We have a family friend who (during a visit several years ago) quite casually mentioned that for years he worked as a mortician at Campbell??s funeral parlor! One of his first clients was John Garfield. Remembering the obscure fact that Garfield was indeed buried from Campbell??s, I took him at face-value and ??subtly? tried to get him to spill his guts. Did he remember anyone secretly taking photos of their famous customers, and were those photos still in existence? He laughed, recalling the times he and his coworkers took pictures of each other lying in coffins, ??I dare you to get into that coffin?? SO!!!! Some photos were taken, and apparently developed somewhere!!! He then sort of deflected, mentioned the names of several then-famous politicians he embalmed, and he expressed extreme regret and disappointment at leaving Campbell??s?? employment a few weeks before Judy died. He just would not confirm or deny the existence of any celebrity death-photos.
Do any of Judy??s bios go into detail about her relationships with her sisters? I??m waiting for the dirt to come out about Whitney??s family and ??friends?, wondering to what degree they exploited her and enabled her self-abuse to continue. I know that Judy was estranged from her mom at the time of the latter??s death. Any idea if she had anything to do with her sisters, was she estranged from them as well?
I always wondered that too, there's never a mention of Judy's sisters later on in her life, we never heard of them saying anything about her. they just seemed to fade from the scene.
Huge Judy fan here. She was one of the first celebs I thought of after Whitney's death. Both great singers, ravaged by drug abuse, dying young and haggard-looking. Sad.
Virginia, Judy's oldest sister committed suicide in 1964 with the same drug that killed Judy - seconal. The second oldest, Jimmie died in 1977 from cancer.
Also read a great article - can't remember where - but I Googled "Judy Garland's funeral" and a man tells the story of his having an "entry level" position at Campbell's and being present from the time her body landed in New York until it was carried out of the funeral home. Absolutely riveting - including how they covered her already green face and ressurrected the silver lame dress that was already turning black with mould and stench from a very sloppy embalming job in London beforehand.
Found it...this was a fascinating read!
http://open.salon.com/blog/tale_tell...sket_handles_2
Great read!
One thing about Garland and her death that I never could figure out....why did LIZA her daughter had to pay her off own mother's debts? By law children aren't responsible for the debts of their late parents, even Judge Judy had said that when a similar case popped up on her show some years back.
Now if Liza felt that by going to work to pay off her mother's debts was "the right thing to do" and/or to show respect for Judy..I can see that. BUT Liza being "forced" to pay back Judy's debts...ah no.
That blog entry was awesome! What a wonderful story!
I could swear somewhere over the years I had seen a picture of Judy in her casket at the funeral home. I distinctly remember the glass "sneeze guard" over it.
I could swear somewhere over the years I had seen a picture of Judy in her casket at the funeral home. I distinctly remember the glass "sneeze guard" over it.
I swear I remember seeing it too, and a friend of mine says he saw her death photo (on the toilet) in a book. But a google image search turned up neither.
Isn't that article awesome? I was riveted lol.
I found this news clip of her funeral.
It was actually fairly common as recently as 40 or 50 years ago, for a surving child to work to repay family debts as away to keep the family name honorable.
FANTASTIC article!!!!!
Cool video -- the space imagery at the end was a little weird, but maybe it made sense in context lol?
After finding that article, I really want to see the casket pic now...
Too bad Fox trashed the film of her as Helen Lawson in the dressing room scene of Valley of the Dolls. That to me would have been the holy grail as a Judy fan. Such a shame she never completed the film. She would have cemented her place as the Supreme Diva.
Today would have been Judy Garland's 90th birthday:
http://greatentertainersarchives.blo...y-garland.html
Happy Birthday Judy!
Happy birthday Judy and Cindy! TCM is having 24 hours of Judy's movies. They have A Star is Born on now, but....it's kinda dull with the new scenes inserted in sepia...
I watched a rerun of the 50th anniversary of The Wizard Of Oz (1989) and was amazed when one of the stars described her as heavy. No wonder she got hooked on drugs.
Oh Judy. I can only handle about five minutes of her speaking voice at a time.
Yes, but her singing voice sure makes up for it.
Absolutely!
Just saw most of I Could Go On Singing for the umpteenth time, it makes for compelling viewing. One scene in particular: Judy’s in the outpatient ER, she’s nursing a hangover and a grudge, because her illegitimate son has decided to stay with his dad/schoolfriends/etc. instead of travelling around the world with her. The boy’s dad compels her to sober up and get to her performance, which prompts her to tell him off in no uncertain terms. I always wonder: to what degree was Judy acting, or acting out her own off-screen personal frustrations (“the show must go on, Judy – so you can continue to make us money”)? She certainly read him the Riot Act, Judy-Style. Like in the penultimate scene in A Star Is Born where Danny coerces Vicki to attend the charity event, and Vicki goes from quietly numb to screaming loudly in a few short seconds. Uh-oh, Judy’s pissed !! Hide the children and small dogs.
Singing has its share of flaws. There’s constant shots of the Thames and Westminster Abbey as if to remind us, we’re in England. Duh! The whole cliched upper-crust lifestyle portrayed in that film was soon to be mercilessly ridiculed by the Monty Python troupe. I almost feel sorry for the kid for NOT going with Judy for at least a year, I mean My God! The kid was like an outdated human-brochure for “British Culture”. In a few short years he’d be off to work in his dark, respectable suit and bowler hat, umbrella and briefcase in hand, reading the Daily Mail and sticking his nose up at the “moptop” Beatles. Still, we get to see Judy in concert before a live audience, joking and interacting, etc. and that’s great.
