Judy Garland...Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart (1935 Radio)

Judy performs another one of her signature tunes for the first time in public. Broadcast on ''The Shell Chateau Hour'' with Wallace Beery on 16 November, 1935. On the night of the show's broadcast, Judy discovered that her father (Frank Gumm) was seriously ill in hospital with spinal meningitis, but had no choice but to go on and perform - her performance has an added intensity. Her father died the next morning and Judy never saw him alive again. However, a radio was placed next to his bed so he could hear the broadcast, and hear 'Baby' sing one last time.

[@user-mn4kg3jb4j]

Wonderful Recording! Wonderful Song!

[@user-mn4kg3jb4j]

Judy Graland Is Amazing! This Recording is Amazing! This Song is Amazing!

[@user-mn4kg3jb4j]

Typo on my part, Judy Garland is Amazing!

[@wildsmiley]

Judy’s father was listening to her sing on this show on the radio in his hospital room, the day before he died. Judy had a very difficult relationship with her mother, to put it mildly. But her father was always in her corner. His death absolutely crushed her.

[@juliewitt7496]

Judy's father, Frank, was a singer and it's been said he was a very, very good one, too. This talent was genetically passed on to his daughter.

[@darrylt1031]

....and Judy's daughter as well.....

[@user-mn4kg3jb4j]

Judy Garland is Amazing This Recording is Amazing! This Song is Amazing!

[@user-mn4kg3jb4j]

The Little Girl with the Great Big Voice, Judy Garland at 12!

[@millers3888]

She had perfected that vibrato by age 10.

[@susanharris7388]

A good vibrato is natural, as was her talent!

[@orion8835]

And an encore as well.. Perfect pitch, gorgeous tone, phrasing, diction, resonance, legato, rhythm...etc etc.... Astounding ,genius like vocal talent. What a great belter. And what a lovely singer. To think that only 4 years later Europe was plunged into death, darkeness and horrors... all the whilst Rooney and garland were "methed/secenol'd" out of their minds force worked hours a day dancin' and singing their little pubescent hearts out making millions for MGM. All that... with no back end deals and only on weekly salaries. Even crazier is that Garland made much less weekly than Roonety and her talent was frankly the more shinier and rarer.

[@keiko4043]

My gosh... shes 12 here??? God, I would've thought she was older. There'll only be one Judy.

[@johnkrieger185]

I think she was actually 13.

[@michaelmcgarry7701]

Her voice is unbelievable.....!

[@michaelburton21]

So much pain in her voice.. So sad to know at this moment her father was passing away. And she was told to just sing.

[@user-mn4kg3jb4j]

Her dad did get to hear to this broadcast before he passed away!

[@dustinivey8893]

What a voice Baby Gumm! You had it all... It's a shame how Hollywood can run so much talent into the ground!

[@christophepena2212]

It's not that simple..Hollywood made her shine bright unti now...they have given her the best to make her genius bright forever.she's a legend now...and it's not given to any artist.

[@staceylovebeauty724]

YEAH. BUT ALSO CALLED HER MEAN NAMES. ALWAYS PUTTING HER DOWN BECAUSE HER BODY SHAPE AND LOOKS. GIVNG HER CHICKEN STOCK AND CIGARETTES EVERYDAY. WASN'T ALLOWED TO EAT NOTHING. AND DON'T FORGET ALL THE DRUGS. UPPERS TO GET HER GOING AND DOWNERS TO GO TO SLEEP. WITCH SHE OVERDOSED WHEN SHE DIED. YEAH THE MAY HAVE MADE HER A STAR BUT THE ALSO KILLED HER TOO. WAS IT WORTH IT. ALL THE PAIN SHE WENT THROUGH. THINK NOT

[@MrCrowebobby]

She never sang like a child.

