Andy Hardy Meets Debutante

The Judy Garland many venerate today is the post-Plaza Theater (c.1951) Judy --damaged, pill-popping, alcoholic, overweight--the inspiration for female-impersonators everywhere because of her unique way of pouring out a broken heart in song while living life on the brink as Liza's mother. But the real Judy, the Judy who won America's heart back in the late 1930s is this incandescent teenager, eighteen years old at the time of this film. Those who find the later Judy's manner of acting and singing over-the-top, a bit vulgar, should listen here to the sheer beauty and purity of her soprano voice, her flawless enunciation and phrasing, her feeling for jazz, her utter simplicity. What's more she was a superb actress; witness the scene in the Central Park hansom cab with Mickey, so touchingly real and affecting. It is said that Stella Adler, who was to become Marlon Brando's teacher, but working for Arthur Freed at MGM at that time, was a great supporter of her amazing talent; perhaps Stella coached her acting. The story of this film is typically silly and dated but Judy and Mickey together are as always wonderful!