TJGS Episode 4: Mad Guest Stars and Englishman



This is the episode where Judy talks, Lena growls, Jerry vamooses, and Terry Thomas is an all around British charmer.  This is also the episode in which the CBS brass, in the form of Programming Executive Hunt Stromberg, Jr, got hands on.  The Garland show was looking like it might stick around, Garland hadn't imploded under the stressful schedule as some predicted she would, and so concern began to rise and they turned, as execs often do, to the average citizen of America through the focus groups I'd mentioned earlier.  They were Garland's appeal, and the fact that she didn't quite fit the CBS mold.  They were worried she that America didn't find her approachable, that she was too affectionate with the guests, and so they made some "suggestions" and encouraged Garland to talk and tell stories so the audience could get to know her.  They added a segment called "Tea For Two" in which Judy would chat casually with one of her guest stars, and swapped out a song for an anecdote about how she lost the Academy Award in the upcoming episode's "trunk" spot.  All of this input put a lot of folks on edge, especially Judy and her producer.  They'd been left relatively alone for awhile, and this new input could not be good news.

"Rainbow's End" implies that Schlatter directed Judy to make an exit from the set for awhile, as he also was largely absent, and unfortunately Lena Horne, the guest that week, was put off by it.  Now, Judy was never really fond of rehearsing and thought too much rehearsing for this show would rob it of freshness and spontaneity, and in the past she hadn't needed it.  She was the "one take wonder" who could pick up a dance step by seeing it once, could look at a piece of sheet music onte time and have it down pat, which even Mel Torme conceded to having seen in action.  So even now, when she could use the rehearsal as her dancing chops had somewhat rusted, she didn't have the discipline in her muscle memory, and the set was hardly the pleasant place to be that it had once been, and Garland had always soaked in her environment like a sponge.  So there were probably a few factors that led to her absence from rehearsals this week.  Regardless, Lena was not pleased, and it shows.   

Now, I, for one am leery of those who think they can read what's going on behind the scenes by body language, etc.  because in a very real way the "insights" of the lightly informed often say more about the audience member than the subject.  For example, people are always making sweeping statements about Garland when they watch her perform.  "Oh she looks nervous", "you can tell she's really sad", "She looks drunk" and I have always been a very strong believer that


1. You see what you think you will see.  You've heard that Garland drank, and are looking for are seeking evidence to prove your juicy beliefs.  Trust me, you will find them even if they aren't there.  As a pretty rabid fan I've seen and heard lots of footage, including occasional footage in which Garland is "overmedicated", and it's quite apparent when that's the case.  Trust me, give your discerning eye a rest and enjoy what actually is up there.

  2.  Judy was an actress, and when she performed a song, she felt and radiated the emotions of the song and character she was playing.  It's part of what makes her so special.  It ain't American Idol where someone smiles, sells it, and performs vocal yoga ad nauseum,  even if it's a ballad of loss.  It's called acting.

If you still think you are so perceptive, let's try an experiment, if you are game.  Watch Lena Horne on the show.  What do you think?  She sways a bit, she leers, wobbles, twitches and growls through the show, she flubs a line...she's a prime candidate to be one "drunkin punkin"!  She looks drunk!   And yet, she ain't drunk. 

What I will posit however, based on my understanding of the show's dynamics that week, and the body language, that she seemed a bit...tense compared to her usual self.  She hardly looks at Judy while performing with her.  She's closed off, determined, like a locomotive chugging down the track.  She's on her own.  And what camaraderie there is, at least from her side, seems forced.  A good example of this is the hyper-manic cackling and shaking, kicking and head tossing at the end of the "Judy Sings Lena/Lena Sings Judy" number.  We get it, ladies.  You are having one fucking amazing time. On the upside?  Tense set or not, Lena and Judy both put out some great performances.  If you are not familiar with Lena Horne, give her a listen.  Lady had some pipes...

 

As for the rest of the show, it's certainly above par, and as a guest star Terry Thomas is just charming.  He's extremely agreeable, polite, warm, and ever so British.  Judy is once again looking gorgeous in this show, and she sings a really intimate rendition of "A Foggy Day in London Town" that is pretty fascinating.  I've always loved watching her sing to an individual because the intimacy does something to the words, make them so...immediate.

 









One thing you won't see on this episode is Jerry Van Dyke.  Though filmed fourth, the episode aired 10th, after it had been announced that Van Dyke was leaving the show, so his work, which is pretty enjoyable in this episode, I have to say, can only be found in the outtakes.

Final Note:  I wish I could go back in time to 1963 and burn those weird trench coat gowns Judy and Lena are wearing in the opening number before they get a chance to put them on.  They look like wrapped up sateen mummys.  No Ma'am, Pam.

The Judy Garland Show Episode 1: The Premiere!!!

