Summer Stock

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Stiff Upper Lips

Directed by	Charles Walters
Starring	Judy Garland Gene Kelly Gloria DeHaven Marjorie Main Phil Silvers Eddie Bracken
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	1950
Country	United States
Language	English

Summer Stock is an MGM musical made in 1950. The film was directed by Charles Walters and stars Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers.

Judy Garland struggled with many personal problems during filming, and Summer Stock proved to be her last MGM movie and also her last pairing with Gene Kelly onscreen. MGM terminated Garland's contract in September 1950.

[edit] Plot Introduction

Judy Garland stars as Jane Falbury, a farmer who allows her actress sister Abigail, played by Gloria DeHaven, to use the barn as a practice stage for her theater troupe. The actors and actresses, including the director Joe Ross (Gene Kelly), repay her hospitality by doing chores around the farm. Although Joe is engaged to Abigail, he begins to fall in love with Jane. The movie ends in a spectacular final show in the barn itself.

[edit] Highlights

The film's most famous scene is the final song-and-dance number "Get Happy" performed by Judy Garland in a suit jacket, hat, and black nylons. This sequence was filmed four months after the rest of the movie, as can be seen by the twenty pounds Garland lost in that time period.

In another notable sequence, Kelly performs a solo dance in a darkened barn, using a newspaper as partner and prop.