SHOWBIZ LEGEND : JUDY GARLAND

There’s a new bio pic ‘Judy’ about Judy Garland opening in cinemas this Thursday. Sydney Arts Guide writer Randolph Magri-Overend has prepared this bio piece for readers prior to seeing the movie.

On 22 June 1969 Mickey Deans arrived home at his rented house in Chelsea, London to find his wife dead.  They’d only been married three months. The lady was Judy Garland. She was 47.

Judy had said prior to her marriage to Deans : ‘Finally, finally I am loved.’  But her daughter Lorna Luft chose to disagree with her when she wrote in her book Me and my Shadows: Living with the Legacy of Judy Garland that Deans was a ‘dreadful man….if she put an advert in a newspaper for the most unsuitable person to take care of her, she wouldn’t have had a better response….I don’t know what possessed…..well, I know what possessed her because he gave in to her and fed her all the things she wanted.’

Although a known drug-addict and alcoholic, Judy Garland’s death was deemed to be an accidental overdose of barbiturates.  At the inquest, Coroner Gavin Thurston indicated that there had not been an inflammation of her stomach lining and no drug residue in her stomach, which indicated that the drug had been ingested over a long period of time rather than as a single dose.

So ended the life of one of the legends of show business.  To some the end was inevitable. To others it was the wasteful end of a career that had been blighted with rancour, fights, drug addiction, alcoholism and multiple suicide attempts.

That her addiction was rife was evident to all.  What is not so clear is who set her on this merry-go-round of destruction.  Some blame her mother, Ethel Gumm, for insisting her children take a regimen of stimulants to appear energetic and lively and then sleeping pills to stifle the effects of the stimulants.  Others blame the MGM hierarchy for getting her addicted to ‘uppers’ and ‘downers’.

Judy had to overcome several challenges on her way to stardom.  She was only 4 feet 11.5 inches tall (151.1 cms) and called the ‘ugly duckling’ when compared to other up-and-coming starlets like Ava Gardner, Lana Turner and Elizabeth Taylor.  The only thing going for Judy was her voice. Her weight was a problem too and the studio kept her on a strict regime to control that. She was only allowed chicken soup and lettuce for lunch and she was eventually forced to smoke 80 cigarettes per day to keep her weight down and stifle her appetite.   Mickey Rooney, himself a child star, was also part of the regimen of amphetamines followed by sleeping pills but fortunately for him he had no problems with his weight.

During her time at MGM, she also had to contend with a certain amount of sexual harassment.   From the time she was 16, Garland was repeatedly propositioned for sex. Even studio boss, Louis B Mayer tried his luck by placing his hand on her breast pretending to show her that she had to sing from her heart.  She was 20 when she put a stop to it and allegedly Mayer cried.  

When filming her first big hit, the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz and playing Dorothy Gale, she was constantly pestered by the Munchkins who were disorderly or drunk most of the time.  According to Garland’s second husband, Sid Luft, they repeatedly molested her and made her life miserable by shoving their hands up her dress.  Garland was the third choice to play the role after Shirley Temple, who point blank refused to do it, and Deanna Durbin who was otherwise engaged.  The film was an outstanding success. But it did not start to earn substantial revenue until it was re-released in the 1940s and these days it is a staple on free-to-air television on festive occasions like Easter and Christmas. 

Garland’s attempt to find love probably started with Mickey Rooney with whom she starred as a teenager in some of the Andy Hardy films.  But Rooney, as he did in their movies, was never interested in being romantically involved with her. He even admitted that he began ‘to meet his obligations to a good many of the gals in town who were dying to meet me….I had my own car. I had some nickels in my pocket.  And I was somebody.’