This episode was the first one taped for the series, and I have to say it's pretty wonderful.  The look is dramatic, glamorous, glossy and glitzy (all those "g" words I love)...Judy looks and sounds wonderful and aside from some clunky comedic bits which were typical of sixties tv variety shows, it's a perfect way to illustrate what a viewer could look forward to in the season ahead.  If you care to watch along with me and can get ahold of a DVD of the show, the Pioneer set has loads of outtakes and deleted numbers removed and replaced due to the later change in the ordering of the episode.   ALSO, it's important to note that this show was rehearsed and taped like a theatrical production.  It was finished taping in less than 90 minutes, and Judy required no second takes on any of it.  It's a very different way of doing things from the over-produced, over "tweaked" and stilted shows of the same variety that are made today.

 

The show begins with Judy's conductor and right hand man Mort Lindsey leading an overture of her numbers that would build to her entrance, much as had been done in her concerts.  The overture of a singer's hits is pretty standard fare today, and one that Judy pioneered.  In fact, it's pretty amazing how many things we think of as standard concert tropes were originated or made famous first by Garland.  When Judy finally arrives she makes an incredible entrance and looks stunning in this ultra -sophisticated pantsuit gown combo that was very in fashion in the late-fifties early sixties.  She looks so fresh, comfortable, in control...  it only makes me wish the show had been taped in color, because Judy's color palette really made up so much of her "look" and enhanced her beauty.  This licorice black hair, deep red lips and porcelain skin, that rich sophisticated "drawl" of a speaking voice.  She sings "I Feel A Song Coming On" (one of the few pre-recorded numbers of the series) with special lyrics introducing Mickey Rooney

 

 

Then we unfortunately fade out and fade in to...Mickey Rooney.  I've always had rather ambiguous feelings about Mickey Rooney.  While I loved him in the early Andy Hardy films, in his musicals with Judy like Babes on Broadway and Girl Crazy, let's just say I tried to keep my eyes focused on her side of the screen.  He's always been a bit too forceful, too hammy for my taste.  "He really insists upon himself" as my friend Meg would say.  His philosophy of performance seemed to be "why say anything when you can shout it, while doing a handstand, balancing plates on your feet, and speaking in a bad Gable imitation.  He's the Jim Carrey/Martin Short of his day, and it ain't my cup o tea. 

 

For his solo spot on the show he is seated on a large staircase as he sings this falsely "sincere"  medley of songs glorifying the American girl, and having the much married Rooney singing that when he's not near the girl he loves he loves the girl he's with?  It has a humor that I'm not quite sure was intended.  Thank god he finally drops the winsome pose, but he segues into a schmaltzy bit in which he impersonates Jimmy Durante and Maurice Chevalier.  At the end of the number, as he sings "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" he's flanked by two little girls which would seem really creepy if you didn't know they were his daughters.  For the record, this is exactly the kind of corny number  I would usually fast-forward through, but it's worth watching once, even if it's only to see Mickey's bizarre combed forward hair-do.

 

From that number we move to one of my favorite from the series.  Ever.  The stairs that Mickey had been singing on rotate on this wonderful turn-table, doing it's job long before "Les Miz" became synonymous with the word in a theatrical context, and Judy strolls out from the darkness and just lays out the most brilliant, structured performance of a real "sock-o" number that shows what a master she is at building a song.  She's the Queen of audience mind control.  And you'll notice how carefully she selects which moments to play to the camera directly, when she plays to the studio audience, and when she seems to be singing for herself.  To paraphrase, Judy expert John Fricke, she has a way of making the relatively cold mediums of television and film seem so warm.  She communicates across forty years as if it's a cinch.  Truly stunning.    

 

 

 

Next Judy and Mickey have a really sweet interaction where they reminisce over old times and look back at old photos of themselves back when they were "in pictures" together.  While the impact is less momentous and thrilling than it would have had back then (the much publicized reunion of a beloved team that hadn't been seen together on-screen in fifteen years, in a time before you could push a button and bring up virtually any image or film clip) the dialogue is off the cuff, and sincere, and their affection for each other is blatantly obvious.  Mickey is so gentle and considerate to Judy that he completely redeems himself from his sub-par singing, and Judy she is equally loving toward him, doing her old trick of kicking off her Ferragamo heels when they dance, so they are roughly the same height.  And as they perform side by side you get a glimpse at two performers with very different styles.  Mickey looks straight at the camera, faces it dead on through most of the song, glancing at Judy ocassionally, while she makes it all about him.  She leans in to him, sings for him and to him, reacting to every moment he gives her.  This is something that she would do time and time again through the episodes.  She would constantly defer to her guest, make sure that they got spot lighted in their duets, give them the full focus, and she would give them a lot of the better material in the duets.  After awhile, Mickey shows off his comedic chops by reviving one of his most clever routines that he'd performed with Judy in personal appearances and on film in Girl Crazy: the Goofy Golfer, and he's really quite charming in it. 

 

The second half of the show is largely devoted to a sketch that probably played better in it's day, and seems a bit stumbly and tongue in cheek for it's own good.  It was obviously rehearsed, but it's too loosely scripted and most of the comedic moments fall flat as a result, aside from a wonderful moment when Mickey mocks his own penchant for hamming it up, showing again how wonderfully funny he can be. 

