My very straight boyfriend is not a Judy Garland fan. That is until recently. I’m not trying to create a metro-sexual or anything, just introduce a legend to the man. See, for the past year my friend Rob Dorn and I have been performing The Judy Duets. It’s a look at Judy and some of her singing partners. We tell a bit about her life and sing A LOT of music. It’s fun and the audience really likes it. Eric has never really gotten it. Because the show is a tribute for fans, we only skim the surface of her life. We don’t delve into the drugs and the self-destruction. If you know her, you love her in spite of it and if you don’t know her… then my telling you would take all night and it’s a one hour show people!
Sinatra and Martin on the Judy Garland Show
Judy Garland - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
18 Yr Old Liza on the Judy Garland Show
One day, he comes home and catches me watching the Judy Garland TV show. If you haven’t seen any of it, you are missing out. She has amazing guests: Lena Horne, Mel Torme, and Barbra Streisand with amazing arraignments by Torme himself! You can find box sets of the show on EBay. Anyway, he sits down with a beer and rather than beg me to turn it off, watches a few episodes with me. Then we start to talk about her life on this show…how the network didn’t know what to do with it, how they kept moving it around and no one ever really knew when it was on, how she would miss rehearsals, oh and how Mel Torme HATED the entire experience and wrote a horrible book after Judy died calling it the worst year of his life!
Suddenly, Eric felt bad for her. He understood the tragedy and the way she was unable to change the wheels that had been set in motion from her childhood in the studio system. Here’s where I decided to get sneaky, I knew that Judy Davis was a hot chick to Eric, so I suggested the made for TV movie based on Lorna Luft’s book next. One night we popped that in and got so depressed watching the story of her life, at least he did…I was fascinated watching a very good actress attempt to re-create Judy’s mannerism’s when she sang. Davis was so forced and awkward with Garland’s gestures. Not that it’s easy mind you, but I was riveted by how bad she was with them.
Next, I told him to bring home A Star is Born. I’ve always been a huge fan of this film. That scene she does in the dressing room with the studio head where she talks about living and loving an addict…brilliant! She should have won the Oscar! But for Eric, everything must come to an end. He couldn’t even make it to “I am Mrs. Norman Maine. We stopped right after The Man That Got Away. He couldn’t take the stills Cukor used. Eric insisted that they did it just to save money. And in a way they did. They were cutting costs everywhere they could cause of Judy’s missed days on the set. Plus, when the movie had a wide release, they cut a lot out of it and maybe they used more of the stills as a way to piece the film together for the DVD. I don’t know. All I know is…If I had him loving Judy once, he’ll love her again. Next up, Easter Parade. I dare him not to like that!