For a while Garland had visions of coupling with band-leader Artie Shaw until he eloped in 1940 with Lana Turner.  The musical connection continued when she started dating another band-leader, David Rose. But he was still married to singer Martha Raye and the couple had to wait until July 1941 before they could tie the knot.  Meanwhile Garland occupied her time by having a brief fling with songwriter Johnny Mercer. However, Garland’s life became further complicated when she found she was pregnant with Rose’s child and, at the insistence of her mother and the studio, was forced to have an abortion.  She had a second abortion in 1943, before her divorce from Rose came through in 1944, when she had an affair with Tyrone Power. Rumour has it that she had yet another abortion in 1951. Abortions must have been a thriving industry in those heady days in Hollywood because some of Garland’s contemporaries like Bette Davis and Ava Gardner were also ordered to have one.

Garland’s love life was almost as chaotic as her private life.  Despite a brief affair with Orson Welles in 1945, who was then married to Rita Hayworth, Garland had a relationship and later married Vincente Minnelli that same year.  Lisa was born in 1946. Minnelli was the director of one of Garland’s most successful films Meet me in St Louis in 1944.  Not satisfied with her appearance, Minnelli had the make-up people reshape her eyebrows, change her hairline, modify her lip line and remove the nose discs and dental caps the studio had insisted she wear during her previous films.  

One day Garland walked into her home to find her husband in bed with a male employee.  According to Vanity Fair, Garland ran to the bathroom and started slitting her wrists with a sharp object.  Minnelli managed to wrest the tool out of her hands and Garland appeared at the studios a day or two later, wrists bandaged up, and worked as if nothing had happened.

By 1951 Garland’s career was in tatters.  MGM had fired her in 1950 after repeated warnings about her lateness on set plus some non-appearances.  Garland was also suffering from migraines and her doctor advised that she could only work for four to five days in succession with plenty of rest time in between.  She’d been cast to play Annie Oakley in Irving Berlin’s Annie get your Gun.  Busby Berkeley had been chosen to stage all the musical numbers and he was soon disenchanted with Garland’s lack of enthusiasm, her attitude and effort.  Garland tried to have him fired and when that failed she began arriving late to the set and even failed to show up. Meanwhile, Garland was having electroshock treatment for her depression.  Even though she had already sung the cover songs, Garland was eventually replaced by Betty Hutton.

Following her firing Garland tried to slash her throat with a broken glass.  1951 was also the year she divorced Minnelli and in 1952 married business man, Sid Luft .  Their marriage lasted 13 years and they had 2 children, Joey and Lorna.

Luft claims that Garland’s pill addiction only soared after they got married.  For some reason it gave Garland an impetus for self-harm. On one such an occasion ‘…..Judy came out in her short white lace negligee,’ Luft wrote in his memoirs, ‘her arms were in front of her and she said “Look darling what I’ve done.”  Her wrists had been slashed and she was bleeding profusely.’ Luft later admitted that Garland had tried to kill herself 20 times in the course of their marriage.

When Garland finally filed for divorce from Luft in 1965 the couple had trialled numerous separations.  Luft had been abusive, Garland cited, and had hit her several times whilst drunk. Garland then married actor Mark Herron in 1964, who she claimed also hit her and they separated after only a few months.  They were divorced 17 months after their Las Vegas wedding. Like Minnelli, Herron was also attracted to men. Garland then married Mickey Deans and it was he who found her dead in their bathroom 3 months later.

Herron, incidentally, was responsible for introducing Liza Minnelli to Australian popstar and composer, Peter Allen.  On their wedding night Liza discovered Allen in bed with his boyfriend. 

While indulging herself with her weddings and divorces, Garland was initially busy making movies.  She was paired with Mickey Rooney in 1939 in Babes in Arms and that was followed with the Andy Hardy films.  Three films with Garland as the female lead were released in 1940 – Andy Hardy meets Debutante, Strike up the Band and Little Nellie Kelly.  The latter involved Garland in her first adult role where she received her first adult kiss and performed the only death scene in her career.  For Me and my Gal appeared in 1942 with Gene Kelly making his screen debut.  In 1943, Garland was given the “glamour treatment” in Presenting Lily Mars but despite all the studio’s efforts Garland couldn’t get away from her “girl-next-door” image.  One of Garland’s major successes , Meet me in St Louis appeared in 1944.  She introduced long-serving hits in “The Trolley Song”, “The Boy Next Door” and “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” In 1950 she was cast in Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire after June Allyson became pregnant but she failed to report to the set on numerous occasions.  She was replaced by Jane Powell and it was then that Garland was suspended from MGM. Garland attempted to slash her throat. Later she recalled:  ‘All I could see ahead was more confusion. I wanted to black out the future as well as the past. I wanted to hurt myself and everyone who had hurt me.’ 

