The Judy Garland Show with Mel Tormé and special guest Diahann Carroll (episode 21, aired 16th February 1964)

This episode is the second of Judy’s ‘concert’ format shows. However, it differs slightly to the previous week’s in that she is joined by two guests. Her first is Mel Tormé. He had actually been contracted to appear as a guest six times as well as acting as her writer of special material. As the show neared its end, however, it became clear that this was never going to happen. Tormé reveals in his book The Other Side of the Rainbow (1970) that he originally took production company Kingsrow to court to sue for the money he would have made by making the two extra appearances that never materialised. Luckily for Judy he backed out. Unluckily for Judy he ended up being one of the first biographers to write a ‘kiss-and-tell’ book about Garland after her passing, and has been scorned by many a Garland fan ever since!

In show 21 Judy introduces his solo performance of ‘Blues in the Night’ by saying that it has been “written by a very good friend of mine…” meaning Tormé. It is oddly staged with phantom women appearing and disappearing around him. The ghosts of those who had once encircled him in ‘Comin’ Home Baby’ in Show 11. Judy joins him afterwards to duet on ‘The Trolley Song’ in which Tormé attempts to redress the balance of the lyrics by singing from ‘the boy next door’s’ point of view. The funniest aspect of the song is Judy’s looped last note that goes on for an eternity!

Of more special note in this episode are the two routines with Judy’s other guest, Diahann Carroll. Ms Carroll is a revelation on this show. Her appearance being yet another highlight of the series. Elegant and sophisticated, she looks like a beautiful bird in her Aghayan/Mackie creation in a setting that does not look unlike an illuminated birdcage. She sings ‘Quiet Nights’ and ‘Goody Goody’ solo, and then later on joins Judy for a wonderful duet with Carroll singing songs by Richard Rogers and Garland singing Harold Arlen. It highlights how gimmicky the Jourdan/Garland duet was in Show 19 and is almost on a par with the Garland/Streisand singing in Show 9 for sophistication. Coyne Steven Sanders remarks that this is one of the best medleys of the series – and who could disagree?! (Sanders, 1992: 333).

Judy’s concert performance in the first part of the show is of special note. In Show 21 and also Show 22 the following week she sings a substantial part of her repertoire from the Carnegie Hall concert. Shows 21 and 22 therefore serve as an authentic record of Judy-in-concert from the early 1960s and – alongside some of the Frank and Dean Special – the nearest thing to a video of the celebrated concert of 23^rd April 1961.

Judy wears a striking dress covered in sequinned poppies. The set list of songs are:

‘Hey Look Me Over’

‘Smile’

‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love Baby’

‘After You’ve Gone’

‘Alone Together’

‘Come Rain or Come Shine’

After her duet with Diahann Carroll Judy sings ‘Don’t Ever Leave Me’ and ‘Great Day’ in the Trunk spot.

This is a belter of a show!

 Garland’s Gown’s (by Ray Aghayan and Bob Mackie):

Three costume changes. As well as the sequinned poppy dress, Judy wears an unusual striped twin set with a large, white bow at the neck during her duet with Tormé. During her duet with Diahann Carroll she wears a long sparkling white dress. Although the poppy dress looks amazing in black and white, colour photos of it reveal its full effect!

Further reading:

Sanders, Coyne Steven, 1992, Rainbow’s End, The Judy Garland Show, New York: Zebra Books.

Tormé, Mel, 1970, The Other Side of the Rainbow with Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol, New York: Galahad Books.

The Judy Garland Show with Martha Raye and Peter Lawford (episode 18, aired 26th January 1964)

This is another great example of The Judy Garland Show during the latter Colleran era, particularly due to the presence of the zany Martha Raye – a musical comedy star who had been married to David Rose prior to Judy’s marriage to the same musician. Judy’s co-star from Easter Parade (1948), Peter Lawford is the other main guest, although there are no nostalgic references to their previous work together. Sometimes it is good to look forward rather than back. Lawford would appear with Garland on television once again in 1968 on the Mike Douglas Show. On that occasion they did discuss their work on Easter Parade and particularly ‘Fella With An Umbrella’.

