Judy Garland

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Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American film actress considered by many to be one of the greatest singing stars of Hollywood's Golden Era of musical film. Garland's singing voice had a natural vibrato, which she was able to maintain at extremely low volume. The effects which she was able to project enabled her to convey a wide range of emotion when she interpreted a song. The American Film Institute named Garland among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time, ranking at No. 8.

 Biography

 Childhood and early life

Born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Frances Ethel Gumm was the youngest child of former vaudevillians Frank Gumm and Ethel Milne. Named for both her parents and baptized at the local Episcopal church, "Baby" (as Frances was nicknamed) shared the family's flair for song and dance. "Baby" Gumm's first professional appearance came at the age of two-and-a-half, when she joined her two older sisters, Mary Jane ("Suzy") and Dorothy Virginia ("Jimmie"), on stage for a chorus of Jingle Bells in a Christmas show at her father's theater on December 26, 1924. In 1934, the sisters, who were touring the vaudeville circuit as "The Gumm Sisters", performed in Chicago at the Oriental Theater with George Jessel. He encouraged the group to choose a more appealing name after "Gumm" received small laughter from the audience. They settled on "The Garland Sisters", and young Frances soon afterward picked the name "Judy" after a popular song of the day by Hoagy Carmichael. A rumor persists that Jessel came up with the last name Garland after Carole Lombard's character Lily Garland in the film Twentieth Century, which was playing at the Oriental; another rumor is that the sisters came up with the surname Garland after drama critic Robert Garland (reference: Judy: Beyond the Rainbow, A&E/Biography television special), though Lorna Luft stated in her book Me and My Shadows that her mother chose the name when Jessel announced that the trio of singers "looked prettier than a Garland of flowers".

In 1935, at the age of 13, Garland was signed to a contract with MGM, allegedly without a screen test (in fact, she actually had done a test for the studio several months earlier). Garland's first notice by studio executives came after singing an arrangement of "You Made Me Love You" to Clark Gable at a birthday party held by the studio for the King of Hollywood. Her rendition proved so popular that MGM placed Garland and the song in their all-star extravaganza Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937).

After a string of minor roles, at the age of 16 she landed the role of "Dorothy" in the MGM film The Wizard of Oz (1939), and has been associated ever since with the song "Over the Rainbow." She received an honorary Academy Award for her performance in the film. After Oz, Garland became one of MGM's most bankable stars, proving particularly popular when teamed with her longtime friend Mickey Rooney in a string of "let's put on a show!" musicals. The duo first appeared together in the 1937 b-movie Thoroughbreds Don't Cry. They became a sensation and they teamed up again in Love Finds Andy Hardy, and then soon after in Babes in Arms. Garland eventually would star with Rooney in nine films.

To keep up with the frantic pace of making one movie after another, Garland, Rooney, and other young performers were constantly given amphetamines, as well as barbiturates, to take before bedtime (reference: "Judy Garland: By Myself" in the American Masters series on PBS). For Garland, this constant dose of drugs would lead to addiction and a lifelong struggle, as well as her eventual demise. In her later life, she would resent the hectic work and she felt that her youth was stolen from her by MGM. She was plagued with self-doubt throughout her life and needed constant reassurance that she was talented, despite her ability to fill concert halls worldwide with fans eager to hear her, high critical praise, and several awards.

[edit] Movie star

Her physical appearance was deemed unacceptable by MGM, and she was often made to feel unattractive. She did not embody the classic beauty of other starlets, and her looks caused her a great deal of anxiety. Therefore, Garland went through a transformation process throughout her film career at MGM. During her early years at the studio, she was photographed and dressed in plain garments, often made to look like the girl next door. She was given the lead in For Me and My Gal (1942), in which she was top billed over the credits for the first time. She made the direct transition from the girl next door to an adult actress. By 1943, she was finally given the "glamour treatment" in Presenting Lily Mars, in which she was dressed in a glamourous gown and her hair was pulled-up in a stylish fashion. By 1944, Garland was given a new make-up artist. Dorothy (Dottie) Ponedel, who had recently left Paramount Studios to freelance, had been specifically requested by Vincente Minnelli to work with Judy. Dottie refined Judy's appearance in several ways, some of which included extending and reshaping her eyebrows, tweezing her hairline and modifying her lipline. Judy appreciated the results so much that Dottie was written into her contract for all her remaining pictures at MGM. Interestingly, MGM's attempts to "glamorize" Garland stopped in 1948 in which Garland's appearance again appeared toned down yet refined. Publicly, Garland stated that she was never quite happy with her appearance on screen except in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and The Clock (1945).