And as awful as it is to admit this, I always laugh during the opening scene of Judy’s film A Child Is Waiting. The female who tries to entice the child out of the car is none other than Barbara Pepper, aka Doris Ziffel of Green Acres fame ! I always expect to see Arnold the pig walk by during that scene, lol.
I read that audiences had the same reaction watching All Quiet Across the Western Front. Zasu Pitt’s deathbed scene had to be re-shot using another actress because audiences (used to Pitts’ comic performances) laughed during what was supposed to be a very sad, very dramatic scene.
What was up with Judy's tits??!! Zasu Pitts was not in "All Quiet on the Western Front"
Zasu was originally cast as the soldiers' mother, but (as I said above) when (preview ?) audiences saw her deathbed scene they laughed, at that point in her career her fans thought of her more as a comic actress perhaps. In any event, Zasu's scene(s) was reshot using another actress. I read that the same thing happened to Ed "Al Bundy" O'Neill, post-Married With Children. He had a dramatic courtroom movie-scene and the preview audience laughed, remembering him as Al Bundy and perhaps expecting him to start complaining about a fat woman who waddled into the shoe store, lol. The scene was reshot with another actor.
No idea what was going on with Judy's tits, in some scenes front-on she looked OK but in profile you could see she was still hefty. She really slimmed down for her TV show, and everyone should check out the TV documentary "Judy Garland: By Myself" if and when it's ever on TV again, or if it's on DVD, Youtube, etc. They go ino great detail about how critics slammed her BEFORE the show started, saying she'd walk-out and never even get the first episode done, etc.
Watch the "By Myself" number and look at her bust. She's lumpier than a bad bood job. Same with the finale.
As a die hard fan of Miss Gargleand I have to admit it is too much to try and watch the series one episode after another. She grates on the nerves after awhile. I read the book written specifically about TJGS that proves Mel Torment wrote a pack of lies in his book. It seems that Jim Aubrey was a ruthless prick and no doubt one of those types of fags that can't stand Judy Garland simply because she's Judy Garland The Gay Icon. It is always the self-loathing fags that like to spread the hate around.
As a die hard fan of Miss Garland I have to admit it is too much to try and watch the series one episode after another. She grates on the nerves after awhile.
I can never understand what enjoyment there is in any marathon-watching of any TV series. “I Love Lucy” marathons are particularly peculiar. I mean, Christ, how much Lucy can you take ? How many times in a row can you watch Lucy scheming to break into show biz ? She's on every day in perpetual reruns, anyway.
I was in the Phila Museum of Art, one of the great US museums …. after about three hours my skin was crawling, I had to get out, how much “culture” can you take at one time ? And I didn’t get to see all I wanted to in the museum. It’s just that you can only take so much of something. Same with watching any TV series.
I read the book written specifically about TJGS that proves Mel Torment wrote a pack of lies in his book. It seems that Jim Aubrey was a ruthless prick and no doubt one of those types of fags that can't stand Judy Garland simply because she's Judy Garland The Gay Icon. It is always the self-loathing fags that like to spread the hate around.
Is the book Rainbow’s End: The Judy Garland Show ? I’ll need to search for that. If there is such a word as micro-mismangement, then perhaps it applies to CBS’ handling of the TJGS. Like 20th Century Fox with the whole Cleopatra debacle. What the f**k was the appeal of Bonanza, anyway ? While channel-surfing I’ve seen some “outdoor” Bonanza scenes where the background is an obvious canvas, complete with wrinkles in the fabric. Four straight cowboys living alone, and no women around ? Gimme a break. I also had the misfortune of seeing part of a Bonanza episode featuring Marlo Thomas as a stereotypical Chinese peasant.
An amazing article from someone who was working at the funeral home when Judy was brought in:
http://open.salon.com/blog/tale_tell...sket_handles_2
That article was a good Hag "fix." I love how he describes her showing like the hurried opening of a broadway show. So appropriate!
Archer Fact: You can??t tourniquet the taint. (Source: Ray Gillette)
Not sure how true it is, but I've heard too that the reason for her facial distortion is because she was found face down. This is evident in the discoloration of the upper part of her face, which is caused by her laying face down and the blood pooling in that area. Again, like I said previously, not sure how true the former is.
That article was amazing! Thanks for posting it.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Happy birthday!
Did anyone end up finding those casket pics?
I find this story suspect because Zasu was not known as a comedienne in 1930. She had done mostly dramatic roles and was most famous for her comedy after she was teamed with Thelma Todd a year after AQOTWF. In 1930 she was best known for her roles in Eric Von Strohiem movies such as GREED. Not much comedy there. There was another comedian in this film named Slim Summerville who in 1930 still had major stature as a comedian and apparently the audience reaction towards him was not comical.
Slim started the Hollywood exodus to Laguna Beach where he bought a beach front home in 1920 for $3500. In 2010 it sold for 6.5 million dollars.
"Everybody is born, and everybody dies. Being born wasn't so bad , was it?"
Peter the Hermit