Today, The Grandma has been watching The Wizard of Oz, the American film, thatpremiered at Grauman'sChineseTheater in Los Angeles, California, on a day like today in 1939.
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). An adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind.
It stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, while others made uncredited contributions. The music was composed by Harold Arlen and adapted by Herbert Stothart, with lyrics by Edgar "Yip" Harburg.
The Wizard of Oz is celebrated for its use of Technicolor, fantasystorytelling, musical score, and memorable characters.
It was a critical success and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning Best Original Song for Over the Rainbow and Best Original Score for Stothart; an Academy Juvenile Award was presented to Judy Garland.
While the film was sufficiently popular at the box office, it failed to make a profit for MGM until its 1949 re-release, earning only $3 million on a $2.7 million budget, making it MGM's most expensive production at the time.
The 1956 television broadcast premiere of the film on CBS reintroduced the film to the public. According to the U.S. Library of Congress, it is the most seen film inmovie history.
In 1989, it was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant; it is also one of the few films on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.
The film was ranked second in Variety's inaugural 100 Greatest Movies of All Time list published in 2022. It was among the top ten in the 2005 BFI (British Film Institute) list of 50 films to be seen by the age of 14 and is on the BFI's updated list of 50 films to be seen by the age of 15 released in May 2020.
The Wizard of Oz has become the source of many quotes referenced in contemporary popular culture. The film frequently ranks on critics' lists of the greatest films of all time and is the most commercially successful adaptation of Baum's work.
Production on the film began when Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) showed that films adapted from popular children's stories and fairytales could be successful.
In January 1938, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the rights to L. Frank Baum's popular novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from Samuel Goldwyn. Goldwyn had considered making the film as a vehicle for Eddie Cantor, who was under contract to Samuel Goldwyn Productions and whom Goldwyn wanted to cast as the Scarecrow.
Several actresses were reportedly considered for the part of Dorothy, including Shirley Temple from 20th Century Fox, at the time, the most prominent child star; Deanna Durbin, a relative newcomer, with a recognised operatic voice; and JudyGarland, the most experienced of the three. Officially, the decision to cast Garland was attributed to contractual issues.
The Wizard of Oz is famous for its musical selections and soundtrack. Its songs were composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by E. Y. "Yip" Harburg. They won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Over the Rainbow. The song ranks first in the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs and the Recording Industry Association of America's 365 Songs of the Century.
MGM composer Herbert Stothart, a well-known Hollywood composer and songwriter, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
The film premiered at the Orpheum Theatre in Green Bay, Wisconsin on August 10, 1939. The first sneak preview was held in San Bernardino, California. The film was previewed in three test markets: in Kenosha, Wisconsin and Dennis, Massachusetts on August 11, 1939, and at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on August 12.
The Hollywood premiere was on August 16, 1939, following a preview thenight before at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
The New York City premiere, held at Loew's Capitol Theatre on August 17, 1939, was followed by a live performance with Garland and her frequent film co-star Mickey Rooney. They continued to perform there after each screening for a week. Garland extended her appearance for two more weeks, partnered with Rooney for a second week and with Oz co-stars Ray Bolger and Bert Lahr for the third and final week. The film opened nationwide on August 25, 1939.
'The Wizard of Oz' is my favourite. It explains what life on this planet is about. Although Dorothy reaches Oz, she finds she had what she needed to go back to Kansas all along, but the Good Witch tells her that she had to learn it for herself. All of the answers to the meaning of life are there.
Today, The Grandma has been watching some films interpreted by Liza Minelli, the American actress who was born on a day like today in 1946.
Liza May Minnelli (March 12, 1946) is anAmerican actress, singer, dancer andchoreographer.
Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy (Grammy Legend Award), Oscar, and Tony (EGOT). Minnelli is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour.
Daughter of actress and singer Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, Minnelliwas born in Los Angeles, spent part of her childhood in Scarsdale, New York, and moved to New York City in 1961 where she began her career as a musical theatre actress, nightclub performer and traditional pop music artist.
