Listen, Darling • 1938

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“Are you looking for a husband? Let Judy and Freddie show you how to find one!” That’s the tagline for the next film in my series of Judy Garland films! 

Judy was 16 and rehearsing for The Wizard of Oz when she made this film and it marks the first time that she sang, “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart,” on screen, which would become one of the signature songs of her career. She sang it on a radio program in 1935, on the greatest night in show business history in 1961 at Carnegie Hall, and on her television show in 1963. 

The main titles, below, contain this fun script and heart motif which remind me of Desilu and I Love Lucy.

For my piece, I referenced the fun deco script that was made for the theatrical trailer and the window of the family’s mobile home trailer. Yes, this is a romance where Judy and her family travel in their mobile home and all they want to do is to find a new husband for their darling mother who has terrible taste in men.

Here is the radio performance during The Shell Chateau Hour with Wallace Beery. On the night of the show's broadcast  Judy was told that her father was seriously ill in hospital but had no choice but to go on and perform. This performance has an added intensity because of this. A radio was placed next to his bed so he could hear the broadcast. Her father died the next morning.

Here is the performance from The Judy Garland Show.

Here is the theatrical trailer for the film. Check out the bizarre advertisements in the newspaper!

Love Finds Andy Hardy • 1938

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Next up in my series is Love Finds Andy Hardy released in 1938!

Who will Andy Hardy take to the Christmas Eve dance and will he find a way to get the 18 dollars he needs to buy a car for the occasion!??! You’ll have to watch to find out, haha. Judy was assigned this part at MGM while Arthur Freed was putting together the team that would make her immortal, as Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz the following year.

The main title type had a fun stitched theme but I really loved the inline deco type used in the theatrical trailer so I created my piece based on that lettering instead. Imagine how big the type in the trailer would have been for audiences. The quiet and tracked-out sans-serif titles of today just seem plain and lethargic in comparison.

The promotional materials created for the film were very delightful and featured some fun type solutions as well:

Check out the original theatrical trailer:

Everybody Sing • 1938

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Next up in my series is Everybody Sing from 1938! The film teams up Judy and Billie Burke one year before they were immortalized as Dorothy and Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz. It’s a musical comedy where Judy plays a precocious singing daughter of a madcap theatrical family who saves them from financial ruin with help from their Russian maid (Fanny Brice, in a rare film role!) and singing chef. Why not? haha.

The film is certainly an important reminder of the the development of Garland’s career and was even more important due to a seven-week, seven-city promotional tour made to promote the film. She traveled with her mentor, Roger Edens, who accompanied her on the piano. (Roger used to be the mentor of Ethel Merman who was a great battle ax of a broadway belter!) These performances were the first opportunities for her to command large stages, alone, to sing in front of adoring crowds and establish a dedicated audience and sincere rapport that would, in time, make her one of the world's greatest live entertainers in the world. (Listen to Judy at Carnegie Hall  recorded in 1961 if you need me to convince you of this!)

The main title type uses a very lovely deco sans serif and the trailer uses more of that fun deco bulb typography. I combined both for my reinterpretation and I am really loving working with “bulbs” as building blocks for type.

Here’s the complete theatrical trailer. You must watch it for the hilarious use of music notes as windows for all of the actor’s faces. It’s quite a sight and thoroughly enjoyable!

Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry • 1937

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For my next redesigned and lettered title card in my series, I was inspired by the super-condensed sans serif typography found in the theatrical trailer produced for the third film in Garland’s filmography.

The main title lettering is a very simple art deco sans serif seen below.

Here’s the condensed type from the trailer as well as the type introducing the three top-billed actors of the film which was a very simple and very deco lettering style.

Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry has the distinction of being the first film to team up Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The story concerns an English boy, Roger Calverton (Ronald Sinclair), who travels to America with his grandfather (C. Aubrey Smith) to race their beloved horse, Pookah. Mickey Rooney plays the smug but talented jockey Timmie Donovan, whom Roger wants to ride Pookah to victory. Judy Garland plays Cricket, the precocious niece of Mother Ralph (Sophie Tucker), who runs a boarding house for jockeys where Timmie lives.