One of Garland's most successful films for MGM is the 1944 classic Meet Me in St. Louis, in which she introduced three standards: "The Trolley Song", "The Boy Next Door", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". The Clock (1945) was her first straight dramatic film; she starred opposite Robert Walker. Though the film was critically praised and did earn a profit, most movie fans expected her to sing. Therefore, it would be many years before she acted again in a non-singing dramatic role. Nevertheless, The Clock has become increasingly popular among Garland fans and is considered to be a true war/romance classic.

Garland's other famous films of the 1940s include The Harvey Girls (1946) (in which she introduced "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe"), The Pirate, and Easter Parade (both 1948).

In September 1945, Garland married MGM director Vincente Minnelli and, in March 1946, Garland gave birth to a daughter, Liza. Soon afterward, the hectic work schedule and the exhausting motion picture business began to take its toll on Garland as she returned to MGM, which led to several days' absence from the studio over the next four years as well as numerous incidents; in April 1947, during filming for The Pirate, Garland suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be led away from the set.^[1] After this, Garland had a number of other breakdowns that would lead to her departure from MGM; it would also reveal the emotional turmoil that Garland suffered. Two months later, Garland made her first suicide attempt.

 Renewed stardom on the stage and television

In 1951, Garland divorced Vincente Minnelli and married Sid Luft, her manager at the time. In 1952, a daughter, Lorna Luft, was born. 1951 was a mile-stone year for Garland and established what was to become her performing style for the rest of her life. She turned to live concert appearances and took her new act to Britain, where she played to sold out audiences throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland [1]. This first European tour was an enormous success, and she appeared at the famous London Palladium for the first time. Shortly afterwards, Garland appeared at New York's Palace Theatre, also for the first time, in 1951 for which she received a special Tony Award. She also appeared on various television specials during the early 50s.

In 1954, she made a notable cinema comeback for Warner Bros. with A Star is Born, and was nominated for Best Actress. This film is considered by many critics to be her finest performance. Directed by George Cukor and produced by her husband Sid Luft (through Garland and Luft's Transcona Enterprises), it was a large undertaking in which Garland fully immersed herself. It was also a physically demanding role that had Garland on edge and, for the most part, constantly worried. Upon its release, the film was cut by almost 30 minutes amid fears it was too long.

In the run-up to the 1955 Academy Awards, Garland was believed to be the most likely winner for Best Actress. She could not attend the ceremony because she had just given birth to her son Joey Luft; a television crew entered Garland's room with cameras and wires, in the hope that Garland would win the Best Actress award, to televise Garland's award speech. However, the Oscar went to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl (1954). Many fans hold that Garland was "robbed" of her Oscar, and should have won the award (Groucho Marx sent her a famous telegram after the awards, stating that it was "the biggest robbery since Brinks"). However she did win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical that year.

Garland and Luft's original contract with Warner Bros. ensured a series of films to be made; however, due to the editing of the film, Garland and Luft made no more films for the studio.

Although she made no other films in the 1950s, Garland's films after A Star is Born include Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) (for which she was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role), the animated feature, Gay Purr-ee (1962), A Child Is Waiting (1963), co-starring Burt Lancaster, and her final film, I Could Go On Singing (1963), which mirrored her own life in the story of a fading singing star.

