ABOUT THE FILM:

Ziegfeld Follies was producer Arthur Freed's pet project in the early to mid 1940's. Originally intended to celebrate the 20th anniversary of MGM in 1944, the film went through so many revisions and edits, it wasn't officially released until 1946. During those two years, three if you count the preliminary work on the project in 1943, comedy sketches and musical numbers were planned, cast, recorded, and discarded - some were even filmed then ultimately deleted. From the beginning, the film was conceived as a revue without a plot - one that the late famed impresario Florenz Ziegfeld might create if he could reach down from the heavens and make a new revue with the current talent at MGM.

The original "Ziegfeld Follies" of the early 1900's were the brain child of showman Florenz Ziegfeld, inspired by the Folies Bergères in Paris. They ran from 1907 to 1931. "The Follies", as they came to be known, were classy, spectacular revues showcasing the great talents of the day. They were also known for presenting the great beauties of the time in colossal production numbers with lavish sets and costumes. They became the standard by which all revues would be judged. The Ziegfeld name became shorthand for lavishness and opulence. The show girls became known as "The Ziegfeld Girls" and were heavily promoted as "Glorifying the American Girl". Some of the great talents who were either made famous by the Follies or had great success with the Follies included: Fanny Brice, Sophie Tucker, W.C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Ann Pennington, Bert Williams, Will Rogers, Ruth Etting, Ray Bolger, Helen Morgan, Marilyn Miller, Ed Wynn, Gilda Gray, and Nora Bayes.

After Ziegfeld's death in 1932, MGM acquired the rights to the Ziegfeld name (his widow Billie Burke was a contract player at the studio), and made two films with his name in the title. The 1936 biopic The Great Ziegfeld was a huge critical and financial success and won the second Oscar ever given to a musical for Best Picture. It featured lavish musical numbers and enough drama to win Louise Rainer the first of her two back-to-back Oscars for Best Actress for playing Ziegfeld's first wife (and first big star) Anna Held. In 1941 the studio used his name again when it produced Ziegfeld Girl, featuring the tried and true story of three chorus girls (Judy Garland, Lana Turner, and Hedy Lamarr) making their way up the show biz ladder. The lavish finale borrowed clips from The Great Ziegfeld and cleverly placed Judy on the top of the famous wedding cake set first seen in the previous film.

Fanny Brice, Sophie Tucker, and Ziegfeld's widow Billie Burke (another great beauty of the stage who oddly never appeared in her husband's Follies) all appeared on screen with Judy at MGM in the 1930's (Brice: Everybody Sing - 1938; Tucker: Broadway Melody of 1938 - 1937 & Thoroughbreds Don't Cry - 1937; Burke: Everybody Sing - 1938 & The Wizard of Oz - 1939). Judy herself played Ziegfeld star and Broadway legend Marilyn Miller in the 1946 biopic Till The Clouds Roll By.

Judy's involvement in Freed's version of "The Ziegfeld Follies" took place just after her work on Meet Me In St. Louis in 1944. Judy's name had been attached to several song and sketch ideas for the film, including: "The Babbitt And The Bromide" (pairing her with Fred Astaire - it ended up following her segment in the final cut of the film, performed by Astaire and Gene Kelly); "Pass That Peace Pipe" (pairing her with Lucille Ball or June Allyson - it ended up being performed by Joan McCracken in the 1947 MGM musical Good News starring Allyson and Peter Lawford); "Firehouse Chat" (a sketch pairing her with Lucille Ball and Ann Sothern); "It's Getting Hot In Haiti" (musical number); a takeoff of "Lady In The Dark" (pairing her with Mickey Rooney and Fred Astaire); a sketch with Greer Garson and Lucille Ball titled "Lady In The Clouds" in which the three would visit a psychiatrist's office and sing a number that "they" had come up with titled "I've Got Those Rooney/Pidgeon/Skelton Blues"; and several more.

One idea that almost made it to filming was a sketch and musical number pairing Judy with Mickey Rooney for the first time in color titled "I Love You More In Technicolor Than I Did In Black & White". A copy of the script was included in the 1994 laser disc special edition of the film. It would have had Judy playing herself, opening with her on stage then going off stage where she turns down dates with MGM stars James Craig, Van Johnson and John Hodiak, to keep a date with "an old friend". The old friend turns out to be Mickey Rooney. He shows her clips from their previous films and laments that he's only kissed her in black and white while other guys have kissed her in Technicolor. They then duet on the song.

Another sketch being developed for Follies was "A Great Lady Has An Interview", a musical comedy sketch written by Roger Edens and Kay Thompson for Greer Garson to spoof her status as the lofty drama queen of the day. The duo, along with director Vincente Minnelli, auditioned the number for Garson at Arthur Freed's home. Garson's husband and mother had accompanied her and after the audition her mother responded with: "Well, I don't think so"; and her husband Richard Ney said: "No, it's not for you, dear". While the dejected Edens and Thompson were on their way home, they hit on the idea of Judy doing the number. "She can imitate you, Kay" Edens exclaimed, "she's a good mimic." And that's how Judy got the job.

