Everybody Sing, 1938

How does a financially-challenged family overlook the one member who may be able to help them out? The youngest are sometimes overlooked in normal families. But this family is far from normal.

Starring sixteen-year-old Judy Garland as Judy Bellaire, this comedy is a fun toe-tapper. In an ordinary family this young girl would be a standout talent, but her whole family is in an uproar about one thing or another and can’t see what’s right in front of them. The talented youngster is expelled from her school when she shows off her extraordinary jazz singing. When her father sends her off to a different school, she escapes and gets hired to be in a show because of her jazzy singing skills. She just wants to sing. If only her family would let her use her gifts, the family finances would be enhanced.

The fabulous Fanny Brice is a Russian maid, Olga. She keeps the audience happy with her comedic delivery. Billie Burke plays Judy’s mother, an actress. During the next year, Burke and Garland would work together in The Wizard of Oz, with Burke playing Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.

This film came out just months before Judy Garland first appeared in a Andy Hardy film (Love Finds Andy Hardy). She would later make nine Andy Hardy films with Mickey Rooney.