Trivia / Ziegfeld Follies (1945)

• Creator Backlash: Lena Horne hated the ghetto setting for "Love" so much that she refused to make a commercial single, although she would use the song in her nightclub act several years later.
• Creative Differences: Original director George Sidney quit after one month of filming and was replaced by Vincente Minnelli.
• Cut Song:
  • "If Swing Goes, I Go Too" (music and lyrics by Fred Astaire), directed by George Sidney, sung and danced by Fred Astaire, audio available on Rhino's soundtrack CD and Warner Home Video's DVD.
  • "Start Off Each Day with a Song" (music and lyrics by Jimmy Durante), directed by Charles Walters, performed by Jimmy Durante.
  • "A Cowboy's Life," directed by Merrill Pye, sung by James Melton.
  • "Liza" (music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin), directed by Vincente Minnelli, sung by Avon Long and the MGM Studio Chorus to Lena Horne, audio available on Rhino's soundtrack CD.
  • "We Will Meet Again in Honolulu" (music by Nacio Herb Brown, lyrics by Arthur Freed), directed by Merrill Pye, sung by James Melton, audio available on Rhino's CD and Warner Home Video's DVD.
  • The Esther Williams water ballet from this sequence was reset to an instrumental version of "This Heart of Mine" (music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Arthur Freed).
  • "There's Beauty Everywhere" (music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Arthur Freed), directed by Vincente Minnelli, sung by James Melton and the MGM Studio Chorus, danced by Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer and Cyd Charisse, Melton's audio available on Rhino's soundtrack CD and Warner Home Video's DVD.
  • A segment with Miss Charisse and the "bubble girls" was retained in the revamped finale, which now featured Kathryn Grayson and the MGM Studio Chorus performing the vocal, Grayson's audio available on Rhino's soundtrack CD, and the revised scene available on Warner Home Video's DVD.
• Deleted Scene: Two comedy sketches:
  • "Baby Snooks and the Burglar," directed by Roy Del Ruth, performed by Fanny Brice, Hanley Stafford and B.S. Pully.
  • "Death and Taxes," directed by Vincente Minnelli, performed by Jimmy Durante, Kay Williams, Stephen McNally and Edward Arnold.
• Dueling-Stars Movie: This was one of two times Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly danced together in a film, the other being That's Entertainment Part II.
• Extremely Lengthy Creation: The idea for the film had been in discussion at MGM since 1939. Planning began in 1943.
• Looping Lines: Kathryn Grayson's final B-Flat on "There's Beauty Everywhere" had to be re-dubbed.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Judy Garland's number, "A Great Lady Has an Interview" was originally was offered to Greer Garson as spoof of her high-toned Mrs. Miniver/Madame Curie image. After the songwriters demonstrated this change-of-pace routine at the home of the actress, her mother opined, "Well, I don't think so." Garson's then-husband Richard Ney chimed in with "No, it's not for you, dear".
  • Among the ideas planned in the film, but not used, included:
    • A spoof of the musical Lady in the Dark with Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Lana Turner, and Fred Astaire.
    • A minstrel number with Garland, Rooney, Astaire, Gene Kelly, Lou Holtz, and Nancy Walker.
    • A duet between Lena Horne and Herb Jeffries.
    • A skit with Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main.
    • An "Album of Familiar Songs" medley with Garland, Marilyn Maxwell, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Lena Horne, and Kathryn Grayson.
    • A "Firehouse Chat," a sketch with Garland, Lucille Ball and Ann Sothern.
    • "Reading of the Play," a sketch with Garland and Frank Morgan.
    • "It's Getting Hot in Tahiti" (music and lyrics by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane) with Garland.
    • A "Fairy Tale" sketch with Katharine Hepburn, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor, and Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins.
    • "I've Got Those Rooney/Pidgeon/Skelton Blues" with Garland, Ball and Greer Garson (in a number they'd concocted on a war bond train) moaning about their frequent co-stars.
    • "(We're Having a) Heat Wave" with Ethel Waters reprising the number she introduced in the Broadway musical As Thousands Cheer .
    • "Pass That Peace Pipe" (music and lyrics by Martin, Blane and Roger Edens) with Garland, Rooney, Ball, Walker, George Murphy, June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, Kelly and Charles Walters (The song was later given to Joan McCracken by Walters when he directed Good News (1947).)
    • "Sand", a sketch with Garland and Astaire in blackface.
    • A tap dance number for Eleanor Powell.
    • "Children's Park" with various MGM stars (including Hepburn, Garland, Horne, Garson, Turner, Hedy Lamarr, Walter Pidgeon, Myrna Loy, Basil Rathbone, Tom Drake, and Esther Williams) riding on swings.
    • "I Love You More In Technicolor Than I Do In Black and White" (music and lyrics by Martin and Blane) with Garland turning down dates from John Hodiak, Van Johnson, and James Craig to rekindle with Rooney. (This routine had to be dropped when Rooney entered the Army.)
    • James Melton suggested he should do a number with either Garland, Grayson, or Jeanette MacDonald.

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