She entered the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston in an attempt to wean herself off her medication and after a while she was capable of sleeping and eating normally.

In 1951 she embarked on a four-month concert tour of Britain and Ireland.  She performed at the London Palladium in April and at New York’s Palace Theatre later that year.  Her appearances at the Palladium lasted four weeks where she received rave reviews and multiple ovations.  She said: ‘Hollywood thought I was through then came the wonderful opportunity to appear at the London Palladium where I can truthfully say Judy Garland was reborn.’

In 1954 she started filming the Warner Bros film of A Star is Born.  It featured James Mason, was directed by George Cukor and produced by Transcona Enterprises, a company funded by Garland herself and Sid Luft.  As shooting progressed Garland fell back on her old habits and production delays ensued. It led to cost overruns and angry confrontations between Jack Warner and Sid Luft.  On its premiere in September 1954 the film was met with critical and popular acclaim but was criticised for its length. Thirty minutes of footage was cut on the orders of Jack Warner.  The film did not make a profit and although Garland was nominated for an Oscar, it went to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl.  Her final film, in 1963, was I Could go on Singing with Dirk Bogarde.

Garland was by now beset with debts.  She owed several thousands of dollars to the Inland Revenue, having failed to pay taxes in 1951 and 1952 and exacerbated by the failure of A Star is Born to make a profit.  She started doing the rounds of TV shows and appeared at Las Vegas for $55,000 a week.  She made a concert appearance at Carnegie Hall in April 1961 which turned out to be a great success.  That same year she was offered her own TV show by CBS. The pilot show featured Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and following its success CBS made a $24 million offer for a weekly television series of her own.  It made its debut in September 1963 but for a variety of reasons (including being placed in same time slot as Bonanza on NBC) it only lasted one season and was cancelled after 26 episodes.

Closer to home she made a disastrous tour of Australia in 1964.  Her first two concerts at the Sydney Stadium went well and she received favourable reviews.  But at her Melbourne appearance, a crowd of 7,000 was kept waiting for an hour. The audience thought she was drunk and booed and heckled her.  She left the stage after 45 minutes.

By now Garland was really hurting financially.  She married her tour manager, Mark Herron in November 1965, but they separated within six months and duly divorced in 1969.  She signed up with agents Freddie Fields and David Begelman but that too became a disaster when they mismanaged her money which resulted into owing $500,000 in personal debts.  The IRS placed liens on her house in Los Angeles and any money she earned. She lost her house. Her hope for a role in Valley of the Dolls never eventuated.  Returning to the stage she made her last appearances at New York’s Palace Theatre in July 1967 performing in 27 appearances with her children Lorna and Joey.  She earned $200,000 from her performances and on closing night, Federal Tax Agents seized the majority of that.

By early 1969 Garland’s health had deteriorated.  She performed at London’s Talk of the Town for a five-week run earning £2,500 per week.  She married Mickey Deans in London on March 15.

Judy Garland, in her lifetime, was as famous for her personal struggles as she was for her entertainment career.  She was associated, perhaps too closely, with her girl-next-door appeal and the studio wanted to maintain that image for as long as they could.  According to critic Graydon Royce the studios ‘continued to cast Garland in roles that were significantly younger than her actual age.’

Throughout her life Garland suffered from a low self-esteem and it showed up in her chaotic life and in her multiplicity of husbands.  She wanted to be loved but didn’t know how to deal with it. In fact her life was in marked contrast to the liveliness and innocence of her film persona.  She didn’t think she was a tragic figure. Her daughter Lorna said ‘she was funny and she was warm and wonderfully gifted…..Yes we lost her at 47 years old.  That was tragic. But she was not a tragic figure.’