All Topics  
Summer Stock

 

   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link






 

Summer Stock



 
 
Summer Stock (known as If You Feel Like Singing in the UK) is an MGM musical
Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which several songs sung by the fictional character are interwoven into the narrative. The songs are used to advance the plot or develop the film's characters....
 made in 1950. The film was directed by Charles Walters
Charles Walters

Charles Walters was a Hollywood Film director and choreographer most noted for his work in MGM musicals and comedies in from the 1940s to the 1960s....
 and stars Judy Garland
Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage....
, Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an United States dancer, actor, singer, film director, Film producer, and choreographer.A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen....
, Eddie Bracken
Eddie Bracken

Edward Vincent "Eddie" Bracken was an United States actor.Born in Astoria, New York, Bracken performed in vaudeville at the age of nine and gained fame with the Broadway theatre musical Too Many Girls in a role he reprised for the 1940 film adaptation....
, Gloria DeHaven
Gloria DeHaven

Gloria Mildred DeHaven is an American actress and a former MGM contract star....
, Marjorie Main
Marjorie Main

Marjorie Main was an Academy Awards-nominated United States Character actor mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies....
, and Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers

Phil Silvers was an American entertainer and comedy actor. He is best known for starring in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a United States Army post in which he played Sergeant Bilko....
.

Judy Garland
Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage....
 struggled with many personal problems during filming, and Summer Stock proved to be her last MGM movie and also her last pairing with Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an United States dancer, actor, singer, film director, Film producer, and choreographer.A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen....
 onscreen. MGM terminated Garland's contract in September 1950.

lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m5375384",this)' onMouseout='hide("m5375384")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Judy_Garland">Judy Garland
Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage....
 stars as Jane Falbury, a farmer
Farmer

A farmer is a person who raises living organisms for food or raw materials....
 who allows her actress sister Abigail, played by Gloria DeHaven
Gloria DeHaven

Gloria Mildred DeHaven is an American actress and a former MGM contract star....
, to use the barn
Barn

A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house animals or to store farming vehicles and equipment....
 as a practice stage for her theater troupe.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Summer Stock'
Start a new discussion about 'Summer Stock'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Summer Stock (known as If You Feel Like Singing in the UK) is an MGM musical
Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which several songs sung by the fictional character are interwoven into the narrative. The songs are used to advance the plot or develop the film's characters....
 made in 1950. The film was directed by Charles Walters
Charles Walters

Charles Walters was a Hollywood Film director and choreographer most noted for his work in MGM musicals and comedies in from the 1940s to the 1960s....
 and stars Judy Garland
Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage....
, Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an United States dancer, actor, singer, film director, Film producer, and choreographer.A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen....
, Eddie Bracken
Eddie Bracken

Edward Vincent "Eddie" Bracken was an United States actor.Born in Astoria, New York, Bracken performed in vaudeville at the age of nine and gained fame with the Broadway theatre musical Too Many Girls in a role he reprised for the 1940 film adaptation....
, Gloria DeHaven
Gloria DeHaven

Gloria Mildred DeHaven is an American actress and a former MGM contract star....
, Marjorie Main
Marjorie Main

Marjorie Main was an Academy Awards-nominated United States Character actor mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies....
, and Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers

Phil Silvers was an American entertainer and comedy actor. He is best known for starring in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a United States Army post in which he played Sergeant Bilko....
.

Judy Garland
Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage....
 struggled with many personal problems during filming, and Summer Stock proved to be her last MGM movie and also her last pairing with Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an United States dancer, actor, singer, film director, Film producer, and choreographer.A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen....
 onscreen. MGM terminated Garland's contract in September 1950.

Plot

Judy Garland
Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage....
 stars as Jane Falbury, a farmer
Farmer

A farmer is a person who raises living organisms for food or raw materials....
 who allows her actress sister Abigail, played by Gloria DeHaven
Gloria DeHaven

Gloria Mildred DeHaven is an American actress and a former MGM contract star....
, to use the barn
Barn

A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house animals or to store farming vehicles and equipment....
 as a practice stage for her theater troupe. The actors and actresses, including the director Joe Ross (Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an United States dancer, actor, singer, film director, Film producer, and choreographer.A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen....
), repay her hospitality by doing chores around the farm
Farm

A farm is an area of land, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibers and, increasingly, fuel....
. Although Joe is engaged to Abigail, he begins to fall in love with Jane. The movie ends in a spectacular final show in the barn itself.

Behind The Scenes

The filming of this movie was a very hard struggle for Garland. She was facing many negative feelings in her personal life. Addicted to sleeping pills at the time, Garland was lucky that she made it through the progress of the film. She sometimes could barely stand on her two feet because she was in such bad shape. As noticed in the last number Get Happy
Get Happy

Get Happy is a term used in the African American Gospel Music tradition, that refers to the experience of receiving the Holy Spirit during a Church service, usually involving religious ecstasy singing, or during prayer, or spontaneously....
 she appears in better shape and form. This is because before the particular scene performed before Get Happy, she had taken two months off and lost a great deal of weight. Garland managed to finish filming the movie. Soon after she was hired to star with Fred Astaire in the upcoming film Royal Wedding
Royal Wedding

Royal Wedding is a 1951 Hollywood musical film comedy film set in London in 1947 at the time of the wedding of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Phillip, and stars Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, Sarah Tuchet-Jesson, Baroness Audley and Keenan Wynn, with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner....
. But once again, Garland was struggling to succeed. So she was soon fired from the film, and her contract with MGM was terminated.

Highlights

The film's most famous scene is the final song-and-dance number "Get Happy
Get Happy (song)

"Get Happy" is a song composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics written by Ted Koehler.It was the first song they wrote together, and was introduced by Ruth Etting in The Nine-Fifteen Revue in 1930....
" performed by Judy Garland
Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage....
 in a suit jacket, hat, and black nylons. This sequence was filmed four months after the rest of the movie, as can be seen by the twenty pounds Garland lost in that time period.

In another notable sequence, Kelly performs a solo dance in a darkened barn, using a newspaper and a creaky board as partners and props; the musical accompaniment reprises "You Wonderful You".

In the film 'Summer Stock', Garland and Kelly share what may be Garland's best dance duet on screen, the swinging "Portland Fancy" where a square dance turns into a heated challenge dance for the two stars.

External links