Look at how she acts as well as sings. She responds to every person,every phrase and thought.Her drama is subtle and strong.This legend CAN NOT be captured by another.
When you read about her life, it was really tragic. She was one talented legend. They called her the triple threat, she could sing, dance and act. Gene Kelly was amazed at her dancing with him. She had 4 or 5 husbands, a few were gay and her father was also. They gambled her money away got her in trouble with the IRS. Rene Zellwegar did a great bio called Judy. In the beginning she is arriving at a hotel where her credit is cut off and she has two young children with her. Couldn't even afford a place to live here. As much as the world loved her, love seemed to evade her personally. In her will the things she left people exceeded the money she had left. Frank Sinatra and Liza stepped forward to financially fill the void of her will. I will be 67 next month, if you are anywhere near my age, once a year they played wizard of oz on TV. All Kids watched, I remember discovering new things every year, they were like book marks in the station of childhood. We were also lucky we were born in a time where we could watch a story build. The internet and video games took that away from future generations.
LizaFan she invented Jazz Hands 👐 love this song first time I have heard a wonderful woman sing ..only frank Sinatra does this song better ✨✨🌞✨✨👏👏👏👏👏✨✨✨
I cannot imagine what it must have been like on set to watch this unfold. I mean, the clip (even the outtakes) leave me speechless. I cannot imagine what it was like to be there in person.
In many ways this is superior to the final choice for the film. Her performance is more subdued although the final choice superb. The only fault is the sepia colors
I remember when this movie was re-released in movie theatres in the 1980s, with extra lost footage that had been cut when the movie was first released. I saw it several times and the audience in the movie theatre applauded her performance. The version used in the movie was much better than this one. The colours here are drab...brown, beige, washed out. The darker lighting was much more effective.
I read in the book titled "The Making of A Star is Born" by Ronald Haver that Judy, unlike any other singers of the day or even today, refused to lipsynch to the playback of her voice during filming. She sang full out on every take even though she knew that her voice was not being recorded during the filming. The recorded playback voice is the voice that is heard when movie audiences see the final cut of any film where there is singing. You can tell that she is singing full out and not mouthing the words in this number. How is that for authenticity?
Hmmm I don't think that much is completely true. A singer, a professional one, knows that he/she needs to take good care of her/his voice. When a scene is filmed, they repeat it too many times,once again until it comes out perfect, which could take them hours and hours or even days. So singing the song every time they were filming the scene would've been too tiring for her and detrimental for her vocal cords and throat. She probably sang a few times but not all the time.
What you say certainly make sense. I read that "The Man That Got Away" was filmed in 25 takes over a period of a few weeks. I can only go by what people say who worked with Judy on "A Star is Born." This story about Judy refusing to lip sync came from George Cukor who directed Judy in "A Star Is Born" as he was interviewed for the book I was referring to before. Mr. Cukor practically begged Judy not to sing full out so as to conserve her energy. But she refused to lip synch saying that the audience will know if she is faking it...even worse is that she will know. I mean if you can't believe the director who was there who can you believe? Yes, I agree that it may prove to be very strenuous for Judy to sing in full voice for every take but then...Judy was an extremist and was known for some unusual working habits. The uppers she is known to have been addicted to may have enabled her to sing full out every time. You would be surprised how some professional singers treat their voice. For example, Patti Labelle stated in an interview that she never had vocal lessons and never warms up her voice before a performance and yet she still sings. Diana Ross also stated that she never has vocalized before a performance. Not that these singers are in Judy Garland's catergory but just saying.
I think she had a phenomenal voice and loved to sing. So she didn't take care of her voice, but she had a show business life most of us don't know about, although I can imagine her doing as many takes as she possibly could.
Jack Always the best in every way!! I believe it, because I have read over and over that she also often could do a song and dance number in one take! People were amazed by this. I assume they meant just the dance, because even in her 20s she surely would get out of breath while dancing and would need to redo the song even though she sang full out.
