'JITTERBUG WHODUNNIT' JUDY GARLAND, RAY BOLGER AND JANE POWELL.

Performed by Judy Garland, Jane Powell, and Ray Bolger on 'The Judy Garland Show,' taped October 11, 1963. Judy & Ray - with Jane Powell, Judy's replacement in 'Royal Wedding' - gave us a wonderful gift by putting this number together. A deleted song from 'The Wizard Of Oz', 'The Jitterbug' footage is all but lost except for home movies ... AND THIS!
When it was first previewed in the summer of 1939, 'The Wizard Of Oz' was nearly two hours in length, which some believed to be too long. So a number of scenes were shortened, and several dropped entirely, such as 'The Jitterbug,' an elaborate number that came right before the winged monkeys captured Dorothy and her friends in the haunted forest. It's still referred to in the movie when the witch tells the monkeys, "I've sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them!" No one is exactly sure why it was cut, since it took several weeks to choreograph, rehearse, and film, and cost quite a bit of money. The best guess is that it was too lighthearted for the dramatic tension of the story at that point, and unlike the rest of the musical numbers, it was extraneous and didn't advance the plot. 'The Jitterbug' number was devised by Harold Arlen and E.Y Harburg to showcase Garland's talents.

JUDY: Did you just hear what I just heard?
JANE: That noise don't come from no ordinary bird.
JUDY: It may be just a cricket , or a critter in the trees.
JANE: It's giving me the jitters, in the joints around my knees.
JUDY: It's a whozis.
JANE: It's a whosis?
JUDY: It's a whatzis.
JANE: It's a whatzis?
JUDY: Whozat?
JANE: Whozat?
BOTH WITH RAY BOLGER:
Who's that hiding,
In the tree top?
It's that rascal
The Jitterbug.
Should you catch him buzzin' round you,
Keep away from the Jitterbug.
Oh, the bats and the bees
And the breeze in the trees
Have a terrible, horrible buzz.
But the bats and the bees
And the breeze in the trees
Couldn't do what the Jitterbug does.
So be careful Of that rascal
Keep away from
The Jitterbug!

Information courtesy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Website:
http://thewizardofoz.info/

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