She made her professional stage debut in the 1963 Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward and won a Tony Award for starring in Flora the Red Menace in 1965, which marked the start of her lifelong collaboration with John Kander and Fred Ebb.
They wrote, produced or directed many of Minnelli's future stage acts and TV shows, and helped create her stage persona of a stylized survivor, including her career-defining performances of anthems of survival (New York, New York, Cabaret and Maybe This Time). Along with her roles on stage and screen, this persona and her style of performance added to Minnelli's status as an enduring gay icon.
An acclaimed performance in the drama film The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), marked a film breakthrough for Minnelli and garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
She rose to international prominence with her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the musical film Cabaret (1972), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Most of her following films, including Lucky Lady (1975), New York, NewYork (1977), Rent-a-Cop (1988) and Stepping Out (1991), were panned by critics and bombed at the box office, and she had no more major movie hits except Arthur (1981).
She returned to Broadway on a number of occasions, including The Act (1977) for which she earned a second Tony Award, The Rink (1984) and Liza's at The Palace...(2008), worked on various television formats and has predominantly focused on music hall and nightclub performances since the late 1970s. Her concert performances at Carnegie Hall in 1979 and 1987, and at Radio City Music Hall in 1991 and 1992 are recognized among her most successful.
From 1988 to 1990, she toured with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. in Frank, Liza & Sammy: The Ultimate Event.
While Minnelli is known for her renditions of American standards, her early-1960s pop singles were produced to attract a young audience. Her albums from 1968 to 1977 contained contemporary singer-songwriter material.
In 1989, she ventured into the contemporary pop scene by collaborating with the Pet Shop Boys on the album Results.
After a hiatus due to serious health problems, Minnelli returned to the concert stage in 2002 with Liza's Back and was a guest star in the sitcom ArrestedDevelopment between 2003 and 2013. Since the 2010s, she has avoided huge concert performances in favor of small retrospective performances.
Minnelli was born on March 12, 1946, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center onBeverly Boulevard in Los Angeles.
She is the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli. Her parents named her after Ira Gershwin's song Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away). Minnelli has a half-sister, Lorna, and half-brother, Joey, from Garland's marriage to Sid Luft. She has another half-sister, Christiane Nina Minnelli (nicknamed Tina Nina), from her father's second marriage. Minnelli's godparents were Kay Thompson and her husband William Spier.
Her first performing experience on film was at age three appearing in the final scene of the musical In the Good Old Summertime (1949); the film stars Garland and Van Johnson.
In 1961 she moved to New York City, attending High School of Performing Arts and later, Chadwick School.
Minnelli has long suffered from alcoholism and has been addicted to prescription drugs, originating from a Valium prescription after her mother died. Her use of recreational drugs in the 1970s was noted by Andy Warhol, who in a 1978 diary entry recalled Minnelli arriving at Halston's house and imploring the host to Give me every drug you've got. Along with Warhol and Bianca Jagger, Minnelli made frequent appearances at New York City nightclubs during the late 1970s, including the paragon of a new celebrity culture, Studio 54. Minnelli left her 1984 musical The Rink to enter the Betty Ford Clinic.
Minnelli has stated that she is an Episcopalian.
Throughout her lifetime, Minnelli has served on various charities and causes. She served on the board of directors of The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) for 20 years, a nonprofit educational organization that introduces parents to the field of child brain development.
In a 2006 interview with Randy Rice at Broadwayworld.com, Minnelli said that she was the person who told Elizabeth Taylor about HIV/AIDS while talking about their mutual friend Rock Hudson. She has also dedicated much time to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, which was co-founded by Taylor.
Dream on it. Let your mind take you to places you would like to go, and then think about it and plan it and celebrate the possibilities. And don't listen to anyone who doesn't know how to dream.
Today, The Watsons and The Grandma have continued studying their English for Sales course. They have arrived to their last day of theorical classes and they have chosen There was-Therewere to finish their formation.
Judit Watson has given a beautiful present to every member of the family, an interesting editon of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the American children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is an American children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow,originally published by the George M. Hill Company in May 1900.