In November 1959, Garland was diagnosed with acute hepatitis and told that she "would never sing again" [2]. However, Garland successfully recovered and returned to both films and television; her concert appearance at Carnegie Hall on April 23, 1961, was a considerable highlight, called by many the "greatest single night in show business." The 2-record live recording made of the concert was a best-seller (certified gold), charting for 73 weeks on Billboard (13 weeks at number one), and won five Grammy Awards including Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal of the Year. The album has never been out of print.

After hugely successful television specials and guest appearances in the early 1960s, CBS made a $24 million offer to Garland for a weekly television series of her own, The Judy Garland Show, which was deemed at the time in the press to be "the biggest talent deal in TV history." The television series was critically praised, but, for a variety of reasons, including the fact it was placed in the same time slot as Bonanza, lasted only one season, and went off the air in 1964, after 26 episodes. Despite this, the show won four Emmy nominations and included amazing performances by Garland as well as some of her best vocal work. The demise of the series was personally and financially devastating for Garland, and she never fully recovered from its failure.

 Her final years

With the demise of her television series, Garland returned to the stage and made various television appearances. Most notably, she performed at the London Palladium with her then 17-year-old daughter Liza Minnelli in November of 1964. The concert, which was also filmed for television, was one of Garland's final appearances at the venue. Garland, having divorced Sid Luft, continued to make concert appearances and also appeared on television specials. She made guest appearances on the The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Hollywood Palace, The Merv Griffin Show (of which she guest-hosted an episode) and many others.

A 1964 tour of the Southern Hemisphere was largely disastrous. In her Sydney and Melbourne concerts, she could no longer hide the effects of her alcohol and medication abuse; she often forgot her lines, and slurred those lines which she still remembered. The Melbourne performance finished after only twenty minutes. When asked what had been making her ill, she is said to have answered: "Australia." [3]

In February 1967, Garland was signed to appear as "Helen Lawson" in Valley of the Dolls for 20th Century Fox. The character of "Neely O'Hara" in the book by Jacqueline Susann, and subsequent movie, was rumored to have been based on Garland, though the role in the film was played by Patty Duke. During the filming, Garland missed rehearsals and was fired the next month. She was replaced by Susan Hayward. She did record one song for the film, "I'll Plant My Own Tree," which has never been officially released, although it is available on several bootlegs. There is also surviving footage of her wardrobe tests.

Barbara Parkins, one of the film's stars, commented in the newly released DVD of Valley of the Dolls that she believed Garland was frightened by the thought of actually being the aging star she was supposed to play, and that she "freaked" when she realized the similarities between the storyline and her own life.

Returning to the stage, Garland made her last appearances at New York's Palace Theatre in July, a sixteen-show tour, performing with her children Lorna and Joey Luft. Garland wore a sequined pants-suit onstage for this tour, which was part of the original wardrobe for her character in Valley of the Dolls.

By early 1969, Garland's health had deteriorated rapidly. She performed in London, at the Talk of the Town nightclub for a five-week run, and made her last concert appearance in Copenhagen during March 1969.

 Untimely death

The shortcomings of Garland's childhood years became more apparent as she struggled to overcome various personal problems, including weight gain, weight loss, and serious drug addiction. She was found dead in her bathroom by her last husband, Mickey Deans, on June 22, 1969. The stated exact cause of death by coroner Gavin Thursdon was accidental overdose of barbiturates; pathologist Dr. R. Pocock found 4.9 mg of Seconal [4] in Garland's blood. Garland had turned 47 just over a week prior to her death. She was residing in a rented flat with her husband in the Chelsea section of London at the time of her death.

Upon Garland's death, The Wizard of Oz co-star Ray Bolger commented: "She just plain wore out."

Garland is interred in Ferncliff Cemetery, in Hartsdale, New York [5].

[edit] Ancestry

Judy Garland’s family tree can be traced back to the early colonization of the United States (on both her paternal and maternal family lines).

Her earliest paternal ancestor was George Marable (1631 - 1683), who traveled to Virginia from Kent, England, in (or before) 1652 and was one of the first colonists settling in what is now Jamestown, Virginia. The Marable families [6] of the southern United States all derived from the aforementioned George Marable.

