Judy Garland and Gene Kelly Magic in Summer Stock

Updating this post now that I’m back! It was originally part of Pure Entertainment Preservation Society‘s Joe Pasternak Blogathon to celebrate what would have been the producer’s 119th birthday in September of 2020. It’s time for it to get a facelift!

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I aboslutely adore this film. I don’t care what they said to Judy about her figure, she is gorgeous. It is super jarring to see the “Get Happy” number though since it was filmed three months and a good amount of pounds lost later. Don’t get me wrong, she looks stellar there too, but I wish it could have been a healthier process for her than slipping back into old habits. Despite this, it’s a fun story and as in all their films, Judy and Gene have great chemistry. They geniunely look like they’re having fun together and bring out great things in each other.

Synopsis

Summer Stock was Judy Garland’s last movie she made for MGM. She stars as Jane, who has run into trouble with her farm when her two workers quit. To make matters worse, her sister shows up with a trope of actors who she promised could give a show in their barn. After some initial annoyance with this, Jane sees the potential. She agrees to let them stay and put on their show, but in exchange, they must do the chores around the farm, thusly, solving her problem with being understaffed.

Joe Ross (Gene Kelly) is the creator of the show and her younger sister Abigail(Gloria DeHaven)’s boyfriend. Despite all her angst toward him, Jane is lured into attraction and she and Joe share a passionate song and dance before they kiss. After this, Abigail and Joe fight and she runs out on the show just days before opening night. Given Jane’s talent, Joe recruits her into the show and the two fall for each other even though Jane is engaged to someone else (a decision made really over the guilt of kissing Joe). When her fiance brings back Abigail in the middle of opening night, Jane refuses to yield her part…and Joe.

The Players

Judy had a hard time behind the scenes during this film. She hit a high point of her drug addiction, which led to mood swings and missed work. One particularly rough day, Gene Kelly faked an injury to give her the day off. Her kindness and helpfulness in his first movie, For Me and My Gal, earned his friendship. Gene only really accepted this role out of love for Judy in an effort to help revive her career. He was coming off some big hits, so this wasn’t something he would have done otherwise. His devotion to her shines through in the role.

It really is a shame that she was forced into this movie so quickly after her stay at a sanitarium. She had actually made some progress there and had gained some weight, even though critics thought it was too much. Pushing her back into this world also pushed her right back to the drugs. MGM also fired her after this film… so that was rough.

They did try again in 1951 when they hired her for Royal Wedding, but since she couldn’t make it to work and was replaced by Jane Powell. That would have made that one such a different movie, but more on that when I dive into Royal Wedding later this year for a Peter Lawford blogathon I’m planning.

Despite Judy’s troubles, when you watch her performance, you really can’t tell how much she was struggling. Judy is ever the professional and nails the scenes that she needs to. She matches Gene tap for tap in the Portland Fancy scene:

And listening to her belt out this emotional song is a treat. This movie seems to be a transition into the more powerful singing she eventually does in A Star is Born later on in her career. She always had a strong voice, but there seems to be a shift as she matures and evokes even more emotion into her songs.

“Get Happy” is one of Judy’s most memorable numbers. Her weight loss is shocking, but it was filmed a few months later than the rest. There was initial speculation as to whether this was a deleted scene from Easter Parade. She wore the same costume, but this is not the case.

It is obvious that her appearance has changed even though in the ending credits, she looks the same as the rest of the movie since this was filmed first. You can see this in the picture below.

Gene Kelly

Gene excels when he does solo dances. This number is no exception. He was able to inject his creativity into this movie and this further demonstrates his genius. This one is a lot of fun, and he’s a joy to watch.

What if…?

Mickey Rooney had played Joe?

This film was originally intended to reunite Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in a premise familiar to them—let’s put on a show to save the farm! They pushed the film into production right after Judy got out of a three-month stay at a sanitarium. The studio was trying to recoop the money they lost from her failed and uncompleted projects (The Barkleys of Broadway and Annie Get Your Gun).

If you like alternative history or biographical/historical fiction, I write that as well under the pen name Dottie Fray.
If you purchase this film through one of these links, I may earn a commission as an Amazon affiliate: DVD, Bluray, or rent/stream!

Joe Pasternak’s Influence

Despite the fact that Judy and Gene were both considered part of the Freed Unit, it was decided that Joe Pasternak would be the producer for Summer Stock. There were a couple reasons for this. The first is that Judy held a grudge with the Arthur Freed Unit at MGM. The second reason is that she had worked very successfully with Joe in In the Good Old Summertime. He put together a great cast and crew. This had earned her trust and the filming for that picture had gone smoothly for her. He did what he could and surrounded her with as many familiar faces as he could. Unfortunately, she was unable to control her addition and the film went six months over schedule anyway.

Check out the rest of the Joe Pasternak Blogathon entries!