November, 1946 -Metro offers Judy a new contract, upping her salary to $6,000 a week. Days later, she regrets signing it, wishing she'd stuck with her original plan to work independently. She feels imprisoned by the studio.
February 17, 1947 - Filming begins on The Pirate, co-starring Gene Kelly and directed by Vincente. Judy's not okay, physically or mentally. Shockingly thin and back on the pills, she misses 99 days of the movie's 135-day schedule. When she does show up, she's often wandering around the set in a daze, or worse: she has to be physically carried off the set when she becomes hysterical.
Summer, 1947 - Judy spends time in two different psychiatric hospitals.
November 25, 1947 - Judy seems well again, and shooting begins for Easter Parade. This time, filming goes smoothly, and the movie turns out beautifully. It's the only time she'll appear with Fred Astaire.
March, 1949 - Filming begins for Annie Get Your Gun, but Judy's having trouble again. For one thing, the director assigned to the film is Busby Berkeley, the same choreographer who terrorized Judy when she was a teenager. Judy and Vincente have also just announced their (first) separation. "I was so very, very sick," she remembers later.
May 10, 1949 - Judy weighs 90 pounds, her hair's falling out, and she's undergone electroshock treatments. Still, the studio is less than understanding about her many absences. After a misunderstanding about her arriving late after lunch, an enraged Judy announces she's not coming back to the set "now or ever again." MGM suspends her.
May 30, 1949 - Judy enters Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. MGM foots the bill.
Fall, 1949 -Without consulting Judy's doctor, MGM execs put her right back to work on Summer Stock. Months of resting and eating three meals a day in the hospital have done Judy good, but the studio again decides she's too chubby. Back come the pills, the anxiety, the chronic absences, and, even worse, the frightening hallucinations.
Early spring, 1950 - Filming is finally over, but the studio decides to call Judy back for one more number. To everyone's shock, Judy's enthusiastic, as long as the song is "Get Happy". She's dropped about 20 pounds on her brief vacation, and she looks fabulous in a black dinner jacket, tights, and fedora. She rehearses the song just once and records it in four takes. It's the last number she ever films for MGM.
