Summer Stock (1950)

Director:

Charles Walters

Writers:

Sy Gomberg (story)
George Wells (writer) ...

Release Date:

22 January 1951 (Sweden)

Genre:

Musical | Romance

Plot:

A small-town farmer, down on her luck, finds her homestead invaded by a theatrical troupe invited to stay by her ne'er-do-well sister.

Plot Keywords:

Actress | Farm | Barn | Actor | Barn Dance

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Judy Garland	...	Jane Falbury
Gene Kelly	...	Joe D. Ross
Eddie Bracken	...	Orville Wingait
Gloria DeHaven	...	Abigail Falbury (as Gloria De Haven)
Marjorie Main	...	Esme
Phil Silvers	...	Herb Blake
Ray Collins	...	Jasper G. Wingait
Nita Bieber	...	Sarah Higgins
Carleton Carpenter	...	Artie
Hans Conried	...	Harrison I. Keath

Also Known As:

If You Feel Like Singing (UK)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #14515) | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Judy Garland was supposed to make one more MGM musical, Royal Wedding (1951) with Fred Astaire, but was fired from that production, making this her MGM swansong.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Abigail and Orville are rushing back to the farm, the backdrop is of an open road. When Abigail shouts for Orville to look out, the camera pans out to reveal that they were driving through a town.

Quotes:

Joe D. Ross: When the show's over and it's the success I hope it is, we've got alot of talking to do.
Jane Falbury: What about?
Joe D. Ross: Oh, all kinds of things. First I want to hear the story of your life. Everything that's ever happened to you since you were so high. And then I want to know what you eat for breakfast, what's your favorite color, what comic strips you read. Then we'll talk about shoes, and ships, and sealing wax, and shows. Farms. Families. Oh it may take hours. Weeks. Years. I want to know everything.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in New York, New York (1977)

Soundtrack:

Mem'ry Island

"Crispy Lettuce in Your Jeans"....Puh-leeeez!

About 20 minutes into the film, Judy, whose two old geeky farm laborers have suddenly up and left her in the lurch, goes to town and buys a brand-new shiny tractor from her even geek-ier boyfriend (Eddie Bracken) and his overbearing father (Ray Collins).

As Judy drives the tractor back to her farm, she sings this wonderfully hokey but somewhat bizarre song entitled "Howdy, Neighbor!" with music by the phenomenal Harry Warren (of 1930's Warner Bros/Busby Berkeley musical fame) and lyrics by Mack David. Technically, the song keeps twisting and turning in terms of it's harmonies, phrase lengths and rhyme schemes, as if the creators were having a great time turning what should be a simple, straightforward country tune into a sophisticated musical "brain-teaser" which never goes quite where you expect it to.

This sequence features two of the most god-awful jump-cut edits in film history, as the background ABRUPTLY changes, while Judy just keeps chuggin' along (one of these edits occurs BEFORE she pulls into town for gas, the other as she is LEAVING the town).

While she's gassing up, she is surrounded by one of the goofiest assortment of extras you'll ever see, including this strange, very tall young woman who is dressed in a sort of pre-hippie ensemble of purples and blacks, complete with a cooley-style hat hanging on her back; how this could POSSIBLY pass for 1950 backwoods garb is beyond me. As Judy sings to this motley assortment, she actually tells them that they will be "blessed with crispy lettuce in your jeans", which they all cheerfully shout back at her (as the studio back-up chorus takes over for them). I assume that the reference is to money, which used to be referred to as "lettuce".

At the very end of the song, as Judy belts out the final note with an almost-paralyzing gusto, the camera hovers above her open mouth for what seems like an eternity, as we seem perilously close to hurtling down her gullet; it's amazingly over-the-top, and Judy's final little expression to the camera, as if to say, "Man, I thought that note would NEVER end", perhaps lets us know that the entire number is perhaps intended to be a bit of a "send-up."

What does all of this have to do with the film?? Not much, really. It's just so...well....unique. This song is the only extended instance of outdoor location shooting in the film, and it's such a great example of that bright, innocent, up-beat early 50's feeling that seems to have totally vanished from films today, and indeed our world as a whole.

Summer Stock, while not really top-drawer MGM stuff, is a VERY enjoyable film, a spirited variation on the "let's put on a show in the barn" routine, with Jean and Judy as captivating as always. Marjorie Main, Eddie Bracken, and Hans Conreid are just some of the wonderful supporting players, and Phil Silvers (in those rare moments when he isn't doing his annoying, manic "Aren't I funny?" business) is also in fine form.

Gene and Phil Silver's "Heavenly Music" number near the end,(complete with blacked-out teeth, giant rubber feet, yodeling, barking dogs, etc) is MGM at its most outlandish and wacky, a nice way for the big-city theatre people to poke fun at the locals who resent them so keenly. And then there are the lovely ballads, and the film's real highlight, Mr.Kelly's late-night, squeaky floorboard, newspaper-shuffling solo dance routine in the barn.

Lots of good old-fashioned, classy fun. Is a dvd release in the future??