwing flower
on. I know, the flower part.

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But yeah, throwing flower at people. But I didn't I didn't know

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that. I mean, it was
it was like Lord of the Flies out

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there. I rap on it.
Yes, that's something that actually happened,

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because it was like they were all
cross dressed. Yeah, all of these

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little children were cross dressed. It
looks like a riot that we've seen in

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recent years, you know, and
these children go out and they try to

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kill the neighbors that they that they
hate most with flower. And I know

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that sequence was almost cut from the
film, but it did. It did

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wonders for Margaret O'Brien. Yeah,
oh man, a little Margaret O'Brien,

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she's just she's just a trip.
Yeah, but I have to say,

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I mean the scene, you know, after Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

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where she runs out into the snow
and beats up the the snowmen that they

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built. I mean, what did
they do to that girl to make her

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break down like that? Because I
was like this, I mean, no

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five six year old has the acting
capabilities to do that, and it wouldn't

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be odd even today really for a
child actor to be I don't know,

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kind of traumatized into having that sort
of response. I mean it was really

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it was really intense. I mean, yeah, she does she kills those

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snowmen. She takes that bit.
Does she take a stick? Not a

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baseball bat? But yeah, I
think it was a stick, but like

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just like her, like heaving saw
just like I mean, I was like,

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this is a actual five year old
having a complete meltdown, right,

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It's like you're going full Betty Davis
on ayah yeah. And so all I

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could think was like, what did
they do to her to make her do

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that? Well, and that leads
us to another interesting point. They told

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so Margaret O'Brien, I believe,
had a little pit bulldog or some little

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puppy that she had just gotten.
And Margaret O'Brien's mother told Vince Minelli everybody

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that was working with her on that
set, in order to get her to

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cry, you tell her that this
little puppy has died. And that's how

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they got her to cry, which
I'm like, why would you tell a

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child that. Of course they did
that, Okay, that makes sense,

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yes, and that's why she was
Yeah, oh man, at five or

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six, if I had a puppy
that died, I would have had a

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full emotional melt down to and in
acting, all you have to I mean,

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honestly, there's a I mean,
kids have such a wild imagination.

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I mean, all you'd have to
tell her is like it pretend that he

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did die, Like he's fine,
but like how would you feel if he

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did? Like what would you miss? And like kids have a really good

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imagination. Like that's all acting is
right. You didn't have to, you

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know, I mean you didn't have
to convince her that her poppy was actually

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dead. Yeah, And Margaret had
been signed to the studio at four or

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five, several years before she her
mother took her to the studio, got

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her into the office of like mayor
or Freed, and Manelli was in the

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office and she was dressed in this
little plaid kilt and little cap and she

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was giving this big scene and Manelli
was like, wow, she is amazing.

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Now you would be like, oh, come on, this is ridiculous.

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They signed her to the studio.
They started her in several I think

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Journey for Margaret was one of them, in the Canterville Ghost, which were

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big, big vehicles for her.
And also MGM was a test with Shirley

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Temple which they never could get who
at one time, I think was supposed

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to play Dorothy, but they couldn't
get her from Fox. Yeah, Margaret

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O'Brien, I know that. Vincent
Minnelli said that because after the first several

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years that Margaret was at Metro,
she had worked with their resident acting coach,

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and when Margaret came on set,
she was this big, huge Shakespearean

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actress. Everything was over the top. And Manelli said that added a lot

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of time that he had to sit
and work with her and work out all

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of these this big, big performance
that she was getting because she had worked

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with I can't remember her name,
but she was the resident acting coach at

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MGM. The older she got,
the less money her film's made, which

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is, you know, kind of
common for a lot of child stars.

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So I know that a lot of
the Sally Benson stories, which are the

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thirty five thirty one Kensington Having Avenue
stories, a lot of the sequences were

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true to life. Oh. Also
talking about Margaret O'Brien, John Fricky in

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the commentary that I was just listening
to. So the sequence, the Halloween

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sequence where Margaret O'Brien claimed that she
has been beat up by the boy next

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door, you know, and then
Judy goes over and gives him a piece

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of her mind, which I think
is one of the great uh, one

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of the great sequences in classic film
musicals, because it's like, yeah,

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we're not gonna take it anymore.
I am woman, hear me roar.

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In the book The Kensington Avenue Stories, the sequence where Tudy was beaten up

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really took place, and she was
beaten up by the boy next door.

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But things such as this, like
little girls being beaten up by older,

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older men. You know, even
you could drop the R word in there,

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that four letter nasty little R word. We're not talked about a whole

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lot. So this was something where
Twudy really was beaten up by the boy

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next door. Her father went over
and had a talk with the boy next

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door's father about what had happened,
and he was like, oh, I'll

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talk with him, and they exchanged
the guards and that's all that happened,

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you know. And that is the
only time that the boy next door came

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into The Kensington Avenue Stories. It
was the idea that one of the girls

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was madly in love with him came
from the mind of the screenwriters, which

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I found fascinating. So this,
Yeah, so this rapist boy next door

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in the movies, well, in
the movie, Judy Garland's love interest was

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really this rapist boy next door in
the books, which is, oh,

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yeah, I know, we're unpacked. We're we're sounding woke now, aren't

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we. They would have yeah,
they would have never put that in the

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movie. No, no, that
No, that would have been a lot.

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But that, I mean, that
is really the darkest sequence in the

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entire film, because that's very dramatic
sequence for a family at that time.

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I know, families at that time
lost children at a higher rate than they

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do now, but for them to
lose a member of the family like that,

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and you could see that in the
movie, they're all, you know,

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overwhelmed at the thought that Tutty something
could have happened to Tudy and anyway

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it might have happened to Agnes.
I know a lot Sally Benson based the

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character of herself on Agnes, or
Agnes played out Agnes with Sally Benson in

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the books, but because Joan Carroll
was less known, everything that happened to

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Sally Benson happened instead of to Agnes. That happened to Tutty. In the

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movie because Margaret O'Brien was the bigger
star. So do you have any things

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about this film that you do not? Like most of the music, I'm

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not a big fan of other than
like the original, like other than like

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you know, the Boy next Door
Trolley's song, Hi Yourself a marry Little

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Christmas. Like everything else is just
yeah. It's those like those songs they

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come up with to do or you
know, they pull out of you know,

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some old book to do for like
a big dance number. You get

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a lot of that with like you
know, stuff like Strike Up the Band.

