A Star Is Born (1954)
Transcona / Warner Bros, 1954 — Color, 176 minutes (restored version)
Esther Blodgett is a singer with the Glenn Williams Orchestra when Norman Maine discovers her. He is enthralled — she is a great singer, and she has that “little something extra” that marks star quality. And who should know better: Maine is one of the top stars in Hollywood. He explains to her that she should aim higher; that she could be a great star if only she would believe in herself and her talent.
He talks her into quitting the orchestra and staying over in Los Angeles so he can get her a screen test at his studio. Esther is taken by surprise, but she senses that there is something in what Norman has said, so she agrees to stay, much to the chagrin of Danny McGuire, her close friend who also travels with the orchestra.
Esther is signed by the studio as a contract player, and she works at bit parts until opportunity knocks: a major production is about to be shut down due to an unexplained absence of the big singing star. Maine talks Niles into giving Esther a chance at the part. She auditions, and Niles decides to take a chance on her. The film is a hit, and Esther is on her way.
Esther and Maine get married, and she’s on top of the world. But soon Maine’s heavy drinking is causing problems at the studio. His career begins to slide, and he cannot get himself turned around, though he tries desperately. As Esther rises to stardom, Norman slides into oblivion, losing his contract at the studio, and nearly losing the one thing he loves best — Esther. Out of desperation he does the one thing that he knows will ensure Esther’s continued success.
Crew
| Produced by | Sidney Luft; Associate Producer: Vern Alves |
| Directed by | George Cukor |
| Screenplay by | Moss Hart, based on the Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, Robert Carson screenplay. From a story by William A. Wellman and Robert Carson. |
| Musical Direction | Ray Heindorf |
| New Songs | Music by Harold Arlen, Lyrics by Ira Gershwin |
| “Born in a Trunk” | Lyrics by Leonard Gershe, Music by Roger Edens |
| Dances | Created and Staged by Richard Barstow; Additional Choreography: Eugene Loring |
| Production Design | Gene Allen; Art Director: Malcolm Bert |
| Costumes | Jean Louis, Mary Ann Nyberg; “Born in a Trunk”: Irene Sharaff |
| Miss Garland’s Makeup | Created by Del Armstrong |
| Director of Photography | Sam Leavitt |
| Film Editor | Folmar Blangsted |
| Format | CinemaScope, Color by Technicolor |
| Filmed | October 1953 – July 1954 (Judy was 31–32 years old) |
| Released | September 29, 1954 (premiere at the RKO Pantages Theatre, Hollywood) |
Academy Award Nominations
- Best Actress — Judy Garland
- Best Actor — James Mason
- Best Score – Musical — Ray Heindorf
- Best Song — “The Man That Got Away”
- Best Art Direction/Set Decoration – Color
- Best Costume Design – Color
Cast
| Judy Garland | Esther Blodgett / Vicki Lester |
| James Mason | Norman Maine |
| Jack Carson | Matt Libby |
| Charles Bickford | Oliver Niles |
| Tom Noonan | Danny McGuire |
| Lucy Marlow | Lola Lavery |
| Amanda Blake | Miss Ettinger |
| Irving Bacon | Graves |
| Hazel Shermet | Libby’s Secretary |
| Grady Sutton | Artie Carver |
Musical Program
- [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles)
- [0:11] Gotta Have Me Go with You (sung by Judy Garland with The Glenn Williams Orchestra)
- [0:21] The Man That Got Away ★ Academy Award Nominated (sung by Judy Garland)
- [0:45] Trinidad Coconut Oil Shampoo (short commercial jingle, sung by Judy Garland)
- [1:04] The Man That Got Away (excerpt)
- [1:08] Born in a Trunk (performed by Judy Garland) — includes excerpts of:
- Swanee
- I’ll Get By
- You Took Advantage of Me
- Black Bottom
- The Peanut Vendor
- My Melancholy Baby
- Swanee (reprise, with Chorus)
- [1:28] Here’s What I’m Here For (sung by Judy Garland)
- [1:40] It’s a New World (sung by Judy Garland)
- [1:53] Someone at Last (sung by Judy Garland)
- [2:09] Lose That Long Face (sung by Judy Garland)
- [2:42] It’s a New World (reprised by Judy Garland)
- [2:53] It’s a New World (reprised by Chorus at end of film)
- [2:54] The Man That Got Away (reprised by Orchestra behind end credits)
Notes
The film was produced by Transcona Enterprises, owned by Judy and her husband Sid Luft, along with several associates — formed specifically to produce A Star Is Born as a joint venture with Warner Brothers.
A Star Is Born was made once before in 1937 by Selznick International Pictures, starring Fredric March and Janet Gaynor. The 1954 screenplay was partly inspired by What Price Hollywood (1932, RKO), also directed by George Cukor.
