Discovery of Judy Garland
Lane is credited with discovering the 13-year-old Frances Gumm (Judy Garland). He caught her sisters' act at the Paramount theater in Hollywood which featured a movie and a live stage show. The sisters, Susie and Mary Jane, brought on their younger sister, Frances, who sang "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart". Lane immediately called Jack Robbins, head of the music department at MGM, and told her he'd just heard a great new talent.
Robbins told him to bring her in next day for an audition which Lane did. Robbins was knocked out by the little girl's voice (Lane played the audition piano for her), rushed upstairs and dragged Louis B. Mayer down to listen to her belt out some songs. Mayer was so impressed he ordered every writer, director and producer on the lot to hear her with the result that the audition, which began at 9 am, finished at 7:30 pm. But Frances (Judy) was signed, and that was the start of her great career. Because of circumstance, and contractual arrangements, Burton Lane didn't work with her again for seven years (Babes on Broadway), but it was definitely he who discovered her.
Read more about this topic: Burton Lane
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