Judy Garland Discussion Thread

[martha]

[Richard]

Thanks guys. Swell article, martha.

[Richard]

Just bought...



Hardly what I'd consider definitive, as it was mostly comprised of the songs Judy sang in her movies while under contract at MGM. I paid $3 for it so I won't complain.

Martha, what's the best Garland CD on the market?

[martha]

wow. that's a question for you.

there are several versions of the carnegie hall concert that are essential .. one was released in 2000 and another in 2001 .. these are the recordings that introduced most of the world to the inter-tune patter, and stories and fun ... sigh.

there are two collections of tunes from judy's movies .. one called "judy in hollywood" and a 2nd, 2 cd one called "collector's gems" with some outtakes and things like "gotta pair of new shoes" .. newly on my mind because its in THOROUGHBREDS DON'T CRY which aired on TCM today in honor of the kentucky derby i think .. horse racing .. and its more a mickey rooney that a judy film .. but she (and SOPHIE TUCKER!) shine in it. .. .1937 that one was.

there have been a few fine recordings released under the savoy jazz label over the past few years from judy's 1963-64 CBS television series ... under the creative directorship of john fricke .. and you can't go wrong there.

expanded soundtrack cds for THE WIZARD OF OZ (with many outtakes and all the orchestration) and A STAR IS BORN have been released in the past few years too.

a wealth of gems to choose from. there are other things too ... other concerts leading up to carnegie (amsterdam in december 1960; paris in october 1960) and 'judy at the grove" from late 1950s, the final night of that engagement .. that is charming in its own way.

i have scores of garland recordings and frankly, this 'definitive' collection you have here isn't even on my radar ..

[Tracy Lord]

The cds I have of her that I consider essential are the Complete Decca Masters set & Collector's Gems. And of course the Wizard of Oz 2 disc collection etc. This is really random but I've been wanting some songs from Summer Stock I can't believe I don't really have any. I've also been wanting the box set The One and Only as well.

[katecranberry018]

Uhm I love Judy Garland so much...that's pretty much all I can say, because it sums it up. I can say, though, if it weren't for Judy, I never would have discovered Kate. So go Judy

[carol]

I love Judy Garland too. She's one of my favourites. In my opinion, she's the most talented entertainer of all time. It's a shame that she had a sad life and died young.

[martha]

she was the first to say she had a marvelous life, much of it. i'm a fan (clearly, see posts above ) ... and have watched fans over the years focus on different aspects of her career and life .. "oh poor judy" to "oh my goodness, the most marvelous entertainer, when she was at her best (or some say even at her worst) who ever lived" .. she had struggles in her life -- some self imposed, some imposed by others -- and many many amazing experiences and people. i'll find a quote from her toward the end of her life in which she said essentially this. that she wanted people to know that she had had a marvelous life.

so ... i'm just speaking up for the perspective of not painting her life as "sad" ... it was more complex than that.

stunning, complex, kind, giving, sometimes selfish, loving, .. with an amazing ability to connect to audiences. to this day ... don't know if anyone else has this ability now in quite the way she had it. for those who respond to her performance artistry, its almost at a cellular level.

in my humble opinion. ...

[Judy]

Sept 27, 2010 21:02:47 GMT -5 martha said:

she was the first to say she had a marvelous life, much of it. i'm a fan (clearly, see posts above ) ... and have watched fans over the years focus on different aspects of her career and life .. "oh poor judy" to "oh my goodness, the most marvelous entertainer, when she was at her best (or some say even at her worst) who ever lived" .. she had struggles in her life -- some self imposed, some imposed by others -- and many many amazing experiences and people. i'll find a quote from her toward the end of her life in which she said essentially this. that she wanted people to know that she had had a marvelous life.

so ... i'm just speaking up for the perspective of not painting her life as "sad" ... it was more complex than that.

stunning, complex, kind, giving, sometimes selfish, loving, .. with an amazing ability to connect to audiences. to this day ... don't know if anyone else has this ability now in quite the way she had it. for those who respond to her performance artistry, its almost at a cellular level.

in my humble opinion. ...

Well said, M. Judy

[carol]

Yeah, maybe 'sad' isn't the right word. It was more 'tragic' I think. From what I've read/heard/seen, her life was indeed complex. It's like she lived 10 lives in 47 years. But I saw a documentary on her in which they said that her mother and Louis B. Mayer gave her pills or something when she was starting out. Can someone elaborate on that please? Martha? Cause I've heard so many things about it.

Also, forgot to say, Meet me in St Louis is one of my favourite movies ever

[martha]

i'd recommend reading any book by John Fricke, or one of several biographies ... Christopher Finch or Gerold frank in particular. for details of garland's life. there are many bad bad bios -- and books that attempt to capitalize on sordid events real or imagined (by the biographers).