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You get like really weird songs that
they decide to do for like a

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big dance number. The La Conga, Yes exactly. Oh I do love

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that movie. Yes. Drummer Boy
is like, oh so amazing. I

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mean Nicky Rudy is an such a
good drummer. Yes. So the fact

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that like everyone's using someone else's trumpet
this really grosses me. I know,

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I was gonna like no one's upset
about it. That Like the Paul Whiteman

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Jazz Band is like, all right, they sound pretty good, and it's

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like he's using my trombone. It's
like five thousand dollars right, it's like

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they're putting all of their saliva and
DNA into these instruments. Why aren't you

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angry? But it is. It
is a great number, so I could

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see why they'd let it slide.
Yeah, So those those numbers are not

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my favorite. Yeah. I think
that's probably my least favorite part as those

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like bigger yeah group numbers that aren't
you know the trolley song basically yes,

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yeah, and I mean I can
see that, I know, skip skip

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to Mailou wasn't written by Blaine and
Martin, even though they're credited with writing

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the song. It had been a
folk song for some times. They're the

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people that came up with the arrangement
for that. It's just precarious film because

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it's made so well and so beautifully, but at the same time, for

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our sensibilities today, it's like it
doesn't seem like it has much of a

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plot. It's about you know,
privileged white family living in turn of the

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century. Yeah, turn of the
century, Saint Louis, and it is.

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It's a very beautiful film. It's
very well constructed. Judy. It's

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one of the very first times that
I think she really really got to show

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off her talent as a very you
know, impressionable young woman with great expression,

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and she had beautiful eyes which you
never really had seen before. So

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yeah, it's the it's the white
eyeliner on the on the waterline really just

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like makes her eyes pop well.
And I didn't even know otis the white

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eyeliner until John Frickey said something about
it on the commentary and I was like,

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oh, now I noticed it.
Yeah, in technicolor, you see

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everything. Boy, were they going
to show you color. There was one

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quote that I now can't find who
said it, but it was about the

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costume design because the costume designer,
uh Irene Sheriff. Yes, I mean

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she was trying to you know,
be very Oh, I found it.

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I found the quote. Okay,
her attempts at the nineteen oh three cosume

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design and like trying to be like
realistic and like historically accurate. Arthur Freed

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was like, how could you have
a star with no cleavage? I heard

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that. Yeah, yeah, so
I mean they found a way to do

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it, but well he said that, he said that Mary Astory, you

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would believe it on Mary Astor,
but you couldn't have an ingenuine a film

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with no bosom, you know,
right, which was which is what he

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said? Always coming back to sex. Yeah, well, whereas you know,

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they used to be upset about Judy
having a bosom, so exactly how

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the how the turns of tabled?
I know they pressed it down for Wizard

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of Oz and now they're trying to
and earlier movies too well, because they

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thought she was fat. That's the
problem. But that red dress she wears

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at the ball is gorgeous. I
love that red dress. And that is

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one of Manelli's favorite colors. Was
red? You what I mean? And

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you can tell in the Pirates she's
in red. Yeah. Any in Brigadoon

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that Manelli directed, uh centuries and
like the big pivotal number is in red

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and Gigi there is so much red
that you can barely stand it. And

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movies, well, and red is
my favorite color. It's gorgeous and I

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think he uses it very effectively most
of the time. And bells are ringing

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the there's a big party sequence where
Judy Holiday wears a red dress. You

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know his on she news in the
films. Really in the big pivotal scene,

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it was like he was going to
always have them at red. And

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then throughout this entire movie. You
can tell Reddis's favorite color because the entire

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house, all of the drapes are
red. There's red lamp shades everywhere there,

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you know, and it gives it
a very beautiful, beautiful look.

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I don't think red was quite used
in technicolor as it had been in this

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film. Irene Sheriff, who is
fabulous. She designed so many costumes from

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Minnelli during her time at Metro,
and then she went over to Fox.

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She designed the costumes for The King
and I for Oh Not Oh. She

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designed him for Hello Dolly, which
actually in Hello Dolly, a lot of

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the extras are wearing costumes from Meet
Me in Saint Louis. So anyway,

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she was great at She was great
at kind of period pieces or like big,

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big musical things, and she's one
of my favorite costume designers for Metro.

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But she's another one that said that
during this time, Mayor kept calling

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Judy his little hunchback, and he
said every time he said that, I

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wanted to hit him as hard as
I can, because he said, she

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said, you know what that does
to a little girl that already thinks she's

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so ugly. I Dio realized that
he was still calling her that at this

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point, well, yeah, and
that's what well, and it's like,

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why are you Vinson Minelli just proved
your point wrong. She's not a little

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hunchback. She's gorgeous. Yeah,
it was those those earlier films, because

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I mean she's like thirteen, you
know, she's going through puberty. She's

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also four to eleven. You know, she's a very small person, right,

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and you know, because she wasn't
I don't know Alana Turner, she

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was. You know, they didn't
want to they didn't want to see her.

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And I honestly think like her posture
wasn't bad. It was just I

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think around people who she couldn't be
herself with or she wasn't safe with,

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was really, you know what sort
of brought her into herself. Because when

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you see watch her perform, and
you know, around the people that you

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know, know and love her and
care about her, you know, she's

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fine. She's very open. From
what all I've heard is she was very

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open, she was very ready.
She was a very funny person and great

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person to be around. But yeah, she I think she was built differently

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than the glamour girls at MGM because
you know, she had I've heard that

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she had a shorter torso than most
and longer legs than most, and that,

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you know, when she was trying
to grow into herself as a teenage

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girl, that you know, that's
when they were giving her the hard time.

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They have. Bob's Burgers has taught
us anything. I don't know.

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If you watch Bob's Burgers, there's
a character on there, Tina. It's

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like, you know, yeah,
yeah, it's like we're I feel like

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we're all Tina at parts, but
Judy starting out at the studio was more

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Tina than most. So yeah,
that's that's a good Yeah. Yeah,

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I mean, why would you ever
talk to a little child that way?