It has since seen several reprints, most often under the title The Wizard of Oz,which is the title of the popular 1902 Broadway musical adaptation as well as the iconic 1939 live-action film.
The story chronicles the adventures of a young farm girl named Dorothy in themagical Land of Oz, after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their Kansas home by a cyclone.
The book is one of the best-known stories in American literature and has been widely translated. The Library of Congress has declared it America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale. Its groundbreaking success and the success of the Broadway musical adapted from the novel led Baum to write thirteen additional Oz books that serve as official sequels to the first story.
In January 1901, George M. Hill Company completed printing the first edition, a total of 10,000 copies, which quickly sold out. It sold three million copies by the time it entered the public domain in 1956.
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, it is the most commercially successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Directed primarily by Victor Fleming, who left the production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind, the film stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale alongside Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and BertLahr.
Characterized by its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters, the film has become an American pop culture icon. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but lost to Gone with the Wind, also directed by Fleming. It did win in two other categories: Best Original Song for Over the Rainbow and Best Original Score by Herbert Stothart.
While the film was considered a critical success upon release in August 1939, it failed to make a profit for MGM until the 1949 re-release, earning only $3,017,000 on a $2,777,000 budget, not including promotional costs, which made it MGM's most expensive production at that time.
The 1956 television broadcast premiere of the film on the CBS network reintroduced the film to the public; according to the Library of Congress, itis the most seen film in movie history.
In 1989, it was selected
by the U.S. Library of Congress as one of thefirst 25 films for
preservation in the National Film Registry for being culturally,
historically, or aesthetically significant. It is also one of the few
films on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.
The Watsons under the rainbow
The film was among the top ten in the 2005 BFI (British Film Institute) list of 50 films to be seen by the age of 14 and is on the BFI's updated list of 50 films to be seen by the age of 15, issued in May 2020.
The Wizard of Oz is the source of many quotes referenced in contemporary popular culture. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but others made uncredited contributions. The songs were written by Edgar Yip Harburg and composed by Harold Arlen. The musical score and the incidental music were composed by Stothart.
Over the Rainbow is a ballad composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg.
It was written for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and was sung by actress Judy Garland in her starring role as Dorothy Gale.
It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Garland's signature song.
About five minutes into the film, Dorothy sings the song after failing to get Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands to listen to her story of an unpleasant incident involving her dog, Toto, and the town spinster, Miss Gulch. Aunt Em tells her to find yourself a place where you won't get into any trouble. This prompts her to walk off by herself, musing to Toto, Some place where there isn't any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat, or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain..., at which point she begins singing.
On October 7, 1938, Judy Garland recorded the song on the MGM soundstage with an arrangement by Murray Cutter. In September 1939, a studio recording of the song, not from the film soundtrack, was recorded and released as a single for Decca.
In March 1940, that same recording was included on a Decca 78 four-record studio cast album entitled The Wizard of Oz. Although this isn't the version that appeared in the film, Decca continued to release the cast album into the 1960s after it was reissued on disc, a 331⁄3-rpm album.
The film version of Over the Rainbow was unavailable to the public until the soundtrack was released by MGM in 1956 to coincide with the television premiere of The Wizard of Oz. The soundtrack version has been re-released several times over the years, including a deluxe edition by Rhino in 1995.
After The Wizard of Oz appeared in 1939, Over the Rainbow became Garland's signature song. She performed it for thirty years, singing it as she had for the film. She said she wanted to remain true to the character of Dorothy and to the message of being somewhere over the rainbow.
The rainbow flag, also known as the gay pride flag or LGBT pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) pride and LGBTQ social movements. While this use of the rainbow flag originated in San Francisco, it is now used worldwide.
Originally devised by artist Gilbert Baker, the design has undergone several revisions since its debut in 1978, first to remove colors then restore them based on availability of fabrics.
The first flag had eight colors, however the traditional and still most common variant consists of six stripes: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The flag is typically flown horizontally, with the red stripe on top, as it would be in a natural rainbow.
