June 22,1969 -The day JUDY died.

I like to remember her as Mickey Rooney said, "At the top of her game!"

Perhaps June 22nd should be National Gay Pride Day.

Mama was buried in a bluish grey dress.

I was 12 years old, at summer camp. It was afternoon swim time, but for some reason I was going back to my cabin alone. I was walking up the hill when another camper my age was walking down. He stopped and said 'Did you hear? Judy Garland died'. I didn't say anything, and he misunderstood my stunned silence for ignorance. "Judy Garland? The Wizard of Oz?', he prompted,at which point I put my hand on my hip and snapped 'I KNOW who Judy Garland is!'.

Looking back I suppose I should've asked him just how he knew Judy Garland had died (after all this was way before the Internet and cell phones). Maybe he was listening to the transistor radios we had hanging around, but at age 12 I was unaware of my own gayness, let alone picking up clues in other people. I just thought my fascination with looking at the other boys in the shower was 'a phase I was going through' That phase has lasted 46 years and counting.

I was an 18 days old foetus that day.

Where's that fat old queen with the animated blue birds when you need him?

Great talent but such a sad sad life.

Judy was one of the most talented singers ever. She also had a lot of pain and struggle throughout her life. Despite that, she had a good heart, which is hard to encounter in Hollywood. At a time when gay people were oppressed beyond belief, they identified with her struggles and she theirs.

I miss Judy Pills.

I was not born yet when Judy died. I came a year later.

Yet, whatever it is about her that has captivated generations of gays, I feel and embrace fully. As much as I'd love to reject all stereotypes, this is one I long ago surrendered to. I can't really even put my finger on why. I guess my only question is how ANYONE else, gay or straight, could not feel the same way. The amount of talent on display here is remarkable. She feels every word of the song. It is still as affecting as it was 50+ years ago.

RIP Judy.

A large number of living gays aren't captivated by her. At all. Those who are captivated are in the minority and dwindling by the day.

That's also know as the day all the pharmacists in the LA area wept in sorrow.

Did she ever try LSD? That would have done a lot less harm than the drugs she did do.

[quote]Did she ever try LSD?

She tried. But everytime she got ahold of some Lil Joe would use her stash.

her last photo at 47 years old right before her death ~ If I'm such a legend, then why am I so lonely? Let me tell you, legends are all very well if you've got somebody around who loves you. Judy Garland

I felt terrible when Julie Garland died trying to jump over the Rainbow Bridge. We actually were the best of frenemies.

R11 you type unhappy.

6/22/69

Wow, r10. That is a stunning rendition of that song.

It's funny. I instinctively loved Judy Garland from the moment I first saw her, in The Wizard of Oz. After that, I would be delighted (as a child) whenever I'd run across one of her old musicals being shown on TV. It was instinctive. I don't know why I loved her, but I did, even as a little boy.

R19 yes, every time she sang that song, I suppose until her later years when she became too far gone, she nailed it.

And yeah, I felt a kinship with her in OZ too, long before I knew I was gay. The mystery of what attracts us to her is part of the legend. I've heard many theories, but I've never heard a definitive explanation.

One time, years ago, Mickey Rooney was on Howard Stern. Howard asked him why the gay love Judy Garland. He said something like "She had a quality that appealed to a broad spectrum and a certain vulnerability..." and he went on. Finally Stern interrupts him and says "So.. you don't know either!"

I was lucky to see Judy Garland perform three times. The audiences in the early 1960s were not predominatedly gay. That was later. She had such an affect on people because of a superb singing voice and tons of charisma. Only Frank Sinatra, and times Ella fitzgerald, were in the class as Garland, in my opinion.

OMG!! Judy Tenuta died?

Who's Judy Tetuna?

R11, she is our MLK. And she deserves the same recognition.

R21 interesting. By 1967 is appears that her concert audiences were gay enough for Time to make some very snide borderline ugly comments about it.

Time, in its August 18, 1967, review of Garland's final engagement at New York's Palace Theatre, observed, "A disproportionate part of her nightly claque seems to be homosexual. The boys in the tight trousers roll their eyes, tear at their hair and practically levitate from their seats, particularly when Judy sings ['Over the Rainbow']." In the same article Time quoted psychiatrists' interpretations of the gay-Garland connection. One offered that "Judy was beaten up by life, embattled and ultimately had to become more masculine. She has the power that homosexuals would like to have, and they attempt to attain it by idolizing her."

Why does Judy Garlan deserve recognition?

Mama?

I was molested.

I like blue.

No, she was not and no, she doesn't R24. That's an insult MLK.

Let go. It's okay, really. There's an entire world out there waiting to be explored.

