Lucille Bremer

Box office poison!!

she had the good sense to get the hell out... so few do.

She was producer Arthur Freed's mistress. Once he lost interest in banging her, MGM lost interest in promoting her. Freed was a notorious lech--he drove Shirley Temple away from MGM by exposing himself to her during their first meeting.

Lucille did the smart thing by getting married and moving on with her life. She ran a resort with her husband, and after they divorced she ran a children's clothing boutique. Not a very interesting fate, but maybe a kinder one than many starlets'.

There were a lot of conflicting stories about her over the years - wasn’t it rumored that she was Arthur Freed’s Girlfriend? She was beautiful - I always think of her waiting for her New York phone call in Meet Me in St Louis. She was given a lot of great opportunities partnering with Fred in Yolanda and the Thief and Limehouse Blues in Ziegfeld Follies. She had a brittle quality. Didn’t she do a number with Van Johnson in Words and Music? I recall reading years ago that she ran an upscale children’s clothing shop in the 60s or 70s.

Number 3 - I took too long writing my post - you said it all before I did - I didn’t see your post - now I am embarrassed! Never mind!!

No problem, Madge. Cross-posting happens a lot here.

Bremer was beautiful and apparently a very good dancer--she'd been a Rockette, after all. But she didn't have IT. You can see it in MMiSL. She's taller and prettier than Judgy Garland. But in their scenes together, the camera only sees Judy. Lucille is just lovely set-dressing. Without a major sponsor like Freed, there was no way her career was going to last.

It's true that Bremer lacked charisma. But I think it works well in St. Louis because there are already two high-powered personalities among the sisters in Judy and Margaret O'Brien, and it would feel odd if the Smiths had too many go-getters in the house. Remember, the maid is pretty colorful, too.

Bremer is obscure even by DataLounge standards, so she’s the rare Golden Age era actress that required me to do an IMDb search.

But I do appreciate it when that site notes that an actor who has been dead for 24 years has an upcoming project. That was unexpected.

I bought the gun that Bremer used to shoot Wallace!

[quote]She's taller and prettier than Judgy Garland.

My new drag name.

LOL r10!

Quite big tits.

There was only room for one Lucille at MGM.

It was Til the Clouds Roll By that Bremer danced with Van Johnson. That was also the last time the Freed unit tried to put Bremer over as star material. Important feature role in this Jerome Kern biopic. Van Johnson's appearance was a cameo to help boost Bremer, but in the end while Bremer danced the number well, Johnson took all attention from her as she just didn't have star charisma.

I believe when asked about Bremer years later Judy Garland said something along the lines that Bremer was there at MGM then left and no one minded.

R14, Some said the same thing about Judy.

Judgy Garland, indeed.

She was gorgeous and has big boobies, that’s all it takes to get your foot in the door but to get farther in you need to have IT, which she clearly didn’t have.

Judgy Garland is the new Lens Dunham.

That’s right - Till The Clouds Roll By - In my hazy brain I was mish mashing Lucille Bremer & Van Johnson singing I Won’t Dance with (HOW could I?) Mickey Rooney and Judgy Garland singing I Wish I Were In Love Again In “Words and Music.” .... Last night I googled Bremer’s exhusband who was the son of an ex president of Mexico - in 2018 he passed away in his sleep on his 100th birthday! Was Lucille Bremer part of the early Broadway gaggle that included June Allyson, Vera Ellen and Miriam Nelson?

After MGM kicked her to the curb, she ended up at Eagle-Lion, quite a comedown.

[quote]Mickey Rooney and Judgy Garland singing I Wish I Were In Love Again In “Words and Music.”

Total trivia: I Wish I Were in Love Again is from Rodgers' and Hart's Broadway musical Babes in Arms. Mickey and Judy starred in the film version for MGM but the number was cut because the lyrics were considered too adult for them to sing. Having them sing the song in Words and Music was the studio's acknowledgement that their famous juveniles were now all grown up.