By the time of the Civil War, the Marable family of Jamestown, Virginia, had spread across the South. Marables are found in the rosters of units from at least nine of the Confederate States. In Virginia, Edward W. Marable of the Charles City Southern Guard served aboard the Confederate ship Patrick Henry during the engagement of the Merrimac with the Federal fleet at Hampton Roads. John H. Marable of the 13th Virginia Cavalry served as a courier for Gen. J. E. B. Stuart.

Marables have also been found in units from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, and among the dead at Gettysburg. The Marable family were wealthy southern aristocracy and as such were slave owners. Today the majority of those bearing the name Marable are descended from emancipated slaves not George Marable.

It is from Benjamin Marable (1710 - 1773), who traveled to Tennessee, that the Gumm family is descended. The Gumm name can also be found in the registers of soldiers who fought for the Confederacy throughout Rutherford County, Tennessee.

Garland’s father was Francis Avent Gumm, the fourth of six children born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on March 20, 1886. He died on November 17, 1935, in Los Angeles, California. His parents were William Tecumseh Gumm (1854 - 1906) and Elizabeth Clemmie Baugh (1857 - 1895). The Gumm family was a mixture of English, Irish, Scottish, French Hugenot and German.

Frank Gumm married Ethel Marion Milne [7], who was born on November 17, 1893 in Michigamme, Michigan. She died January 5, 1953 in Texas. Ethel was the eldest of eight children born to Eva Fitzpatrick (born on January 4, 1865 in Messina, New York) and John Milne (born October 15, 1865 in Ontario Canada). His parents were Charles Milne (born in 1829 in Arbroath Scotland) and Mary Kelso (born 1837 in Kilmarnock Scotland).

Eva Fitzpatrick-Milne was the daughter of Hugh Fitzpatrick (1838 - 1908), whose family arrived in the United States from Smithtown, County Meath, Ireland in the 1770s and Mary-Elizabeth Harriot (born December 23, 1841 in Dublin, Ireland). Mary, one of thousands of orphans as a result of the Irish Famine, was raised in a Dublin convent; . In 1858, at the age of 17, she married Hugh Fitzpatrick an Irish-American who was visiting Dublin and that same year the newlyweds sailed to America . They had 10 children, Mary died on January 24, 1908, in Detroit, Michigan. Although Irish, the Fitzpatrick family fought on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War and as a result, Peter Fitzpatrick (1752 - 1812) son of Patrick Fitzpatrick (1727) was sentenced to be hung as a spy, but this was not carried out and the family moved across the border into Canada;(reference: The Golden Years by Rita Piro).

Eva Fitzpatrick-Milne lived with Judy until her death on 17th October 1949 at the age of 84. She is buried with Garland’s father in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale CA. Garland’s mother is also buried nearby in a separate grave.

A family link between Garland and the 18th United States President Ulysses S Grant has often been incorrectly stated. Garland’s great, great grandfather Hugh Fitzpatrick (1809 - 1878) was married twice; his second wife was Catherine Grant, a first cousin of Grant. However, Garland is descended from a son, also named Hugh (born 1838), from his first wife (Margaret Ross, 1807 - 1845), therefore there is no blood link.

When commenting on her ancestry, Garland described herself as Irish and Scottish. In her autobiography Lorna Luft states that her family had an "Irish charm" and that "often the family survived on charm alone".

 

Honors

 Song of the Century

Garland's rendition of "Over the Rainbow" was placed as number 1 in the Songs of the Century project, by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). According to RIAA, the list was put together for young people to "help further appreciation for the music development process, including songwriting, musicianship, recording, performing, distributing and the development of distribution and cultural values."

The song was also chosen by the American Film Institute as the #1 movie song of all time, as part of their "100 Years...100 Songs" list. Four more Garland songs were also featured on the list: "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me In St. Louis (#76), "Get Happy" from Summer Stock (#61), "The Trolley Song," also from Meet Me In St. Louis (#26), and "The Man That Got Away" from A Star Is Born (#11).

