1 November 2006
Los Angeles, CA…
“Lost Decca Recordings” Found at Bonhams & Butterfields
After
70-years, Judy Garland’s First Recording Session
and Never-before Heard Renditions Come to Auction
Fan websites and Internet blogs devoted to the legendary Judy Garland have been buzzing as of late – chat about existence of what insiders call “The Lost Decca Recordings” is now being confirmed as auctioneers Bonhams & Butterfields announce the pending sale of a remarkable pair of 1935 acetate (or shellac) discs from the first-ever recording session of a then-12-year-old who would become a world famous superstar.
The two records, created in a recording studio in Hollywood in March of 1935, feature never-released renditions of songs sung by Judy Garland in her early Vaudeville shows – including the torch song, Bill, from the Broadway musical Showboat. Garland’s Vaudeville era spanned from 1924 to 1935, and her dramatic rendition of Bill, was memorable as it presented the then little Frances Gumm perched on a piano with just a tight spotlight on her face. Cheers would follow the performance after the spotlight broadened to reveal that a child had sung the song and not an adult woman. No known childhood recording of Bill by Judy Garland exists outside of the recordings to be offered on December 17 at Bonhams & Butterfields in Los Angeles.
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more (pop-up window)
Download
the official Bonham & Butterfields Press Release
(PDF)
A huge THANK YOU to the folks at Bonham & Butterfields
for sharing this information with The Judy Room!
The
photo at the right was taken of Judy in July 1934 at the
Chicago World's Fair. Judy is posing as she performed "Bill" on
stage at that time: Sitting on a piano as the song's originator,
Helen Morgan, did.
