Easter Parade

Judy is in great voice, but looks like she could use a couple of pizzas and a milkshake for every meal.

She is a very gifted dancer--she keeps up with Astaire and then some.

Was Lucille Ball considered the poor man's Judy?

In watching Easter Parade, I get a Lucille Ball vibe circa I Love You

I could watch "I Want to Go Back (to Michigan)" every day and not get tired of it.

Who's that handsome trombone player she lingers with?

It might be on your local PBS station but I don't think it's being broadcast nationwide.

Peter Lawford is at the height of his beauty in this film.

And Ann Miller - in a corset recovering from a fall where her ex-husband pushed her down some stairs - is absolutely magnificent in "Shaking the Blues Away."

(Yeah, "Mary!" me, I don't care.)

For fans of "Mama's Family," you will note that the "Midnight Choo-Choo" choreography is similar to the same song's choreography in the "Mama's Girls" episodes. Judy taught the steps to Ken Berry at a party in the 60's.

Ken Berry was still doing summer theater in Moline in the '60s.

You must be thinking of his mom, who taught dance in the Quad Cities.

(quote)Ken Berry was still doing summer theater in Moline in the '60s.

He was starring in "F-Troop" from 1965-1967.

Ken was in episodes of Dick Van Dyke in the early 60's, R6. The story about is documented in the DVD Commentary.

Judy's performance couldn't possibly be more phoned-in and self-conscious. Compare her to the vivacious Ann Miller.

Please, R9, she wasn't supposed to be the strumpet like Ann Miller, shaking her ass away. Judy was there for the singing, which was vivacious, and for scenes like the one in the restaurant with Lawford which Ann could not have pulled off.

I adore (I know, "Mary!") the number A Couple of Swells.

Judy matching Astaire with the dance and Astaire matching Judy for comedy.

I honestly think it's one of MGM's best production numbers within a movie musical.

Overall, I don't care for the movie "Easter Parade"; I can't buy Judy falling in love with Astaire... he's just too old looking and is not very nice.

R11= Anna Nicole Smith

What's with Judy's final costume? That deathly white sheath does nothing for her.

It's like the MGM Wardrobe Dept. just got sick of her and gave up.

R11, this is my favourite scene from the movie, i know exactly what you mean! It stands out from the rest. The other best scenes are those with Ann Miller dancing her numbers. She was a fantastic, sensational dancer, wasn't she?

Easter Parade is not my favourite Judy Garland movie, but Judy did a great job in it, as well. This is not her best work, but she was unique one more time. She had her style, as always. She was a true star.

R11

Couple of Swells is a great number, but with two dancer/singers and the simplest of sets, it is by no stretch a "production number."

[quote]Was Lucille Ball considered the poor man's Judy?

This might seem like a preposterously stupid question, but it's a little known fact that Judy was going to star in "I Love Judy," but Sid talked her out of it.

I love how they threw those hot pink gloves on Judy in the last scene to make up for the pitiful dress and hat.

Its on tonight on TCM at 8 pm....followed by ANNIE GET YOUR GUN!!! As a costume designer and true Judy fan, I can say that this truly one of the most horrific costumed movies ever filmed....turn o the century oldie fashioned meets high late 40's....I have no idea what year this movie takes place.....

R15, I stand corrected, it isn't really a production number.

I'm going to add that one of the many joys of watching A Couple of Swells and so many other musical numbers in these musicals is the lack of editing. Cameras usually kept at a respectable difference, simply following the dancers... I know the sequence was not usually shot in one take, but the take you get on screen is always so fluid, requires so much coordination, and the actors need to smile and project an ease at their work simultaneously.

** sigh **

Astaire certainly was homely.

This movie marks the debut of the nervous, shaky Judy who has some trouble with lines and delivery. But the voice and emotion were never better.

Judy's finale costume looks suspiciously like the gown, sans long sleeves, that she wore in the Madame Crematante number (from Ziegfeld Follies) a few years prior. I wonder if they simply re-cut it? It is WAY too plain for the period (1912 or so), though, and not even period appropriate. Judy at least wears hobble skirts in some other scenes.

They CUT Mr. Monotony from the movie because that was WAY too sexy and her costume far too revealing for the period of 1912. I was never sure why they even filmed the damned thing since it was clear from the outset that Judy's character would never have worn a man's tux with her legs exposed in 1912. This movie, as another poster stated, really takes liberties with the fashions of the period. Judy's hair could use some work in a few scenes, too. That ginormous bun that looks like a tumor! And it just looks kind of ratty and unkempt in other scenes. Not sure what was going on there.

