Over the Rainbow; The Jitterbug

Judy Garland with Victor Young and his Orchestra. side 1: Over the Rainbow; side 2: The Jitterbug (Decca 2672).
78 rpm.

Judy Garland (1922-1969) began her musical career as a vaudeville performer, touring the country with her two sisters until the early 1930s. Having signed with MGM Studios in 1935, she was cast as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at age sixteen. Garland’s 1939 Decca recording of “Over the Rainbow” is not the version featured in the film. The b-side track "The Jitterbug," was originally intended for the same film, but studio producers cut it before deciding on the final script. The record reached the fifth position on the Billboard charts in 1939, and along with The Wizard of Oz, cemented Garland’s status as a major celebrity.