’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 f