She was in fine form, but the movie was really pretty bad. Astaire's patented, callow persona was truly obnoxious here -- and he was far too old for it, let alone her. And why did he get away with stealing that stuffed rabbit from that kid in the toy store scene?

Too much was cut out of Peter Lawford's part for it to make sense. He was an inexplicably geriatric student.

Technicolor was no longer new enough to justify two sequences like the millinary fashion show and the faux-Ziegfeld-beautiful-girl number. Always so sad to realize that each of those dolled up girls was getting what she hoped was a big break by having the camera focus on her like that.

But, of course, MGM recycled the Mr. Monotony costume a couple of years later in Judy's last film for the studio, Summer Stock, in the sensational Get Happy! number.

I'm not convinced, however that the costume had anything to do with the reason the number was cut from Easter Parade....and I LOVE the number!

The costume was appropriate for the contemporary period of Summer Stock yet still an outlandish choice for a simple girl performing in the family barn.

Nevertheless, that costume became one of the most iconic looks of her career.

Oh, I don't know r23. In spite of all the "flaws" you mention, I would still rank Easter Parade with that cast as one of MGM's finest achievements.

MGM never cared about those kind of messy and inappropriate details in the creation of its musicals.

R25, I'm a big fan of both "Summer Stock," "The Harvey Girls" and "Meet Me in St. Louis," (and Jules Munshin, for that matter), but just don't think that "Easter Parade" holds up the way they do. None of these movies was "Rashomon," but the three without Astaire were luscious, lovely bits of entertainment.

By the way, I wrote "both "Summer Stock," "The Harvey Girls" and "Meet Me in St. Louis," because "Meet Me in St. Louis" was an afterthought, and I neglected to delete "both."

Judy was slated to do The Barkleys of Broadway with Fred right after this film but she was such a mess that they fired her. She got pissed that Ginger took over the role and, very mean-spiritedly, she sent her a shaving mug as a "present." Ginger had peach fuzz on her face and it had to be removed when she was filmed in technicolor.

Then, Judy was supposed to do Royal Wedding with Fred and they fired her from that one, too. The songs were written FOR her for that film. "Too Late Now" was sung by Judy on her own show years later so one can get an idea of how lovely it would have been in the film with Judy singing it. "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life?" was written as a follow up novelty song to "A Couple of Swells" and would have been a tour de force for Fred and Judy. Jane Powell did okay but it was a pale copy of what Garland could have done with it.

It is a real shame and one of the regrets of Hollywood history that Fred and Judy only made that one picture together.

I prefer Easter Parade to Meet Me in St. Louis. But I would rather have seen Gene and Cyd in their roles.

Judy and Gene in For Me and My Gal had magic. Just jumped off the screen. Or maybe it was the speed.

Watching Judy sing "Better Luck Next Time", and noticed that she really looks awful. She was only 26, yet she was wrinkles on her face, and she looks drawn and tired. She couldn't handle close ups even at that early age. But her talent is amazing, and you watch her in this movie and you see why she was unique. Triple threat! Judy could sing. Judy could dance! And Judy could act! She was great at comedy and drama. The pills killed her.

Cyd Charisse was a lovely dynamic dancer but she could never have carried a film the way Judy could.

I recently read on a facebook MGM fan page that Cyd was a cold and unpleasant woman, not friendly with her costars and colleagues. This was repeated by several different posters who seemed to either know her (in her later years) or knew people who worked with her in her prime.

First time I ever heard that about Cyd! Has this been common knowledge?

Cyd was not a star that could carry a picture. She was an amazing dancer, but no real personality. It must've been hard for her to be around talents like Judy's.

And Judy always wanted the beauty of a Cyd or an Ava or a Lana. With all that talent, she had a lifelong inferiority complex. Oh, she knew she was a star and could "pull rank" in that regard sometimes but being around what were assuredly some of the most beautiful women in the world at that time, at MGM, did a real number on her.

Cyd did good work in The Bandwagon and Silk Stockings but, no, she was a pretty mediocre actress and had no real personality.

Judy Garland is equaled only by Judy Garland.

I think Easter Parade is at the top of the MGM heap. The stars were all at their peaks, the music was perfect for each scene, and everyone seemed professional and at ease. And the plot made sense!

My favorite scene is the Ziegfeld medley -- just Judy and Fred on a bare stage, and those great vaudevillian numbers. Simple costumes and setting, but oh that delivery and oh those dance moves.