At first, the film didn't include a role for a young female lead, however, MGM was eager to showcase their rising young singing star who had just made a memorable hit in Broadway Melody of 1938 where she performed her iconic and very charming “You Made Me Love You (Dear Mr. Gable)” number.

Here’s the very strange but entertaining theatrical trailer:

Broadway Melody of 1938 • 1937

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Check out the cool illuminated shadow type in the trailer for Broadway Melody of 1938, the 2nd of 34 feature films in Judy Garland’s career! (below)

The trailer has such a range of typography including an illuminated sans serif with bubbles (bottom left) and funky over-the-top closing titles. (bottom right) I do enjoy those deco numerals though!

The illuminated deco script main title type is so interesting as each individual “light” spins during the title sequence. It was hard to capture as a still image but that made me want to use this as reference for my piece. I used this as a blueprint for the type but expanded upon where things could extended and pull things closer to create a tighter unit of light-bulb type. (below)

Here’s the complete theatrical trailer:

Pigskin Parade • 1936

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I don’t know much about football and I’m not crazy about brushy type so I drew some funky deco shadowy type instead for Judy’s debut feature film!

Judy, billed 13th, plays a hillbilly melon-thrower’s musical kid sister who propels a Texas college to a singing, dancing, and gridiron victory.

Judy had been signed at MGM through the interest of Louis B. Mayer’s secretary, Ida Koverman, who discovered her singing with her sisters. The studio tested her and another contract singer, Deanna Durbin, in the musical short Every Sunday, then decided to drop both. Koverman and executive Benny Thau intervened on Garland’s behalf, but with no projects under development for the pudgy 14-year-old, the studio loaned her to 20th Century-Fox, her only loan-out during her 15 years at MGM.

When the film was released, the public and press praised Judy’s talents and memorable numbers. This was the final impetus for MGM to include Judy in a film made on her home turf. That film would by Broadway Melody of 1938. More on that in just a few days!

The following is a performance from the film of what I would call her very first of many torch songs that were written for her throughout her career. (She hadn't quite mastered lip-syncing to pre-recordings yet...)

A Star is Born • 1954

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I designed and lettered a retro title-card in honor of my absolute *favorite* film! 

Released before Barbra Streisand’s remake in 1976, this incredible 1954 musical version of the 1937 film dazzled audiences with its super-widescreen Cinemascope format and new musical material by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin.

The iconic shiny red serif main titles in the stars above Los Angeles (below) are directly referencing the titles setting from the 1937 version seen below them.

I have always really loved the script lettering created for the theatrical trailer and especially enjoyed the treble clef inspired “S.”

My reimagined title card is inspired by this script lettering and the iconic stage set of The Academy Awards scene in the film.

If you’ve never seen it, I would highly recommend it!

Meet Me in St. Louis • 1944

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I designed and lettered another retro title-card inspired by one of my favorite classic holiday films!

The trailer for the film featured large funky type with some silly copywriting but was beautiful nonetheless. (See below.) Imagine seeing such large unusual typography in the theater!

The main titles were presented straightforwardly, in all of their slab serif glory, and gorgeously ornamented. (See below.) They were just a tease of the detailed vignettes Vincente Minnelli meticulously created to tell the story of an ordinary family with ordinary problems but with extraordinary talent and sincere care.

For my reinterpretation, I referenced the wood details found in the doors and woodwork of the house, built for the film on the MGM lot, and the original film type with some additional details.

The Wizard of Oz • 1939

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My love for old movies, Judy Garland, and “The Wizard of Oz” inspired me to have a little fun and design and letter this retro title-card of sorts. I’ve always been obsessed with the deco motifs found throughout the Oz set designs and lately I’ve been enjoying and inspired by the quirky lettering that was created for the trailers and movie titles in films of this era.

There have been many different typographic solutions created for the promotion of the film ranging from this quirky type used in a rare trailer from Cairo in 1939 (above left) to the US re-release trailer in 1948 (above right) and, of course, the classic iconic serif type from the official main titles seen below.