It has been suggested that Baker may have been inspired by Judy Garland'ssinging Over the Rainbow and the Stonewall riots that happened a few days after Garland's death, she was one of the first gay icons.
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby, I Oh, somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue Clouds high over the rainbow, makes all your dreams come true, ooh.
Today, Claire Fontaine and TheGrandma have gone to the cinema to watch Judy, a 2019 biographical drama film about American singer and actress Judy Garland played by Renée Zellweger who has won the Academy Award for this interpretation.
Claire and The Grandma remember Judy Garland,especially her famous role in The Oz Wizard, a classic film and they love RenéeZellweger.They consider Renée one of the best actresses of the last decades with memorable roles in films like the Bridget Jones's saga, Cold Mountain, Mrs. Potter, Case 39, Jerry Maguire, The Whole Truth, Cinderella Man or Chicago without forgetting other minor roles in movies like Reality bites or Texas chainsaw.
Renée is splendid in this movie and The Grandma recommends watching Judy if you want to discover the difficult life of a Hollywood star who has to fight between being a mother and being one of the most famous and popular stars of the celluloid. A terrible struggle to find love in a loneless world.
Renée Kathleen Zellweger (born April 25, 1969) is an American actress and producer. She has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two BAFTA Awards.
Born in Texas, Zellweger studied English Literature at UT Austin. Initially aspiring to a career in journalism, she was drawn to acting following her brief work on stage during college.
Academy Award for Judy, 2020
Following her film debut with a minor role in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993), Zellweger's first starring role came with the slasher film Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994). She rose to prominence with starring roles in Jerry Maguire (1996), One TrueThing(1998), Me, Myself and Irene (2000), and Nurse Betty(2000), winning her first Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for the lattermost.
For her portrayals of Bridget Jones in the romantic comedy BridgetJones's Diary (2001) and Roxie Hart in the musical crime drama Chicago(2002), she garnered consecutive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She reprised her role as Jones in two equally successful sequels, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and Bridget Jones's Baby (2016).
Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a loquacious farmer in the epic drama Cold Mountain (2003).
She followed this with her portrayals of Mae Fox in Cinderella Man (2005) and author Beatrix Potter in Miss Potter (2006). After starring roles in smaller scale films, such as Appaloosa (2008) and Case 39 (2009), she had a six-year hiatus from the screen.
In 2019, Zellweger starred in the Netflix anthology series What/If and garnered critical acclaim for her portrayal of Judy Garland in the biopic Judy,winning the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Judy, also marketed as Judy: Over the Rainbow, is a 2019 biographical drama film about American singer and actress Judy Garland.
Directed by Rupert Goold, it is an adaptation of the Olivier- and Tony-nominated West End and Broadway play End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter. The film stars Renée Zellweger as Garland, with Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock, Rufus Sewell, and Michael Gambon in supporting roles.
The film follows Judy Garland's career during the last year of her life when she relocated her stage career to Britain. After some initial success for a run of sell-out concerts at the Talk of the Town in London, her efforts eventually stop making progress and even start to worsen due to health issues.
Judy premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on 27 September 2019, and in the United Kingdom on 2 October 2019.
It was a critical
success, and it grossed $39 million worldwide, before theatres deducted
their percentage from ticket sales. The film received positive reviews
from critics, with major acclaim drawn towards Zellweger's performance,
considered by many to be the finest of her career. For her performance,
Zellweger has won several Best Actress awards, including the Academy
Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and British Academy
Film Award.
Renée Zellweger in Judy, 2019
At the outset, Judy Garland is 14 years old and is being told by her studio manager, Louis B. Mayer, that she has a gift other girls do not. Judy's talent at singing is nearly unmatched while she is able to surpass the success of Shirley Temple as a Hollywood child star.
Judy is then shown in her forties, performing with her two children from her marriage to Sidney Luft, her third husband. Later, Judy and her son and daughter try to check into their hotel but are turned away for previous nonpayment. Because of this, Judy is forced to return home to Luft, who has since divorced her.
