Was pleased to find this ditty sung by Greer Garson, Judy Garland and Lucille Ball during a WW2 war bond rally, possibly in 1943. The lyrics were supposedly penned by the gals themselves, and it was dubbed “The Rooney-Pidgeon-Skelton Blues.”
A comedy plea against typecasting.
Not sure what tune was used, though the first line can go with “Three Little Maids” from “The Mikado.”
Judy Garland, (Fred Astaire?)Greer Garson, Betty Hutton, Mickey Rooney, Lucille Ball, Spencer Tracy.
All: We’re three little maids from Hollywood ,
We want to do things we never should,
They never let us have our fling
We always do the same old thing.
JUDY:
I’m Mickey Rooney’s girl friend.
GREER:
I’m Walter Pidgeon’s wife.
LUCILLE:
I’m Red Skelton’s sidekick.
All: And we’re stuck with them for life.
JUDY:
I sing to Mr Gable but he’s never really there
I’m longing to enchant him with sophisticated flair
But every time I turn I turn around , Andy Hardy’s in my hair.
GREER:
I’d like to go cavorting with some charming Mr. Deeds, and slink around in gowns with several modern well-placed beads.
But all I get is a bustles-flannel nighties- widows’s weeds!
All: There’s no escape – you’re stuck with that for life.
LUCILLE:
I’d love to play dramatic roles with diction terse and clipped,
To chew the scenery into shreds with stark and sombre script,
But I’m always with Red Skelton, being flipped and tripped and stripped!
All: What good is versatility when we can’t show our ability, To do the sort of thing we would enjoy.
Greer: I’m stuck with domesticity.
Lucille: And I with burlesquicity.
Judy: And I’m so gosh darned busy being coy.
All: Three girls who are tired of it all.we can’t get away from those three leading men. We finish up a picture, then we’re with them again.
Greer: In aprons!
Lucille: In spangles!
Judy: In socks!
- I’m Garson
- I’m Garland
- I’m Ball.
If only it had been recorded. Maybe it was! Bloodhounds at the ready.
Lucille and Greer
(Bob commented below and also highlighted this photo of all the stars on the war bond tour.)
Vienna's Classic Hollywood
It was indeed written in 1943, but can’t find to which tune.
It is Fred Astaire, but not Spencer Tracy (he wasn’t on the tour) … it’s Harpo Marx (really!)
Behind Mickey Rooney is Kay Kyser.
There were 95 stars and technicians on the 11-car train.
This particular War Bond tour raised an amazing $1,079,568,819
Among many ideas considered and dropped from “Ziegfeld Follies” (1945) was the three of the them doing this song.
One of the songs “A Great Lady Has An Interview” was done by Judy after Greer turned it down.
Thanks Bob. Oh my, did I get it wrong – Harpo, not Tracy! And interesting that the number was considered for Ziegfeld Follies.
Fascinating, as are the photos. Wonder if there’s any way to hear any, such as “A Great Lady Has an Interview” to figure out why Greer turned it down! but great you found these lyrics!
“the Great Lady Has an Interview” ( from Ziegfeld Follies) can be viewed on You Tube. It certainly could have been a winner for Greer Garson. It runs 10 minutes and is wonderfully done by Judy.
“Great Lady” – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FUYa-mcGnOM
Apparently Greer turned it down as it was about her and she couldn’t see the humour in it.
I find that hard to believe. Thanks for doing the YT link.
One example of the story
http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2016/6/8/judy-by-the-numbers-a-great-lady-has-an-interview.html
Thanks for this— It gave me a giant laugh!
Just imagine seeing the three of them doing the number.
Bob, the article starts off with. “ There’s a rumour”…..
This one doesn’t
https://brightlightsfilm.com/greer-garson-and-the-good-war-how-we-all-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-great-lady/
What a great article. Thanks for link. She’d have been terrific in this number and I still don’t believe she would have turned it down. I ‘m sure she would have enjoyed doing it. Think of her Harry Lauder in Random Harvest or her comedy in Julia Misbehaves, or her doing Mame in the 50s
who are all the stars in the above picture?
A fantastic article here, including the names of all 22 in the photo!
No mention of the “blues” though.
https://www.bettyhuttonestate.com/betty-at-war.php
Another photo.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_QaCnfUUAUreFU?format=jpg&name=large
Great pictures. The star names are listed.