M-G-M provided uppers and downers to their actors, prescribed by studio doctors. this was to get more work out of their employees, sure. on their side, the devastating effects of many of the drugs they prescribed were not known then as they are now. and some people had more addictive personalities than others. garland had issues with addiction.

the word "tragic" isn't much better than "sad" from my perspective ... but read up on the details.

[katecranberry018]

If anything, I prefer to focus on her ups rather than downs.

She just had the most amazing career...to have the ability she had would just be astounding, in my mind. I couldn't even fathom being able to sing and act and just win everybody over like that. And that's what I prefer to think about and wonder over.

[carol]

Martha, thanks for the explanation! I'll check out John Fricke. I have one biography on her that got recently, it's called 'Get happy' by Gerald Clarke, but still haven't read it. Is that one good?

I agree, katecranberry, she had an amazing career. She was so dedicated to her fans. And her voice was heavenly. Her version of 'Old man river' always brings tears to my eyes.

[martha]

Sept 29, 2010 6:10:06 GMT -5 carol said:

Martha, thanks for the explanation! I'll check out John Fricke. I have one biography on her that got recently, it's called 'Get happy' by Gerald Clarke, but still haven't read it. Is that one good? .

'get happy' by clarke is treated as a bit unfortunate and prurient (i.e. the biographer gets off track or onto the track he wants to be on at a certain point of the book, and focuses on real or imagined sexual and/or medication details of judy's life and experiences) .. and loses many of the fan base including me along the way. this book, unfortunately, is the one purchased by weinstein's production company for development into a movie and stage project (no word recently, perhaps the idea has faded away) for anne hathaway to portray garland ... there was a flurry of press associated with that project starting about 2 years ago, and not much recently ..

so ... as background for the starting point for that project, should it get off the ground, i suppose 'get happy' might be a worth a read but honestly, it is not universally well regarded among the many biographies of garland.

[martha]

This is a kind of musing on bio-theatrical adventures gone awry for our Kate and the several for Judy Garland.

When I was a newbie on this board I engaged in a thread on the theatrical work (as so much fiction) on Kate called "Tea at Five" ..

katethegreatnet.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=theatre&action=display&thread=524&page=2

I at that point was in the "it moved me, it seemed true enough" or something (shoddy thinking on my part) ... yet if i were honest with myself, and now having seen more of the playwright's work, I have come to my own conclusion that he likes to write about women with big personalities and picks biographical details that inspire drama not truth (sigh) and just is not very good and .. well, mea culpa. I am no apologist in the end for that particular playwright. And having refreshed myself with the biographical details of Kate (and Spencer's life), well. The play "Tea at Five" impresses me less and less. As a model for how one might approach the structure of a one person play there are lessons (selected pivotal moments in real time around which the character can chat with someone in the room or with others or on the phone illuminating other details) .. but truth be told TRU (about Truman Capote) may have done this better. but all lessons, all about structure.

We're here about the heart and truth of the matter.

Which brings me to my current diatribe ... or related issue. A play that is coming to American from Britain (and its original runs in Australia some years ago) crafted by Peter Quilter, who got his start in children's television. Quilter wrote a play some years ago inspired by Garland's final months in London and a run at a cabaret/night club called "The Talk of the Town". The first drafts of this play had a character of another name traveling with her son and staying in a hotel room (sounds a lot like "I Could Go On Singing" actually) .. and the playwright later (some years ago) changed the characters to be Garland herself and her finance and later final husband Mickie Deans .. and a completely fictitious character as her confidant accompanist "Anthony".

The playwright is on record as saying that he didn't do a great deal of research on Garland at the time or in general -- he didn't want to muddy his creative processes with too many facts. The actress is on record as saying she got a "bead" on how to play Garland by watching a Garland impersonator. (I know, right?) The play takes place in a hotel room at the Ritz in London (where Garland stayed during that "Talk of the Town" engagement) and in a twilight never world where the actress as Garland gives out with some belting tunes.

People report being moved and saddened by -- the fiction being presented as "fact" ....

It's kind of a mess, this play. I've read it but haven't seen it. I've seen the actress portraying Garland (Tracie Bennett I think is the name) and she seems to have all brassy tones and no heart.

Just a Garland-related vent here. And an acknowledgment that I am totally on board with the troubling nature of the piece of theatre that is "Tea at Five" .. in the same vein.

As Judy here on this Forum said at one point in our discussions about "Tea at Five"

Tea at Five totally lacks substance, subtlty or style. And that's a real shame since its subject possessed all of those qualities and more.

Yes -- I agree now, totally. And Quilter is similarly disrespecting the memory of Judy Garland. And it's slated to come to Broadway, egad.

[and about "Looped", the "Tea at Five" playwright's next project -- I was appalled. He like Quilter wrote in a sympathetic confidante/gay character who in the end is the "star" of the show and portrays Bankhead as a caricature and ... well. I reviewed it. Arg.]