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I was going to say something else. At this point a grown woman.

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She was five years old. She
was an adult, which I feel when

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I was twenty, I was still
very much a child, and I don't

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Yeah, but the fact that people
keep calling her a little girl, like

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even like Joe Mankowitz is like calling
her that, you know, she's a

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very like you know, what did
you say, like messed up little girl

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or broken little girl? I was
like, a you're in a relationship with

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her, right, she's an adult? Yes, you know, she's like

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eighteen nineteen, So like, sure
she's not, like, you know,

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a full grown woman, but she's
still not a little girl exactly. She's

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much bigger than that. By yeah, anyway, we could talk about it.

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It just makes it makes me angry, and I feel like a lot

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of that went on. It still
goes on today unfortunately. But I mean

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metro Oh, I was gonna say
something about Lana Turner two oh, Judy

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told I think Joan Crawford that she
felt like a little Pollywog because Joan and

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Judy were at the studio at the
same time and they were good friends.

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But also she told her every time
because she tried. When Lana got to

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the studio in thirty eight, Judy
tried to befriend her and she told her

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that she was in love with Mickey
Rooney. Lana Turner went on to date

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Mickey Rooney for a long time.
She told her that she was in love

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with Artie Shaw. Then she turned
around, what she's with Arti Shaw.

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So it was almost like Lana was
just like going after guys that Judy wanted,

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and she even while Lana even went
after Tyrone Power after Judy was through

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with him, and she Lana said
that Tyrone was the great lost love of

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her life. Also, wasn't Tyrone
Power also a closeted gay man. He

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was bisexual? Yeah, and so
he oh, okay, he was.

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Yeah. He slept with a lot
of the women and a lot of the

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men. God, so he had
them both. And I know Judy ran

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off with him at one point.
She did, and I believe, yeah,

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she did run She tried to run
off with several people. And she

246
00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:03.359
told him because his wife was not
going to let Judy marry him, his

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Tyrone Power's French actress wife was not
going to give him a divorce. So

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Judy told the French actress wife that
she was going to have a baby,

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which people don't know if is real
or not, but you know, eventually

250
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she said, you know, well
I've lost the baby. And she did

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that to Joe Mankowitz also, and
Joe kind of played along because he he

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said in his memoirs, he ked
felt sorry for so anyway, he played

253
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along with the baby. And then
he finally asked her to do another pregnancy

254
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test and she, you know,
she it did not come up positive.

255
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I just thought, talking about Lana, I don't know if you've seen many

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films with Lana Turner. There are
several good ones, such as Green Dolphin

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Street, The Bad and The Beautiful
Imitation of Life. But Esther, a

258
00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:47.839
lot of the women at Metro did
not like Lana Turner. You know who

259
00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:51.680
Esther Williams is, or you've heard
of her before, Yes, yes,

260
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big technicolor aquacade musical star at Metro
for a long time. And they all

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they all had to the technicolor stars
had to deal with the thing before they

262
00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:04.720
shot, called a lily, which
was a very very heavy, big piece

263
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of slate, and they had to
hold that while they focused all of the

264
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the color balanced the entire picture,
because technicolor is just it's it's really really

265
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ripe. It is like colors on
cocaine. And I think it's gorgeous,

266
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but sometimes it's just too much.
But Esther Williams said she would have to

267
00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:26.440
stand in the swimming pool and hold
it over her head for like twenty minutes

268
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while they color balanced everything. And
she said, you know, I often

269
00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:34.279
wondered what Lana Turner was holding while
I was holding this damn slate she and

270
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you know, she said, I
knew what she was holding and it was

271
00:19:37.720 --> 00:19:40.599
Louis B. Mayer's dick. A
lot of people did not like Lana,

272
00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:45.200
but she she was very ambitious and
you know, she knew how to get

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what she wanted exactly. And I
yeah, I mean I wish I had

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Lona, That's how you know.
Unfortunately he had kind of do it at

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that time exactly. And that's that's
another problem. Talking about Judy more also,

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like we talked about I talked we
did all about Eve like two episodes

277
00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:03.079
ago, and look reading in the
Life of Joan Crawford, a lot of

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00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:07.440
these women had to be They knew
that it was a man's world and they

279
00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:10.480
had to be smarter than that because
they were business people that had to keep

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00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:14.079
themselves going, I feel like,
and they had great longevity with their careers.

281
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But with Judy, I feel like
she was just kind of thrown into

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00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:22.759
it and she did not exactly want
I feel like she was a very intelligent

283
00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:25.880
person. If she wanted to have
that kind of be smarter than the men

284
00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:27.440
that were running the show, she
could have. But at the time she

285
00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:33.480
just really didn't care or she didn't
exactly want to. I know that after

286
00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:37.440
forty four or forty five she had
gone to New York City with Vincent Manelli

287
00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:41.160
and saw New York. She loved
New York. And then somebody interviewed her

288
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shortly after that and they said,
well, what's next for Judy Garland.

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00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:48.279
She said, well, after my
contract is up in forty six, I'm

290
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going to move to New York and
star on Broadway. After meet Me and

291
00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:55.119
Saint Louis came out, the executives
were like, ah, this cannot happen

292
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because she is really a gold mine
now. So when she fell in love

293
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with mine and they got married,
the studio, the studio really pushed well,

294
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it was you know, Manelli became
one of those other people under contract

295
00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:11.480
that was to keep an eye on
Judy and keep her in line. So

296
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the fact, you know, by
the time she got to the Pirate and

297
00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:19.039
she didn't want to be at the
studio, she was you know, she

298
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she had bad, bad postpartum depression, so that that was another thing that

299
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:26.279
just pushed her. She didn't care
whether she was there or not. She

300
00:21:26.359 --> 00:21:30.039
was just kind of being forced to
be there at times, especially later in

301
00:21:30.119 --> 00:21:34.039
her years at Metro. Yeah,
yeah, I yeah, I can't help

302
00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:41.519
but think she might have been happier
going to New York, right, I

303
00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:45.200
mean I mean her concert, I
mean her time on stage. I mean

304
00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:49.319
that was when she started her concert
career. It really brought her back to,

305
00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:53.319
you know, her roots of like
vaudeville and performing for an audience,

306
00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:57.519
and was really, you know,
the reason she loved performing was the response

307
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from the audience, and you don't
you don't get that in movies for sure.

