November
6-8, 1937 |
SILENT
NIGHT
Judy
recorded, rehearsed and filmed this song for the
1937 MGM Christmas Trailer during these three days
in November of 1937. The trailer was shown
in Loew's theaters across the nation as
MGM's "Christmas
Card" to the public. To date,
this is still one of the sweetest versions
(and shortest too) of this classic Christmas
carol. |
01-01-1941 |
AULD
LANG SYNE
From the NBC Radio special
"Bundles For Britain". Judy also sang "I Hear A Rhapsody". |
07-04-1941 |
ABIDE
WITH ME
Recorded
for, but not used in, the MGM film Life Begins
For Andy Hardy (1941). Judy also recorded "Easy
To Love", "America"
& "The Rosary" for the
film but none were used. Although this is more
of a church hymn rather than an actual "Christmas"
song, I've included it with this compilation as
it's a lovely hymn made even more lovely by Judy's
voice. |
07-04-1941 &
07-23-1941 |
THE
ROSARY
Recorded
for, but not used in, the MGM film Life Begins
For Andy Hardy (1941). Again, not really a "Christmas" song
but more of a church hymn. |
07-20-1941 |
STAR
OF THE EAST
Decca Records release, recorded in Hollywood,
California. Judy also recorded "Birthday Of A King" (see
below). |
07-20-1941 |
THE
BIRTHDAY OF A KING
Decca Records release, recorded in Hollywood,
California. This song, as well as "Star Of The East" (above),
are two of the all too few Christmas songs that Judy recorded in
a studio, the others being "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" for
both Decca
& MGM (from the film Meet Me In St. Louis - 1944),
and "Merry Christmas" for the MGM film In The Good
Old Summertime (1949). |
12-04-1943 |
HAVE
YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS (Take 3)
HAVE
YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS (Take 6)
Two alternate takes from the MGM pre-recording sessions for Judy's mega-hit Meet Me In St. Louis. These are Judy's first ever recordings/performances
of this classic song. Neither version was used in the film. |
04-20-1944 |
HAVE
YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS (alternate
take)
This is the rarely heard alternate take from
the Decca Records recording sessions for the Meet Me In St.
Louis album. "Have Yourself
A Merry Little Christmas"
is one of the best Christmas songs ever written, and one of
the most popular. It's also the perfect Christmas song for
Judy's voice and style. It has the type of hopeful yearning
and touch of sadness that Judy was able to convey better than
anyone else. |
12-26-1944 |
COME
ALL YE FAITHFUL
From the NBC Radio show "Everything
For The Boys". Judy also sang "The
Trolley Song". |
12-24-1945 |
IT
CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR
Command Performance (Radio - for the troops overseas). Judy's
take on a perennial Christmas Classic. |
12-02-1946 |
HAVE
YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS
From the CBS Radio "Lux Radio Theater" presentation of Meet Me
In St. Louis.
Judy and Margaret O'Brien recreate their roles as Esther and Tootie Smith from
the classic 1944 film. Here, as in the film, Esther consoles Tootie on Christmas
Eve with her soothing rendition of this now classic holiday song. This recording
is actually the dress rehearsal, not the live broadcast version. |
11-16-1948 |
MERRY
CHRISTMAS
This lovely song was featured in Judy's 1949
film In The Good Old Summertime. Sadly, and despite the
fact that it's a beautiful song, it never became a standard like "Have
Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me In St.
Louis (1944). |
12-06-1950 |
RUDOLPH
THE RED-NOSED REINDEER
The Bing Crosby Show, CBS. Duet with
Bing Crosby. Bing and Judy made a great pair - it's a shame that
they never had the chance to make a film together. This is a "comedy" version
of the song. |
November,
1961 |
LITTLE
DROPS OF RAIN
From the film Gay Purr-ee (1962). Judy's
only animated film. This was one of Judy's favorite songs (written
by her favorite songwriters Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg who
also wrote the score for The Wizard Of Oz). Judy also
sang this on the Christmas episode of The Judy Garland Show in
1963. |
July
7, 1963 |
I'VE
GOT MY LOVE TO KEEP ME WARM
The Judy Garland Show, CBS-TV. With
Count Basie and His Band. |
10-18-1963 |
THROUGH
THE YEARS
The Judy Garland Show, CBS-TV. One
of the loveliest songs Judy ever sang - and she's in wonderful
voice too. In private, this is one of the songs that Judy would
confess as her actual favorite although she would always publicly
state that "Over The Rainbow" as her favorite. |
12-06-1963 |
The
Judy Garland Christmas Show, CBS-TV
MEDLEY
# 1
Judy's favorite show of the series. Her
guests were daughters Liza Minnelli & Lorna Luft, son Joey
Luft, plus Jack Jones, Mel Torme & Tracy Everett. This
medley was sung by Judy with Jack Jones and Liza and includes
the following songs: "Jingle Bells";
"Sleigh Ride"; "It Happened In Sun Valley"; "Winter
Wonderland"; "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer"; &
"Jingle Bells" (reprise).
THE
CHRISTMAS SONG
Duet with Mel Torme. Mel was Judy's musical "advisor/arranger"
and there was no love lost between the two of them. Judy
would later refer to him as "Mel TORMENT." He had
a real chip on his shoulder and after Judy's death, he was
one of the first to jump on the Garland bandwagon and
write a scandalous (and historically inaccurate) book about
his experiences working on her show, painting a very
bad picture of Judy. In spite of this, he DID write a wonderful
Christmas song, and it's a treat to hear Judy put her magic
on it. Notice how she slips the word "rainbows"
into the lyric.
MEDLEY
# 2
This time Judy sings with all of the guests
listed above: "What Child Is This?"; "God Rest
Ye Merry Gentlemen";
"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"; "Good King
Wenceslas";
"It Came Upon A Midnight Clear"; "Silent Night";
& "Deck The Halls". |
12-17-1968 |
AFTER
THE HOLIDAYS
"The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" NBC-TV.
Judy also sang "It's
All For You" and chatted with Johnny
and his guests. According to Scott Schechter's fabulous book "Judy
Garland: The Day-By-Day Chronicle of a Legend"
this is the last television appearance by Judy known to still
exist in video format. This is by far one of the saddest songs
Judy ever sang. |
12-19-1968 |
HAVE
YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS
"The Merv Griffin Show". It's
fitting that this compilation ends with Judy's last known public
performance of this lovely holiday song. This song has become such
a standard holiday classic that it has been sung and/or recorded
by just about every singer that's come along since it was first
performed by Judy in Meet Me In St. Louis (1944). Here
Judy gives us a sweet, tender rendition. |
