I believe the pinnacle of the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland collaboration at MGM was reached in 1943 with Girl Crazy. Musical films don't get any better than this. It was especially good since the first film version of Girl Crazy was a watered down thing done by RKO for the talents of Wheeler&Woolsey. As I wrote in my review of that film, if you're a Wheeler&Woolsey fan its all right, but if you like George Gershwin as I do, the film is a dud.
That sure isn't the case here and though the plot was changed somewhat from the Broadway version it still involves a young eastern playboy who gets sent west to a small college to mend his ways in the great outdoors. I'm sure you've guessed that is the role Mickey Rooney plays.
Judy is the granddaughter of the college dean Guy Kibbee and being the only young girl around she's got all the boys attention. That doesn't even change when Nancy Walker comes to town. The roles that Garland and Walker played were originated on Broadway by Ginger Rogers and Ethel Merman.
Girl Crazy debuted in 1930 and ran for 272 performances which is a remarkable record for the Depression years. Of course having what might arguably be the best score that George and Ira Gershwin ever wrote is probably the reason. MGM wisely kept most of it intact and we get to hear Garland sing But Not For Me, Embraceable You, I've Got Rhythm, Biding My Time and a charming duet with Rooney in Could You Use Me.
When Nancy Walker stepped into Ethel Merman's role Merman's songs in the original Broadway show were I've Got Rhythm and Sam n' Delilah. The former is given to Garland and the latter is only heard in the background. But with Garland singing all these Gershwin songs I venture to say that she never had as rich a score in any of her films before or since.
Girl Crazy also features Tommy Dorsey who might have had at that time the number one swing band in the nation even without that singer from Hoboken who left him that year. Dorsey and his orchestra appear both in the early nightclub scene with Mickey Rooney and in the I've Got Rhythm finale which is choreographed by the inimitable Busby Berkeley. His work at MGM is not quite as spectacular as it was at Warner Brothers in the Thirties, but it's pretty good in this film.
Judy, Mickey, George, Ira, Tommy, Busby, Nancy and a supporting cast that also includes Rags Ragland, Henry O'Neill, Gil Stratton, June Allyson, who could ask for anything more?