[@WickedFanJennii]

Beautiful voice from a 13 year old! Such a powerful voice and she is what you would call TALENT. It is such a shame what happened to her father, but at least he got to hear Judy sing for the last time. I agree with the poster below, I do not think Judy ever really got over her father's death.

[@jaytaylor7740]

So much more than a singer. She was somehow the song, itself. And if all the details above about her and her father are true, I think that's about one of the saddest things I've ever read. As if she lost the one person who had her back. As if she herself--from this moment on--were really essentially alone.

[@puzzled4497]

💕 there are no words that describe the amount of talent this little 12 year old Judy Garland was blessed with 💕 so much hurt & abuse this little girl was put through 💕

[@Streisand70]

A stunningly untrained beautiful voice of an unbelievably young 12 year old.

[@evaschroeder4020]

No training? Incredible

[@Mygirlyvintagelife]

She was so talented no one will ever take her place no matter how hard someone tries to be like her there's only Judy garland we love Judy garland

[@fawnsworld81]

Garland Girl 21 Yes, for me it's Judy, Barbara, Julie, and then Whitney. All were singing from their souls. Judy is my favorite the absolute best and Whitney was the closest in the sense of giving it all. They also could change it every time to give you a different feeling. But no one yet to be Judy's equal. I love her so much and she never lost her pipes

[@nzarzecki]

Thinking about her singing to her father along the radio waves...her last real protector- chills. The only performer who can make me feel that way.

[@longgrayline8055]

Garland Girl 21 She was an angel that was born into a human body. That voice came from Heaven itself.

[@musket-hc1fc]

Amazing voice! One of the greatest talents of all time.

[@octaviarivers1]

There has never been another singer who could touch her.....her voice slays me!!

[@stormyone]

Of course she possessed a natural beauty. She had a widow's peak, a cupid's bow and strong cheek bones.

[@rachel-rj7zn]

My favorite singer and actress

[@robert44861]

JUDY GARLAND'S songs as a very young girl are always outstanding and should be available on CD.

[@lvelez1999]

That voice was actually outstanding her whole life :)

[@MrCrowebobby]

She'd been in the business, doing several shows a day, for at least 6 years by this time. A rare talent under any circumstances, but those vaudeville work conditions honed these talents to perfection. I think that's why these stars lasted so long once they made it.

[@hellopeople5451]

Judy started performing Vaudeville when she was two-and-a-half years old.

[@mindpower2824]

If this was on Shell Chateau radio, she had probably been crying before this performance since her father was in hospital sick from spinal meningitis and she was told her daddy was going to listen to her on the radio... so she tried to put all her heart and emotions into her rendition... omg it's sooo sad... her dad died the next day :'-(

[@mindpower2824]

I bet she didn't want to be on that radio station BUT she couldn't refuse since she had an appointment already. She always said the death of her dad was the worst thing that could have ever happened to her... :-(

[@DazzlingRainbowMagic]

The studio forced her to do this while her father lay in a hospital bed dying, with the radio next to him. She wanted to be with him so badly, but didn’t have a choice. It’s utterly heartbreaking

[@mysterytrain3]

After he passed away, Judy said, now there’s nobody on my side. Equally as heartbreaking.

[@essexpeter6116]

If that is true that was truly awful. The studio/film bosses were such scum bags. Wonderful as her voice was it does not sound right in this, particularly in the slower tempo start.

[@dalelagace8420]

@@essexpeter6116 It's not her voice that's the problem it's the poor quality of the recording

[@sandersondavis]

@@dalelagace8420 Yes, It's a wonderful miricle that this recording exists at all.

[@suem6004]

@@mysterytrain3 Careful believing recent docufilms as telling the truth about order of events.

[@Robby24ish]

B R A V O ! ! ! Brilliant , MARVELLOUS simply MARVELLOUS !!!!!!!! Love U Judy. Peace

[@thewordkeeper]

My three favorite Judy Garland movies, two which I watch every year, are Meet Me In St Louis, In the Good Old Summertime and the third one is all the rest of them! LOL! For me she's the greatest singer of all time; regardless of genre!

