Meglin Kiddies

Gumm Sisters
This image "reprinted by permission, Judy Garland, World's Greatest
Entertainer, MJF Books, NY, NY © 1992, all rights reserved."

WHO WERE THE MEGLIN KIDDIES?

This prestigious children's showcase and workshop was started by Ethyl Meglin in 1928. It has produced several of the finest child stars that Hollywood has ever had. Just to name a few: Shirley Temple, Jane Withers, Ann Miller, June Lang, Mickey Rooney and of course Judy Garland. At that time she was part of the sister act known as the Gumm sisters.

My childhood memories are stronger centered in this group of kids than any of my other memories at that time. I remember being in the Hollywood Lane Santa Clause Parade for 3 years. One year my father, Bob Johnson, marched with the Meglin kids and carried a large drum. Whenever the parade would come to a halt my dad would put the drum down on the street, I would climb up on it and tap dance for the onlookers. When Jane Albright and I were discussing the details of me possibly having a part of the Bloomington 100 Centennial Celebration 2000, I told her about this incident. The last E-mail I received from her finalizing my attendance she said, " you bring your tap shoes and I'll provide the drum." I wish I could. I love to dance.

I also remember doing extravaganzas at the Wilshire-Ebell Theater. I don't know where everyone came from, as there were often adults involved too. I remember doing a performance that was a New Year's celebration. I was part of the dance chorus. You know that when I was a child we often wore a kind of traditional black satin pair of shorts. They were called tap pants. Times sure do change. Today the only place you can buy tap pants is at Victoria's Secret.

I can remember doing shows for the WWI veterans at the hospital facility called Sawtell. At one of the performances I sang the Beer Barrel Polka. When I got on stage I guess I must have been upset because when I started to sing I got the hiccups. It was a real showstopper.

To me the Meglin Kiddies were at the Center of my young world. It somehow seems poetic to me now that it was located at what was and still is called the Crossroads of the World. It runs between Hollywood Blvd and Sunset. That area became the center for the world of motions pictures, glamour and the entertainment world. My mother was not from California and came to live here with an older sister when she was about 17 years old. My mother was from a small town in Texas. She told me the story of this when I was young. It seemed that she believed that Hollywood Blvd. was thought to be paved in gold bricks and that famous movie stars could be found parading up and down the boulevard at all hours of the day and night. That is the kind of image many people thought about Hollywood in by gone years. The images today have changed but for those who come seeking fame and fortune the dreams have changed very little.

Below is a playbill of Judy and her sisters, called the Gumm sisters, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, California.

HOMEPAGE