At what age did Judy Garland sign for Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM)?

Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American singer and actress. During a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a juvenile Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Special Tony Award, and was the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for her live recording "Judy at Carnegie Hall" (1961). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in "A Star is Born" (1954) and received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961).

In September 1935, Louis B. Mayer asked songwriter Burton Lane to go to the Orpheum Theater in downtown Los Angeles to watch the Garland Sisters' vaudeville act and to report to him. A few days later, Judy and her father were brought for an impromptu audition at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios in Culver City. Garland performed "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" and "Eli, Eli", a Yiddish song written in 1896 and very popular in vaudeville. They immediately signed Garland to a contract with MGM, presumably without a screen test, though she had made a test for the studio several months earlier. The studio did not know what to do with her, as at age thirteen, she was older than the traditional child star, but too young for adult roles.