 

[edit] Grammy Hall of Fame Awards

Several of Garland's many recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame [8]. Some of these include:

• Dear Mr. Gable (You Made Me Love You) (single) - inducted 1998
• Judy at Carnegie Hall (album) - inducted 1998
• Meet Me In St. Louis - Soundtrack (album) - inducted 2005
• Over the Rainbow (single) - inducted 1981
• The Wizard of Oz - Musical and Dramatic Selections Recorded Directly from the Soundtrack of MGM's Technicolor Film (album) - inducted 2006

 

 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

Garland was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously, in 1998.

 

Judy Garland Day

For 31 years, her home state of Minnesota has held a yearlyJudy Garland Festival around June 22, in memory of her legacy. The ongoing tribute festival is held at Garland's birthplace of Grand Rapids. At the 2006 occasion, Minnesota proclaimed June 22, as a temporary Minnesota "Judy Garland Day" recognizing and honoring Judy Garland for her dedication and exemplary achievements and to salute her as an outstanding citizen and patron of the Arts. In June of 2006, the festival was visited by her children Lorna and Joey Luft and a decision to change the Festival dates to a permanent Garland Festival date change: Fri.-Sun. nearest Judy's birthday. 2007 dates are

June 8, 9 & 10" for more information— http://judygarlandmuseum.com

Addiction

Always highly charged and acutely sensitive, Garland frequently sought refuge in the form of alcohol and prescription drugs. Historians generally agree that she was first introduced to the pills, or more specifically, to amphetamines, at MGM during the filming of The Wizard of Oz, where the substance was used to provide the extra energy needed to cope with the lengthy and exhausting movie-making process, as well as a way of helping curb the appetite of the teenager. These drugs eventually helped to destroy Garland; since she was twelve years old, Garland had relied on prescription pills to get her through the day, and these pills eventually killed her, accidentally or otherwise.

Constantly self-conscious of her image, Garland felt unattractive compared to other young stars, despite the fact that many people, both then and now, considered her to be one of the most beautiful actresses of all time. This self-loathing is demonstrated by Garland's admission that during the course of her entire career, encompassing many decades and hundreds of appearances, only on two films was she satisfied with her on-screen image: Meet Me in St. Louis and The Clock. Historians have identified these insecurities as being significant, in terms of perpetuating her life-long struggle with substance abuse.

Although her MGM-sponsored stimulant use did prove to be an exceptionally effective way to both reduce her weight and increase her energy, it created some problems of its own. In addition to carrying a large potential for addiction, the harsh amphetamine stimulation (if left untreated) can cause severe insomnia. Thus, it necessitates nightly use of high dosages barbiturates - another highly addictive class of drugs - for sleep. While MGM undoubtedly "created" the problem Garland perpetuated it; adopting her new drug habits and independently acquiring her own medications. As a result, her weight fluctuated noticeably during her tenure with MGM.

For intermittent periods during her life, Garland attempted detoxification at a private hospital or sanitarium, but these "clean" periods were short-lived. Her drug use progressively became all-consuming, right up through the moment of her passing, similar to that of Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe. Eventually, her tolerances grew so astronomically large, the effects of the drugs became paradoxical, eventually working in reverse; amphetamines, which at one point worked so well as a diet aid, began to increase her appetite, or barbiturates, which, not so long ago, did such a spectacular job of rendering her completely unconscious, began to actually increase her wakefulness, and so on.

 Legacy in gay rights

^{Garland was (and still is) a gay icon;[6] she always had a large base of fans in the gay community. During a press conference in San Francisco in the 1960s, a reporter asked Garland if she was aware of her loyal gay following. "I couldn't care less," she said. "I sing to people."}

^{On the evening of her funeral (June 27, 1969), gay men fought back against police during a routine raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, which set off the gay liberation movement. Since then, Gay Pride events during the month of June have commemorated the Stonewall riots.}

^{Although Garland's death is often noted as a cause of one of the key events of the modern gay rights movement, it is more likely a coincidence (see also Friends of Dorothy). Nevertheless, Garland's death, funeral and its links (coincidental or not) to Stonewall have become a part of LGBT history and lore.}