Judy Garland on Judy Garland (59 page)

“I know,” said Judy, “that every mother will understand what I mean. In these past couple of years, when everything seemed to be going wrong, it was Liza who was on hand.

“She used to say: ‘Mother, you were there when I needed you.'”

Judy went on: “But, really, four wonderful things have happened within the last few months this year, and they are all things which have taken away the doubts and anxieties which have caused so much trouble in the past.”

Judy counted them out on her fingers …

“ONE, Liza is a success in her own right as the star of the Broadway show
Flora, the Red Menace.
D'you know, she's just won a Tony—the Antoinette Perry Award—as the best musical actress of the year. Isn't that good?

“TWO, after so much legal back and forth, I'm finally divorced from my former husband, Sid Luft. I have always felt it better to cut completely if two people don't get on.

“THREE, I now have a full legal share of the custody of our two children, Lorna and Joseph. Sid had long fought for sole custody. I was scared to death I was going to lose them.

“FOUR, I'm going to marry Mark—Mark Herron. My three children adore him. So, at last, everything is wonderful all the way.”
*

Judy Garland sat back in her chair and smiled.

“Now I have so much to live for,” she said. “All those past problems are settled and the children of my marriages are growing up good and straight. I'm content.”

I said good-bye and slipped out of the door as a messenger brought in another bouquet of flowers.

It really seemed that Judy Garland has, at last, found that long-elusive happiness that has lain all these painful last few years on the other side of her rainbow.

*
Judy married Mark Herron on November 14, 1965, in Las Vegas. Their union was brief, lasting only a few months

In arrangement with Twentieth Century Fox, Judy Garland participated in a much-anticipated press conference at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. There, alongside novelist Jacqueline Susann, she fielded questions relating to her casting as fictional Broadway musical comedy star Helen Lawson in the studio's upcoming production of
Valley of the Dolls.
“I don't think any actress could get a better role,” she told the press. “I think there's a good chance to sing one song and yet I don't have to depend upon singing. I like to act, too, so I think it's going to be good. I hope I am good in it.”

“The book deals with pills, to some extent,” declared one reporter. “Have you found that prevalent around show business people?”

“Well, I find it prevalent around newspaper people, too,” Judy quipped with a smile, much to the delight of those gathered.

Following the event, Judy accompanied Liza to a final fitting with wedding gown designer Annemarie Gardin. Liza's marriage to Peter Allen took place in New York City the following day.

Announcer:
And now,
Monitor's
Man on the Aisle, Leonard Probst, with the story of one of the legendary figures of show business.

Leonard Probst:
New York looked like Hollywood last Wednesday—at least a small corner of it did. It reminded me of the old Hollywood when big studios did things in a big way. A movie studio had sent out telegrams
the night before, alerting the press to The Event. If we would come to the Versailles Room of the St. Regis Hotel, a fashionable place on Fifth Avenue, we would see Judy Garland, the girl who had grown up in Hollywood, the girl who had played in
The Wizard of Oz
thirty years ago. Weekly news magazines, television, radio, and newspapers sent reporters. About fifty of us waited. Twenty-five minutes late, in she came with three press agents. Miss Garland was wearing a black dress with a yellow pillbox hat on her head. She looked thinner and tense. She carried an empty gold cigarette holder in one hand and occasionally fingered a triple strand of pearls at her neck with the other. She seemed frightened, but eager to be accommodated. She took a glass of water and said, “See, it
is
water,” and then asked for orange juice. The story, which we all knew before we arrived, was that Judy Garland has been signed for a leading role in the film adaptation of
Valley of the Dolls,
a novel by Jacqueline Susann. “Dolls,” Miss Susann confessed, was the name she had made up for pills, and the book is about people in show business who take too many pills. Although we didn't know she'd be there, Miss Susann entered the room and was followed by Judy. The first ten minutes was taken up by still photographers taking pictures of Judy and Jacqueline. Then they cleared off and the questions began. [ … ] The role Judy Garland will play in Hollywood is said to be based on a musical comedy star, Ethel Merman. How did Judy feel about that? As they used to say in Hollywood,
“Here's Judy!”

Judy Garland:
Well, I've heard many people say that it's Ethel Merman. Of course they say that about every book … not about Ethel [all
laugh]
… but, I mean, I don't really know whether Jacqueline had anyone in mind.

Jacqueline Susann:
No, it's a composite picture. I've have people say, “Is it true Ethel Merman doesn't talk to you now?” And I say, “Well, we didn't talk
before
I wrote the book. We just don't talk louder! [All
laugh.]

LP:
Jacqueline Susann explained it was OK to play what at first might seem to be an unsympathetic character.

JS:
You know a lot of people think that it's a brutal picture of a star. It's not. It shows how unhappy the star is up there with all the encroachments of success [ … ] It's a sad commentary, and there are so many stars, I think,
who gets those telegrams being invited to every opening, every place, and then there's a mad scramble of “Where do we get an escort?”

JG:
It's a funny thing, but I imagine a lot of people think, “Oh, we can't call her because she's obviously so busy,” you know. So you just sit and stare at the phone wanting it to
ring,
even if it's the wrong number.