I like to think that gay people are very sharp at recognizing great talent. It's the same reason we flocked to Streisand in the early days as well. But Judy had a mixture of qualities that I think gay men, in particular, found appealing. Not just great talent, which was undeniable, but energy, pizzazz, optimism, and of course her storied vulnerability. I already loved her by around the age of 5 and I remember clearly watching the Wizard of Oz as if it were the Holy Grail.

For a time I think gay guys were ashamed to admit Garland love. Fuck that. She was amazing.

She was also a great raconteur. She had some great conversations with Jack Paar.

I wasn't even born yet

THIS is why we love her.

Judy Judy Judy!

r34 I would add the song "The Man That Got Away" would also speak to a lot of Garland's audiences. There was a lot of heart and soul and personal angst/drama in that song, and it came across whenever she performed it. Shared miseries, I suppose?

R25: Yes by 1967, Judy Garland's audiences were largely gay. When I wrote about her audiences in the early 1960s, I was referring to 1961 when she had the best selling album in the country, "Judy at Carnegie Hall." The first time I saw her perform was as a freshman in college in 1961.

Will there been one single comment about JUDY in this thread about JUDY that hasn't been posted countless times before in all the countless JUDY threads?

I must be one of the few gay guys who prefers her BEFORE she became the big diva in the 50s and 60s. My favorite Garland period is from 1936, when she first appeared, to around 1948, when her problems started to really get a hold on her. I like the young chubby faced warmth of teenage Judy, her voice was so melodic then. She was a wonderful actress too, at both comedy and drama. She is just LIKABLE in those earlier films, the sort of person anyone would want as a friend, or a sister!

R38 I'm new to Data Lounge, so it's all new to me!

Begone R,38. We don't welcome your kind here.

Ha, ha, ha! I'll say!

Whatever she had, she always had it. Until she lost it.....

Re: r 15: Fake magazine inside NATIONAL LAMPOON, 1975

r 39: I think her MGM films are actually a relatively UNDERrated part of her legacy. Observation: Three of her seven MGM films post-"Meet Me In St. Louis" are 'guest spots'. Five are star vehicles.

r34: Is that colorized footage from her TV show?

She looked awful at the young age of 47 when she died...pills & booze really took over her life so sad!

She had like 5 or 6 showbiz "lives" so she touched many lives: Vaudeville; kiddie star in the movies; teen star; adult musicals star; TV star; concert performer...

"..... and when she died, the neighbors came to snicker." I wonder if Liza cringed every time she sang that line?

What is LIZA doing...still in rehab? Sad like mother like daughter!

R50 Liza is back in her apartment in NYC but staying close to home.

It's not rocket science, she was the all-time triple threat.

As somebody says, and it needs to be remembered today, other actresses could have been better - Stanwyck, maybe Davis, thought Bette Davis was impossible at comedy - there were a couple of better dancers, such as Hayworth and Rodgers, but there were no better singers than Judy Garland and as far as singing actors, nobody came then or now within a hundred miles.

She is the Gay Blessed Mother. She should have her own holy day of observation.

Hopefully her daughter Liza will not die from pills & liquor as well as I hear she is a mess as well so sad at her age

Judy reminds me of my grandmother who died when I was 11. She was funny, beautiful and loved Frank Sinatra and listening to WNEW-AM (Sinatra, Garland, Big band).

That is at least part of the reason for my affinity for Garland.

A heartwarming and memorable quote from Frank Sinatra:

"The rest of us will be forgotten. Never Judy."

Are Liza and Lorna close, or do they just tolerate each other?

I love Judy's MGM years. It is by far my favorite part of her legacy. When you watch those movies of her as a teenager, singing her heart out, you think that this must be an adult in a child's body. How could she possibly know how to sing like that at 13 or 14 years old? It's astonishing.

I remember reading when her relationship fell apart with Tyrone Power, she never recovered. Apparently Tyrone Power was having an affair with her while he was married to Annabelle(how charming) and Judy wanted him to leave his wife,which he refused to do. Through out the rest of her life she referred to Tyrone Power as Tyrony the phony.

Used to chat with a friend about if given that fabled time machine, which live show would be first choice to see. Judy at Carnegie Hall won. (Brando in 'Streetcar' next, then the opening of 'West Side Story.')

There's a riveting description of that Judy night in 'The Gay Metropolis'. The recording surely lives up to its billing as the greatest night in show-business history.

R60 The part of Carnegie Hall that gets me is the entire audience singing alone to For Me and My Gal. Her connection with the audience is palpable there. Today, not one person would know the words.

"We'll sing 'em all and we'll stay all night!"

r59: Judy was also fucked over by Artie Shaw. She thought they were in love, but he was simultaneously fucking Betty Grable AND Lana Turner while he was stringing Judy along. When he married Lana (whom she always compared herself with to her detriment), Judy was devastated.

