dual personalities

On this day in 1969 Frances Ethel Gumm, better known as Judy Garland, was found dead in the bathroom of a rented house in Chelsea, England of an “incautious over-dosage of barbiturates”. She was only 47, but she had been working for over 40 years.

On June 26 Garland’s remains were taken to New York City, where an estimated 20,000 people lined up for hours at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan to pay their respects. James Mason gave a eulogy the next day at her funeral, an Episcopal service.

Recently I happened to watch The Wizard of Oz on TCM for the umpteenth time. It really is one of the best movies ever made. Definitely on my Top Ten list. It should have won Best Picture in that year of years 1939, but, of course, it lost to the over-blown and over-esteemed Gone With the Wind. This movie has everything, including a flyover state tornado! Everyone in it is perfect from the smartest, bravest dog ever in movies (Toto) to the Munchkins to Billie Burke as Glinda and Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West to the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman and Cowardly Lion. The sets, the music. And 17-year-old Judy Garland as the brown-eyed Dorothy Gale: Wonderful.

Much has been written about the sad life of Judy Garland and her misbegotten career in Hollywood. She only made about 30 movies, but she will be remembered forever for a handful of really good movies and one great one: The Wizard of Oz. Everyone should own it and watch it once a year. Remember in the old days when they would broadcast it on Thanksgiving night? We looked forward to it every year, and always watched it. For a long time Danny Kaye introduced it and warned people not to adjust their televisions when the screen suddenly turns to color when Dorothy wakes up in Oz. Genius. Of course, we never had a color TV growing up, so our mother had to explain to us what happens in the movie. I never saw it on the big screen–it must have been magical.

Anyway, watching The Wizard of Oz would be a good way to honor the great Judy Garland today. May light perpetual shine upon you, Judy.