Press:
I wouldn't want to hold you to a remark you made in '63, but you said, “Tragedies bore me. I don't want to have anything to do with them anymore. I'm interested in things that are fun.” What changed your mind?

JG:
I know that I'm not interested in being written about as tragedy's child as a person, you know. In a movie, if the role happens to call for a comedy, I can play that. If it calls for drama, I like anything like that. I think I was pretending how I like to … Having been written [about] for too long as just a woman who walks around
crying
all the time for no reason at all. Because I don't sing “Over the Rainbow” all the time! [All
laugh.]

Announcer:
The regular news conference ended and the star was then made available for a personal interview.

LP:
Miss Garland, you were fourteen [sic] when you played Dorothy in
The Wizard of Oz,
and now at the age of forty-five you're about to play Helen Lawson, the tough, aging …

JG:
I'll be forty-five in June. Let's not punch me up anymore, all right? [
Laughs.]

LP:
[You're about to play the] tough, aging Broadway musical comedy star in
Valley of the Dolls.
Is there any way to age properly in public when you're before the public eye?

JG:
I think anybody can age well if they have a little intelligence and a little humor, whether they be in the public eye or not. It's a matter of balance, and the joy of the vines of life, and for your children….

LP:
Well, you're returning to Hollywood after a few years' absence, right?

JG:
No, I'm returning to motion pictures. But don't say this is a comeback because, I must say, if [I do] one more comeback I'll have to just
get
embarrassed!
I think I've done seventy-five so far! No, this is the first picture I've done in about two and a half years.

LP:
Your daughter, by the time this gets on the air, will be married. Are you happy about this?

JG:
Well, I'm just as excited as I can be because I think he's a fine young man and I think they're going to be very, very happy. They're very much in love. You can't ask for more than that.

LP:
Judy Garland, nearly forty-five, married four times, is about to return to Hollywood to do another film. This is Leonard Probst, NBC News, New York.

Filmed in Judy's suite at the St. Regis Hotel, this interview was one of the earliest by up-and-coming broadcast journalist Barbara
“Today
Girl” Walters. Many years later, Walters recalled her appointment with Judy: “First of all, she kept me waiting more than four hours and I almost walked out. But, you know, it was Judy Garland! And then when she came out … she was
adorable
and I remember the laughter.” Lorna and Joe joined their mother for the interview. Judy wore a light blue dress with navy trim belonging to Lorna. “She didn't have a dress of her own, and she was very tiny,” recalled Walters. The edited piece aired on
Today
in two segments on the morning of March 16.

Barbara Walters:
You came here, of course, for your daughter Liza's wedding, which suddenly makes me feel very old, because I can remember, the way most of us can, when Liza was quite a little girl. Are you happy about this wedding?

Judy Garland:
Oh, indeed, indeed, indeed! He's a marvelous boy, you know … Peter Allen. And she's a lovely lady. She's not a child. And they've been engaged for over two years. And I'm just terribly happy and terribly proud.

BW:
Did you cry?

JG:
No, I thought I was going to, and then I was so happy I didn't feel like crying at all.

BW:
Did you give Liza any advice about marriage?

JG:
No, I don't think so. I don't think I can
qualify
because I have not been too successful myself about marriage. Just in my children. But the thing is, she is a wise girl and she's very in love. And he's a very lovely guy who's mad about her, and you can't ask for more than that.

BW:
I was reading a quote recently and you said, “I wish people would stop talking about my comebacks and my unhappiness. I have had so many happier days. I have so many happy days now.” Do you recall saying this? It was just in the papers recently.

JG:
Yes, well that's true, you know. Maybe it will distress a lot of people, but I've had an awfully nice life.
[Laughs.]
I really have had.

BW:
I think it will surprise a lot of people who kind of like to think of you as a …

JG:
Tragedy.

BW:
Yeah, the poor little rich girl … the—

JG:
[Interrupting.]
No, never rich, just poor. And sad!

BW:
Well, not that, but in the sense that … the one who had everything, but yet, you know, wasn't happy. What are the things that bring you the … I don't even have to ask you. I was going to say, “What are the things that bring you so much happiness today?” and you're hugging one of them right now.

JG:
[Hugging and gently stroking Joe's head.]
Well, first of all, my two friends here, myself, my oldest daughter, my son-in-law, my future, my past, my present, and my audiences.
[Pats Joe on the hip and smiles.]
And that ain't bad! [
Laughs.]

BW:
No, that's not bad. And I count myself among those of your audience who love you so much, so I'm doing this interview with great joy for me.

JG:
Thank you, Barbara.

BW:
Are you looking forward to being a grandmother? That's going to happen one of these days.

JG:
Can't
wait!

BW:
Really?

JG:
I can't
wait!
I want [Liza] to have a baby
immediately,
and then she can see the baby for only twenty-five minutes and then I'll be a babysitter.

BW:
If you hadn't been an actress—if you can imagine being anything else but an actress—what do you think you might have wanted to be?