A STAR WAS BORN…RIGHT HERE IN BURBANK!
by Susie Hodgson
A Star is Born is a major hit this year. But as many of you know, this isn’t the first version of it.
There was one in 1937, another in 1954, a third in 1976 and now we have the fourth. Some people argue this new version is kind of like the fifth version, since the first one was actually loosely based on a 1932 film called What Price Hollywood?
All versions of A Star is Born have very successful. But prior to the current version, the 1954 version was always considered the very best. And it was made right here in Burbank. Its history is fascinating.
Now, don’t worry. I’m not going to spoil the plot line for any of you who haven’t seen it. But the history of how the 1954 Warner Brothers’ A Star is Born is chockfull of fascinating trivia.
Judy Garland was the star of the film. But it was because she’d recently been fired from MGM and her then-husband, producer Sid Luft, was trying to get her a blockbuster vehicle in which to re-build her stumbling career. You see, Garland was quite frankly a mess. She was unreliable on the set, angry, erratic, loud, nasty, unemployable and broke – she was what they called “difficult to work with.”
Poor Judy truly had a tragic life. She was an unwanted baby – and she knew it – until her mother realized her little daughter was the child with the most talent and pushed her on stage. Judy later called her mother a “mean stage mother.” Judy spent her life dying for attention. Literally. During Judy’s 13-year marriage to third husband Luft, he claimed she attempted suicide twenty times.
Due to her extraordinary singing voice, Judy was put under contract with MGM in 1935. She was just a kid – but a kid that Louis B.Mayer, the head of MGM, found a lot of fault with. Not with her voice, of course, but her looks. He dubbed her his little “hunchback” because she was under five feet tall, with a curved spine and a chubby physique. He refused to let her eat anything but broth and cottage cheese and her mother put her on amphetamines by day, sleeping pills by night. Her addictions started while she was but a teenager – and it lasted until it finally killed her at age 47 when she overdosed after a performance in London. She died owing money to the IRS – and to her daughter, Liza.
Meanwhile, back in the early 50s, Luft bankrolled a deal with Warner Brothers to make A Star is Born. They knew it’d be a hit because it had been so successful before. Note: Dorothy Parker primarily penned the 1937 version. The 1954 version was written by another acclaimed writer, Moss Hart. Hart, known for his collaboration with George S. Kaufman on such greats as You Can’t Take It With You and The Man Who Came to Dinner, not to mention My Fair Lady. Hart was also known for another unusual Hollywood happening. He was married, just once, to the same woman till the day he died. And you probably know her, too. Remember Kitty Carlisle, famed game show panelist? That’s her.
The male lead of 1954’s A Star is Born was British actor, James Mason. You may have seen him in North by Northwest. He was not the first pick for the role – Cary Grant was – but Mason performed brilliantly. Mason’s own life also had a couple of interesting twists. He was married to socialite Pamela Mason for many years and each accused the other of adultery. After their divorce, he remarried and when he died, he left his vast estate to the second wife. She died soon thereafter herself and left all her money to an off-beat spiritual guru. This caused a huge legal battle between the estate (guru) and Mason’s two adult children. The male, named Morgan, worked in the Reagan administration and was/is married to Belinda Carlisle, lead singer of the girl group The Go-Gos. The adult daughter, named Portland (after comedian Fred Allen’s wife Portland) died young of a stroke shortly after the lawsuit was settled. Some say it killed her.
Like James Mason, Garland also gave arguably her very best performance in A Star is Born and in this version, unlike the 1937 version, there were musical numbers designed to showcase Garland’s talents. Many people credit famed director George Cukor for bringing out the very best in his stars.
To repeat, 1954’s A Star is Born was a tremendous critical success. People flocked to the theaters to see it. Initially, it ran nearly three hours, but Warner Brother chief Harry Warner cut 30 minutes out of it, although Jack Warner was violently against the move. (Not-so-nice Jack Warner was well known for his aggressive demeanor, but in this case, he was right.)
But, even though the film was a seeming hit, it did not make Warner Brothers any money. None. In fact, 1954’s A Star is Born was the most expensive movie Warner Brothers ever made to that date – no thanks to Judy Garland’s unprofessional behavior: missed days, late starts, constant re-takes, hospitalizations, suicidal tendencies, moodiness, and much more.
A Star is Born was nominated for six Oscars. Garland was considered an absolute shoo-in for Best Actress. She couldn’t be present at the ceremony because she’d just given birth to third child Joey Luft, so NBC sent a newsman and cameras to the hospital to film Judy’s reaction to her great win.
But the win was not to come. To everyone’s shock, Grace Kelly took the Oscar for The Country Girl. In fact, A Star is Born did not win one single Academy Award – not even for its show-stopping song, “The Man that Got Away.” Garland’s unreliable reputation was blamed and Warner Brothers promptly fired the Luft-Garland team.
In 1976, another version of A Star is Born was released starring Barbra Streisand. Her then-boyfriend, hair dresser to the stars Jon Peters, produced it – just like Sid Luft did. Peters did it to re-build Streisand’s slowing career. Just like Luft. Streisand’s version was deemed the worst of the versions. But luckily for Barbra, on a personal level, Streisand is no Judy Garland.
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Web site: www.burbankhistoricalsoc.org
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