308
00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:06.759
And she had started out, you
know, on the stage in Vodevillain.

309
00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:08.599
I think she loved the audience and
she knew the audience loved her,

310
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and that was taken away from her
when she was given the big studio contract.

311
00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:26.000
But I wanted to ask you,
since I have you here, if

312
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:30.960
you have any favorite films of Judy's. Oh, I mean, I love

313
00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:36.240
Love finds Andy Hardy. That's probably
my favorite. I just love that film

314
00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:40.839
so much. She's so cute and
just her and Mickey together are just is

315
00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:48.119
just so perfect. Love finds Andy
Hardy is probably my number one. I

316
00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:52.400
also I also really liked Strike Up
the Band. I wish they would dress

317
00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:59.200
her in something less hideous. It's
like the same design dress with a big

318
00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:03.119
puppy sleep and she's like in a
variation of that dress and the whole film,

319
00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:10.599
and it's so ugly, like dresses
throughout the entire Yeah. Yeah,

320
00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:15.079
and like she wears a like a
sort of simp. The red dress in

321
00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:18.200
Meet Me and Saint Louis is like
a similar design, but it's flattering.

322
00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:25.079
Yes, it's like it creates this
beautiful torso well. It was like it

323
00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:27.759
was like, if we make her
shoulders bigger, her waist will look smaller

324
00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:32.559
or something like. It's just so
hideous. It's so hideous. But I

325
00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:37.559
love that movie. I also really
like Everybody Sing. That's a really fun

326
00:23:37.559 --> 00:23:41.640
one. It's harder to find.
I think the only way I've ever watched

327
00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:45.079
it is I like it was in
parts on YouTube. I don't even know

328
00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:48.559
if it's still up anymore. Yeah, And that's how I'd watched it,

329
00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:52.920
Other than the scene where she disguises
herself in blackface to get a job at

330
00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:56.799
the as a singing at the singing
restaurant. That one's weird. That part's

331
00:23:56.920 --> 00:24:00.960
unnecessary. She could have just put
on a fake mind stash or something,

332
00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:04.000
right, But at least it's not
like Babes and Arms, where you get

333
00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:07.400
through the whole film and then suddenly
the show they've been putting on this whole

334
00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:11.680
time was a minstrel show and like
hints, no clues, and suddenly the

335
00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:17.000
last like twenty five minutes is all
blackface. Yeah, that came out of

336
00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:19.799
nowhere. Well, I mean Babes
and Okay, So what I remember about

337
00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:23.160
Babes and Arms like the entire show
that they're trying to put together in the

338
00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:26.559
barn. There's a giant storm that
tears down the barn where they're trying to

339
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:30.039
put on this minstrel show, so
they don't get to put on the minstrel

340
00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:32.519
show. I haven't seen Babes and
Arms in a long time. I know.

341
00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:37.079
At the end of Babes on Broadway, which is one of my it

342
00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:41.400
was one of my favorite ones until
you get to the end and that rousing

343
00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:48.000
waiting for the Robberty Lee in your
life and she sings FDR Jones and uh

344
00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:52.519
yeah, and it's just like,
oh man, this is such great music

345
00:24:52.599 --> 00:24:57.000
and such great performances, but I'm
gonna throw the Confederacy in there just to

346
00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:00.880
ruin it, and not until the
end, so you have no clue what

347
00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:04.440
you're getting yourself into until the end
of the movie, and it just pops

348
00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:08.240
about of nowhere well, And I
think that's that Waiting for the roberty Le

349
00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:14.119
number is the most spectacular, not
spectacular in the in like the good sense,

350
00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:19.759
but has the spectacle of any Mickey
and Judy musical number outside of Oh

351
00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:26.079
I Got Rhythm, Yeah, which
is just it's just a shame. But

352
00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:27.920
I mean, we're not trying to
cancel these movies. So many people are

353
00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:30.920
like whoop, people are trying to
get They're hard to watch. That's the

354
00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:36.799
problem is, like I I just
it's a hard time watch. It's like

355
00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:40.640
I'll watch to the point where it
gets weird and then I'm like I can't

356
00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:45.680
enjoy it. It's so uncomfortable.
And I was like, if you close

357
00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:51.400
your eyes, it sounds really nice. Right. But but back to everybody

358
00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:55.960
saying, I mean, you've got
Fanny Brice in that movie and there's a

359
00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:00.319
scene on a bus where they all
like are running around. I don't remember

360
00:26:00.359 --> 00:26:04.079
the song that they sing on the
bus, but I really love that scene.

361
00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:08.119
That movie is is really great.
I really love that movie. And

362
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:12.559
then Judy and Fanny Brice went on
to do I mean, Fanny Bryce the

363
00:26:12.599 --> 00:26:17.480
baby Snokem's character was, you know, a big thing and then she and

364
00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:19.400
Judy went on to kind of continue
that little act that they do in the

365
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:23.880
movie on the radio for a long
time too, Yes, which is great.

366
00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:27.920
Yeah, I haven't seen everybody sing
in a hot second. I haven't

367
00:26:27.960 --> 00:26:33.559
seen it in years. But doesn't
Billy Burke, who plays Glinda play her

368
00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:38.039
mother in that. Yes, Billy
Burke is in it. Oh and she

369
00:26:38.200 --> 00:26:44.359
also also it starts with her getting
kicked out of school. That's what starts

370
00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:47.359
the whole thing. She gets kicked
out of school. And its swing,

371
00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:51.119
mister Mendelssohn's swing, which I,
oh my god, I love that song.

372
00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:56.519
We do the that song in Chasing
Rainbows as well. And just at

373
00:26:56.519 --> 00:27:00.880
the end she you know, they
get caught and she just sort of presses

374
00:27:00.920 --> 00:27:07.440
her nose up against the glass door
before she leaves. Is so cute.

