12 Facts You Didn’t Know About Judy Garland’s 1954 Film ‘A Star is Born’

A lively musical starring Judy Garland? Always count us in! A Star is Born 1954 might have been a remake of the 1937 film of the same name, but it certainly shined brighter than the original. To celebrate its 70th anniversary, we’ve looked far and wide for 12 of the most intriguing behind-the-scenes facts about its making. From the explanation for the undeniable chemistry between Judy Garland and James Mason to the Warner Brothers record it broke and the movie’s original length — you have to read it to believe it!

A Star is Born 1954 is a musical that follows fading actor Norman Maine (James Mason), who, despite his severe alcoholism, does his best to help young singer and actress Esther Blodgett (Judy Garland) on her rise to fame.

The film, directed by George Cukor, was nominated for six Oscars in the categories of Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Art Direction — Color, Best Costume Design — Color, Best Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Song. Additionally, both Mason and Garland brought up Golden Globe Awards for their acting.

Wanting to give A Star is Born 1954 a watch? It’s available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

While filming Julius Caesar (1953), director George Cukor asked Marlon Brando if he would be willing to play Norman Maine. Brando reportedly looked at him and said, “Why would you come to me? I’m in the prime of my life… If you’re looking around for some actor to play an alcoholic has-been, he’s sitting right over there.” Brando was pointing to his co-star James Mason, who then got the part. Cary Grant was also considered, but the actor was actually more interested in traveling with his wife.

Cukor was known for having a knack for pushing his cast to the brink of an emotional breakdown and then capturing it on camera. For the scene where Esther (Garland) is crying in her dressing room, Cukor supposedly pushed Garland so hard that she actually threw up during the first take. When she came back to set, Cukor had her film the sequence so many times that her breakdown was basically real. After the scene was over, though, Cukor cracked a joke to try and ease the tension. It probably didn’t work.

It was no secret that Garland struggled with her mental health throughout much of her life, including on A Star is Born 1954. This led to Garland calling in sick — the remedy apparently being for her to party and go to the races — a total of nine days. She would also leave set early, simply because she didn’t want to be there, and frequently complain about her costumes. At one point, they had fallen 41 days behind schedule due to these delays. To make matters even worse, Garland left set for two weeks at the end of March to get herself properly “medicated.”

A Star is Born 1954 was a groundbreaking film for Oscar-winning director George Cukor. Not only was it his 37th film, but it was also his first-ever musical and his first Technicolor effort.

Turns out the on-screen chemistry between Garland and Mason was real! While working on the film, the two became very close friends and remained so until Garland’s death in 1969. In fact, Mason was asked by Garland’s daughter, Liza Minnelli, to give a eulogy at her funeral.

A Star is Born 1954 was the first film Garland worked on after a four-year break from acting. Her last project before it was Summer Stock (1950).

The New York City premiere of A Star is Born was so big that it had to be held at two different theaters: the Victoria and the Capitol. It was also the first-ever Hollywood film to have its premiere televised.

Despite all of the other hardships Garland faced while filming A Star is Born, it ended well because the actress found out she was pregnant with son Joey Luft at the end of it! Joey was also the reason Garland did not attend the 1955 Academy Award — despite being nominated for Best Actress, she had just given birth and was still in the hospital at the time.

Despite having a starring role in the film, James Mason didn’t think their version was the best adaption of the story. “Ours was a little thrown out of kilter, because it became centered on the activities of a musical performer, who happened to be the less important of the two characters,” the actor once said. “However, ours survives, and ours has become a classic because Judy was such an extraordinary performer. It’s a wonderful film.”

For the Academy Award segment, the props department of A Star is Born made 50 fake Oscars for the cast to use. They were destroyed immediately after production wrapped so that people wouldn’t get them mixed up with the real thing.

The first test screening of A Star is Born 1954 was of a 196-minute cut, but Cukor and his editor, Folmar Blangsted, cut it down to 182 minutes for the New York premiere. Despite positive reviews, Warner Brothers was concerned the length would mean fewer screenings a day, so they had it cut down to 154 minutes, resulting in two musical numbers and important dramatic material being cut. Over the years, restored editions would be issued.

In the end, A Star is Born took nine months to film at a cost of $5 million and a box office gross of just over $6 million. As such, not only was it Warner Brothers’ most expensive production up until that time, but it lost a lot of money.