At a party, Judy meets Mickey Deans, a nightclub owner, and they become close friends. In a flashback to Judy's teenage years with Mickey Rooney, her studio minder interrupts a date to give Judy amphetamines to help control her appetite. The action returns to 1968, with Judy seeing an agent who tells her that Britain is open to her, but that the U.S. reception to her has cooled and become unworkable due to her growing performance unreliability and moodiness. Judy decides to embark for the U.K., leaving her two children with Luft, which is difficult for her.
In the U.K., substance abuse issues keep her from performing reliably on stage. Judy is late to her London première. Assistants are called upon to check on her health and fix her make-up. The fans are enthusiastic. Her performance is excellent. The film has another flashback to Judy at 14 years old. She complains about being fed with pills to help her meet her schedule demands. Back in London in 1968, she is performing again and starts to sing the Clang, clang, clang... lyrics to The Trolley Song to strong applause.
Judy meets two adoring gay fans at the stage door on her way out and joins them for a late-night snack at their apartment. They bond over their difficulties, and she sings Get Happy while her fan plays the piano. Mickey Deans comes to London on a surprise visit, which cheers her up. Judy still has trouble making her stage performances on time because of substance abuse issues and anxiety. Another flashback shows Mayer talking to her at 15 years of age, with Judy portrayed as exhausted by her childhood schedule, and Mayer portrayed as using emotional abuse and physical intimidation to keep her in line.
Her sponsoring British agent has her examined by a voice specialist medical doctor. Judy says she had a tracheotomy years ago, which weakened her voice. The doctor diagnoses physical and mental exhaustion, which requires rest for recovery. Her relationship with Deans is a support to her personal life, and they marry. He is her fifth husband.
Judy still thinks about her children and suffers from being separated from them. The children, however, are happy in school in California. Deans has bad news about a money deal that fell through, which means she must stay in Britain in order to make ends meet. At her next performance, she passes out on stage and is heckled. Judy ends her singing engagement but returns for the last night on stage, where she asks to perform one last song. She breaks down while singing Over the Rainbow but recovers with the encouragement of supportive fans and is able to complete the performance. Judy asks, You won't forget me, will you? to the audience, who applaud before she ends her performance by saying, Promise you won't. The film's epilogue states that Judy died six months later, in the summer of 1969, at the age of 47.
Judy had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2019. It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September 2019. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 27 September 2019, by Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment, and in the United Kingdom on 2 October 2019, by 20th Century Fox, Pathé's British Distributor.
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922-June 22, 1969) was an American actress, singer and dancer. During a career that spanned 45 years, she attained international stardom as an actress in both musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage.
Respected for her versatility, she received an Academy Juvenile Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Special Tony Award, and was the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for her 1961 live recording Judy at Carnegie Hall.
Garland began performing in vaudeville as a child with her two older sisters and was later signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. She appeared in more than two dozen films for MGM and is best remembered for her portrayal of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Judy Garland
Garland was a frequent on-screen partner of both Mickey Rooney and Gene Kelly and regularly collaborated with director and second husband Vincente Minnelli.
Other notable film appearances during this period include roles in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), TheHarvey Girls (1946), Easter Parade (1948), and Summer Stock (1950).
Garland was released from MGM in 1950, after 15 years with the studio, amid a series of personal struggles that prevented her from fulfilling the terms of her contract. Although her film career became intermittent thereafter, two of Garland's most critically acclaimed performances came later in her career: she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in A Star Is Born(1954) and a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). She also made record-breaking concert appearances, released eight studio albums, and hosted her own Emmy-nominated television series, The Judy Garland Show (1963–1964).
At age 39, Garland became the youngest and first female recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the film industry. In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and in 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the 10 greatest female stars of classic American cinema.
Garland struggled in her personal life from an early age. The pressures of early stardom affected her physical and mental health from the time she was a teenager; her self-image was influenced and constantly criticized by film executives who believed that she was physically unattractive and who manipulated her onscreen physical appearance. Throughout her adulthood she was plagued by alcohol and substance abuse as well as financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. Her lifelong struggle with substance abuse ultimately led to her death in London from an accidental barbiturate overdose at age 47.
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