375
00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:11.599
That movie is really, really wonderful. Love finds Andy Hardy is probably number

376
00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:17.319
one. I do like Strike Up
the Band. I just can't stand the

377
00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:22.920
costumes. Yeah, because it is
a It is a great movie. It

378
00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:26.200
has some La conga and drummerman.
Drummer Man is probably my favorite number of

379
00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:30.000
any Mickey and Judy for sure.
I mean, I don't know how Mickey

380
00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:34.920
Rooney and the Conga didn't like just
I mean, he must have had whiplash

381
00:27:36.039 --> 00:27:41.880
after that number because the way he's
like flinging his head around. Oh my

382
00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:45.240
god. But yeah, no,
that's yeah. I mean a lot of

383
00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:52.079
people don't realize that mckier Ronnie was
an amazing drummer. Mmmm but that ye

384
00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:55.400
yeah, yeah, he played the
xylophone in that too. And then they

385
00:27:55.440 --> 00:28:03.119
also have that whole sequence with the
fruit, the like stop motion fruit story

386
00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:08.880
of our love Affair. Yeah,
I know, which is You wonder how

387
00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:14.880
difficult was that to shoot back in
nineteen forty. Honestly, it must have

388
00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:18.279
been ridiculous. But yeah, I
mean we have Arthur Freed also to thank

389
00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:21.599
for those movies because he had well
a little bit on Arthur Freed. People

390
00:28:21.640 --> 00:28:26.119
don't, I don't think realize that, you know, the MGM musicals that

391
00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:29.119
we know and love today are because
of Arthur Freed. He had been a

392
00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:34.960
songwriter at MGM in the late twenties
with his songwriting partner Nashio Herb Brown,

393
00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:40.880
and he had always really wanted to
produce film musicals, and finally he got

394
00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:44.279
Mervin Leroy, who was one of
his friends, came over to Metro from

395
00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:47.440
Warner Brothers, and they had always
loved Wizard of Oz, always wanted to

396
00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:51.720
put together a musical film Wizard of
Oz, so they got to do that

397
00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:56.160
and showcase Judy. I think Arthur
freed despite him mistreating her, because I

398
00:28:56.160 --> 00:29:00.039
know it eventually got to the point
where he was just shoving her around and

399
00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:03.480
picking her up and throwing her into
projects. He didn't care how Judy felt.

400
00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:06.759
It was if she could get the
work done or not, if she

401
00:29:06.799 --> 00:29:11.599
could make him money. But I
think he really was one that recognized talent

402
00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:15.079
and good talent, and that's why, you know, when he started producing

403
00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:18.200
films, starting with the Wizard of
Oz and going into Mickey Rooney Judy Garland's

404
00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:25.200
films, he started to create his
own unit, his own production unit at

405
00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:30.039
MGM, which is what led to
some of Judy's great technicolor classics at Metro.

406
00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:36.559
But yeah, yeah, I think
everybody should go watch the at least

407
00:29:36.599 --> 00:29:38.880
go watch Strike Up the Band and
Girl Crazy and Love finds Andy Hardy because

408
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:45.599
those Strike Up the Band I believe
is actually on HBO Max right now because

409
00:29:45.640 --> 00:29:52.359
TCM has it. Yes, well, yes, I was like tinkering around

410
00:29:52.359 --> 00:29:56.079
there and a lot of Andy Hardy
movies are there, except none of the

411
00:29:56.119 --> 00:30:02.440
ones with Judy in it. I
don't think, Well, it's just like

412
00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:06.079
a bunch of Andy Hardy movies that
I've never seen and I have no interest

413
00:30:06.119 --> 00:30:11.079
in watching because she's not right.
Well, oh, no debutant. It

414
00:30:11.079 --> 00:30:15.799
has Andy Hardyman's debutant. Yes,
that's a good one too. I'm Nobody's

415
00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:21.519
Baby is a really good song alone. The way that song she does really

416
00:30:21.559 --> 00:30:26.000
beautifully and it sort of turns the
tables because she's less of the ugly duckling

417
00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:30.240
girl next door and Mickey Rooney is
sort of on her turf in New York

418
00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:36.319
and he sort of like realizes that
she's like, you know, a really

419
00:30:36.359 --> 00:30:38.799
like cool and interesting person and you
know, she has the upper hand,

420
00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:44.079
right, even though he does,
of course fall in love with a debutante

421
00:30:44.119 --> 00:30:47.319
but who is a friend of Judy's
and is like in on it and like

422
00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:53.240
gets him turned back towards Judy exactly. Yeah, oh yeah, and she

423
00:30:53.400 --> 00:30:59.400
yeah, she yes. I okay, So I started because for some reason

424
00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:06.400
they put all of these Andy Hardy
movies on HBO Max. I know that,

425
00:31:07.079 --> 00:31:10.279
Well, yeah, I started,
Andy HARDI Meat's Debutante, which I

426
00:31:10.359 --> 00:31:12.960
had seen a lot before, and
so I started it and I was like,

427
00:31:14.039 --> 00:31:15.319
I have seen this at least ten
times. I don't think I can

428
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:18.240
watch it again, but it's a
great movie. Definitely go watch it.

429
00:31:19.079 --> 00:31:23.839
I know that one of John Fricky's
good friends over at Warner Brothers is George

430
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:29.559
Feldenstein, who I love because he
is the film historian at Warner Brothers who

431
00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:33.599
owns now the Vintage RKO Library where
like Ginger Rogers and Fredis Stare were in

432
00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:38.880
the thirties, they own the pre
nineteen eighty six MGM library, and they

433
00:31:38.920 --> 00:31:44.160
own the Vintage Warner Brothers Library,
And he's also in charge of the Warner

434
00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:48.759
Archive, which does very expensive restorations
on these classic films put them on HBO

435
00:31:48.839 --> 00:31:52.319
Max and Blu Ray. So I
know every time they do like a new

436
00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.039
remastering or a new restoration of one
of these classic films that pops up on

437
00:31:56.200 --> 00:31:59.240
HBO Max and they show it on
TCM. So that may be one of

438
00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:02.000
the reasons that it's on HBO Max. Is like they did a new four

439
00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:07.039
case game of the Yeah, well
TCM is like under the HBO Max like

440
00:32:07.400 --> 00:32:08.920
thing, because you got like Cartoon
Network, and you've got like a bunch

441
00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:13.359
of other stuff. So yeah,
I was. And then I mean,

442
00:32:13.400 --> 00:32:16.119
I think A Star Is Born is
already on HBO Max, which I have

443
00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:22.640
never actually finished. I watched it
on a plane to Minnesota. Was it

444
00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:27.680
Minnesota? Yeah, Minnesota, And
the flight was shorter than the movie.

