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A STAR IS BORN – Harold Arlen, Ira Gershwin, and Ray Heindorf
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In December of 1952 producer Sid Luft approached director George Cukor and proposed that he remake the Selznick International Film’s “A Star Is Born” (1937) with his wife, Judy Garland making a comeback to star in the lead role. Cukor agreed and the two men received the green light to proceed from Warner Brothers. Luft would produce the film, whose budget soared to $5 million due to 41 sick days and a two-week drug rehabilitation withdrawing from all the medications she had become addicted to, which extended filming to nine months. George Cukor took the reins to direct, and Moss Hart was hired to write the screenplay, which was adapted from the screenplay of the 1937 film. For the cast, Judy Garland would star as Esther Blodgett, in her first film in four years. Joining her would be James Mason as Norman Maine, Jack Carson as Matt Libby, and Charles Bickford as Oliver Niles. Read more…
THE WIZARD OF OZ – Herbert Stothart, Harold Arlen, and E. Y. Harburg
100 GREATEST SCORES OF ALL TIME
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Following the enormous commercial success of Walt Disney’s “Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs” (1937), MGM Studio Executive Louis Mayer was determined to cash in and duplicate its success. He found the story he felt was needed and purchased the rights to L. Frank Baum’s novel, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (1900). Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf were tasked with writing the screenplay. Veteran director Victor Fleming was hired for the project and he assembled a cast, which is now legend; Judy Garland (Dorothy), Frank Morgan (Professor Marvel/Wizard of Oz), Ray Bolger (Hunk/Scarecrow), Jack Haley (Hickory/Tin Man), Bert Lahr (Zeke/Cowardly Lion), Billie Burke (Glinda) and Margaret Hamilton (Miss Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West). Read more…
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