I don't care if Cyd Charisse was the president of the Eva Braun fan club. Studio City chapter. She was a phenomenal dancer--arguably the best screen dancer ever.

Judy is giving the kind of performance that made her the greatest star in the history of Hollywood musicals. Period.

Midnight Choo Choo

I have a friend who worked with Cyd in summer stock, and he says she was great to everybody. Years later, when they met by chance in L.A., she recognized him and called him by name.

The only problem he had with her was that if they furniture was out of place on the stage, she couldn't remember her lines. She memorized her lines like dance steps.

I have seen this film dozens of times and I love almost every second of it...the Jules Munshin scene being a complete waste of time.

The blu-ray and dvd of EASTER PARADE have ALL the outtakes of Mr. Monotony. Judy was incredibly "artistic" in this role; her hand movements were especially controlled and fabulous.

I love how in the very end she offers Fred the WRONG hand for the wedding ring. She was also VERY funny in her "bad" dance with Fred.

Heresy perhaps, but I think even the untrained eye can see that Judy only keeps up with Fred because he is dancing down to her level. Claws in, girls! Judy is a terrific hoofer but Fred is a true dancer to the very core. He upstages Judy without even trying when they dance in tandem. Garland dances like Astaire sings: effectively but lacking depth.

The whole point is that Hannah isn't supposed to be a great dancer. They aren't successful until Hannah is used more as a singer who dances than a dancer who sings (like Ann Miller). And they are equal partners in Couple of Swells.

R43 has it right. Its also a love circle. Hannah loves Don who pines for Nadine who loves Johnny who pines for Hannah.

Hannah is not a good dancer she is a singer. If Don had stayed at the little bar for a few minutes after giving Hannah his card he would have seen her true talent, singing. But he left early.

Supposedly, this was Garlands favorite film of hers and was a very happy film to make for all involved.

MGM blew it by having Garland make one film after the other with no breaks.

One film a year would have been wiser for Garlands health and temperament and MGM would have made money to boot.

When they were getting their costumes together for A Couple of Swells, Fred had a heluva time getting "grunged up" enough. Being the man of top hat and tails and a natty dresser on and off the screen, he just couldn't, at first, seem to look enough like a "bum." He would come to Judy's dressing room with a little rip in a jacket or some hardly noticeable bit of dirt on a lapel and ask "How's this?" And Judy would laugh and tell him "MORE!" She actually helped him with his total "tramp" look. It was her idea to blacken out both their teeth, too. They both adored doing that number and it totally showed onscreen.

Both Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire said that, although Garland was not a trained dancer, that she was a genius and could pick up a dance step after just seeing it once. Just watch her do the Portland Fancy with Gene in Summer Stock. The hell she couldn't dance! She rocks this right off the friggin' screen!

It's true that Lucille Ball was considered a second-rate Judy. CBS originally wanted to do an "I Love Judy" show, but Vincente talked her out of it.

They went to their second choice then.

R45 I have heard that story about the tramp costumes and I tend NOT to believe it.

MGM was so exacting with their costumes that I think those tramp costumes were "designed" right up to the last tear and patch.

They would never had left a costume creation up to the acting talent to throw together.

Costumes were created first in drawings and approved, before being fitted and sewn for the actors.

The actors would be fitted and then tested with the costumes for film to see how they would look and move within the costume.

All before going to final film.

While R45 has a cute story I think it's just legend at this point.

All of Judy's costumes in "Easter Parade" are hideous. And the dress she wears in R45's clip looks like something Marjorie Main might have worn.

No wonder she felt ugly.

Actually, R46, Lucille was offered the part of Hannah in "Easter Parade" but time traveling Gary Morton fired up the Flux Capacitor, went back to 1948 and talked her out of it!

Summer Stock is another example of a) how marvelous Judy is on screen when dancing and singing and b) what a mess she was off-screen.

Her weight fluctuates wildly throughout the film and if memory serves, "Get Happy was shot long after the overall movie was completed.

Portland Fancy is fun to watch... who wouldn't be happy dancing with the incredibly sexy Mr. Kelly?

Baby, You Knock Me Out! is immeasurably helped by Cyd's dubbed singing voice (is that India Adams?) and her funky skirt with the pleats that whip around as she kicks and sashays.

But why was she so often saddled with those too-dark severe hairdos/wigs?

Cyd was great, but Eleanor Powell was greater,

EASTER PARADE thoughts:

Garland is wonderful as always, but she is unhealthily thin and pallid, even under Technicolor makeup. She looks tired around the eyes. She looks like she is losing her hair.

