On This Day: The night Judy Garland made her Hollywood comeback

On September 29, 1954, Judy Garland returned to the big screen in the role that would earn her an Oscar nomination.

A Star Is Born had arrived.

Judy’s comeback

Four years after her final film for MGM, Garland was back in Hollywood with one of the defining performances of her career.

Directed by George Cukor and co-starring James Mason, A Star Is Born cast Garland as Esther Blodgett, a talented singer who becomes movie star Vicki Lester. As her career takes off, that of her troubled husband Norman Maine heads in the opposite direction.

The film premiered in Los Angeles on September 29, 1954, marking Garland’s return to cinema after several years away.

Her performance earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and a Golden Globe win, but audiences who saw the film later didn’t necessarily see the version that premiered that night.

The original ran for about three hours. Warner Bros subsequently cut roughly 30 minutes, removing scenes and musical material. Decades later, archivists reconstructed much of the missing footage for a restored version released in 1983.

A Martian moves in

On September 29, 1963, My Favorite Martian made its American television debut.

Ray Walston played the stranded visitor from Mars, while Bill Bixby was newspaper reporter Tim O’Hara, who passed his unusual house guest off as “Uncle Martin”.

The comedy ran for three seasons and 107 episodes, making the switch from black and white to colour for its final season.

Born on this day

Rock ’n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis (above) was born in Ferriday, Louisiana, on September 29, 1935.

Nicknamed “The Killer”, Lewis became famous for his pounding piano performances and songs including Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On and Great Balls of Fire.

He died in 2022 at the age of 87.

Do you remember?

Which A Star Is Born belongs to you — Judy Garland and James Mason, Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, or Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper?