The Man that Got Away

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"The Man that Got Away" is a popular song, published in 1953 and was written for the 1954 version of the movie A Star Is Born. The music was written by Harold Arlen, and the lyrics by Ira Gershwin.

The best-known recording of this song was done by Judy Garland. Judy's performance of the song in A Star is Born is considered by many to be one of the best songs ever to be captured on film. It is unusual for being filmed in one continuous shot. Garland (as Esther Blodgett) performs the song during an after hours rehearsal session in a smoky nightclub.

"The Man That Got Away" is arguably the most important single musical sequence in "A Star Is Born." It was photographed in three different costumes on three different occasions, in over forty different partial or complete takes. Judy Garland prerecorded the song on September 3, 1953. The number was first filmed on October 21, 1953. But the cameraman could not give director George Cukor what he wanted: "low light levels, the impressionistic feeling of the musical instruments, Garland moving in and out of pools of light," so he was fired.

Changes were made to the costume and set and the number was re-filmed on October 29th. Art director Gene Allen said, "The first time it looked as if we had painted a set to look like a bar. So to give it a slightly impressionistic look I...put a scrim between the musicians and the back bar. If you look very carefully at that scene you can see the scrim nailed down on the floor..."

According to soundman Earl Bellamy: "When Judy sang to playback, you couldn't hear anything...She wanted me to start at full blast and then she topped it...you could hear Judy clear as a bell, and she sang right with it..."

Garland did 27 takes of the number over three days, both partial and complete. But according to Allen, "Cukor had her doing bits of business before the song, and all of that action didn't really fit the song - it was just too busy. And she didn't look good - her costume was wrinkled, it didn't fit right." And the color was wrong: too brown.

It was filmed for a third time in February of 1954, with new hairstyle and costume and a new set. Cukor felt this time they finally got it right: "I think we have generated a lot of sex...She looks perfectly charming in a new Jean-Louis dress, and I know that this too is an enormous improvement over the way we first did it - it has fun and spirit."

The number was filmed in both widescreen Technicolor and in CinemaScope. Jack L. Warner and Producer Sid Luft agreed to scrap nearly two weeks of footage to date and began the film again in CinemaScope. The original takes are added as a special feature on the currently available DVD.

Garland later sang this song as a regular part of her concert repetoire, a recording exists where she sang this song on the Sammy Davis Jr Show in 1966.

The song has been sung, with lyric changes, as "The Gal that Got Away" by male singers such as Frank Sinatra. There is also a cover by Jeff Buckley, the recording of which can be found on the "Mystery White Boy" album. Audra McDonald also sang a version, which is on her album "How Glory Goes." Barbra Streisand sang a version on her 1993 concert tour, publicly dedicating her rendition to Garland's memory. The song was also covered by Ella Fitzgerald. Most recently, Rufus Wainwright performed it (2007) in his tribute revue of Garland's best know songs, 'Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! sings Judy! Judy! Judy!'.

In 2008 on the BBC TV show I'd Do Anything Jessie Buckley sang this song. Andrew Lloyd-Webber described it as "the best performance by a girl your age I have ever heard".

The Gershwin Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin contains a typescript draft of the lyrics with Ira Gershwin's handwritten changes.