Kelly would have been better than Astaire.

I love every number with the exception of "A Couple Of Swells" which makes me gag it's so "cute".

I love Eleanor Powell, Ann Miller and Cyd Charisse.

But because Cyd was most often partnered in her dances with a (smallish) variety of leading men, whereas Eleanor and Ann often soloed, Cyd displayed a far wider range of styles than the other two ladies.

I suppose the same could be said for Vera-Ellen.

Eashhhhter Parade!

This film would've much better with Lucille Ball.

Cyd Charisse? A more icy, untouchable, graceful ballet dancer like her might've suited the role better, but Miller was great.

And, yes, Vera-Ellen was in a league of her own. She was Astaire's best dancing partner on film.

Ann Miller was a man, yes?

R47, both Fred and Judy were friends with Charles Walters AND Irene, the director and costume designer, respectively. Both knew and appreciated their talent. IF Judy or Fred had a thought about a costume (no matter who designed it), they most certainly could have brought that to either or both of their attention. If there is any truth to that story, then Judy very easily might have thought the tramp costumes needed more "tramp" and asked Walters and/or Irene if they could dirty them up some more. Yes, Irene (and the costume/wardrobe people) would most likely have been the ones to actually DO that. Judy very well might have embellished the story. But there might a kernel of truth in there, somewhere, too.

Judy had more say about production values and what was right for her than is generally recognized in the books about how MGM victimized her. Yes, they worked her like a Belgian horse but she also asked Hugh Martin to change the lyrics to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" because she felt they were too sad. And he did. She asked that Phil Silvers not be up front in the finale number with her and Gene because she felt he wasn't the "star" of the picture, as were she and Gene. He was relegated to a spot behind them. And there are more stories. Not that she was ever a diva on set but she would sometimes make suggestions and give her thoughts IF she had the right director. She never did this with directors like Busby Berkeley because he was an asshole taskmaster. But she very well could have said to Walters and Irene that her and Fred's tramp outfits weren't sloppy/dirty or funny enough looking. The way the story reads, though, it makes it appear that she and Fred created their own costumes from scratch, perhaps rooting around in the costume department and that NEVER would have happened, no.

R46, meet R16.

TCM released a series of box sets that combine four Warner/MGM movies with a particular actor or theme. For example, TCM's "American Musicals" set includes Easter Parade, Meet Me In St. Louis, Singin' in the Rain and The Bandwagon. It's worth your money.

r60, I just ordered that set yesterday for an attorney friend of mine from Sri Lanka who wants to experience some "Americana."

Those are among the very top, and I think she'll love them.

Well, if you wanted a Juanita, why'd you pick me?

[quote]Cyd did good work in The Bandwagon and Silk Stockings but, no, she was a pretty mediocre actress and had no real personality.

I saw her on stage and she projected plenty of personality.

Psst, R61. You do know that the real America never looked like MGM musicals, right? That why LB Mayer lost his job just a few years later.

R64, LB lost his job because WWII changed the American landscape and ushered in a new cynicism. He did, indeed, lose the pulse of what kinds of movies resonated with audiences. America never really thought it looked like a technicolor musical but they sure wished it did for a long time. After the war, everyone was battle scarred. It was a new reality. Film noirs became the vogue with dark and depressing shadows and gritty themes. Mayer's version of America, pretty much bandbox confection and Andy Hardy and apple pie was dead. Literally. MGM had never been the studio to make sophisticated, thought-provoking films and, by 1950, when Mayer was canned, it was floundering. MGM did NOT produce All About Eve OR Sunset Boulevard, for instance, two of the biggest hits that year. In fact, Mayer HATED Sunset Boulevard and thought it was a blasphemous slander of his own industry. That is how out of touch he was. Dore Schary, a promoter of the new reality in films, was at odds with old-fashioned Mayer. Schary was no-nonsense, too. He is the one who also canned Judy Garland, stating that the studio "couldn't afford her" any longer. And in so firing her, he made history, changing forever the course of American musical film entertainment. MGM still had some glory years left, with its perhaps very best musical, Singin' In the Rain" still to come in 1952 but the films that Garland COULD have made and SHOULD have made and, had Mayer remained at the helm, WOULD have made is regrettable beyond words.

[quote]Mayer's version of America, pretty much bandbox confection and Andy Hardy and apple pie was dead. Literally.

How can a concept literally die? Did they put it in a pine box and bury it, literally?