Judy played Esther in the radio version of A Star Is Born, with Walter Pidgeon as Norman Maine, broadcast on Lux Radio Theater on December 28, 1942.
After considerable footage had been filmed, Warner Brothers decided the film should be shot in CinemaScope — making A Star Is Born the first major motion picture to use CinemaScope.
Many exhibitors complained about the long running time, so Warner Brothers cut the film from 181 minutes to 154 minutes — deleting critical scenes establishing the relationship between Esther and Norman Maine, and removing two of Judy’s musical numbers: “Here’s What I’m Here For” and “Lose That Long Face.” The film was restored in 1983, thanks largely to the efforts of Ronald Haver, who also wrote a definitive book on the production: A Star Is Born: The Making of the 1954 Movie and its 1983 Restoration (Alfred A. Knopf, 1988).
Judy received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, but the award went to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl. Judy received hundreds of conciliatory telegrams, including one from Groucho Marx who called it “the greatest robbery since Brink’s.”
On “Born in a Trunk” — a note from Leonard Gershe
“I would appreciate your straightening out a misapprehension about ‘Born In A Trunk.’ I wrote the lyric, but the music was composed by Roger Edens, who could not be credited at the time because he was under exclusive contract to MGM. If you read the credit on the screen, it reads: ‘Born In A Trunk’ by Leonard Gershe. That was as ambiguous as we could get. It does not say I wrote the music. I feel enough time has gone by for the truth to be known and for Roger Edens to be given his credit.”
On Judy’s involvement in the number: “No, Judy had nothing to do with the writing of the song. I had had the first stanza of the lyric going through my head for some time. Sid Luft called Roger when they realized they needed a musical number in the film to show exactly what made Vicki Lester a star. Roger came to me and asked me if I had any ideas. I sang him my ‘Born In A Trunk.’ He liked it. He wrote a new tune and I completed the lyric. I wrote the narration for the body of the number that follows the first chorus and Roger picked the standards. I asked that we include ‘Melancholy Baby’ because it was the punchline of a joke that Judy loved at the time and I knew Judy would love it.”
— Leonard Gershe, letter to Jim Johnson, January 26, 1998
In Judy’s own words
“It is difficult to be objective about one’s performance. You simply cannot, no matter how hard you try, see yourself as others see you. This is especially true in making a motion picture. There is no audience to play to, only a large crowd of technicians behind a very candid camera. But perhaps this professional ‘audience’ is a surer guide to achievement than any other. After all, this is a group that is paid to do a job. They are not there primarily to be entertained. So, when, after I sang a song on the set of ‘A Star Is Born’, some of these veterans applauded I knew that it was a spontaneous reaction and that I had made contact with their emotions.”
“This is how I gauged myself for the singing you will hear in the Transcona Enterprises motion picture for Warner Bros. When we were shooting ‘A Star Is Born’ at the Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, I would try to make the electricians and the cameramen and the others react to the song. If it was a humorous number, I would try to make them laugh. If it was a blues, I would try to make them feel in the spirit of the song. Only when they had shown the emotion the particular song was supposed to evoke did I feel that my job was properly done.”
— Judy Garland, from the liner notes of the Columbia Album A Star Is Born, 1954
Critical Response
“Those who have blissful recollections of David O. Selznick’s ‘A Star Is Born’ as probably the most affecting movie ever made about Hollywood may get themselves set for a new experience that should put the former one in the shade… [George Cukor] gets performances from Miss Garland and Mr. Mason that make the heart flutter and bleed.” — Bosley Crowther, The New York Times, October 12, 1954
“[Judy Garland] gives what is just about the greatest one-woman show in modern movie history… she has never sung better… Her big, dark voice sobs, sighs, sulks and socks them out like a cross between Tara’s harp and the late Bessie Smith… Everybody’s little sister, it would seem, has grown out of her braids and into a tiara.” — Time, October 25, 1954
“A Star Is Born is best classified as a thrilling personal triumph for Judy Garland. As an actress Miss Garland is more than adequate. As a mime and comedienne she is even better. But as a singer she can handle anything from torch songs and blues to ballads. In more ways than one, the picture is hers.” — Newsweek, November 1, 1954
“Among the movies in the pantheon of Hollywood classics, the 1954 version of A Star Is Born holds a special place. An immense and complicated production, it brought together some of the finest artists and technicians working in film at the time… it was George Cukor’s first foray into musicals… the first time he worked in color… the first movie to use CinemaScope for artistic ends… it marked Judy Garland’s spectacular cinematic comeback after a difficult four-year hiatus… and, most remarkably, it was a musical — a genre not known for its seriousness — that treated the emotional rigors of life in the movies with unprecedented honesty and drama.” — Ronald Haver, A Star Is Born: The Making of the 1954 Movie and its 1983 Restoration (Alfred A. Knopf, 1988)