Judy Garland - "I'm An Indian, Too" - Complete Segment

Check out The Judy Room's Filmography Page on "Annie Get Your Gun" here: https://www.thejudyroom.com/filmography/an...

On April 27, 1949, filming began on the “I’m An Indian, Too” production number for "Annie Get Your Gun." Judy Garland was starring as Annie Oakley, with Howard Keel as her co-star and Busby Berkeley as director. However, Berkeley did not direct “I’m An Indian, Too” that task went to Robert Alton, who staged and shot all the numbers in the film.

Garland prerecorded most of the songs in March 1949 but had prerecorded “I’m An Indian, Too” just a couple of days prior to its filming, on April 25, 1949. Garland’s recordings for the film were deemed serviceable in spite of the fact that they were recorded under much strain for her, which is noticeable in most of the surviving recordings. They’re lacking that special Garland sparkle.

By the time of “I’m An Indian, Too,” Garland had already filmed the song “Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly” and a few dramatic scenes with Berkeley, which resulted in an on-set blow-up between Berkeley and Garland, prompting her to leave the set early. She was not up to the strain of a big production number, but she gamely soldiered on, with filming lasting through May 2, 1949.

Director Charles Walters was brought in to replace Berkeley on May 5, 1949, but it was too late for Garland. She had worn herself out. On May 10, 1949, she was again hours late to the set. After lunch, she was given a reprimand by MGM’s VP L.K. Sidney. She went to the front office to plead her case, pointing out that she had been telling them Berkeley was wrong for the film. They agreed and apologized for the letter. When she got back to the soundstage, everyone was gone. Later that afternoon, the studio removed her from the film and placed her on suspension.

The problems with filming were not all Garland’s fault. Berkeley was the wrong director for her and for the film, their troubles going back to the early 1940s and his abusive treatment of her including an incident causing her to suffer a complete physical collapse. By the time of “I’m An Indian, Too” Garland had been experiencing serious health problems due to more overwork, her addiction to prescription medicines, and the stress of a huge musical like Annie Get Your Gun. The assignment of Berkeley as the director was inexcusable.

Enough footage was shot to piece together a complete “I’m An Indian, Too” sequence, which is much different than how it was re-shot and presented in the final release version of the film with Betty Hutton in the Annie role, under the direction of George Sidney. The complete footage has never been released in remastered format. Clips of it were included on the DVD and Blu-ray releases, along with the song part. The edits on those releases are noticeable in that the makeup on Annie’s face suddenly changes, due to the removal of the section where she earns the stripes on her face.

Enough footage was shot to piece together a complete “I’m An Indian, Too” sequence, which is much different than how it was re-shot and presented in the final release version of the film with Betty Hutton in the Annie role, under the direction of George Sidney. The complete footage has never been released in remastered format. Clips of it were included on the DVD and Blu-ray releases, along with the song part. The edits on those releases are noticeable in that the makeup on Annie’s face suddenly changes, due to the removal of the section where she earns the stripes on her face.

Here is the complete sequence as initially intended, with the remastered clips spliced in to show how much of the number was left out. The footage varies in quality, however, it’s infinitely better than the very dark and muddy footage that’s previously been released on bootleg home media releases.