Reviving Judy Garland's "Merry Christmas"
In her 1949 MGM film, In the Good Old Summertime, Judy Garland sings a lovely but oft-overlooked Christmas song appropriately titled, “Merry Christmas.” Fred Spielman, who had been a prominent cabaret pianist in pre-Anschluss Vienna, wrote the music and Yale-drama alumna Janice Torré wrote the lyric — a partnership that later produced the songs for The Stingiest Man in Town, a musical version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
It was released on an MGM Records album but, to my knowledge, Judy never sang it again after she recorded it for the movie on November 16th, 1948. Perhaps the song’s passing similarity to her earlier hit, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” prevented it from becoming more widely known. Nevertheless, the arrangement had long been on my wishlist for restoration, so when Joelle Graves, the Executive Director of the Rogue Valley Symphony in Ashland, Oregon, asked me to create a holiday pops concert for them entitled A Judy Garland Christmas, I knew the time was at hand.
The orchestral arrangement of the song is by Robert Franklyn, who worked on many films at MGM, including the 1964 My Fair Lady production, and although the original instrumental parts were lost when the new owners of MGM tossed out most of their music library in 1969, the 4-staff conductor score does survive. It indicates only organ (“played” in the movie by Buster Keaton!), strings, bells, and celesta, and those are the only instruments audible on the recording, as well. In the scene, Judy only sings the song once through, but on the MGM Records version there is a short instrumental interlude and then Judy reprises most of the song. The reprise repeats the arrangement verbatim, but for a live performance I wanted the arrangement to build a bit more; so taking a cue from the “After Merry Christmas” underscore (arranged by Robert Van Eps and composed by Spielman and George Stoll), I added a bit more rhythmic movement and some harp, and doubled the strings with reeds and horns in spots. A piano stood-in for the vintage pump organ.
It was, of course, a tremendous thrill to get to bring this song back to life for the first time in 77 years, and I’m so grateful that Maestro Martin Majkut and the wonderful musicians of the Rogue Valley Symphony were up for it one hundred percent! Here is a video from the re-premiere performances this past December (2025) at the Angus Bowmer Theatre in Ashland, Oregon:
Joan Ellison sings Judy Garland’s “Merry Christmas” from In the Good Old Summertime with the Rogue Valley Symphony, conducted by Martin Majkut. From a live performance of A Judy Garland Christmas at the Angus Bowmer Theatre in Ashland, Oregon on December 21, 2025.
As a footnote, I just rewatched In the Good Old Summertime shortly before my holiday symphony pops tour began, and discovered that there is a hometown connection to the Rogue Valley in Oregon. There is a pretty violinist in the movie, played by Marcia Van Dyke, who is in love with Van Johnson. She doesn’t end up with Van, of course, Judy does — but she was a real violinist and did her own playing the film. The Rogue Valley Symphony plays at venues in Grant’s Pass, Medford, and Ashland, and Marcia Van Dyke was born in Grant’s Pass in 1922, was the featured soloist with the Medford Junior Symphony at age 13, and died in Ashland in 2002. When introducing the song, I asked the orchestra and audience at the Angus Bowmer Theatre (part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival campus) whether they knew her, and — amazingly — many raised their hands! Afterwards, I heard from one musician that she was very friendly and talkative.
An additional footnote: Adorable Liza Minnelli made her film debut in the closing shot of the film, with her mother and Van Johnson.