Judge Garland sounds like a name that could sweep Rupaul’s Drag Race.

[quote]It's true that Bremer lacked charisma. But I think it works well in St. Louis because there are already two high-powered personalities among the sisters in Judy and Margaret O'Brien, and it would feel odd if the Smiths had too many go-getters in the house.

And remember r7, there was yet another sister - and a brother - in the MMISL family -- who were so bland they practically blended into the woodwork.!

The actress playing the next-to-youngest sister got a bad case of pneumonia during filming and was absent for a large part of the shoot. They may have cut her part way down to compensate, to the point that one sometimes forgets that there IS a fourth sister.

I imagine Rita Hayworth was another reason there was no need for a Lucille Bremer as there was already a sexy redheaded dancing star and unlike Bremer, Hayworth had charisma to spare.

I watched the dancing scene with Van Johnson at R14 and it's the oddest thing: She's pretty and a good dancer, but the eye just doesn't linger on her. You look at Van Johnson more, even when he's not doing anything and Bremer is singing her heart out. It's like she has negative charisma.

Looks like she did okay in the husband department.

R25, Rita Hayworth WAS NOT AT MGM

We had a Lucille Bremer troll at one time here.

Bremer wasn’t blessed with much IT factor - Judgy Garland reportedly disliked her quite a lot, and allegedly told Vincente Minnelli that it was hard acting opposite a brick wall.

However, she was perfectly cast as Esther’s older sister. Gave an appropriate performance without ever upstaging anyone.

Maybe nobody minded when she left the business, but doing so spared her poor Judgy’s fate.

IINM, she started out as a Rockette, and Minnelli remembered her from his RCMH days.

That R14 clip is odd the way Lucille leans at that angle when she is singing. Whose dumb idea was that?!

[quote] Bremer wasn’t blessed with much IT factor - Judgy Garland reportedly disliked her quite a lot, and allegedly told Vincente Minnelli that it was hard acting opposite a brick wall.

This is why they called her "Judgy." She was full of judgment.

She looks a bit like Bette Davis.

They had to give the floor charisma to make up for Lucille's lack of it.

R28, I know that. But MGM wasn't the only studio making musicals. I agree with R34, Bremer has a resemblance to Bette Davis. But obviously the public wasn't looking for a singing and dancing version of Bette Davis either. And yes, Bette Davis wasn't under contract to MGM.

Bremer looked like Davis' prettier younger sister. But while the camera adored Davis and her pop-eyed charisma, it couldn't be bothered with Bremer. Funny how that works.

She really is a lovely dancer. That Coffee Time sequence is superb. Thanks for posting r35. I looked it up and the choreography is by Eugene Loring. Fred looks very much at home and she is sharp and perfect in both timing and line. Wikipedia says the film this was in (Yolanda and the Thief) sunk her career as it lost money.

[quote]Bremer looked like Davis' prettier younger sister. But while the camera adored Davis and her pop-eyed charisma, it couldn't be bothered with Bremer. Funny how that works.

Another one who looked like Bette's prettier younger sister was Martha Vickers. Like Davis, she was at Warners, and though she had a reasonable career, she never quite became the next Bette Davis.

Sorry, let me re-post that image of Martha Vickers

R28, yer damn right.

That's a nice photo of Rita Hayworth and Ed Asner.

I guess she never had that special something, but she's great in"Meet Me in St. Louis" as Judy' older sister Rose Smith.

[quote]but she was like a vacuum onscreen.

You should've had her offscreen.

Judy Garland was actually offered her choice of either "Yolanda and the Thief" or "The Harvey Girls" and she chose the latter, even though Vincente Minnelli directed "Yolanda and the Thief." I'm sure it would have been a hit had Judy chosen to do it. It sort of sounds like "The Pirate" in a way with its expressionist flavor, and that wasn't a big hit either, but Judy had suffered her first major mental health troubles during production which made it far more expensive than it needed to be.

Judy was better off on the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe. She made the right choice.