[@rachel-rj7zn]

I love this version so much

[@kazior6521]

My favorite version of this song! Love it

[@catrionalaing2301]

On that day when she sang this song she was very nervous because her father was at the hospital suffering from an painful ear infection (spinal meningitis). Judy was his favorite and was shattered. Celia Booth

[@alicefillatre950]

Rip Judy Garland and her father 😥

[@lvelez1999]

And Momma and sisters

[@augustgirl]

Tough girl at such a young age. Having to endure that with her dad near passing away. 😢 Hell of a performance, though.

[@rachel-rj7zn]

Amazing little singer 12 yrs old with that voice 😊❤❤

[@carlymj4ever]

Perfection!

[@poorlittlerichiegirl]

This is amazing. I can't believe that voice from a 12~13 year old. I feel so sad about her father. If he didn't die until the morning, why didn't they take her there right away after the show to see him? :(

[@lvelez1999]

I think he passed away before she could get there

[@lvelez1999]

Rip

[@icesk8mike]

So sad Mr Mayer couldn't let her say goodbye to her father

[@TomMaze1]

This is my favorite! :)

[@sarakat76]

wow..... baby voice... vonderful

[@rachel-rj7zn]

Amazing

[@JohnDonovanProductions]

Written in 1934 , Zing ! Went The Strings Of My Heart " was a Garland favorite while she was still a young vaudeville sensation . Her mother Ethel is said to have made her original arrangement , with its slow introductory passage and dramatic mid - song shift to a swinging up tempo finale . She sang this version on NBC's Shell Chateau radio program on the night of November 16 , 1935 , with her stricken father listening in on a hospital room radio . The following day he died of spinal meningitis . " I sang my heart out for him , " Garland later recalled , " but by morning he was gone . " The song remained in her repertoire the rest of her life . She sang it in her 1938 film Listen Darling and on numerous radio appearances . It would later become a perennial concert favorite .

[@harveyaaronson6984]

Terrific,Judy Garland. A young girl 1935.

[@iloveilovemandy]

💜💕beautiful

[@puppylover1684]

never fails to make me cry

[@MrGluey666]

I think she sounded a little nasally like she had been crying before hand- And I really don't get how people would say she wasn't pretty or beautiful in the day- just look at her and hear her- I wish she had a lot of praise about how pretty she was- because she was so gorgeous - and anyone who saw her sing would just melt..

[@slvrangel22]

Charlottes Web.she may have been crying. According to a book about her, just before the performance she was got news her dad was dying and he did so the next day.

[@bingfan22]

I don't know about her having been crying beforehand. Her voice is awfully strong here, and she had a nasally-sounding voice anyway. If you listen to the "Over The Rainbow" reprise outtake, her voice is unsteady and she immediately bursts into tears during that recording.

[@alexarambula82]

Oh shut up! Just shut up... you’re that person that has to come along and give their “honest opinion” she was 13 and sang that better than most of today’s divas...

[@laurenlongfellow9714]

She was crying beforehand. She wanted to go see her dying father but they wouldn't let her.

[@jamesgordon2255]

It was said, her father was hospitalized, and listening from his bed. She wanted to be with him though her mother insisted she go on the air !! It was said he died hours later, and she never got to see him prior to his demise. Because of course she was “working” as she always did do hard !

[@lvelez1999]

Only God gives talent, especially a gift like this. Rip

[@intheory9772]

I have read that Judy's mother Ethel was actually in the hospital with her father Frank at the time of this performance. Why would Wallace Beery ask her if her mother was sitting in the front row only to force Judy to tell a lie against her character? When she says, "It's her." I can almost swear that I can sense some resentment, maybe for the studio executives, maybe for her mother, or maybe for the forcing of the lie itself, though cordially in her reply. This is her most magical and emotionally charged performance of this song. You can really feel her singing to her father whom she loved very much. She may not have been able to see him, but through this performance he surely knew how much his 'Baby' loved him.