445
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:32.160
Yeah, I didn't finish the movie. I still like the last like half

446
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:37.799
hour I've never watched. Well,
and it's it's good. I think it's

447
00:32:37.799 --> 00:32:44.759
one of Judy's best performances. It
is really long, and it was longer,

448
00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:47.759
like it was longer, and and
but as a result, like the

449
00:32:47.799 --> 00:32:52.240
movie is so like cut apart and
like truncated, and you just get these

450
00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:57.240
like weird those inter cuts of the
black and white with the photos, and

451
00:32:57.279 --> 00:33:01.640
I'm like, and then they I
think the the film, the extra roles

452
00:33:01.640 --> 00:33:06.599
of film with the stuff that got
cut, like like we're destroyed in a

453
00:33:06.680 --> 00:33:10.440
fire or something in that big fire, so like we'll just never see be

454
00:33:10.519 --> 00:33:15.640
able to put together the what four
hour movie? Right? I know?

455
00:33:15.799 --> 00:33:17.839
Well, and which I would love
to see, which I think would be

456
00:33:17.880 --> 00:33:21.839
a better movie. Oh yeah,
well, and it was. It was

457
00:33:22.359 --> 00:33:25.400
breaking box office records across the country
and tell well. Jack Warner was the

458
00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:29.599
head of Warner Brothers and Judy.
This was Judy's first film at Warner Brothers

459
00:33:29.640 --> 00:33:34.039
because she had been at Metros for
so long, and Jack Warner did not

460
00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:37.319
get along with Judy and she he
did not get along with her husband,

461
00:33:37.400 --> 00:33:42.200
Sid Luft, who also produced it. And you know, Harry Warner talked

462
00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:45.319
to Jack Warner, Harry Warner was
Jack Warner's brother, into cutting down the

463
00:33:45.319 --> 00:33:47.720
movie. So they cut it down
so much and then they started to get

464
00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:52.160
complaints like this movie doesn't make sense. We're not seeing the original full movie,

465
00:33:52.519 --> 00:33:55.880
you know. So it actually lost
money at the box office because of

466
00:33:55.880 --> 00:34:00.319
that fiasco, and then all of
that footage was lost on you know,

467
00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:05.960
the cutting room floor, except for
the audio which you can hear under all

468
00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:08.960
of those black and white stills,
you know, right, But yeah,

469
00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:12.599
it does make it where like the
first time I saw it on TCM,

470
00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:15.000
I probably was in middle school,
and I thought, Oh, that's kind

471
00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:19.079
of a cool artsy thing that they're
doing with these black and white photos.

472
00:34:19.079 --> 00:34:22.000
And then I was like, but
it's like twenty or thirty minutes of black

473
00:34:22.039 --> 00:34:24.559
and white photos, and this feels
like they're overdoing it. But it's like,

474
00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:27.920
really, you know, they cut
out all of the footage. Yeah,

475
00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:30.880
but they'd done that like for like
one or two time jumps, like

476
00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:37.480
okay, but it just keeps happening, like where's all the movie? Where's

477
00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:40.079
the movie? Right? It's like
it's just black and white photos. But

478
00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:44.159
yes, and also you talk about
that fire. A lot of people don't

479
00:34:44.159 --> 00:34:45.920
talk about that fire. I think
it was like in nineteen seventies, six

480
00:34:45.960 --> 00:34:51.559
seventy seven fire at the fourteen l
seventies. Yeah, yes, and it

481
00:34:51.639 --> 00:34:55.440
was. It was the It was
because in the mid sixties, Culver City,

482
00:34:55.480 --> 00:34:59.320
where Metro is located, it's not
a huge at that time, it

483
00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:02.880
wasn't a huge, booming metropolis.
And they said, okay, so we

484
00:35:02.960 --> 00:35:07.039
have to go back real fast.
The classic films up to nineteen fifty three.

485
00:35:07.079 --> 00:35:10.639
Films up to nineteen fifty three were
shot on a film stock that was

486
00:35:10.679 --> 00:35:15.239
made of nitrate. And you might
know this nitrate is what's used in gunpowder.

487
00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:19.559
But it also has this beautiful silvery
machine that gave black and white this

488
00:35:19.639 --> 00:35:22.440
gorgeous silvery machine. But they could
not They had to store them like in

489
00:35:22.519 --> 00:35:28.599
refrigerated areas because if they get too
hot, they could explode if they're around

490
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:32.000
you know, certain chemicals, they
will explode. So Culver City in the

491
00:35:32.039 --> 00:35:36.400
mid sixties went to the executives at
MGM and were like, Okay, so

492
00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:42.159
this is a threat to our community
because you have this entire like warehouse full

493
00:35:42.199 --> 00:35:47.880
of just gunpowder. Yes, So
they made interpositives of the entire thing,

494
00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:52.679
like, they made copies of all
of it. And they did something that

495
00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:57.960
Fox didn't do, which is they
made like three straight they made Technicolor and

496
00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:02.280
ambitionient. Well I don't know,
they copied the Technicolor in a way that

497
00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:07.800
it was going to retain its luster, whereas Fox dumped all of their Technicolor

498
00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:12.480
camera negatives. So all Carmen Miranda, Betty Grabel movies, Alice Faye,

499
00:36:12.559 --> 00:36:17.760
that original technicolor is lost. But
yeah, in the seventies they were storing

500
00:36:17.800 --> 00:36:23.480
all of these original camera negatives for
some of Metro's biggest films, biggest classic

501
00:36:23.559 --> 00:36:28.280
musicals, well in films in general. And I'm not sure what started it,

502
00:36:28.360 --> 00:36:32.159
but man, that was a fire
that was like Hiroshima going off because

503
00:36:32.199 --> 00:36:37.760
it was just all that gunpowder beating
off of one another and there goes like

504
00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:43.599
a huge part of the old Hollywood
history exactly. But I mean the good

505
00:36:43.599 --> 00:36:49.559
thing is that they had made like
good preservation prints of the original technicolor negatives

506
00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:52.239
in the black and white film,
so when they go back and restore them,

507
00:36:52.280 --> 00:36:54.840
they have something that looks good that
they can restore them off of.

