Listen, Darling

Listen, Darling is a 1938 American musical comedy film starring Judy Garland, Freddie Bartholomew, Mary Astor, and Walter Pidgeon. It is best known as being the film in which Judy Garland sings "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", which later became one of her standards.^[2]

Listen, Darling
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Edwin L. Marin
Written by	Katharine Brush (story) Anne Morrison Chapin Elaine Ryan Noel Langley (uncredited)
Produced by	Jack Cummings
Starring	Judy Garland Freddie Bartholomew Mary Astor Walter Pidgeon
Cinematography	Charles Lawton Jr. Lester White
Edited by	Blanche Sewell
Music by	William Axt
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	October 21, 1938 (1938-10-21)
Running time	75 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$566,000[1]
Box office	$583,000[1]

Plot

Pinky Wingate (Judy Garland) is worried about her widowed mother, Dottie (Mary Astor), who is pursuing a loveless relationship with the town's banker, knowing he can help her fund her children's lives. To help her realize this, Pinky and her friend Buzz (Freddie Bartholomew) "kidnap" Dottie and her younger brother Billie (Scotty Beckett), taking them on a road trip to get away from the banker. While they do this, they meet two men, Richard Thurlow (Walter Pidgeon) and J.J Slattery (Alan Hale), who they think would be nice husbands for her mother. Her mother falls in love with Richard Thurlow (Walter Pidgeon) and they go home.

Cast

• Judy Garland as "Pinkie" Wingate
• Freddie Bartholomew as Herbert "Buzz" Mitchell
• Mary Astor as Dorothy "Dottie" Wingate
• Walter Pidgeon as Richard Thurlow
• Alan Hale as J.J. Slattery
• Scotty Beckett as Billie Wingate
• Barnett Parker as Abercrombie
• Gene Lockhart as Arthur Drubbs
• Charley Grapewin as Uncle Joe Higgins

Release

Listen, Darling was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on October 21, 1938. According to MGM records, the film earned $381,000 in the US and Canada and $202,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $17,000.^[1] Initially, the film was released as home media on VHS in 1992 by MGM/UA Home Video, on Laser Disc in 1995 by MGM/UA Home Video along with Thoroughbreds Don't Cry^[3] and on DVD in 2012 by Warner Archive.^[4]