This week’s episode also features an early TV appearance by Rich Little. He performs his uncanny impressions of Hollywood stars with Judy seated beside him. His rendition of ‘The Man that Got Away’ with the voices Jack Benny, George Burns, Fred MacMurray, Jack Hawkins, John Wayne, Alfred Hitchcock, Walter Brennan, and James Mason has Judy in hysterics. Movie maker Ken Murray is also invited back this week. He says Judy has made it possible for Murray to have ‘open house’ for the general public to see the movies he’s been showing to friends at home for the past twenty five years.

The clips on this occasion are focused on sports and include: Dick Powell, Bing Crosby, John Barrymore, Harry Langdon, Bob Hope, Wil Rogers, Leslie Howard, James Gleason and Judy herself watching some tennis. Peter Lawford is shown surfing and sleeping! Apart from the interludes provided by Rich little and Ken Murray, the rest of the 50 minutes are devoted to music.

*****

Judy opens the show with a spirited performance of ‘76 Trombones’ from The Music Man. Although she is miming to a playback whilst strutting around the brass band it is a very energetic recording, and Judy probably needed oxygen after singing it!

Martha Raye’s solo spot is a rendition of ‘Takin’ a Chance on Love’, which she sings and dances with some of the programme’s chorus boys. This is followed by Lawford’s scene in which he is attended to by his Butler and mini-skirted maids. The bare set is dressed with furniture while Lawford sings ‘It’s So Nice to Have a Man Around the House’. By this point in his career Lawford had become much more louche in style than he was during his MGM era – the influence of his association with the Rat Pack, no doubt. Lawford’s lady guest as announced by the butler is Judy Garland and in this sketch she seems every bit as resistant to Lawford’s charms as Hannah Brown was to Johnny in Easter Parade! Judy sings ‘I’m Old Fashioned’, but by the end of the song, Lawford has sneaked off to bed “feeling queasy” and is replaced by the butler.

The highlight of the show and one of the most hilarious scenes of the entire series comes net. It is the Glenn Miller medley sung by Martha Raye and Judy. Garland introduces the scene as dress rehearsal footage. The producers had decided to use this clip because of the spontaneous mischief demonstrated by both stars. Raye punctuates the performance with face-mugging, drawing attention to Judy’s flubs, and there are hints at a girl-on-girl flirtation that sends them into fits of giggles.

The musical comedy sketch in the second half of the show does not quite live up to the laughs provided by the Glenn Miller scene. Lawford introduces a medley of current pop songs sung earnestly and with straight faces by Raye, Garland and himself. The scene succeeds however, in highlighting how poor the current trends in music were compared to the rest of the material that Judy and her guests sing on the show, especially in the Trunk spot that follows.

In this week’s finale, Judy sings ‘All Alone’ by Irving Berlin, and ‘Oh Lord I’m On My Way’. Although the orchestra plays ‘Maybe I Will Come Back’, Judy does not sing it, and walks off out of sight to the rear of the stage during the end credits. It would seem that she has grown tired of regularly singing this song.

 

Garland’s Gowns: (By Ray Aghayan and Bob Mackie)

Judy wears an exceedingly glamorous outfit in the Trunk spot this week. A zebra-striped skirt with a white top and dark cape. The inside of the cape has matching zebra stripes. This outfit would suggest that Aghayan was getting ever more experimental with his costumes.

Earlier in the show Judy wears a wool cape and pillbox hat. During the Glenn Miller sketch she wears a skirt, blouse and waistcoat (possibly what was under the wool cape). In the 1960s pop medley she wears a white sparkly top and white skirt. It is the same outfit she wore for ‘By Myself’ in the Vic Damone episode the previous week. The zebra skirt and cape, however, is undoubtedly the most striking costume of he series so far.

The Judy Garland Show with Ethel Merman, Shelley Berman and Peter Gennaro (episode 16, aired 12th January 1964)

This episode is a personal favourite of The Judy Garland Project. Coyne Steven Sanders remarks in his book that this show has a ‘threadbare’ look due its lack of sets and its use of recycled costumes but this had never struck me before (Sanders, 1992: 305). Who needs sets anyway when one’s attention is fixed upon the rays of talent thrown by Garland, Merman, Berman and Gennaro?! This is a show of very fine performances all round and warrants repeated viewing. Shelley Berman’s comic routines are integrated very nicely into the show – firstly in his extended sketch near the beginning of the programme and later in a song and dance routine. (Another sketch he filmed with Judy did not make it to the final edit). Ethel Merman makes a welcome return after her cameo on the Streisand show, and it is good to see the show’s choreographer Gennaro appearing  in front of the camera for a change.