R66, read R68's excellent post. That is what I meant. Soldiers DIED. America experienced the literal death of a lot of young men (and some women, too). The death of the "concept" was the death of the men and women who went off to war. The death of dreams, of hope, of a future. The death of a way of life. The death of a type of innocence. The death of a way of looking at the world with an innocence that was represented on the movie screen before the war. War killed more than the soldiers.

If you had stopped to think about what you posted for a minute before you tried to be so clever and cunty, you would have understood that. I know that many functional illiterates use the term "literally" incorrectly. Then again, every cup finds its saucer. I am sorry my use of "literal" was wasted on your dimwitted brain.

Dore Schary was also the bastard who fired Mickey Ricardo.

They cut Mr. Monotony and yet left in that scene with Jules Munshin as the waiter??

Munshins first scene was good, but the salad scene was excruciating.

I don't like Judy. But, I do like her MGM musicals.

She adds nothing to them. It's all the work of those wonderful people behind the scenes. It's so thoughtful that MGM splashed out on Technicolor when they could've gotten away with black-and-white.

If she was at a lesser studio she'd be forgotten now.

R73? Please, bitch.

r73: Your comment is very strange.

Garland is one of the few performers that made MGM musicals memorable.

Frankly, most non-Garland MGM musicals of the '40s are hard to sit through.

If there is an existing thread on the Patrick Stewart-narrated documentary "MGM: When the Lion Roared", it should be bumped. I noticed that TCM has been re-airing parts of it.

"although Garland was not a trained dancer"

Then what the hell did I bust my balls for, all those hours every day for all those years?

Judy and Ginger Rogers weren't trained dancers. Dancing became their job once it was decided they would be utilized in musicals. It was then they learnt their steps - not dance as a form, as some - Vera-Ellen, Cyd, Ann Miller - had already spent years doing.

Judy and Ginger hung up their dancing shoes once the day was over. Vera-Ellen's were welded to her to feet.

Hard to believe but MGM had no real singing star throughout the 1930s except for Jeanette MacDonald, who was hugely popular but mostly appeared in hoity-toity operettas.

Finally Judy was promoted in 1940 after the success of The Wizard of Oz and her rendition of You Made Me Love You to Clark Gable's photo.

MGM's biggest musical star of the 1930s was dancer Eleanor Powell who had to be dubbed when she sang.

Much was made in That's Entertainment about all the non-singing stars who were forced into doing musical numbers like Jean Harlow in Reckless.

I wonder why MGM didn't discover and develop a genuine singing talent in that decade?

Talk about splitting hairs, R78.

"Dancing became their job once it was decided they would be utilized in musicals."

The only way Judy got through the door at MGM was because she sang. They knew from the beginning she'd be in musicals, and got her into dance classes STAT.

If that's not "training," what is?

Cyd Charisse was one of the Harvey Girls though she may be unbilled in the film. But you can clearly see her in the Aitchison, Topeka... number and that Dogie bonfire number that was cut from the film.

She must have been close to Judy's age though her MGM career didn't take off until the 1950s after Judy's ended.

R81, Charisse was featured in the "It's A Great Big World" number, along with Judy Garland and Virginia O'Brien. She was also in the "Swing Your Partner" number. And she was hardly unbilled. Her character even had a name, although I don't remember what it was.

Ginger Roger was not a trained dancer but she did very well in those dance numbers with Fred Astaire, backwards and in high heels.

Ginger Rogers had been a "Charlston dancer" on Broadway, she did have training but not in the tap or ballroom dances she ended up doing on screen. She spent her the Fred-and-Ginger years learning to tap dance, and became so good she had a solo tap number in one of their later films.

Someone be a dear and post a link? The Airporter is waiting for me.

Great thread but one of the most interesting tidbits about the film was first widely reported in 2012, at the time of the death of Jeni LeGon, who played Ann Miller's maid.

She was a very talented dancer, but of course her career was stalled by Hollywood's racist attitudes.

She had known Astaire years earlier, however:

"On television in the early 1950s, Ms. LeGon appeared several times on “Amos ’n’ Andy,” but over all her career was stymied by the racial bias that governed Hollywood for much of its history.

She remained angry for decades at Fred Astaire, with whom she shared rehearsal space in 1935 but who she said refused to acknowledge her on the set of “Easter Parade” (1948), one of many films in which she played a maid."

[quote]Her character even had a name, although I don't remember what it was.

Bitch.

I guess this is the 2020 edition

Well, the parade certainly has lost its elegance.