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Summer Stock
MGM, 1950 (Color, 121 minutes, Production No. 1477)
Though it's called Summer Stock, this marvelous "let's put on a show" musical - the final one that showcased the peerless pair of Judy Garland and Gene Kelly - is a delight for all seasons. The story is simple:
a homespun farm family allows a Broadway production company to rehearse its new show on their property - if the performers "pay" their way by pitching in with all the farm chores! But the pleasures are abundant: a show-stopping, all-star "Battle of
the Dances" that starts out as a square dance and blossoms into a cavalcade of high-stepping dance favorites; Kelly's marvelous song and later dance to "You, Wonderful You;" four of the most popular comedic screen actors ever: Phil Silvers, Eddie Bracken,
Hans Conried and Marjorie Main; and Garland's incomparable "Get Happy," a smashing sequence that's one of her peak movie moments. Since Summer Stock is Garland's last MGM movie, this special cassette program also includes her first for the
studio, the "minimusical" Every Sunday. So, sing hallelujah: watch Summer Stock and get happy!
[from MGM/UA videotape sleeve]
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Crew
Produced by: Joe Pasternak
Directed by: Charles Walters
Screen Play by: George Wells and Sy Gomberg
Story by: Sy Gomberg
Songs by: and
Additional Songs: "All for You," "Heavenly Music" (by) ;
"You, Wonderful You" (by) , and ;
"Get Happy" (by) and
Musical Direction: Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin
Orchestration: Conrad Salinger and Skip Martin
Dances Staged by: Nick Castle
Art Directors: Cedric Gibbons and Jack Martin Smith
Set Decorations: Edwin B. Willis
Associate: Alfred E. Spencer
Costumes by: Walter Plunkett
Gloria DeHaven's Costumes by: Helen Rose
Hair Styles Designed by: Sydney Guilaroff
Make-Up Created by: William J. Tuttle
Recording Supervisor: Douglas Shearer
Director of Photography: Robert Planck
Color by Technicolor
Technicolor Color Consultants: Henri Jaffa, James Gooch
Film Editor: Albert Akst
Filmed: October 1949 - February 1950 (Judy was 27 years old)
Released: August 1950
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Cast
... Jane Falbury
... Joe Ross
... Orville Wingait
... Abigail Falbury
... Esmé
... Herb Blake
... Jasper Wingait
... Sarah Higgins
... Artie
... Harrison Keath
Additional Cast:
... Frank
Michael Chapin ... Boy
Teddy Infuhr ... Boy
... Constance Fliggerton
Kathryn Sheldon ... Amy Fliggerton
Jack Gargan ... Clerk
Eddie Dunn ... Sheriff
Erville Alderson ... Zeb
Bette Arlen, Bunny Waters ... Showgirls
Henry Sylvester, George Bunny, Frank Pharr ... Townsmen
A. Cameron Grant, Jack Daley, Reginald Simpson ... Producers
, Dorothy Tuttle, , Dick Humphreys, Jimmie Thompson, Bridget
Carr, Joanne Tree, Jeanne Coyne, Jean Adcock, Rena Lenart, Joan Dale, Betty Hannon, Elynne Ray, Marilyn Reiss, Carol West, Eugene Freedley, Don Powell, Joe Roach, Albert Ruiz, Roy Butler ... Stock Company Members
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Musical Program
[0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles)
[0:01] (sung by Judy Garland)
[0:11] (sung by Judy Garland)
[0:24] (sung and danced by Gene Kelly, Phil Silvers, Carleton Carpenter and the Summer Stock Players)
[0:39] (sung by Gloria DeHaven and Pete Roberts dubbing for Hans Conried, danced by Ensemble)
[0:44] (instrumental danced by members of the Wingait Falls Historical Society, then by the Summer Stock Players, then by Judy Garland and Gene Kelly)
[1:00] (sung and danced by Gene Kelly and Judy Garland)
[1:06] (sung by Judy Garland)
[1:17] (Newspaper Dance Reprise, danced by Gene Kelly)
[1:35] (sung and danced by Judy Garland, Gene Kelly and Chorus)
[1:36] (sung and danced by Gene Kelly and Judy Garland)
[1:38] (introduced by Chorus Girls, sung and danced by Gene Kelly and Phil Silvers with Dogs)
[1:42] (sung and danced by Judy Garland and Mens Chorus)
[1:48] Finale: (sung by Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Phil Silvers and Chorus)
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Notes
The U.K. title is If You Feel Like Singing.
This was Judy's last film at MGM.
The "Get Happy" number was filmed about one month after completion of principal filming. Judy lost about twenty pounds in that time, and many who watched the film thought that the number had been taken from some earlier
film.
Saul Chaplin worked out a new and exacting vocal arrangement for the number "Get Happy." He knew it would be no problem for Judy who "learned music like a vacuum cleaner," he later said. "You played something to her and she
sang it right back the way you did it - like a Xerox machine." He regarded his arrangement to be "very complicated. Judy heard it three times, but never sang it. Then she got sick. Two weeks later, she came in, rehearsed it once, and recorded it in about
four takes."
When Summer Stock was previewed in August 1950, United Press put out a wire-service report that "the Hollywood press gave Judy the kind of ovation that any star dreams of." On the east coast, reaction was the same;
the preview audience "raised the roof with tremendous bursts of applause at every one of her numbers, certain proof that this young lady still holds the warmest spot in the hearts of millions."
In its initial one hundred engagements alone, Summer Stock grossed more than one million dollars.
See for more purchasing information.
See for more information on this and other classic films.
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Critical Response
"Judy's is the genuinely satisfying performance of a seasoned, generously endowed trouper who instinctively knows what it's all about and who has a personality and individuality of style which can't be replaced."
- Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
"The mere flash of [her] name on the screen created excitement, but when the little star went into action - zounds!"
- Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
"Summer Stock, no great shakes as a cinemusical, serves nonetheless as a welcome reminder of Judy Garland's unerring way with a song. Ill, and in and out of trouble with her studio, Actress Garland has been off the
screen since last year's In the Good Old Summertime...But none of it seems to have affected her ability as one of Hollywood's few triple threat girls. Thanks to Actress Garland's singing, dancing and acting...the picture seems considerably better
than it is...her voice and showmanlike delivery do wonders for the whole score."
- Time, September 11, 1950
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original music sheet
original lobby card
original lobby card
original soundtrack album
Gene and Judy sing
"You Wonderful You"
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