June 10

Judy Garland is born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, 1922. The actress made her first movie in 1936 at the age of 13—a short film with Deanna Durbin called Every Sunday. Later that year she appeared in her first full-length feature, Pigskin Parade. It would be the first of a series of teenage roles for a star who longed to play an adult but stayed a teen well into her early twenties. She played young so often, of course, precisely because she was young. Prior to her star-making role in The Wizard of Oz (1939) when she was just 17, she was a kid in Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry (1937), Everybody Sing (1938), Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938) and Listen, Darling (1938). Audiences loved her pubescent innocence, and MGM delayed her onscreen maturity so should could keep being a kid in such hits as Babes in Arms (1939), Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940), Strike Up the Band (1940) and Babes on Broadway (1941).

In 1942 she had a rare turn as an adult in the World War I-era musical For Me and My Gal and actually played her own age in Presenting Lily Mars (1943). MGM subtracted years from her age again in Girl Crazy (1943). In her last hurrah as a cinematic teen, she reluctantly made what became one of her best movies, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), playing the second-to-oldest Smith daughter hoping to spend her high school senior year in Missouri instead of New York. Vincente Minnelli, her Meet Me in St. Louis director and future husband, would direct Garland in her next picture, The Clock (1945), in which she played a New York woman who falls in love with and marries a soldier (Robert Walker) during the course of his two-day leave. At last and from then on, she was an adult.

May 28

Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney prerecord the song “I Wish I Were in Love Again” for Words and Music, 1948. Ostensibly a biography of songwriters Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, the film became more of a showcase for MGM talent than a faithful account of the two acclaimed songwriters. After seeing the film, Rodgers reportedly liked only one thing about it—Janet Leigh as his wife. As it was, Words and Music represented the last time Garland and Rooney were on screen together. Ironically, “I Wish I Were in Love Again” was one of four songs that were cut from Babes in Arms when it came time to make the Garland-Rooney movie version of the Broadway show. As the two perform it, Garland in particular seems fresh, at ease and having a ball, and she looks terrific. This was to be her only number in the movie, but when preview audiences demanded another, she was called back to the studio to record and shoot “Johnny One Note.” Though both songs are performed at the same party in the movie, they were filmed four months apart, which accounts for changes in Garland’s weight and hair length.

Here's a look:

September 23

Mickey Rooney is born in Brooklyn, 1920. A performer since he first hit the stage at the age of 15 months, Rooney made his film debut in 1926 in Not to Be Trusted and has continued to work in movies ever since, with 242 features and shorts under his belt. Highlights include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), Babes in Arms (1939), The Human Comedy (1943) and The Black Stallion (1979). Perhaps the less said about his performance in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), the better. The diminuative actor’s film career spans 86 years and he has appeared onscreen every decade since the 1920s—a feat matched by no one. We wish him a most day today.

Rosalie Essex

In a keen send-up of Shirley Temple, June Preisser plays Rosalie Essex, or Baby Rosalie as she is known by her movie fans, in MGM's let's-put-on-a-show musical, Babes in Arms (1939). Perky, pampered and spectacularly self-centered, Rosalie is a veteran of such films as The Queen’s Little Daughter and The Baby General. Now a teenager and looking for a starring role somewhere—anywhere—to combat a dip in popularity, she agrees to be in a stage revue directed by Mickey Moran (Mickey Rooney), which Mickey’s friend Patsy Barton (Judy Garland) is planning to headline. A lack of funds for the show compels Rosalie to invest some of her movie earnings in the production—as long as she is the star.

This is all amusing enough, but what really grabs attention is Preisser’s startling acrobatic prowess. By the time she came to MGM in the late 1930s, Preisser was a veteran of vaudeville, having hit the boards with her sister, Cherry, in an act that showcased the youngsters’ tumbling talents. In Babes in Arms, a supremely peppy Rosalie shows up for rehearsals and launches into an impressive series of one-arm cartwheels followed by what I can only describe as a sort of drunken man’s fall and flip, effectively repeated several times.

“Just getting the kinks out,” Rosalie explains to stunned onlookers.