508
00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:00.880
Not all studios have that anymore,
because anyway, film preservation not doesn't mean

509
00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:07.079
as much to other people as it
does to me. Do you have any

510
00:37:07.159 --> 00:37:09.840
other thoughts on the movie? I've
enjoyed talking to you so much and hearing

511
00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:13.960
everything that you have to say.
No, I don't think I have anything

512
00:37:13.960 --> 00:37:17.199
else to say, but thank you
for asking me to do this. Oh

513
00:37:17.280 --> 00:37:22.559
no, it's you know, a
year in the making, I know well,

514
00:37:22.599 --> 00:37:25.079
and of course anytime, and you
know, maybe I'd love to do

515
00:37:25.119 --> 00:37:29.679
some more Judy films in the future, if you'd ever be interested in maybe

516
00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:36.000
coming back to talk about another one
or yes, especially like any anything before

517
00:37:36.119 --> 00:37:40.559
nineteen thirty nine, Like I know
a lot, let's do Pigskin Parade next.

518
00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:44.760
Oh my god, she's only in
the lot. That's her first,

519
00:37:44.960 --> 00:37:49.400
her first movie, she's and that
one's on YouTube as well, I believe

520
00:37:49.559 --> 00:37:52.960
is where I watched that. But
she's only in like the last like thirty

521
00:37:52.039 --> 00:37:58.000
minutes of the movie, right,
and she did not like it. She

522
00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:00.679
did not like the way she looked
because you could see all her freckles,

523
00:38:00.679 --> 00:38:05.400
and I guess that was a problem
back then, like nobody liked freckles,

524
00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:08.760
and she just hated it. I
mean, she didn't really feel started to

525
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:14.519
feel comfortable on camera until she started
working with Mickey Rooney. Yeah. Yeah,

526
00:38:14.519 --> 00:38:17.280
and yeah, bless his heart,
I've all this sudden Mackey Rooney did.

527
00:38:17.480 --> 00:38:22.039
One of the great things was befriending
Judy Garland, that's for sure.

528
00:38:22.559 --> 00:38:25.519
Yeah, yeah, I did.
I really really appreciate you coming on today

529
00:38:25.519 --> 00:38:29.920
and hearing everything that you have to
say. I think you probably more than

530
00:38:29.960 --> 00:38:34.119
anything else outside of anybody else outside
of John Frecky, know more about Judy

531
00:38:34.159 --> 00:38:37.280
Garland than anyone great well, and
I'm not sure about that. There's a

532
00:38:37.320 --> 00:38:39.559
lot of people online that, Yeah, I don't think I know that much.

533
00:38:39.599 --> 00:38:44.400
I actually, for someone who plays
her on stage, I don't know.

534
00:38:44.519 --> 00:38:49.039
I only know like a very condensed
part of her life. I mean,

535
00:38:49.079 --> 00:38:52.239
I know the basics of the rest
of it. But you know,

536
00:38:52.320 --> 00:38:57.079
I feel really I really like the
beginning. Yes, well, the beginning

537
00:38:57.199 --> 00:38:59.719
is great, and it makes one
hell of a show. Let me tell

538
00:38:59.800 --> 00:39:01.559
ya. Yeah, I feel like
you know more about a certain time in

539
00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:04.880
her life that a lot of people
don't because a lot of you. Yeah,

540
00:39:04.920 --> 00:39:08.000
it's not a part of her life
that has really gotten any coverage.

541
00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:13.679
And it is just as interesting and
dramatic as like any other part of her

542
00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:19.039
life. It's just not as sexy, I guess. I guess. Yeah.

543
00:39:19.079 --> 00:39:22.440
I mean she's twelve, so yeah, I would hope not right,

544
00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:25.760
but yeah, I mean, just
like her the family dynamics, her early

545
00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:30.199
years at MGM, you know,
her friendship with Mickey Rooney. I mean

546
00:39:30.199 --> 00:39:36.119
it's all you know, her finding
her her style, her vocal style,

547
00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:43.519
which is you know, heavily influenced
by Roger Eatans. Yeah, and hopefully

548
00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:45.679
I can see it maybe on Broadway
one day. I did want to ask

549
00:39:45.719 --> 00:39:49.559
you, well, first of all, to our listeners, I know you

550
00:39:49.599 --> 00:39:52.280
shake your head and roll your eyes. It's gonna happen. Ruby, You're

551
00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:57.239
gonna win the Tony. Everybody listening
needs to go to YouTube and watch Ruby.

552
00:39:57.360 --> 00:39:59.920
And then it's a number from the
show, Isn't it got a pair

553
00:39:59.920 --> 00:40:02.760
of new shoes? Oh? Yes, yeah, yes, which is is

554
00:40:02.920 --> 00:40:06.280
just so much fun to watch,
and I think it's several years old,

555
00:40:06.360 --> 00:40:09.000
but it's so awesome. Yea in
a music video we did a couple of

556
00:40:09.039 --> 00:40:15.960
years ago, Yes, a couple
because I got to like subtract two years

557
00:40:15.960 --> 00:40:21.039
from all my add two years to
all my like memories, right exactly.

558
00:40:21.119 --> 00:40:23.480
I mean, twenty twenty didn't happen, right, twenty and I did a

559
00:40:23.559 --> 00:40:28.280
twenty twenty one really, and I'm
starting to think twenty twenty two didn't happen

560
00:40:28.280 --> 00:40:31.480
either, So I know we're just
lost forever. No more is life?