Her two numbers with Fred in Ziegfeld Follies were the highlights of the film for me. That dance in Yolanda was really interesting and difficult because it was in different time from the music. That floor wasn't just painted to look like something in Rio but it also had an up-and-down surface. If you watch closely Lucille slips off one of the raised sections at one point. She was good in St. Louis, okay in Yolanda (acting-wise), and not that good in Till The Clouds Roll By, where she had a thankless role and got a lecture on not being a diva by Judy.

PS - She was also in the final MGM Dr. Kildare-Dr. Gillespie film, Dark Delusion. Apparently a flop.

[quote]She was good in St. Louis, okay in Yolanda (acting-wise), and not that good in Till The Clouds Roll By, where she had a thankless role and got a lecture on not being a diva by Judy.

That's Judgy Garland for you.

Explained here, r47...

I would get her mixed up with Joan Leslie.

"Bremer looked like Davis' prettier younger sister'

WTF? Are you forgetting the frog eyes?

The trailer for Yolanda and the Thief is certainly giving Bremer the big buildup.

One biography claims that Judgy actually lobbied hard for this film but was discouraged from doing it, being assigned to another project instead. Hard, to know how the reception would’ve been had she done it, but it may have contributed to her dislike of Bremer, given that she landed a part a Judgy wanted.

At least with Harvey Girls, Judgy got the hunk at the end!

Now she is hawking garlic chicken.

Lucille was more beautiful than Judgy and a much better dancer--of course Judgy disliked her.

Did she get her man in Judgy at Nuremburg? I forget...

Did someone at Aldi name their line of frozen food after her?

[quote]The trailer for Yolanda and the Thief is certainly giving Bremer the big buildup.

I think I had to do anal with Arthur to get that.

r3, so the co-lyricist for Singin' in the Rain exposed himself to Shirley Temple when she was just 12 years old - can't be so upset with Clockwork Orange for using it the way it did now I suppose, go ahead and shatter those sacred cows, Mr Kubrick.

[quote]Lucille was more beautiful than Judgy and a much better dancer--of course Judgy disliked her.

Judgy is remembered as one of the greatest stars of the 20th century. Lucille is forgotten, aside from this thread.

Yes, but Judgy never really appreciated her own unique appeal. She was 80 times more talented than Bremer or Lana Turner or any of the other hot starlets she envied so much, but she always felt lesser and hated them for it. Doesn't matter how many fantastic reviews or big film roles she received.

I think it was Mankiewicz who said there was a black hole inside of Judy into which all praise vanished.

That tiara is hideous.

She has a ice cold bitch shit smelling face.

If Judy had chosen "Yolanda", "The Harvey Girls" would likely have reverted to its original plan, that of a non-musical vehicle for Lana Turner.

I'm imagining all the possibilities of a Judgy Judy Show.

Thea Gill was cast as Bremer in the “Life With Judy Garland” miniseries, but her scenes were cut. She’s still listed in the end credits, however.

One report claims her appearance would’ve shown Minnelli filming the bedroom vanity mirror scene between Esther and Rose, preparing for the party. Perhaps Judy Davis would’ve been given the “it’s hard acting opposite a brick wall” line.

At least Bremer had a decent live after she failed to connect with audiences. Unlike Bella Darvi, a Daryl Zanuck protegee and mistress given a big buildup in the mid 50s who ended up with a gambling addiction and a suicide.

Bella Darvi was a Polish Jew and a WW2 survivor who barely escaped the concentration camps. She had other excuses for her fate.

R67 first case, SID LUFT! Second case DAVID BEGELMAN!

R47 Go easy on Lucille in Till the Clouds... Richard Whorf wasn't gonna get the best performances out of anybody

Judgy was one of the most tenacious snobs ever. She also had a lot of pomposity and snideness throughout her life. Despite that, she let a good fart, which is hard to encounter in West Hollywood. At a time when gay Wehoes were self-obsessed beyond belief, they identified with her attitude and she theirs.