Rehearsals for the sketch began on July 6, 1944 with filming completed on the 21st. Charles Walters staged the number and the rehearsals, but when time came for filming, Freed gave it to Minnelli. Walters later reported "Every bit of action in that number was mine. I almost cried."

A funny anecdote about the rehearsals was reported by Hugh Fordin in his book about The Freed Unit at MGM "The World of Entertainment! Hollywood's Greatest Musicals" first published in 1975:

     Walters staged the number. Judy learned it step by step and gesture by gesture imitating Thompson, with all the paraphernalia, a scarf, reading glasses, etc. When they were ready, Freed came to see Judy in the number. Thompson stood in as one of the reporters, along with Blane and Walters. "Were were all on our knees," says Blane. "Freed had moved from one place to another and when Kay gave the downbeat she hit him in the crotch and Freed flew ten feet through the air. Kay murmured: 'Sorry-oh, Arthur, oh Arthur.' Writhing with pain, Freed forced out a weak "That's all right...'"
     "How did you like it, Arthur?" asked Judy when they'd finished. In the perfect non sequitur of all times Freed replied: "I think Bing Crosby is going to win the Academy Award for Going My Way this year." [he did!]

The film went through delay after delay before and after it's first preview on November 1, 1944. At that point, it ran two hours and fifty-three minutes. The original line-up was:

Overture
Ziegfeld Days (The Bunin Puppets)
Meet The Ladies (Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Cyd Charisse, Ziegfeld Girls)
If Swing Goes, I Go Too (Astaire)
The Pied Piper (Jimmy Durante)
If Television Comes (Red Skelton)
A Cowboy's Life (James Melton)
Liza (Avon Long, Lena Horne, Chorus)
Baby Snooks And The Burglars (Fanny Brice)
This Heart Of Mine (Astaire, Lucille Bremer, Dancers)
Death And Taxes (Jimmy Durante & Edward Arnold)
Pay The Two Dollars (Victor Moore & Edward Arnold)
Love (Horne)
La Traviata (Melton & Marion Moore)
The Sweepstakes Ticket (Brice, Hume Cronyn & William Frawley)
Limehouse Blues (Astaire, Bremer)
A Great Lady Has "An Interview" (Judy Garland, Rex Evans & Men's Chorus)
The Babbitt And The Bromide (Astaire and Gene Kelly)
There's Beauty Everywhere (Astaire, Bremer, Melton, Charisse, Ziegfeld Girls)

The film was way too long, and everybody seemed to want to cut something, prompting Edens to quip to fellow music arranger Lela Simone: "If this keeps on we can always release it as a short." Songs and sketches were cut, added, reshot and/or altered, until the film was finally trimmed down to a mangeable 121 minutes, retitled Ziegfeld Follies of 1946, and released on March 15, 1946. Even with the cuts and changes, Ziegfeld Follies was a mixed bag. Critics and audiences enjoyed most of the musical numbers more than the comedy sketches. Today most of the comedy, except for the performances of Red Skelton and Fanny Brice, come off as dated and only serve to impede the flow of the musical numbers.

In spite of its failings, the film was entered in the 1947 Cannes Film Festival and won the award for Best Musical Comedy.

Judy's segment has become a bit of a cult classic. And it's to Kay Thompson's credit that Judy "raps" - predating the Rap craze by several decades. Thompson was ahead of her time, and Judy was the only musical star on the lot who could pull it off. Here, Judy finally gets to present real flair for sophisticated comedy. She had already proven she could handle slapstick and self-deprecating humor, but as "A Great Lady" she ups the ante. Critics singled her out for praise when reviewing the film. When viewed today, one can tell she's having a blast. Judy would get the chance to play a similar form of sophisticated comedy just a few years later in 1948's The Pirate.

• (GARLAND) TIMELINE AT A GLANCE:
  • July 6, 1944: Judy and "the boys" begin rehearsing "A Great Lady Has 'An Interview'" with Charles Walters directing. Judy was called for 11:30am. The company was done for the day at 4:30pm. Judy was also "fitted for still picture" according to the AD (Assistant Director) report.
  • July 7, 1944: More rehearsals. Judy also posed for the still picture for the oil painting seen in the background during the number.
  • July 17, 1944: Judy and chorus record "A Great Lady Has 'An Interview'".
  • July 19, 1944: Filming of the sketch begins, with Vincente Minnelli directing.
  • July 22, 1944: Filming is completed.
  • November 1, 1944: First sneak preview of the film at the Westwood Village Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
  • August 20, 1945: Roadshow premiere of the film, retitled Ziegfeld Follies of 1946 in Boston, Masschushets.

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