Explore the dramatic career and personal struggles of the talented and tragically short-lived entertainer Judy Garland through rare concert footage, never-heard-before voice recordings and personal photos.
As Hollywood biographies go, Judy Garland's story is one of the saddest success stories you'll ever hear. The sanitized studio version of her life presented a smiling kid with the big voice, who, alongside Mickey Rooney, just wanted to put on a show. But drugs, overwork, even psychological abuse at the hands of the studio is now part of the Garland legend. But despite the number of Garland books and documentaries, one account has always been missing -- Garland herself never managed to write a memoir. She did make several attempts at an autobiography, often recording stories on a tape recorder. Judy Garland: By Myself (2004), finally fills in the blanks - using Judy's personal recordings to tell the story in her own words.
Perry Ashwell is a self-satisfied child psychologist who takes his colleagues and wife somewhat for granted. So confident is he of his position that he introduces rich attractive painter Octavio Quaglini to his office and home. Quaglini is no respecter of convention, and April Ashwell is extremely attractive.
A Vitaphone Varieties short. Features costumed children in a cavern-like land of make-believe where they sing and tap-dance. Marjorie Kane sings an introductory song. A very young Judy Garland, in one of her earliest surviving film appearances, performs the song "The Land of Let's Pretend" as part of the vaudeville act "The Gumm Sisters".
A musical revue featuring children, primarily girls, is presented. The first number has a chorus of girls performing a high kicking dance routine with tambourines, before two soloists, a boy and a girl, take center stage to do a gymnastic dance number. The girls chorus then takes over to perform a synchronized song and tap dance style number. Next, the young female orchestra leader introduces the Gumm Sisters, the three who sing and dance on stage by themselves. The final number has another chorus of dancing girls performing an Arabian-themed number.