For the opening song ‘Ev’rybody’s Doin’ It/Let’s Do It’ Judy is joined by the entire cast, including the chorus dancers. All dressed like traditional vaudevillians swinging bamboo canes, this is a jolly start and sets a suitable tone for the evening’s entertainment.

Shelley Berman’s comedy sketch comes next. This does have a set, by the way… rows of office desks. Once Berman’s colleagues have left at 5pm, the comedian is trapped there by a series of increasingly frustrating phone calls. It is a hilariously acted scene.

Next comes many minutes of uninterrupted musical entertainment. Firstly Ethel Merman sings ‘Gee But Its Good to Be Here’ and ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’ with all of her bravura. The show’s producers who had once requested that Judy don’t sing the word “hell” in Show 3 don’t appear to have any qualms about Miss Merman turning her nose up at cocaine! The screens that were behind her pull away to clear a space for Peter Gennaro to swing his hips and cartwheel to ‘I Love a Parade’. The chorus dancers join him for a dazzling finish.

Everything calms down for the reappearance of Judy standing outside a ramshackle cabin to sing ‘Oh Shenandoah’. The camerawork and direction is beautifully simple. As Judy sings, the camera very gently zooms in and then gradually out again, filming her in profile.

One of my favourite scenes of the entire series follows the commercial break. Garland and Gennaro dance an extremely energetic ‘Makin’ Whoopee’ which inspires Shelley Berman to become a similarly cute artiste. Judy and Gennaro transform him by tearing off pieces of his tailcoat and stamping on his top hat to make him like one of Garland and Astaire’s ‘swells’. This only makes him marginally cute until he starts singing and dancing. Then the transformation is complete. Judy gives some very powerful high kicks in this dance routine. ‘Crazylegs Garland’ is on top form.

A sustained “ahhhhhhhhhhhh…” heralds Merman and Garland’s next scene. Ethel informs Judy that she enjoys singing duets in her stage shows even though the audience can’t hear anyone else but her. She reckons that people will be able to hear Judy though, being as she is one of the “last of the big belters!” ‘Friendship’, ‘Let’s Be Buddies’, ‘You’re the Top’, ‘You’re Just in Love’, and ‘It’s De-lovely’ make up their medley.

The finale of the show is soon upon us. Judy stands behind her trunk and determines to sing ‘A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow’ out of obscurity! ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’ ups the tempo, but in some respects seems superfluous when compared with what is about to overshadow it. Show 16 is the episode in which Judy sings ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’. She introduces the song gently by saying that it isn’t sung very often on television. All Garland fans however, know that the true sentiments behind the choice of this song were to pay a tribute to JFK.

There is a standing ovation at the end and although ‘Maybe I Will Come Back’ plays out the credits, Judy wisely does not detract from the last song by singing it this week.

A memorable, landmark episode in a series of many treasures.

 

Garland’s Gowns (by Ray Aghayan, and assistant Bob Mackie):

For the opener Judy wears a blazer and skirt. The blazer is the one she wore for the vaudeville routine on the Donald O’Connor episode. During ‘Oh Shenandoah’ she wears a simple blouse and skirt – possibly what she was dressed in under her wool coat earlier in the show when she introduced her guests.

Judy (and Peter Gennaro) are dressed in identical comedy ‘tramp’ costumes for ‘Making Whoopee’. Judy discards her hat midway through the dance.

For the Merman duet and Trunk scene Judy is dressed in an elegant but dramatic full length dress embroidered with strips of sequins. It has a looping neckline at the back, which was one of Aghayan’s trademark features for Judy’s garments over the series. All the costumes here bring out various aspects of Judy’s stage personas from the clown to glamorous star.

