Judy Garland's 90th

June 10th is Judy Garland's 90th birthday. She died June 22,1969 at 47. In between she pack in a lot of living. An icon of gay men and women everywhere, Garland was married 5 times most famously to director Vincente Minnelli which produced another gay icon, Liza. 5 husbands is not a good track record and Garland wasn't the best judge of men. The two who probably did the best by her were Vincente hubby # 2, and Sid Luft hubby # 3, with whom she had 2 more children, Lorna & Joey. Her marriage to Luft lasted the longest, about 10 years. With Minnelli, Judy made the any-holiday classic Meet Me in St. Louis in 1944, and a personal favorite the war time romance The Clock in 1945. Married in 1945, the artistic, quiet, sensitive Minnelli  was 42 to Judy's 23. Always in search of a father figure, Garland chose one who also made her feel beautiful on screen for the first time for Judy always had a problem about her looks [ MGM studio boss Louis B Mayer called her ' my little hunchback' ] Coming up in the ranks at Metro the same time as Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, Hedy Lamarr will also do that to a person, I suppose. Unfortunately Minnelli was also bi-sexual, and at times, couldn't give Garland the basic needs she craved. Their on screen collaboration ended with 1947's The Pirate with Gene Kelly. They separated in 1950 and she was let go by Metro that same year. Their divorce was final in 1951. The marriage to Luft resulted in not only their 2 kids but also what may be her best work ever on film, 1954's A Star is Born. In this movie, which Luft produced, Garland transcended the material and gave what is a very affecting movie experience. In fact one could almost make a claim for her being too good as it almost throws the movie off-center, were it not for the equally expert playing of James Mason as her love interest Norman Maine, she would be the focus of the film. However, the story is really Norman's. That is something most tend to overlook. The performances, the color, photography, set design, music, script, all under the steady hand of cinema master George Cukor [ Philadelphia Story, Gaslight, Born Yesterday, A Double Life, Holiday, My Fair Lady ; one could go on and on ] makes this a must see. But I have posted on this movie before. Despite the many merits of this film, 6 Oscar noms including ones for Garland & Mason as Best Actor & Actress of the year [ they lost ], it cost so much, over 6 million 1954 dollars [ over 50 million in 2012 dollars ], it failed to earn a profit for Warner Brothers.  Consequently, Garland didn't make another film until her cameo in the Holocaust-trial film Judgement at Nuremberg in 1961. Nuremberg earned Judy her second  Oscar nom but her first as Best Supporting Actress. She lost again, natch. In between these films she had several bouts of depression and suicide attempts [ most of which were kept from the press at the time] and separations with Luft, a dangerous time with hepatitis, and a triumphant and historic series of concerts at New York City's Carnegie Hall in 1961. In 1962 she signed with CBS for a weekly television variety show called The Judy Garland Show. Critically acclaimed, the show was in the Sunday night slot opposite NBC's Bonanza, the biggest, most popular show on the tube at that time. Her show was a ratings disappointment and got cancelled after 1 season.

Not much of note happened the last 5 or 6 years of her life: a couple more failed marriages, fired from the film version of Valley of the Dolls. She mostly did concerts and tried to avoid the bill collectors beating at her door. Judy died of an overdose of pills on June 22, 1969. I remember when I heard the news. I was spending  a couple of summer months in Kansas City, Kansas with my Aunt & Uncle. I was 10 and remember thinking: Dorothy is dead. It struck me as something tragic and sad, tho I didn't really know the details of her death and certainly not the details of her life and it's many attempts at suicide. Her death was ruled an accidental drug overdose. I believe in accidental overdoses. There was a time when I didn't, but now having reached the age when some kind of medication or even vitamin is necessary, I know what it is like for a certain confusion to set in. I often cannot recall if I have taken my blood pressure medicine or not. So to say Judy's death was accidental, no matter how many attempts at ending her life, seems believable to me. Sad, regrettable, but believable.

I think the important thing is to look at Garland with fresh eyes [ and ears ]. We have all heard of her and seen her if only as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz as a dim childhood memory. So consequently she is taken for granted by casual movie watchers and canonized by others. A huge musical star in films she was also one of it's top ten box office attractions during the World War II. Garland was also a tremendous dramatic actress as good in her way as Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn. But she did so much more and she is one of the few performers whom we are acquainted with almost instantly  for every child goes through Oz at least once three times. With Oz, Easter Parade and Meet Me in St Louis, Garland has perennial favorites that play on TV at least once every year. Part of her myth is her personal story, sad and destructive. Much like Marilyn, it is difficult to separate the performer from the performance and I guess if we did they may not have the hold on film lovers like they do. I think for all her vulnerability Judy was tougher than Monroe. There is a story about the two of them at a Hollywood party with Monroe arriving at about the same time as Garland. She grips Judy by the arm and says ' Don't leave.Stay with me, I'm scared.' At which point Judy says ' Scared? We're all scared! Let me go'. Or words to that effect. Now that's not to say Marilyn was a frightened naive thing all the time, far from it, but Judy knew the game better than Monroe did and could play it when she had to.

By 1969, Garland was pretty much at the end of her rope. Hubby # 5 didn't seem any better than the first 4 and she was having trouble finding steady employment. Pictures of her at this time show a woman looking rail thin worn out, older than a 46 - 47 year old should. She'd had enough. She played the game as long as she could. She gave us everything until there was nothing left to give.

As a birthday tribute Turner Classic Movies are showing some of her best all day on Sunday June 10th. 11 films, from 1938's  Love Finds Andy Hardy to 1963's I Could Go On Singing, which could serve as her epitaph. So tune in and watch at least one. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday. I can hardly think of a better way.