Such VOICE!!! I get goose bumps all over me when I hear her Delivery of this song. I can relate, so much, I tear up everytime. I'm that one man woman also.😥
Here it is July 2019 and I'm still listening. The hairs on the back of neck stands up every time she sings this song, and the ending, wow, the ending -- her high/low range is just incredible! There will never be another Judy Garland.
So terrible what they did to her, everyone knows she deserved that Oscar, even Kelly must have known. I think I would have been embarrassed to take that award from Judy. But there are times when the right actress didn't win, a lot of the time it is about who made the most money, Hollywood has always been a corrupt business. Bette Davis should have also won for 'Baby Jane' too.
Ditto. The phrasing, the emotions; she's totally in the moment here. Watch the other clip on RU-vid of her singing What The World Needs Now Is Love in rehearsal, about 15 years later. Still had it, even though she looks exhausted.
This woman is the finest female singer of all time. No one else should ever even attempt to sing this song-there's absolutely no way they can match her version.
achingly vulnerable; her sweet, yet damaged soul comes thru time and time again in all her performances: sadly, she never found the love she needed. god bless her.
Troubled, yes, but, from what I understand she never got over the man (her father) who got away...but who am I to say. She became what she was: a fantastic performer and vocalist, actress too.
A voice so powerful, flowing from the heart. I am speechless, it was wonderful!!! This was Judy Garland, able to interpret the music, I'm fascinated by how she could act while she sang the songs and did it with her heart. He was a pure and sweet person and from his eyes we can see this sweetness that distinguished it. I will continue to love you always, dear Judy. Thanks for all!!
I liked this version better, because the blander scene setting, and Judy's pretty low-key, drab wardrobe, play a nice contrast to her larger-than-life voice that otherwise makes one wonder why she hasn't been discovered and made it big as a Hollywood showbiz single yet.. It makes it easier for me to imagine her being here a talent in the rough who is yet to be discovered, and anchors her in this part of the film within the camaraderie and world of her fellow musicians who are still plugging away on the circuit. This causes the transition to her discovery by Norman, and subsequent rise to spotlighted musical movie star, seem more obvious, believable and grand, IMO. Great to see this, ty.
I like it, too. Seems to be more realistic. There's always a bit of underlying humor about the melodrama of the song, and the best parts are her interactions with the guys in the band. Both a great, though. This one has a "lighter" sense to it.
I'm torn. I totally agree with what you see. That's the whole pivot for all the versions ....nobody to somebody. The final version makes her look much younger and the interaction with the band adds a lot. Who know.....maybe Judy herself was the one that said nope....I want a different look.
I also like this version better. Her singing is stronger. While I like the blue dress and low lighting better in the film, I like her body movements and gestures better in this one. I also like the way she's photographed here. Wow! I was in kindergarten when she did this in the fall of 1953!
I don't think Judy decided which version was chosen. I remember seeing several outtakes for this amazing song, (special features on a DVD) and all of them are awesome. It's just different lighting and different wardrobe. My favorite is the one with a pink top and a grey skirt. After each outtake, someone off camera says, try it again, and Judy looks tired, but she does it again. I don't think Judy ever had a lot of agency in her career. Just imagine if she had been able to make more decisions on her own behalf. This tremendous movie was butchered and many of the edits were just destroyed, so there really is no way to fully restore the film. Tragic. But when it comes to this song, some film editor obviously knew that he was looking at pure gold and had enough intelligence to save these awesome outtakes. Thank goodness!!
Let's put the lip sync debate to rest for good. Vincente Minnelli, I assume you all know who he is, if you don't you shouldn't be commenting, stated she ALWAYS sang along live on the set. They would turn the volume all the way up on the playback album and Judy sang along. She NEVER did the lip sync thing.
She may have been singing live along to her vocal. These songs were all prerecorded months in advance. You think Tommy Noonan was really playing piano here live? Its documented in Ronald Haver's book when the music scorings for each number were prerecorded. So, its not a live vocal performance on film, although it was for the crew.
