Judy Garland was one of the most photographed personalities of the 20th Century...


Eight-year-old "Baby" Gumm (Judy Garland) sings "The Land of Let's Pretend"
in the 1930 film short Bubbles.

Even before Judy began with MGM in 1935, she had already been photographed many times as a child performer. When she entered the gates of MGM, she came under the control of the massive MGM Publicity Department. MGM was the biggest and best studio, so naturally they had the biggest and best publicity department.

Once the studio began to actually groom her for stardom, she would be photographed almost constantly.

This is a part of the lives of Hollywood stars of the day that is rarely mentioned by writers and historians today. Stars (and all contract players) had to take singing, dancing and acting lessons (regardless of whether they really COULD sing, dance or even act!) - they had to take classes on "poise and manners" - they had to learn how to dress and act in public - how to give interviews - and how to pose for "Studio Portraits."

"Studio Portraits" were a vital part of the studio's publicity departments. These pictures would go out (usually for free) to all the fan magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals of the day for the sole purpose of publicizing the star's and studio's their latest or upcoming films. The star power at the various studios would be used, even if a star wasn't in a current release, to keep that studio's name in the public consciousness.

Stars and supporting players spent endless days sitting for portraits. Sometimes they would stay in costume for the film they were making, and those subsequent photos would be used in ads, posters, displays & lobby cards to promote the film.

Also popular are publicity shots showing action from the films, and behind the scenes action - like the Wizard of Oz pictures that highlight the filming of the movie. Usually these were used to show how big and opulent certain film sets were.

Most famously though, the stars (and soon-to-be-stars) would sit for "Glamour Shots" or "stills". These were beautifully done portraits. Some of these portraits are, to this day, works of art. The studios enlisted some of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century. George Hurrell was famous for his portraits of Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, and other MGM stars, including Judy.

Eric Carpenter did most of the beautiful portraits of Judy during her years with MGM (see photo above left). Clarence Sinclair Bull was the head of the portrait department for four decades, and yes he did some lovely portraits of Judy as well.

After Judy left MGM she would continue to sit for portraits, whether it was for her work with Columbia & Capitol records for film and television. There are many, many wonderful photographs out there of Judy documenting her entire life.

The most popular of these are the 8x10's which were the standard (and still are) for most publicity and glamour stills. Sometimes you can get original 8x10's from the time period with a white "border" that should have the name of the film, the star's names, and the studio's name and a quick line or two describing the action. For stills of scenes from films, MGM would put the production number of the film followed by the sequential number of the still.

Through the miracle of the Internet, many great pictures from the golden years of Hollywood have been traded, sold and given away because collectors now have a much easier way to find each other. eBay and other auction sites are great resources to find photos in all price ranges.

There are other memorabilia specialty stores that can be found using any good Internet search engine. But buyer beware! While most people on the auction sites are reputable, there are a few who will sell you what they call an 8x10 (technically it is), but it's really just a copy of the original. Sometimes even a badly scanned copy that's been poorly printed. I myself bought a photograph from a well-known "Garland Collector" that came to me as an incredibly bad printout that looked like it had been "Xeroxed" in the 1970's. Live and learn! Overall most people are honest about what they have. After a while, you get a feel for the pictures and you can usually tell if an 8z10 is a "copy".

The rare photo below left came from the old MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. I believe they're called "contact sheets" - it's a high quality B&W picture - about 3" X 5" in size. The production number 1484 is listed on the side as is the date, January 23, 1950. It's obvious that Judy is in costume for Summer Stock, although that isn't the production number assigned to the film - or is it? That's Spencer Tracy chatting with Judy. There is a slight crease on the left side of the picture, going down part of Spencer's coat - but it's still a fun, unusual photo. Casual pictures like these are always fun to find - showing the stars just having a break (rare for Judy at MGM!) or out having fun.

The photo below middle is a standard MGM studio publicity portrait of Judy in costume for The Wizard Of Oz. The photo below right is an example of how studio portraits were used in advertising. Doubtless the Max Factor Company paid a nice price to use Judy's image to promote their product.

THANKS: A special note of thanks to all the people out there who have contributed many of the great photos and artwork in this section: Eric Hemphill; Jamin Fowler; Kim Loeffler; Simone Tarantelli; Mark Allen; Richard Hatch and so many more - thank you all!