Did You Know?

In the scene after the movie premiere, Matt Libby is at a party where he passes a man and says, "Hey, Ray! Great score, the best!" The man is Ray Heindorf, musical director for this film.

WILHELM SCREAM: In the projection room while playing the western.

Early tests were made using WarnerScope (Warner's own wide screen format) and WarnerColor. Both were judged to be unsatisfactory. The film was shot in CinemaScope (licensed from Fox) and Technicolor.

After filming the Academy Award scene where Esther/Vicki is inadvertently slapped by a drunken Norman Maine, the whole side of Judy Garland's face was bruised.

The 15-minute "Born in a Trunk" medley was designed by Roger Edens and Leonard Gershe. It was inserted into the film when it was decided that none of the three Arlen/Gershwin songs submitted supplied an acceptable conclusion to the first half of the film. Mr. Edens, Judy Garland's musical mentor during her MGM years (1935-1950), also crafted the around-the-world-in-a-living-room concept for "Someone at Last" (music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Ira Gershwin). Still under contract to Metro in 1954, Roger received no screen credit as either contributor or co-writer (with Mr. Gershe) of the "Born in a Trunk" song. Credit was finally given the duo when the film was restored years later.

Humphrey Bogart (one of the possible candidates for the role of Norman Maine) is rumored to be heard as the voice of the drunk requesting "Melancholy Baby" in the café, though many people believe the voice is quite different from Bogart's.

Although Amanda Blake is still listed in the credits, her role entirely disappeared after the premiere because she appeared in one of the sequences cut to shorten the film's running time.

The film was re-edited several times. Premiering at 181 minutes, the studio (Warner Bros.) cut the film by 30 minutes despite the objections of director George Cukor and producer Sidney Luft (Judy Garland's husband). In 1983, all but 5 minutes of the cut footage was found and re-instated, but some footage had to be reconstructed using production stills.

The character "Lettie" from the 1937 version is divided between "Norman Maine" (early scenes) and "Danny McGuire" (later scenes) in the 1954 version.

The initial Columbia Records soundtrack LP (now reissued in the original mono sound on a British CD from Prism Leisure) reached the fourth slot on "Billboard"'s popular albums chart. Subsequently, two "improved" versions of the soundtrack have been released by the Sony label: a 1988 CD in mostly true stereo; and a 2004 deluxe package containing a second, unused Garland rendition of "It's a New World"; the singing commercial on TV for Trinidad Coconut Oil Shampoo; the discarded chorus of "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" (Judy with Jack Baker) from the "Born in a Trunk" sequence; the full orchestral introduction to "Gotta Have Me Go with You" (Judy with Don McKabe and Jack Harmon); the complete orchestral introduction, not totally heard in the release print, to the Academy Award-nominated Garland trademark, "The Man That Got Away"; and musical director Ray Heindorf's Oscar-nominated background score, including portions not included in the finished picture.

Norman Maine mentions the name 'Ellen Terry' to Esther Blodgett. Ellen Terry (1847 - 1928, created a Dame in 1925) was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain during the late nineteenth century, as well as performing in plays by Ibsen, G.B. Shaw and many others.

Judy Garland did not attend the 1955 Academy Awards, where she was nominated as Best Actress for her portrayal of Vicki Lester in A Star Is Born, because she was in hospital after giving birth to her third child and only son Joey Luft.

The "shield and initials" logo on the front of the orchestra's touring bus spoofs Warner Bros. own classic "WB Shield" logo.