 

The final moment of the show worth remembering is from Judy's "Born in a Trunk" segment.  At the end of each show, Judy would stand alone on her "runway" with a large stage trunk, and sing one or two final numbers to close the evening.  The number Judy chose for the opening episode, "Old Man River", was not conventional, and not often performed by women, and the CBS executives hated it.  They wanted something nostalgic and familiar like "Over The Rainbow" or "The Trolley Song", but Judy insisted on pushing boundaries, and doing things her way.  She would take a lot of input and let other people make a lot of decisions, but when it came to musical selections, she was of the firm opinion that she knew what was right for her.  The performance proves her right, and is one of the highlights of the series...

 



 

All in all, a pretty great show that displays a relaxed, healthy looking and sophisticated Garland and it's really a shame that this wasn't the first episode aired, as I think it would have payed so much better than the hokey countrified episode that was the official premier with guest star Donald O'Connor.  While that episode actually beat the unbeatable competition "Bonanza" (a color program when color tv was a true novelty and the event television of it's day- God knows why they put Garland in such a tough time slot) one thinks the show might have fared a lot better later on if the audiences had been shown this first.

 

A couple of final comments on Garland's look.  I love her gowns in this episode.  They were (with the exception of the one in the opening number) designed by Edith Head who was fired due to disagreements with George Schlatter, the director.  He didn't like her approach to the costumes, nor did he like her demeanor, and so she was replaced by Ray Aghayan who had a much more high fashion look in mind.  It's very stylized, very sixties, and yet, while it's definitely the minority opinion...I prefer Head's conception.  As for the hairstyling, it's surprising what a difference a "do" makes.  As the season went on, Garland would go from a relaxed and tousled look to a Dairy Queen "dip cone" look. 

 

 



To me, it's constricting, and artificial, more architecture than hair.  In fact, I would have preferred her to have her hair a little longer than she does altogether, because, while I know that a forty-something year old women at that time was considered much older than we would consider one now, a more youthful hairstyle would have been lovely on her.

 

 

Ok, one LAST clip!  After the credits rolled on the show, someone left the cameras rolling and Judy and Mickey were captured as they say their thanks to the studio audience.  It's a special treat that really captures how they felt about each other.  Enjoy...

 





A Garland Geek's Conundrum

So I've decided on a new undertaking, a new blogging project.  I've decided to re-watch all episodes of Judy's critically acclaimed, ill-fated television show which lasted one season from 1963-64, and blog about them, one episode a day for the next twenty-six days.   I  know this may lose me some readers, as it appeals to a pretty "niche" audience, and yet, this whole blog serves a niche audience, so what the hell.  I'm a gonna do it.  And once I start.  I vow to watch one episode a day, and write about it for twenty-six days, until I've reached the last episode. 

Still, a decision has to be made before the first show is watched...

The shows were not aired in the order that they were taped.  The first five were produced by George Schlatter, who would later gain fame as producer of  Laugh-In.  They were glossy, glamorous, and glitzy.  The guest stars included Lena Horne, Mickey Rooney, Liza Minnelli, Count Basie and Tony Bennet.  But CBS was concerned by some comments made by a random sampling of audience members who viewed the taped episodes.  They said things like Judy looked nervous, she touched her guests too much...the concensous was that she was too unapproachable, too glamorous and not enough of the girl next door.  The former "best pal" Garland image had morphed through the years into that of a mercurial, extremely talented and troubled "Star!" and the brass wanted someone more down to earth, and a show more in keeping with their current folksy offerings like The Beverly Hillbillys".  And so the production team was unduly fired.  Schlatter was gone, most everyone else was axed as well, with only a few people remaining.  Also dropped were the guest stars Schlatter had planned to team Garland, including Nat King Cole, Betty Grable, Steve and Eydie, and Phil Harris and Alice Faye.  Instead there would be a lot more "down home" acts mixed in with the fellow legends, guests like the "The Dillards", and Zina Bethune of the drama "Nurses". 

Aside from changing up a lot of the guests, the new team would attempt to provide Judy with a bunch of regulars to be surrounded by, a "family" so to speak, much in the way The Carol Burnett Show would later.  The team would also add certain segments which could be relied upon to appear on a regular basis in an attempt to give each episode the same structure, as opposed to Schlatter's approach of each show being a "special".  Finally, they would also attempt to make Judy more approachable by writing comedic bits which would knock Judy off her "pedestal".  They would mock her age, her reputation, and lack of television know how.   

In order to present what the execs thought was one of the better shows as it's series premier, they chose to air an episode produced by the second team rather than the initially planned, first taped show, with Judy's former co-star and dear friend Mickey Rooney.  Other episodes would air out of order as well, until you get later on in the series.

So here's the quandary.  Watch as aired?  See a less cohesive order, which reproduces the way the television audiences first saw them?  Or watch them as taped and watch the chronological progression of the show?  One allows you to see the show as others first did, and the other allows you a step-by-step walk through the show and lets you see how Judy changes throughout the process.    Which is more important?  Which is the "true" experience?  Seeing the shows as they should have been viewed, or how they actually were.