"Make Like You're Singing It": Performing Musical Texture in Judy Garland's Early Films

<p>   </p> <p>Judy Garland is one of the most celebrated performers from Hollywood’s Golden Age. This chapter suggests that Garland’s musicality gave her a unique way of controlling her vocal presence on the screen. It explores how Garland used her exceptional musical skills to craft the music of her performance—not the music of her songs per se, but the music of her acting. It suggests that Garland brought her abilities as a singer—or more specifically, as a musician—into her wider performance, crafting her acting approach with musical qualities inspired by Mickey Rooney. Her mastery of musicality—supported by the complicity of Roger Edens—gave her authority over her performance, enabling her to reclaim agency over her voice and body, and, ultimately, power over her persona. Thanks to that agency, her lasting legacy was something that Garland could keep subtly out of reach of the studio bosses and their relative musical ignorance, even while the enigmatic talent of her voice was openly displayed in her performances, claimed as an MGM asset, and celebrated by audiences.</p>