The Wizard of Oz babe Judy Garland was always destined to be a singing and acting superstar after being born into a musical family in Grand Rapids, Minnesota in 1922.

Her father, Frank Gumm, possessed a baritone singing voice well-suited to sentimental ballads in the old days, while her mother, Ethel Gumm had a reasonable voice herself and talented with musical instruments particularly the piano and performed supporting music roles. They had a lot in common and married in January 1914, and Frank took over management of a movie theatre.

Their first daughter, Mary, was born in 1915, and Dorothy came along two years later in 1917. Ethel Gumm's third pregnancy in the fall of 1921 was unwelcome - she didn't want another child. Marc Rabwin, who was a friend of her husband's and studying medicine at the University of Minnesota, was consulted on terminating the pregnancy. It was illegal and dangerous at the time and he counselled her against abortion.

Judy Garland, who had a rocky relationship with her mother while growing up would later joke: "She did everything to get rid of me by rolling down stairs and jumping off tables." When a girl came into the world at Itasca hospital, weighing 3 kilograms (7 pounds) on 10 June 1922, Frank and Ethel were disappointed because they wanted a boy. "Frank" was the name they thought in advance for their third child became "Frances Ethel Gumm". Her name changed to "Judy Garland" prior to working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The three sisters, Virginia (left of screen), Dorothy (middle) and the attractive Judy Garland who was 18 years old at the time. They are not bad looking children of Frank and Ethel. Their father Frank passed away many years ago and their mother Ethel was still alive when this photo was taken.

Pretty like a flower, Judy Garland as Dorothy gets some final touches of make-up on the set of The Wizard of Oz.

According to FBI files, in 1940, a year after the released of The Wizard of Oz, there was a plot to kidnap Judy Garland by two obsessed male fans, but the police caught up with the men before they could proceed to her Bel-Air home.
Judy Garland was at home with her sister Virginia and six other youthful friends when police arrived to describe the threatened kidnapping. All expressed amazement at the threats.