Further reading:

Sanders, Coyne Steven, 1992, Rainbow’s End, New York: Zebra Books

The Judy Garland Show with Steve Allen and Mel Torme (episode 11, aired 5th January 1964)

 

Sleigh bells herald the start of the show. On a frost-tinged studio landscape the show’s dancers pull along on a sledge upon which is seated Judy with Tracy Everitt. Everyone is wrapped in woollens against the cold except the show’s star who wears a huge fur hood like the Snow Queen. She snaps her fingers and sings ‘This Could be the Start of Something Big’ to a playback recording.

Next comes ‘Be My Guest’. Judy is joined by Steve Allen, and in a guest spot, the show’s regular special musical material writer, Mel Torme. A hilarious moment comes when Judy recites her old school song:

“We’re from old Metro

In Culver City

That great big busy town

We had to learn our lines and our arithmetic

With all that overworking

No wonder we are sick!

Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, Lana Turner,

And Freddie Bartholemew!

That’s why we’re speaking so loud of it

Because we’re so proud of it

Dear old Metro we’re true to you!”

 

At the end of the scene Judy mistakenly calls Mel ‘Mort’, (after Lindsey). An error he wouldn’t let her get away with. Later in the show he reveals his bruised ego by quipping, “just call me Mort…” Perhaps the audience wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t pointed it out.

A hauntingly beautiful moment comes when the next setting is introduced. The studio that had been frosty in the show’s opening has suddenly become subject to a downfall. Judy comes on in a trench coat to sing ‘Here’s That Rainy Day’. A chorus of dancers with wet-look umbrellas criss-cross the stage around her. This is an economically staged number, but incredibly effective and a particular favourite of this fan. It warrants repeated viewings and always seems fresh.

Steve Allen appears next and demonstrates his ‘many faces’ in an elaborate and rather exhausting comedy sketch. When things calm down Garland joins him to sing songs from Allen’s score from his musical Sophie, based on the life of one of Judy’s original mentors, Sophie Tucker. This scene includes the song ‘I’ll Show Them All’ which Judy sings as a riposte to all those people who bullied her or had little faith in her.

Mel Torme’s solo number prior to the commercial break is an interesting one that reveals much about his character. ‘Comin Home, Baby’ was a hit of his at the time. It is a very good song, arrangement and vocal performance, but the staging in this show is quite absurd. A scaffold holds numerous motorbikes on the set, and several glamorous dancers in very elegant evening gowns circle Torme as he sings. For most of the song they remain aloof and ignore him.

In his memoir about The Judy Garland Show, Torme reveals some of his insecurities about his masculinity. A Time magazine article had previously shown him seated on a motorbike and captioned the photo with “He was frighteningly manly”. Torme was dismayed that journalists interpreted his actions as an attempt to “prove [his] masculinity”, yet the unintentionally comic staging of ‘Comin’ Home Baby’ only serves to perpetuate this further (Torme, 1970: 58). Torme was similarly insecure about his status as a star; he didn’t enjoy having to conduct Judy onstage during taping for the series (Torme, 1970: 68). In his first film Higher and Higher (1943) he had been overshadowed by Frank Sinatra and now on The Judy Garland Show the host was calling him ‘Mort’!

After the ad break Mel returns on his bike to meet Judy. They talk in a cod Wild One nonchalant, blasé manner, discussing the extended New Year party that Torme attended from October… The chat segues naturally into ‘The Party’s Over’ from Bells Are Ringing.

One of the most delightful Tea for Tea chats of the entire series follows. According to a DVD commentary recorded by the guest Jayne Meadows, Judy had invited her to tell a story about her experience of being down a manhole during filming for Steve Allen’s television series. She had told Judy about this, and Garland invited her on to retell it for the TV audience on The Judy Garland Show as she had found it so hilarious. In the scene, Judy sits back, wide-eyed and increasingly amused. Miss Meadows tells the witty tale of hanging “like a gorilla” off the rungs of a ladder, becoming increasingly light headed by the subterranean gas. The most hilarious moment comes when Meadows asks Garland “by the way have you ever been down in a manhole?” To which Judy remarks “No not lately!”