561
00:40:32.320 --> 00:40:36.679
So but yeah, that got a
pair of new shoes is I think it

562
00:40:36.719 --> 00:40:39.280
was her first feature film at Metro. Thoroughbreads don't cry that you, Yeah,

563
00:40:39.400 --> 00:40:44.599
those Thoroughbreads don't cry. Which that's
a weird scene too. She's like

564
00:40:44.679 --> 00:40:47.199
playing the guitar, singing, got
a pair of trying to like sing to

565
00:40:47.880 --> 00:40:53.440
is it Freddy Bartholomew and Mickey Rooney, And Mickey Rooney's like in the other

566
00:40:53.519 --> 00:40:57.800
room, like trying to take Freddy's
pants off the whole time to like give

567
00:40:57.840 --> 00:41:04.960
them a massage like erotic. It's
a very overrotic scene. And Judy's on

568
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:07.440
the other side of the door,
trying to come in and play them a

569
00:41:07.559 --> 00:41:12.800
song. It's a very very strict
Well, I think Freddy Bertheloma is a

570
00:41:12.880 --> 00:41:16.719
jockey, a child jockey. They're
both jockeys, Okay, well and yeah,

571
00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:23.280
but Mickey's like the experienced guy and
Judy is the daughter of the people

572
00:41:23.320 --> 00:41:29.079
who own the boarding house that the
jockeys stay in. Yeah, and she's

573
00:41:29.079 --> 00:41:35.480
like very like dramatic and like loves
acting and performing. And that's that's also

574
00:41:35.559 --> 00:41:38.280
pretty funny movie. She's pretty good
in that one as well. Yes,

575
00:41:38.760 --> 00:41:43.800
yeah, Mickey Rooney, Yes,
and yeah, it's fantastic. I think

576
00:41:43.840 --> 00:41:46.039
Mickey Rooney is trying to give Freddy
Barthelomew like massage, is like so he

577
00:41:46.039 --> 00:41:49.960
can ride the horse again. But
that's not what it looks like. But

578
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.159
it looks really weird, just taking
his pants off, taking his pants off,

579
00:41:54.239 --> 00:41:59.039
rubbing his legs while Judy is saying
and like, but Freddy's fighting him

580
00:41:59.039 --> 00:42:01.400
the whole time, like he doesn't
want it to happen. I know,

581
00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:07.039
I know. And there's should there's
a there's a type of label that you

582
00:42:07.039 --> 00:42:09.159
could call that nowadays, but I'm
not going to say it on our podcast

583
00:42:09.320 --> 00:42:14.840
or my pod or our podcast.
I wanted to one more question and then

584
00:42:14.840 --> 00:42:16.719
I promise I'll let you go.
You go run and live your beautiful life.

585
00:42:16.840 --> 00:42:22.920
Who plays I know your dad was
played by Max von Essen. Yeah,

586
00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:28.239
yes, who's Broadway great? I
live vicariously through some of these people

587
00:42:28.400 --> 00:42:31.000
that are on Broadway on Instagram.
But who played Make You Rooney? And

588
00:42:31.599 --> 00:42:37.599
oh, Mike Cortella. Yeah,
okay, that's like I said, spectacular

589
00:42:37.679 --> 00:42:43.480
cast. Yeah, he's he's wonderful. He then went, I mean was

590
00:42:43.519 --> 00:42:47.440
supposed to close out the season at
the Papermill in twenty twenty, say so,

591
00:42:47.559 --> 00:42:52.119
Chasing Raybis opened the twenty nineteen twenty
twenty season, and then he was

592
00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:59.400
going to close out the season with
The Wanderer playing Dion de Mucci, which

593
00:42:59.440 --> 00:43:06.000
then did didn't happen until this past
April. Yeah, yeah, March,

594
00:43:06.320 --> 00:43:09.880
March April, so he finally got
to do that, So he was,

595
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:13.800
So he's really great. So,
I mean, you know, hopefully we'll

596
00:43:13.800 --> 00:43:16.920
see that show on Broadway too.
Oh yeah, yeah, and all of

597
00:43:16.920 --> 00:43:19.920
those great. Yeah, I know, it's taken a little while. I

598
00:43:19.960 --> 00:43:23.360
was just casting the first show since
the pandemic yesterday or the day before that.

599
00:43:23.480 --> 00:43:27.159
So anyway, it's taking a little
bit of time. For things to

600
00:43:27.159 --> 00:43:30.400
come back. Yeah, but anyway, I want to, like I said,

601
00:43:30.440 --> 00:43:34.039
thank you again, And if anybody, any of our listeners listening today

602
00:43:34.119 --> 00:43:37.119
you're like, I don't know if
that's completely correct one of the historical facts,

603
00:43:37.159 --> 00:43:39.760
or there's something that you'd like to
add to the conversation, or if

604
00:43:39.800 --> 00:43:43.800
there's a movie that you would like
for us to talk about, please feel

605
00:43:43.800 --> 00:43:46.079
free to write into the Hollywood Babylonians
at gmail dot com. We'll read your

606
00:43:46.159 --> 00:43:50.639
letter on the air. Go follow
us on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube,

607
00:43:50.719 --> 00:43:57.800
and Facebook. Until next time,
This is Ruby Rakos and Ben Burke.

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00:43:58.880 --> 00:44:08.199
Thank you for a listen to the
Hollywood Babylonian. You have been listening to

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00:44:08.239 --> 00:44:14.480
the Hollywood Babylonians. The Hollywood Babylonians
is produced, edited and hosted by Bin

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00:44:14.559 --> 00:44:19.280
Burke and co hosted by Ruby REGOs, audio engineering by Andrew Davis, with

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00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:22.239
artwork by Bin Burke and Jamie Lee. If you liked what you heard today,

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00:44:22.239 --> 00:44:25.440
be sure to rate, review,
and subscribe and follow us on TikTok,

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00:44:25.519 --> 00:44:30.639
Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at
the Hollywood Babylonians. For more Hollywood

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00:44:30.639 --> 00:44:37.440
Babylonians content, tune in next Friday, December twenty ninth for a very special

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00:44:37.480 --> 00:44:44.920
episode of The Hollywood Babylonians. For
the Hollywood Babylonians present a Lox Radio Theater

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00:44:45.079 --> 00:44:51.199
drama meet Me in Saint Louis,
as we recreate the original Lux Radio Theatre's

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00:44:51.239 --> 00:44:55.440
production of Meet Me in Saint Louis
from December two, nineteen forty six.

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00:44:57.199 --> 00:45:00.840
Thank you for listening and have a
ghoul would light

