“Summer Stock” is a musical film about an actress with a theater group who returns home to her family farm in Connecticut, and decides to convert the barn into a venue for plays and musicals. This rubs her sister the wrong way, who has been working hard on the farm all along. The drama, comedy, and musical numbers proceed from there, well coordinated by director Charles Walters (“Easter Parade” 1948), written by George Wells and Sy Gomberg.
The stars of the show are Judy Garland and Gloria DeHaven as the Falbury sisters, with Gene Kelly as friend Joe Ross. Co-stars include Eddie Bracken, Marjorie Main, Phil Silvers, Ray Collins, Hans Conried, Dorothy Tuttle, Nita Bieber, and Carlton Carpenter as Artie. The most famous scene is the “Get Happy” sequence with Garland, which became a signature song for her. It was written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Most of the music in the film was penned by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, with orchestrations and arrangements by Skip Martin and Conrad Salinger.
The watchable Technicolor musical “Summer Stock” was a big hit at the box office for producer Joe Pasternak and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. With Garlands’ many personal problems interfering with her movie duties, Louis B. Mayer terminated her contract with MGM a month after the film’s release. “Summer Stock” was her final film for Metro, and the last of her six films with Gene Kelly. They were “For Me and My Gal” (1942), “Thousands Cheer” (1943), “Ziegfeld Follies” (1945), “The Pirate” (1948), “Words and Music” (1948).
Summer Stock (1950)
cinema
My Review
“Summer Stock” is a musical film about an actress with a theater group who returns home to her family farm in Connecticut, and decides to convert the barn into a venue for plays and musicals. This rubs her sister the wrong way, who has been working hard on the farm all along. The drama, comedy, and musical numbers proceed from there, well coordinated by director Charles Walters (“Easter Parade” 1948), written by George Wells and Sy Gomberg.
The stars of the show are Judy Garland and Gloria DeHaven as the Falbury sisters, with Gene Kelly as friend Joe Ross. Co-stars include Eddie Bracken, Marjorie Main, Phil Silvers, Ray Collins, Hans Conried, Dorothy Tuttle, Nita Bieber, and Carlton Carpenter as Artie. The most famous scene is the “Get Happy” sequence with Garland, which became a signature song for her. It was written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Most of the music in the film was penned by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, with orchestrations and arrangements by Skip Martin and Conrad Salinger.
The watchable Technicolor musical “Summer Stock” was a big hit at the box office for producer Joe Pasternak and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. With Garlands’ many personal problems interfering with her movie duties, Louis B. Mayer terminated her contract with MGM a month after the film’s release. “Summer Stock” was her final film for Metro, and the last of her six films with Gene Kelly. They were “For Me and My Gal” (1942), “Thousands Cheer” (1943), “Ziegfeld Follies” (1945), “The Pirate” (1948), “Words and Music” (1948).