Judy sounds so very good here. At her peak. I've seen all of the outakes and they are all magnificent. Don't know how they chose the one they used in the actual film. Judy was robbed of her Oscar for sure!! In this film she shows such versatility. A great performer who deserved a better life. She started in show business too young and there were no proper rules for child actors in those days. She was exploited and overworked by the studio and she had a Mother who was a terrible woman. Poor girl never had a choice or a chance. Her emotions were always fragile. But if her career had been handled with care and her high strung personality had been treated with respect. She would have had a more normal life from the very start. I believe Judy had very low self esteem and didn't feel happy with herself. I also think she didn't realize how wonderful she was. Such a shame.
I feel I can see Judy’s heart sink a little when the take was over @4:15, like performing was her escape and when it ends all her troubles come flooding back. I just love Judy so much. Wish i could tell her she’s the prettiest, talented and most universally loved person I’ll ever have known to exist xx
So lovely, expressive eyes which showed personal pain and a brilliant soul. There are women and there are WOMEN. And for her detractors. Easy to be judgmental, matter of fact so easy; that it takes small little insignificant mediocre people to easily judge.
Here's a fun trick: Look up any performance on "The Voice" or "American Idol", and then immediately switch to this and notice HOW GREAT Judy is......huge powerful belting, meaningful emotion, great texture and resonance. Hearing the contrast of most of the performers that grunt and whine through these shows, then bouncing to a real singer proves a sharp contrast. Try it. It's fun :-)
Those shows are the absolute worst in terms of the kind of singing they encourage...Empty wailing and shrieking and showing everyone how long you can hold a note is not great singing. Great singing is what Judy does here, actually capturing the words and the meaning of the song in the way she sings.
was just thinking the same thing recently. Judy Garland is in a different universe of talent comapred to Lady Gaga and to even have them share the same sentence is an insult to the legacy of Judy Garland.
Its 2020 and I'm always in awe of the classic Hollywood stars. Judy Garland is in a Class all by herself unique expressive,full on performances in every take. How far we have fallen interms of real art in this point in time. Most musical artists perform these days as if they are doing us a favor!!
This has always been my favorite take of this song with all the closeups. Much prefer it to the film version since it seems much more immediate and less polished. Thanks for posting. I've heard she always sang along to the pre-recording when filming. Wouldn't it be fascinating if they'd recorded that so you could have Judy singing along with herself, belting away together. That would be amazing!!!
This is when you understand that CONTRALTOS can also be awesome , powerful and that they don't need to sound manly like many ignorant people may think... I am fed up with the people who say that the best female singers HAVE TO be sopranos... Who the hell made all that sh*t up?There is NO specific vocal range for being considered the best or the worst singers... it's a matter of talent, technique, attitude, experience, passion and effort what makes a singer greater than others
nearly 2022. This has replaced Over The Rainbow as my favourite Judy song. (Also, it's just a better written tune. But, I love both songs. ) Please listen to her version of Ol Man River. Then listen to Frank's. Do a youTube search and compare classical singers with these two. They blow them out of the water in every category of technique, richness of tone, colour, phrasing, and - the most important aspect - heart and soul.
Really love the out takes from this Judy Garland song ! I was 13 when I first saw the movie on tv the 2nd time I saw it it was in 1975 when I was 19 ! Been a fan of Judys since like age 7 ! Judy had so much talent wit and humor
such a talent. this always reduces me to tears. Should have won an Oscar. Grace was good but Judy was great. I also suspect that Grace was a Hollywood good time girl which would have helped with the voting. to the 19 that gave it a thumbs down , I forgive you,in time you will appreciate great talent.
Maybe the camera is too tightly focused on Judy and doesn't show off the new Cinemascope process and the dress is pretty plain but this is how I would imagine someone singing at 3 am after a benefit concert. Really love this take !
