Tag: Judy Garland

Sunday Stealing says, “C’mon, Get Happy!”

walls of books

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

We found this one at CreativeGene. It’s designed inspire “happy thoughts on a frigid January day.” Obviously, temperatures vary based on locale, but it’s a lovely sentiment, so let’s go.

Before answering this, I should note how much the title “C’mon, Get Happy!” resonates with me. I was in a production of Boys in the Band in 1975 in Binghamton, which I wrote about here. The only music cue I can recall was Judy Garland singing Get Happy, from the 1950 movie Summer Stock.

This should not be confused with the Elvis Costello album. Get Happy!

Here are 10 things that make me happy:

1. Having enough money to pay all of my bills. I’m not one of those people who balances his checkbook. (What’s a checkbook?) I just want the money in (Social Security plus some other sources) to be greater than the money going out. It got out of whack in 2025 because some medical reimbursements were less than what they should have been. (It’s too complicated to describe here.) But it has been resolved as of February 2026.

The usual

2. Listening to the music, which should be no surprise. It’s just TOO HARD to wash the dishes, clean the office, etc., without listening to music. (Currently playingMega Hits Dance Classics, including Let’s Get Serious by Jermaine Jackson, which features Stevie Wonder.)

3. Knowing stuff. I will freely admit that I fare less well watching JEOPARDY these days because I’m less up on current popular culture. (How can I keep track of all the shows on all of the streaming services and the big hits on Spotify?) But I know a lot of other things. I keep up with current events. My wife and I do the New York Times news quiz each week, and generally get 10 out of 11 right. The 11th question is usually in the “who cares” category.

4. My office, specifically the wall of books therein, built-in bookshelves in every direction. Many I’ve read, but more I have not. But there are a couple of rows I refer to often, books on music (of course), movies, and television.

5. Singing in the church choir. It’s an oddly collegial thing, especially after retirement.

6. Living in a place with accessible mass transit. The CDTA buses will get me downtown (to the library and church), to the nearest hospital, and to the Best Buy, which is the only store in Crossgates Mall I actually shop at.

7. Reading scripture in church. I’m told I do it well.

8. Reading the newspaper, the physical manifestation, not online.

9. Writing this blog. It’s my therapy and, increasingly, my memory aid.

10. There is a 10th.

 

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

You can count or plan on me?

“It’s a silent night. It’s another year”

You can count or plan on me? Reportedly, there was confusion. “In the TikTok post, the person played several versions of ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas,’ including those performed by artists Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and the Carpenters.” Only Carpenters used “count.” Later versions tended to lean toward “count.”

From the Library of Congress: “On October 4, 1943, Crosby recorded ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra for Decca Records. Within about a month of its being copyrighted, the song hit the music charts and remained there for eleven weeks, peaking at number three. The following year, the song reached number nineteen on the charts.

“It touched a tender place in the hearts of Americans, both soldiers and civilians, who were then in the depths of World War II, and it earned Crosby his fifth gold record. ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ became the most requested song at Christmas U.S.O. shows in both Europe and the Pacific.  Yank, the GI magazine, said Crosby accomplished more for military morale than anyone else of that era.”

I attended a holiday concert in the late 1990s at a venue in the College of Saint Rose. The show featured Kim and Reggie Harris and the duo Magpie. Someone told a story—the details are lost to me—about how so many GIs did not make it home for Christmas. All I know is that by the time they sang, “If only in my dreams,” I was weeping. And it still makes me melancholy.    

Another lyric change

Here’s Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Judy Garland, from the movie Meet Me in St. Louis, which Kelly convincingly argues is better than the lyric changes Sinatra made.  She sings:

Someday soon we all will be together,
if the fates allow;
Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow,
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

He changes the “muddle” line to “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.” It’s more optimistic, but the film’s situation doesn’t call for it. And I relate to “muddle through.”

The late Diane Hall

Until she died, I did not know this: “‘First Christmas’  is Diane Keaton’s debut Holiday Song. A reflection on cherished memories and moments of the stories of life. The song and video celebrate the joy and peace found in holding these memories close. The original song was co-written by the legendary Carole Bayer Sager and Jonas Myrin, with Myrin also taking the helm as producer. “

It echoes another song mentioned here:

Hearing “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”
It only makes me miss him
When you love someone for so, so long
Yet they’re not coming home

The snow falls on my window
I wish that I could let go
It’s a silent night
It’s another year
The first Christmas without you here

Several commenters believed she recorded this knowing she was dying. I have no idea, but it is poignant.

Judy Garland would have been 100

“Forget your troubles, c’mon get happy”

Since Judy Garland was about to turn 100, I decided to see The Wizard Of Oz at Albany’s Spectrum Theatre in early April, and my wife accompanied me. We had never seen the film in a cinema before. There were only the two Tuesday showings, at 4 and 7 pm, so I figured it would be packed; there were less than ten of us there at the latter.

My wife said more than once afterward, “She could really act,” and I concurred. Her performance was vivid on the big screen. Of course, I had seen the movie on CBS-TV annually for several years in the 1960s, though only the last two times on a color TV. I had missed the “horse of a different color” joke.

My, those ruby slippers really sparkled when she ran. I did not know that one of the iconic dresses was missing until 2021. Nor was I aware that there was a black and white dress for the Kansas scenes and a blue and white dress for Oz. Movie magic. 

It was strange, though. In the same timeframe that I’m watching the teenage Judy, I’d also see her on her eponymous show (1963-1964) or guesting on Ed Sullivan or another program. Also, I’m sure I watched the television special Judy and Liza at the Palladium (1964). Liza, of course, was her daughter Liza Minelli, about 18 at the time. (Liza’s 1972 movie Cabaret was shown at the Spectrum the week after The Wizard of Oz.)

Only two score and seven

I never paid much attention to the tabloids at the time, so I was very surprised when Judy Garland died in 1969 at the age of 47. I’ve viewed documentaries about her life since, though I never saw Judy, the 2019 biopic with Renée Zellweger.

One last thought. When I was in the play Boys In The Band in 1975, there was a specific cue for the lead character Michael to be playing the Judy Garland track Get Happy. So that song has had a soft spot in my heart ever since.

Here’s a clip of early films from when Frances Gumm was seven until Judy Garland turned 17.
Waltz With A Swing/ Americana -Every Sunday, 1936
Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart  -Listen, Darling,  1938

Somewhere Over the Rainbow – The Wizard of Oz,  1939; plus a discussion of the isolated vocal 
Our Love Affair,  with Mickey Rooney
The Trolley Song – Meet Me In St. Louis, 1944
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Meet Me In St. Louis, 1944

Get Happy – Summer Stock,  1950
Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy , with Barbra Streisand, 1963?
The Judy Garland Show with Peggy Lee and Jack Carter (November 1963)
By Myself, 1964

She was accidentally slapped at the 1954 Oscars

Judy Garland would have been 100 today.

Ramblin' with Roger
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