Frances “Baby†Gumm and her Sisters.
In this amazing video, check out Frances “Baby†Gumm performing with her older sisters. She’s the one on the left. Of course Frances Gumm went on to become the woman better known as Judy Garland.
Thanks to Dick for the link.
A little known Wiseass Jooette factoid: I have dozens of Judy Garland records (as in vinyl) and CDs, have read several biographies on her life and have seen the majority of her movies. I have entertained the notion that there is a fey theater peep trapped inside my body.
Comment by Erica — February 20, 2010 @ 1:18 am
Judy and her sisters also appeared in an early Technicolor short produced by MGM called “La fiesta de Santa Barbara” in 1935, where they sang “La Cucaracha”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027616/
A scene from that short appears in 1974’s “That’s Entertainment”, a movie I have in my film library on Super 8 sound…..don’t ask. 😉
Comment by JerseyJerry — February 20, 2010 @ 10:08 am
@ JerseyJerry — I remember that clip! Doesn’t it show Clark Gable with some homely red-headed broad, if I recall correctly (or not)? Judy was a little older in that clip (12-13 years old) than she was in the one Jimbo posted, in which she looked to be about five…long before she was signed by MGM. I don’t think I had ever, heretofore, seen a full length clip of the Gumm Sisters, which made it super awesome. And wow, a color film in 1935 — four years before Wizard of Oz, even. And (sorry for the tremendously long comment here)…isn’t Super 8 a reel-to-reel thing? I would be terrified that it would dry out and the projector would burn a hole through it…do you ever watch it or is it just an heirloom?
Comment by Erica — February 20, 2010 @ 1:01 pm
Even then she was the best of them. Amazing that she was so good in that little short. You can see a lot of her characteristics showing up back then and she never lost them.
Comment by dick — February 20, 2010 @ 10:41 pm
….. I can’t help it, but this post reminds me of “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane”……
Comment by Eric — February 20, 2010 @ 11:27 pm
Erica, being the film geek I am, I built a movie theater in my basement back in 1975. It was equipped with two Super 8mm sound projectors, two rows of actual theater seats and a real screen. The seats and the screen were removed from an old movie house that was being demolished. A functioning curtain (with curtain motor supplied from the same theater) completed the look. In 1977 I duplicated the Sensurround system, including the digital noise generator, so I could show my **ahem** copy of “Earthquake”, complete with the house shaking sound effects. 😉
“That’s Entertainment” was also a “special” copy I did back in 1974. A long story, for sure! I’ll have to e-mail you the gory details on THAT one!! Hehehe. I still drag it out every so often and run it. I have two precision Super 8mm machines that are very gentle on film, even with the many splices (every 3 1/2 minutes or so) throughout the 8 400 foot reels necessary in assembling the final print. I utilized a special cement splicer back then which actually “butts” the film together on the frame line so there is no overlap to get hung up in the film gate when projected. Boring stuff to most people!! Great movie, and even greater watching it on FILM at home!
For some history on early Technicolor, go here:
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/technicolor1.htm
Lots of great background info on early movies filmed in the glorious Technicolor process.
Comment by JerseyJerry — February 21, 2010 @ 4:47 pm