Judy Garland: Sweetheart of Sigma Chi — Life Magazine, 1938
Life Magazine ArchiveLife Goes to a Party with Judy Garland
Who becomes the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi
Most famous of all fraternity songs, and one of those whose words can be printed without danger of violating the postal laws, is The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi. To give Sigma Chi a sweetheart in person as well as in song, members of its Alpha Gamma chapter at Ohio State University lately initiated 14-year-old Movie Actress Judy Garland into this 83-year-old fraternity.
Taking advantage of the fact that this M-G-M starlet, fresh from her success in Everybody Sing, was making a personal appearance at Columbus’ Ohio Theatre, the fraternity presented her with a Sigma Chi pin on the stage. She was whisked to the chapter house for dinner, after which she sang songs and indulged in the various fraternal high jinks shown on these pages.
The idea of making Miss Garland the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi originated with no press agent but with two Ohio State Sigma Chis, Richard Ross and Dean Palmer. Thanks to them, this winsome young girl — whose singing and acting net her $1,500 a week — may greet as brothers not only James McDonald, co-captain of the Ohio State football team, and Keith Bliss, member of Bucket & Dipper, junior honorary society, but also former Supreme Court Justice Willis Van Devanter, former Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley, Booth Tarkington, George Ade and Hervey Allen.
The Song Behind the Honour
Sigma Chi’s election of Judy Garland at Ohio State as their fraternity sweetheart was inspired by the famous song, The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi. This was written and set to music back in 1911 at Albion College, Michigan, by two Sigma Chis — Byron D. Stokes (lyrics) and F. Dudleigh Vernor (music) respectively.
In the 27 years since its composition, this sentimental song had become familiar not only to Sigma Chis but to countless other fraternity men all over the country. Copyrighted by the Melrose Bros. Music Co. of Chicago, it had sold some 450,000 copies by the time of this article. Mr. Stokes was then an advertising salesman in Chicago; Mr. Vernor, a Detroit organist.
When the world goes wrong as it’s bound to do,
And you’ve broken Dan Cupid’s bow,
And you long for the girl you used to love,
The maid of the long ago;
Why, light your pipe, bid sorrow avaunt!
Blow the smoke from your altar of dreams,
And wreathe the face of your dream girl there,
The love that is just what it seems.
The girl of my dreams is the sweetest girl
Of all the girls I know;
Each sweet co-ed, like a rainbow trail,
Fades in the afterglow.
The blue of her eyes and the gold of her hair
Are a blend of the western sky;
And the moonlight beams on the girl of my dreams,
She’s the sweetheart of Sigma Chi.
— Byron D. Stokes & F. Dudleigh Vernor, 1911
Excerpt reprinted by permission of Melrose Bros. Music Co., Chicago
Context: Judy Garland in 1938
At the time of the Sigma Chi initiation, Judy Garland was 15 years old and already one of MGM’s most promising young contract players. Everybody Sing (1938), the film mentioned in this article, featured Garland alongside Allan Jones and Fanny Brice, and confirmed her growing reputation as a vocalist of extraordinary natural ability.
The personal appearance tour that brought her to Columbus, Ohio, was part of MGM’s standard promotional strategy for its rising stars — using radio appearances and theater dates to build public familiarity before a major film release. Within eighteen months of this article, Garland would appear in The Wizard of Oz (1939), the film that would define her public identity for the rest of her life.
The Life Magazine coverage — with its photographs, captions, and full-page spread — was itself a signal of how quickly she was ascending. Life did not dispatch photographers to fraternity dinners for unknowns. By March 1938, Judy Garland was already national news.