Search - Kay Kyser :: I'll Be Seeing You

An absolute treasure to be cherished

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 11/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you are a Judy Garland fan, Judy Garland On Radio 1936-44 will absolutely blow you away: two CDs, almost two and a half hours of material, all of it taken from radio performances going all the way back to Judy's earliest days in Hollywood. The very fact that these old recordings still exist seems miraculous to me, so the ability to be able to listen to them here and now is virtually indescribable. The first CD is made up of songs from a number of different radio programs, while the second CD holds an unbelievable treasure trove of material related to The Wizard of Oz. The sound quality is amazingly good on every single track, making this an item every Judy fan really must own.The first track on Disc One takes us all the way back to August 1936, as a 14-year-old Judy Garland takes part in singing The Balboa from the film Pigskin Parade. After this track ends, get ready for pure magic. Tracks two and three are rehearsal recordings from a 1937 "Jack Oakie" College program featuring Roger Edens, Judy's voice coach, on piano. Feelin' Like a Million is great, but They Can't Take That Away From Me is just fantastic; Judy's 15-year-old voice is unbelievable, and the track also features a poignant bit of dialogue between Judy and orchestra conductor Georgie Stoll. Thanks For the Memory, given an operatic parody treatment by Judy, comes from a Gulf Hollywood Screen Guild Show from January 1939. The popular Maxwell House Good News of 1939 gives us Could You Pass in Love?, a song in which Judy takes on the role of a teacher quizzing her students (Robert Young, Meredith Wilson, and Oz's own Frank Morgan) about love. Sweet Sixteen and FDR Jones are among the more familiar tracks found here; these particular recordings come from an April 1939 broadcast of A Tune-Up Time. Next up is Comes Love, the closing song in the Arrowhead Springs Hotel Opening Broadcast of December 1939, and it is followed by a beautiful rendition of the song All the Things You Are from The Bob Hope Show (February 1940). A new studio contract precluded Judy from making any more regular appearances on radio, so we jump ahead to some of her guest spots on war-time broadcasts. In May 1943, she teams up with Johnny Mercer to make a Personal Album specifically for the troops: she sings But Not For Me, Mercer sings I Lost My Sugar in Salt Lake City, and the two team up on Don't Get Around Much Anymore and Taking a Chance on Love. Judy's one and only V-Disc (a 78 rpm record sent to soldiers fighting overseas in World War II) provides us with a beautiful rendition of Over the Rainbow and I May Be Wrong, both sung to the backdrop of Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra. Disc One ends with a real bang in the form of a plethora of songs from the December 17, 1944 broadcast of The Philco Hall of Fame radio program. After singing The Trolley Song and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas from her recently released hit film Meet Me in St. Louis, Judy (alongside the Les Paul Trio and the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and Chorus) pays tribute to composer Jerome Kern in a medley of songs: I Won't Dance, Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man, Why Do I Love You?, and Look For the Silver Lining. Disc Two contains two radio previews of the then-soon-to-be-released movie The Wizard of Oz. The second of these programs consists of the complete Leo Is On the Air promotional trailer MGM sent out to radio stations before the movie's release in August 1939; this consists mainly of song clips from the film itself. Far more important to Judy and Oz fans is the complete recording of the Maxwell House Good News broadcast of June 29, 1939. The opening segment of the show consists mainly of chorus overtures of some of The Wizard of Oz's musical numbers, but this is soon followed by a substantial number of live songs and movie-related sketches performed by Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, and Frank Morgan. There are far too many special moments on this disc for me to expound upon them all, but two are of great importance. First, this broadcast features Judy's first public performance of Over the Rainbow. Second, Bert Lahr performs the complete version of the memorable song If I Were King of the Forest, allowing you to hear the section of the song that was cut from the film. You even get to hear Harold Arlen sing part of Over the Rainbow, one of many unforgettable songs he co-wrote with E.Y. Harburg. Believe me when I tell you that this is material no fan of Judy Garland or The Wizard of Oz should be without. This is vintage material from Judy Garland's early days which was unavailable for many decades, and the vast majority of songs on Disc One are songs Judy never recorded again. Judy Garland on Radio 1936-44 is literally a dream come true for this Judy Garland fan."

Great fun!

bekthewriter | 02/28/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is acutally a double CD. You get Judy singing great songs from radio appearances PLUS Good News of 1939, a radio program all about the Wizard of Oz. It features many stars from the film including Judy and even has Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks! The songs on the first CD are great and some can't be found on any other CD. Some of my favorites are Comes Love & Don't Get Around Much Anymore (with Johnny Mercer). I highly recommend this CD!"

ALL YOU EXPECT AND MORE!!![.]

cheryl dianne davidson | fort mill, south carolina United States | 02/26/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"EXCELLENT! CAPTURES THE GREAT JUDY GARLANDS TALENT ON RADIO LIVE AND HER WONDERFUL PERSONALITY! A GREAT ADDITION TO ANY COLLECTOR OF JUDY GARLAND! A MUST HAVE! THESE PERFORMANCES ARE THE ULTIMATE! JUDY THE TRUE GIFTED PERFORMER! HIGHLY RECCOMENDED!***** 5 STARS!"