The chat could have gone on longer but Meadows points out that a studio hand is signalling them to stop. The next scene fades in. Judy introduces Rise and Shine – two brilliant songwriters. Torme and Allen plugging some disastrous songs. Judy suggests they sing some songs they wished they had written instead. The medley includes ‘That’s the Glory of Love’, ‘Makin’ Whoopee’, and ‘Lets Fall in Love’. The scene demonstrates the dexterous way the singers can intertwine numerous songs, but a moment of calm beckons.

Unusually the Trunk segment does not start with a ballad, but with a calypso tune, ‘An Island in the West Indies’.

The moment of calm however is ushered in by Judy’s reference to the New Year:

“We have a whole New Year ahead of us, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all be a little more gentle with each other, and a little more loving, have a little more empathy, and maybe, next year at this time we’d like each other a little bit more.”

She then sings a stunningly beautiful version of ‘Through the Years’. Her voice is incredibly strong, and the emotions heart felt.

 

President Coolidge is the cousin in ‘Maybe I Will Come Back’.

This is such a delightful show, packed with memorable moments that it seems to whizz by. Judy is noticeably relaxed in the company of Allen and Meadows and this makes for an enjoyable Sunday evening programme. In the Trunk segment Judy proudly shows off a portrait of her that Roddy McDowall has taken.

What a remarkable episode this is. Definitely one to treasure!

 Garland’s Gowns (Ray Aghayan, assistant Bob Mackie):

There are three changes in Show 11. A knee-length pale dress with sequins; the floor-length white dress with sequins that she wore in the O’Connor episode for ‘Fly Me to the Moon’, and also the dress rehearsal outfit of polo neck and white trousers for the Trunk scene.

Further Reading:

Torme, Mel, 1970, The Other Side of the Rainbow with Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol, New York: Galahad Books.

The Judy Garland Show with Bobby Darin and Bob Newheart (episode 14, aired 29th December, 1963)

As soon as this episode starts there is quite clearly a different feel to the format. The opening shot is a wide shot of the stage, which allows the television audience to appreciate the theatrical setting. Mort Lindsey’s orchestra is on stage along with some backing singers, and the set is punctuated with bulbs like a dressing room mirror. The chorus welcome Judy with the song ‘Sing Sing’. Miss Showbusiness takes to the stage and is given free rein to do precisely that! The first few minutes are filled by a mini concert. This provides a taste of things to come later in the series when The Judy Garland Show follows a concert style format and completely does away with sketches and chat. Judy sings ‘If Love Were All’, ‘Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart’, and ‘Hello Bluebird’ from I Could Go On Singing (1963). It appears from TV recordings from the early 1960s that ‘Bluebird’ was favoured more by Judy than the title song of her last film. She had also sang ‘Hello Bluebird’ in her special with Robert Goulet and Phil Silvers (1963).

Fade out

The stage has cleared of band and chorus. Judy reprises ‘Sing Sing’ and introduces Bobby Darin and Bob Newheart. Judy and Darin step aside to let Newheart perform his comic sketch about encountering a friend’s pet Doberman. It is marvelously realised. Newheart acts terrified and brings the situation vividly to life just with dialogue while seated in a chair.

In another comedy sketch later in the show Newheart is joined by Garland and they both play two television viewers watching The Judy Garland Show in their dressing gowns passing judgment. Judy says that the show’s host has such poor eyesight she doesn’t know who her guests are.

“That’s why they put the lights on a runway there so she won’t fall off – she can’t find the cue cards can’t see the guests! I really know her!”

As part of this hilarious self-deprecating comedy, Judy mentions that the host lip synchs to her old records and offers to change the channel to the station with “that Western on!” Regular viewers at the time would have been aware of the competition between Judy’s show and Bonanza, of course.

Apart from the comedy with Bob Newheart, there is a lot of music on this show, and the only other break from Judy and Bobby Darin’s singing comes from a dance interlude from the Peter Gennaro dancers. An amusing outtake from this episode shows Judy missing her mark to introduce this dance number and complaining that it is difficult to walk across the stage in such a tight skirt to do it again!

