Anne Marie has spent each Wednesday morning this year, investigating Judy Garland's career through musical numbers. And now, the finale...
Somehow, we've reached the end of this series, this year, and the life and career of this incredible performer. Though Judy never starred in another television show or movie after 1964, she stayed busy with tours and TV guest star gigs, including a recurring spot as Johnny Carson's guest on The Tonight Show. Her touring schedule brought her frequently to England, where she was taped one last time in front of an audience in a sold-out January performance at the London Palladium.
The Show: "Sunday Night at the Palladium"
The Songwriters: Various
The Cast: Judy Garland
The Story: It was a bittersweet discovery to find that the full kinescope of Judy Garland's last television performance, Sunday Night at the Palladium, has been almost totally lost to time. Though sound recordings of the special exist, the only actual image currently available is sixteen silent seconds of Garland taking her final bows. It's an oddly perfect way to end the series, though...
Thirty years after she started, Judy ended her career the same way it had begun, singing onstage to captivated audiences. Unfortunately, the end of her career with her death in June was not as hopeful those who saw her skyrocket to fame could have predicted. However, rather than dwelling on her trials and tragic end, instead you can know remember her as this: a magnificent talent who helped create a monumental star, a passionate performer who loved her audience as they loved her, and a fantastic, flawed figure whose life and work encapsulates the dangers and delights of the Hollywood mythmaking machine. There will never be another like her, but we are grateful for the bits of herself she left behind.
Thank you for spending the year watching and discussing Judy Garland with us. Here's to the rest of 2016, the beginning of 2017, and to borrow a line from Judy:
Get happy!
10 Previous Highlights:
"Dear Mr Gable" (1937)
"Over the Rainbow" (1939)
"For Me and My Gal" (1942)
"The Trolley Song" (1944)
"On the Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe" (1946)
"I Don't Care" (1948)
"Get Happy" (1950)
"The Man That Got Away" (1954)
"I Could Go On Singing" (1963)
"Together Wherever We Go" (1963)