AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Judy Garland

Artist:Judy Garland f/Howard Keel

Song:Anything You Can Do

Album:Annie Get Your Gun: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Of course Judy Garland was one of MGM's biggest stars. But her time at the studio in the late 40s was troubled at best. Arthur Freed's attempt to have Judy star in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun is the most high profile example of Judy's problems because she worked on the film long enough to record songs meant tor the film. Judy suffered a nervous breakdown while filming The Pirate and was placed in a sanitorium. Though she completed filming, Judy attempted suicide by slitting her wrists. And then The Pirate was a box office failure. The ship was righted temporarily when Judy's 1948 film Easter Parade with Fred Astaire was a big success. MGM planned to immediately reteam Judy and Astaire in The Barkleys of Broadway. But Judy's prescription drug and alcohol addiction led to migraine headaches. Her doctor recommended extended rest periods. Remembering what happened on The Pirate, Freed suspended Judy and Ginger Rogers replaced her in The Barkleys of Broadway. After the suspension, Judy seemed to improve and she appeared in Words and Music and In the Good Old Summertime. Then Freed cast her as Annie Oakley in the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. I'm sure Judy thought she was miscast as Ethel Merman played Annie Oakley on Broadway. Plus Busby Berkeley was directing the musical sequences. Judy didn't want to work with him and tried to get him fired. When that failed, Judy stopped showing up to work and Freed fired her. After briefly considering Betty Garrett, Freed borrowed Betty Hutton from Paramount. Before Judy was fired, She recorded the Annie Get Your Gun songs and she also completed two musical scenes. These scenes appeared in the 1994 documentary That's Entertainment III. The recordings are bonus tracks on Rhino's 2000 reissue of the Annie Get Your Gun soundtrack. This is available as a budget CD. Judy returned to MGM and filmed Summer Stock. But her problems returned and she left MGM in 1950. Here's a video for Anything You Can Do by Judy Garland featuring Howard Keel.