(Betty was all 'fuck this shit' and began fucking Harry James)

Plus of course R61 'Me And My Gal' leads into 'The Trolley Song', so to say Judy had 'em where she wanted 'em would be understatement. Don't usually like live albums, but in this case the roars and applause intensify the pleasure of those great songs, and That Voice.

Yes, R63 you can feel the overwhelming love and collective sense of warm nostalgia tinged with the sadness of times gone by in that medley. It is so lovely. I don't think there is anything today that could match it. We're too fractured now.

I am about to watch the last episode of the 1963-1964 Judy Garland Show. I do know that Garland mostly left the variety show format behind to do weekly concerts. I am concerned because the DVD has many extras.

Will be interest if anyone one here has seen the last show. Any comments?

My Father had mentioned seeing Judy live when I didn't know any better. Then, he brought it up when I was old enough to get it, he said that he had seen the Judy at Carnegie show at The Hollywood Bowl. It was the first time I had said to him... "I hate you!"

I believe the Hollywood Bowl concert was the one where it rained, yet no one left no matter how wet.

It was very-well known in the 1960s.

So your dad is gay, too, R66?

I wasn't even alive when Garland died, but my grandfather loved her and he wasn't gay silly. Listen to Judy at Carnegie Hall and you will hear an undeniably great evening in the long career of a phenomenal singer and great entertainer. Her talent is freakishly palpable. There are voices that have equalled and passed hers in technique, power and subtlety but still there are only the two, Streisand and Whitney who can even compare for mind blowing vocal moments. Neither have her musicianship or innate warmth and charisma. Garland's voice is thought of as outdated with so much emotion and later in her life, so little control. Listen to her at her (recorded) best and there is no wonder she set all sentient beings on their ass and lifted them out of their seats. That is a hell of a vocal tour de force. Her vibrato is under control, even on record her resonance bounces around the walls, her crescendos are literally spine chilling and still she kills the downbeat of I Can't Give You Anything But Love with subtlety and swings like a prizefighter on Almost Like Being in Love. What a singer. The medley that comes in the last quarter is sung with a kind of swollen perfect musical power, she glides through it and makes it pretty while singing in full voice. That record is an incredible high to listen to, all the damn way through. She starts only good, within two songs she becomes great and then the rest is phenomenal. Come Rain or Come Shine she should not even attempt to do what she did, only Whitney would show off like that live, be less than perfect and still have you wondering how this girl had some other gear to her voice that you never heard before? Garland had the vocal chops to whisper like a cat and not miss a musical inflection either. I can't get over that record. Smoke a joint and have a thrill. Guess I am preaching to the choir. I am not a part of the Judy cult, but I am a damn fan of her once phenomenal voice, great musicality and humble service to her gift. I hear she gave it often. Like Pink Floyd there is even more magic there than she set out to make. Not just for the gays. Close your eyes and don't even look. Listen, she was something.

CBS signed Judy Garland for a lot of money for a hour variety show on Sunday night from 9 to 10 following Ed Sullivan. In 1963-1964, Garland had a far wider audience than gays. The show did not work ( for many reasons) partly because Judy surprising was not a particularly good host -- not as good as Dinah Shore or Perry Como. Her hour concert shows were wonderful, but impossible in a weekly basis.

Judy Garland's last show for CBS: March 1964:

Judy taped an emotionally satisfying, "Here's to Us" from the Broadway show "Little Me" as her last song.

The song ended with Judy singing:

'Here's to us/for letting me do/what I'll do/ to the end of my days. Here's to us/forever and always!"

She was in a clown outfit for an ill-conceived "Where is The Clown" segment. "Clown" was so bad, it could not be broadcast, which meant "Here's to Us" were lost as well, because there would have been no explaination for Judy's clown outfit.

"Here's to Us" is available in the DVD for Judy's last show. So instead of leaving well, CBS had to broadcast a few minute of an previously broadcast Garland segment.

Here's To Us. Judy passing out pills and liquor in the final moments of her CBS series. She was something.

Actually the clown number and "Here's to Us" were taped first on the day of her last CBS show.

The rest of the show was taped later in the evening and into the night.

Has anyone else seen that clip of Judy singing 'ten pins in the sky' to little Scotty Beckett in the movie 'Listen Darling'? Scotty is scared of the thunder, so Judy sings him this song to calm him. It's to tender and winsome. Nowadays it would be called 'corny' but it brought tears to my eyes lol 16 year old Judy was so sincere and her voice so soothing.

[quote]That's also know as the day all the pharmacists in the LA area wept in sorrow.

Why? It's not like they ever got paid.

She is our Rosa Parks AND our Rosa Luxemburg.

So sad that her life ended like Elsie

Why is DL so obsessed with her?

You want a sad life? Read about the very cute Scotty Beckett. His life made that of Judy's look like that of a pampered princess.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

I'll say!

MARY!