Get smart curated videos delivered to your inbox.   SUBSCRIBE
The Kid Should See This

Judy Garland sings Over the Rainbow for U.S. troops (1943)

Watch more with these video collections:

Judy Garland sings Over the Rainbow for U.S. troops in this 1943 radio show performance during World War II. She was 21 years old. A timeless classic, the song debuted in The Wizard of Oz in 1939.

According to The Judy Room, “this is the only filmed record of how Judy sang ‘Over The Rainbow’ throughout the 1940s.”

Classic FM named it one of the most poignant of wartime songs:

Composed by Harold Arlen for the movie The Wizard of Oz (1939), ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ gained a new poignancy during the war. Judy Garland performed it live for American troops in 1943, and a special recording with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra was released and sent to soldiers, as a promise of better days to come.


Related watching: scenes from movies, including songs like Singin’ In the Rain, A Tisket A TasketLife Has Its Funny Little Ups and Downs, and the St. Louis Blues March.

And of course, there’s the performance that started this blog: Ella Fitzgerald scatting in 1969.

This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.

Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.

🌈 Watch these videos next...

What does ‘Auld Lang Syne’ mean?

Rion Nakaya

Tito Puente performs A Maria Cervantes on the vibraphone (1945)

Rion Nakaya

The brilliant Lindy Hopping of Al Minns and Leon James

Rion Nakaya

Rainbow Connection, a 2020 performance by Kermit the Frog

Rion Nakaya

Maria Callas sings O mio babbino caro and Casta Diva

Rion Nakaya

Life Has Its Funny Little Ups and Downs: Donald O’Connor tap dances on roller skates

Rion Nakaya

Kermit the Frog sings The Rainbow Connection (1979)

Rion Nakaya

Joni Mitchell performs The Circle Game (1968)

Rion Nakaya

Handbell ringers perform “Married Life” from Pixar’s UP

Rion Nakaya