From The Vault : Judy Judy Judy - The Kenner Star 1999

    From 1999 I present a piece I did on the lady known in the gay community as "Miss Judy Garland."  The main reason I am presenting this particular column at this particular time is that I have recently discovered the original interview, which was done on an ancient Uhrer reel to reel tape recorder in 1967 and I hope to soon transfer it to digital format which you can access here.

                                  Judy Judy Judy

 
“Yes, I can get you an interview with Judy Garland!”
    The little man named Bob Maule drew himself up to his full five feet, three inches and looked me in the chest.
    “Nonsense,” I said. “Garland doesn’t do interviews.”
    “I can get it for you.  I know Sid Luft.”
    Sid Luft was Garland’s ex-husband who still acted as her manager. Judy was coming to Hartford for an appearance at the Bushnell Auditorium in 1967. I was working for WPOP radio at the time.
    Frankly, I was not particularly a fan of Garland’s music. I, of course, like everyone else, loved her in “The Wizard of Oz.”  Also, I had very much enjoyed her appearances on the Jack Paar television show. From those shows I realized she had a wicked sense of humor. But I was not terribly interested in seeing her at the Bushnell, much less in doing an interview with her.
    Bob Maule was a public relations type with whom I occasionally hung out, and he spent most of his time telling me about all the famous people he knew and all the great times he had with them.  I never believed him for a minute. And now here he was telling me he could get me an interview with the Great Garland.  I finally told Bob to put up or shut up.
    “Fine,” he said. “Meet me in the lobby of the theater tomorrow night an hour before showtime. ”
    I did as instructed, and we spent the better part of an hour searching the theater for Sid Luft.
    “I know he’s around here somewhere.” Yeah, right.
    Finally, Bob disappeared, leaving me and my date, Barbara,  in the lobby for about half an hour.  When he returned he said, “It’s all set. After the show we go to her dressing room for the interview. Bring your tape recorder.” Yeah, right.
    We went to our seats for the 8pm curtain, and were thoroughly entertained by a trio called “Hines, Hines and Dad.” The two stars of the group were Maurice and Gregory Hines,  (yes, that Gregory Hines),  who could do it all - sing, dance, and be funny. They brought down the house. And when they were through, we were ready for Judy. But Judy wasn’t ready for us. 8:45: No Judy.  More Hines, Hines and Dad. 9 o’clock: No Judy. More Hines, Hines and Dad. 9:30: No Judy. Yadda yadda yadda. 
    Finally at 10 o’clock, the orchestra struck up “Over the Rainbow.”   At long last, Judy Garland swept onto the stage, and the audience went nuts. For more than an hour she held the gathered assemblage in the palm of her hand. The voice may have been a little shaky from age, and booze and drugs, but nobody cared. It was Judy.
    At the end of the show, Judy brought out her children, Joey and Lorna Luft, and did a couple of numbers with them.
    Suddenly it was over, and she was gone. But a standing ovation of about six minutes brought her back to accept the hundreds of bouquets that had been thrown onto the stage.
    Then, I realized I might be in trouble. If Bob Maule was on the level, I had to interview this woman in a matter of minutes. My heart began pounding and I tried to think of something to ask her. My mind was Jell-O.
    Twenty minutes later, we were escorted into the star dressing room, and there she was, as tiny as anything, sitting on the settee in the middle of the room. She patted the cushion next to her as my cue to sit down. I sat, and fumbled with my ancient tape recorder, and blushed with embarrassment as I noticed the top of the microphone was being held on with masking tape. Then I looked up and saw a large group of people, including a beaming Barbara, circling the settee and looking straight at the two of us. I felt like it was the Roman Coliseum and I was one of the Christians.
    If I hadn’t saved the tape of the interview I would remember nothing about it. Listening to it today one hears a very scared, inexperienced interviewer and a very tired star. I do remember looking into her eyes and seeing what looked like marbles.  Bloodshot marbles.  She was very nice, and very stoned.
    Her words were slurred and slow in coming. But her sense of humor was in tact. For example, as my heart pounded in my ears I asked:
    Me: “Do you like rock and roll?”
    Judy: “I like ....Harold Arlen.... and “Yip” Harburg. (“Over the Rainbow”, etc.)
    Me: “A lot of nice thing have been said about the Beatles.”
    Judy: “Yeah, well, I think.... they’re very.... successful. I hear a lot about the Gathering Moss, ....or the Mossy Stones, or something...”
    Me: “That would be the Rolling Stones.  Do you have any new projects planned?”
    Judy: “No, .....do you have something for me?”
    Me: “Well, not on me.”
    Judy: “Well, you always come unprepared.” (Group laughs)
    It wasn’t one of my better interviews, but, as I look back,  it was one of my biggest thrills. I remembered my words to Bob Maule: “Garland doesn’t do interviews.”  And it was true. That’s what made this one all the more special. That night I bought Bob Maule several drinks and the next day I went out and bought every Garland album I could find.
    Less than two years later, Judy Garland was dead at the age of 47.