[@studioorlando]

Judy's mother went out on a date the day of Frank Gumm's funeral with their neighbor Mr. Gilmore, whom she married later. Big blow to Judy who never even got to say goodbye to the Father she adored. Very sad. Yes...Judy got the MGM contract after being accompanied by her father, twice. First to audition for Roger Edens and then for Mr. Mayer himself...He asked do you any Opera and they almost walked out until they asked her to sing "Eli, Eli" a Hebrew song.

[@Natalie37854]

“Eli, Eli” is a poem written by a Hungarian Jewish resistance fighter, Hannah Szenes, in 1942. She was murdered during the Holocaust. It was set to music in 1945. It’s not possible for Judy to have sung this for an MGM audition with her father before he passed in 1935.

[@TrangPakbaby]

@@Natalie37854 wrong. She sang eli eli the yiddish song written by Jacob Koppel Sandler in 1896.

[@WitoldBanasik]

Judy embodied music of her own. Whats more '' she was a monstrous mosaic person... totally human'' according to her daughter Liza. Yes... Judy really was....

[@natangodinho8786]

Judy it’s not a voice, Judy is a feeling! Just 12, but a it’s a great angel!

[@xander7ful]

No. Gerald Clarke's book says that Judy's mother slept with certain studio execs (not at MGM) before Judy got her MGM contract. Judy got her MGM contract because her father took her for auditions & it wasn't until the second audition that she was offered a job.

[@donatord]

She was born in 1922 so she was a mere 13 years old here.

[@savannahdragons3282]

12

[@georgestrum3478]

Actually there was a slight hint of early rock and roll in her voice.

[@terrysmith8749]

Rock and Roll was actually created based on Judy's sound. Amazing a voice like that coming out of a twelve year old. She was probably the best non Opera singer on the world at 12.

[@leesullivan98]

Judy, Judy, Judy, Darling I hope you are resting in peace! The brightest star hollywood ever produced, too bad she was controlled by abusive studio exces and a stage mother!

[@user-mn4kg3jb4j]

I own this. I own this beautiful and classic recording on CD! Both the obnoxious, rude self-centered Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM studios and her obnoxious, rude, self-centered no talent mother insisted she must go on! Judy Garland's Dad did hear sing this! He passed away the following morning! Judy Garland believed at that time that her dad would survive!

[@francescaemc2]

Grazie

[@rachel-rj7zn]

She sang like this at 12

[@Upcamehill]

Just over 13 years of age.

[@cimarronhopper4605]

Is this the one where her dad was dying at the same time ?😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@evalis23]

yes:(

[@rachel-rj7zn]

Yes

[@rachel-rj7zn]

They put a radio in his hospital room to hear her

[@sunnydayzie1202]

Was her mom really there in the front row? Not the way it was usually told. I thought Ethel was at the hospital with her dad

[@lvelez1999]

She was at the hospital

[@nudnikjeff]

Her father's death has been dramatized but it's wonderful to hear the actual broadcast. Like 90 YEARS LATER!

[@barkingtree88]

I have not seen it mentioned anywhere that Frank passed away on his wife Ethel's birthday.

[@garymazzeo3490]

The best version of this song was done by Ruth Etting also in 1935

[@harveyaaronson6984]

Sorry about how she was forced to sing . With her father dying.I take it back.

[@drinkinglotsofsoda]

"she won't be famous but for a couple of years" said the announcer

[@anonymoussaga8723]

I heard “she won’t be famous, oh, maybe for a couple of years”

[@ryan.engstrom]

Yeah she was. Well whatever then

[@evaschroeder4020]

How can this be a twelve year old?

[@millers3888]

Some people are just born with talent. Michael Jackson, Julie Andrews, Judy Garland, these were all child prodigies.