Bobby Darin’s solo appearance in the first half of the show is simply staged and consists of the songs ‘Michael Row the Boat Ashore’ and ‘I’m On My Way’. In the second half Judy joins him on an almost empty train carriage with only one seat. Judy asks Darin if she can sit next to him. “All the other seats are taken… away!” she explains. He is going to Kansas City and she’s going to Oz. These two locations are associated in popular culture by The Wizard of Oz (1939), although it may not be immediately obvious how one train journey can pass through both places. Judy explains that she goes to Oz every holiday but usually by house! At this point in the film’s history, The Wizard of Oz had become synonymous with annual Christmas TV broadcasts on CBS Sunday evenings (Fricke, Scarfone and Stillman, 1989: 216).

Although The Judy Garland Show had many memorable song medleys through its run, Garland and Darin’s medley of travelling- and going home-themed tunes in this scene is quite astonishing due to the sheer amount of songs they perform without pause, including: ‘Sentimental Journey’, ‘Chattanaga Choo Choo’, ‘On the Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe’, ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’, ‘Toot Toot Tootsie’, ‘Beyond the Blue Horizon’, and ‘We’ve Been Singing on the Railroad’. For much of the medley, the singers remain inside the train, but towards the end they walk out of the front of the carriage to better connect with the audience.

Apart from Judy’s mini concert at the opening of the episode, Garland’s other solos in this show consist of ‘More’ (from Mondo Cane), ‘Do it Again’ and ‘I’m Getting Married in the Morning’ (from My Fair Lady). ‘More’ is worth studying as an example of Judy’s acting ability in song. According to Coyne Steven Sanders’ book, Bill Colleran recalled that Judy “hated” the song but “sang the hell out of it, anyway” (Sanders, 1992: 288). Staged on a hideous set that looks like leftover pieces from a ragbag of different movies, Judy leans against a pillar to sing. At first she seems to be going through the motions but as the song progresses she injects it with some Garland magic. Fixing her gaze into the camera several times throughout the number, it is almost as if she is thinking “if I’ve got to sing this rubbish I may as well surprise everyone by turning it into gold…”

Show 14 lacks a little of the sparkle of other episodes, but this is hardly surprising when you consider that Judy should really have been resting during the time it was filmed. The taping occurred in the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination. However, rather than take time off, it appears that Garland worked harder than ever following the death of her friend. The work schedule reported by Coyne Steven Sanders recalls the busy time at MGM when Judy was shooting scenes for Thousands Cheer, Girl Crazy, and Lily Mars (all released 1943) retakes back to back. In the week of the Show 14 recording Judy also shot the ‘Babes’ comedy sketch with Mickey Rooney for Show 1 and a scene with the Mighty Mites football team that should have been the opener for Show 14 but was replaced by the mini concert!

At the end of the episode Judy sees out the old year and welcomes in the new: “I wish you a very happy and peaceful 1964. And don’t forget I’m gonna come back – I think – if I can get through these many changes!”

In ‘Maybe I’ll Come Back’ her two guests “Bobby and Bobby” are her cousins.

 

Garland’s Gowns (Ray Aghayan and Bob Mackie):

There are numerous costume changes in this episode. For the mini concert Judy wears a pale skirt and top. The latter has some sparkly fringing at the cuffs and hem that are sewn on in a check pattern. During ‘More’ she wears a long, plain dress with an elaborate necklace (similar to the one that Joan Crawford wears in I Saw What You Did (1965)). In the train medley Judy wears a travel suit with a thick fur collar and pillbox hat. The dress she has difficulty walking in during her intro for ‘Take 5’ with the Peter Gennaro Dancers is the white, floor-length gown she wore in the ‘Men’ medley with Peggy Lee. In the Trunk scene Judy wears the stripy shirt with bib. There is also the frumpy dressing gown during the comedy sketch with Bob Newheart (presumably not an Aghayan creation!) For the filmed and deleted opening scene Judy wore a football kit and the same dress that she wore in the mini concert.

Of all the above, the ‘Take 5’ dress is the most glamorous, but the Trunk costume is probably the one Judy feels most comfortable in. It certainly seems to be one of her favourite and most regular costumes for the show’s finale.

 

Further reading:

Fricke, John, Scarfone, Jay, Stillman, William, 1989, The Wizard of Oz, The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History, London: Hodder and Stoughton

Sanders, Coyne Steven, 1992, Rainbow’s End, The Judy Garland Show, New York: Zebra Books