The Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland Collection

The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection

Release Date: September 25, 2007

From Warner Home Video:

The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection: Ultimate Collector’s Edition
Loaded with Dazzling Extras and Memorabilia From WHV September 25

BURBANK, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — On September 25, Warner Home Video will “put on a show” like never before, celebrating the incomparable talents of the legendary dynamic entertainment duo, Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection: Ultimate Collector’s Edition features Mickey and Judy in the four “backyard musical” extravaganzas that forever cemented their reputation as one of Hollywood’s most beloved screen teams. The M-G-M musical classics in this collection are the duo’s most famous and successful teamings: Babes in Arms, Babes on Broadway, Strike Up the Band, and Girl Crazy. The films will be sold as a complete set only, in beautiful keepsake packaging, for $42.92 SRP

From DVD Times:

Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection: Ultimate Collector’s Edition on 25th September 2007. Warner celebrates the incomparable talents of the legendary dynamic entertainment duo, Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland with this new set which features Mickey and Judy singing, dancing, clowning and lifting spirits in the four “backyard musical’ extravaganzas that forever cemented their reputation as one of Hollywood’s most beloved screen teams. The M-G-M musical classics in this collection, finally making their first appearance on DVD, are the duo’s most famous and successful teamings: Babes in Arms, Babes on Broadway, Strike Up the Band, and Girl Crazy.

This new five-disc DVD collection also includes a separate Bonus Disc of special features, with nearly three hours of essential viewing for Rooney & Garland fans, including Private Screenings with Mickey Rooney, an in-depth, deeply personal interview hosted by TCM’s Robert Osborne, and The Judy Garland Songbook, an unprecedented collection of 21 Garland movie musical numbers, both famous and rare, spanning nearly 20 years of her amazing screen career, with all songs presented in complete form. The bonus disc also features an extensive Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland trailer gallery.

Each movie in the collection has a newly-filmed, exclusive introduction by Mickey Rooney as well as vintage comedy shorts, cartoons, and radio promos. Memorabilia that no fan will be able to resist rounds out the set with a portfolio of 20 collectible rare behind-the-scenes photos and a collectible guide to the set, featuring vintage memorabilia, promotional advertisements, and other rarities, along with production notes written by noted film historian John Fricke. Fricke also provides commentary on two of the films. The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Ultimate Collector’s Edition will be sold as a complete set only, in beautiful keepsake packaging, for $49.92 SRP.

“Our ‘Ultimate Collector’s Edition’ line is reserved for the crown jewels of the huge Warner library,” said George Feltenstein, WHV’s Senior Vice President Theatrical Catalog Marketing “As we did for Fred & Ginger fans last year, we’re delighted to be doing the same for the timeless films Mickey and Judy made during M-G-M’s ‘golden age.’ We’re especially thrilled that Mickey Rooney was kind enough to film new introductions. It adds a personal touch that makes this new collection all the more meaningful.”

The Films

Babes in Arms (1939)

Babes in Arms is considered the quintessential Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland musical. Freely adapted from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart Broadway hit of the same name, it marked the producing debut of Arthur Freed, who would go on to create some of the greatest musical films in motion picture history. To direct the film, Freed hired the legendary Busby Berkeley, who had recently migrated from Warner Bros. to Metro, and Berkeley neatly handled the film’s direction and choreography, with the results being a total sensation. The film went into production immediately after the completion (but before the release of) The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Oz fans will be amused to find “The Wicked Witch of the West” actress Margaret Hamilton, once again taking on the role of screen villainess. The semi-autobiographical plot features Rooney playing Mickey Moran, the talented son of a vaudeville team, who rounds up all his fellow child entertainers to stage a fund-raiser show to help out his financially-strapped folks. Variety called it “a topflight filmusical entertainment.”

Warner Home Video’s new DVD presents the home video premiere of the film as originally released in 1939. Previous video incarnations represented the film as it was cut for reissue after the end of World War II when M-G-M removed a charming sequence featuring Mickey and Judy impersonating Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt. At the time, Metro felt the public would not want to see the recently deceased F.D.R. parodied on film, but unfortunately, the studio did not retain any film materials from this deleted number, as it had been cut out of all negatives and prints. Using a recently discovered collector’s print as source material, the sequence “Roosevelt” sequence (a/k/a “My Day”) has been permanently restored to the film.

DVD Special Features:

Introduction by Mickey Rooney

Commentary by historian John Fricke

Vintage Our Gang short Duel Personalities

Classic cartoon The Mad Maestro

1939 Newsreel with Mickey and Judy

Audio-only bonuses:

“Leo Is On The Air” radio promo

3 different radio shows with Rooney and Garland

Theatrical Trailer

Strike up the Band (1940)

Mickey plays Jimmy Connors, the leader of his high school band hoping to compete in a nationwide radio contest. Judy is his girlfriend and chief vocalist. Famed orchestra leader Paul Whiteman appears in the film, which is highlighted by a massive Busby Berkeley production number called “Do The La Conga” and Mickey shows off his percussive skills in the “Drummer Boy” sequence. The film also features the Oscar-nominated song “Our Love Affair” and a rousing finale with the Gershwins’ title tune.

DVD Special Features:

Introduction by Mickey Rooney

Pete Smith specialty comedy short Wedding Bills

Classic cartoon Romeo in Rhythm

“Do the La Conga” stereo remix version

Audio-only bonuses:

Leo Is on the Air radio promo

“Millions for Defense” radio special with Mickey and Judy

Additional radio show with Rooney and Garland

Theatrical Trailer

Babes on Broadway (1941)

This musical treat showcases the teenage duo’s talents as they come up with the idea to produce a show to send orphaned children on a country holiday, as well as to promote their beginning careers. The film gave Mickey and Judy the opportunity to introduce the now-famous ballad “How About You’, as well as Mickey’s unforgettable impersonation of Carmen Miranda. The film ends with a massive Busby Berkeley production extravaganza, which was one of the highlights of M-G-M’s hit musical compilation That’s Entertainment! in 1974.

DVD Special Features:

Introduction by Mickey Rooney

Pete Smith Specialty comedy short How to Hold Your Husband Back

Classic cartoon Dance of the Weed

Audio-only bonuses:

Two Leo Is on the Air Radio Promos

Radio Show Adaptation of “Merton of the Movies” with Rooney and Garland

“Chin Up! Cheerio! Carry On” Song Demo performed by composer Burton Lane

Theatrical Trailer

Girl Crazy (1943)

George and Ira Gershwin’s 1930 Broadway hit served as the basis for Mickey and Judy’s last starring picture together. The tunes are sublime — “Embraceable You,” “Fascinating Rhythm,” “Bidin’ My Time,” and a beautiful Garland solo on “But Not for Me.” The plot has rich playboy Rooney, sent away to an all-male college out West as a way of keeping him in check, and the only gal in town is Judy, the granddaughter of the school’s dean. Busby Berkeley staged the colossal dude-ranch finale to the Gershwin standard, “I Got Rhythm”, with Mickey, Judy, and a cast of hundreds, all accompanied by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra. Look for a special appearance by a very young June Allyson singing “Treat Me Rough.”

DVD Special Features:

Introduction by Mickey Rooney

Commentary by historian John Fricke

Vintage short Hollywood Daredevils

Classic cartoon The Early Bird Dood It

“I Got Rhythm” stereo remix version

Audio-only bonus:

“Bronco Busters” Outtake

Theatrical Trailer