Judy Garland on Judy Garland (60 page)

JG:
Happily married. And just a nice lady.

BW:
Do you think it's possible to be an actress and be happily married?

JG:
Well, I don't think anybody who married me thought so, but
I
think it's possible.
[Laughs.]
I think … I don't see any reason … but I think it's probably a little difficult. It seems that every man that I've ever met, they sort of … well, they
know
that I'm Judy Garland when they start to go with me, and then the minute they sort of get entangled with me they say, “You know how difficult it is to be …” Well, why didn't they think of that before they, you know, took me out the first time? I don't know. I don't think I'm that difficult. [To
Lorna
] Do you? Or does it seem … It hasn't been too rough on … [laughs].

Lorna Luft:
No!

JG:
But at any rate, I would like that. I'm a good cook, by the way. And I think you can vouch …
[pointing microphone toward Lorna, who shies away].
Say something good!

LL:
Yes! [All laugh.]

BW:
[Laughs.]
No fair!

Joe Luft:
She makes the best shepherd's pie!

JG:
Shepherd's pie they like, yes.

BW:
That's a pretty good recommendation. Do you want to get married again?

JG:
You talking to Joe or …

BW:
I'm talking to you. Joe hasn't been married
yet!

LL:
He caught the bridal bouquet at the wedding twice.

JG:
Yes, he did!
[Kissing Joe's cheek.]

BW:
Ah. But do you think you do? Is it something that …

JG:
I don't want to rush into it, no. I think I was married the first time when I was six months old, it seems to me. No, I'm not anxious to get married again. I don't see any necessity for that. Unless you've got somebody in mind … [laughs].

BW:
Me? I don't know. You seem awfully nice. I'm going to look around. [
Judy laughs.]
Do you enjoy being recognized? I'm sure there's hardly a place you can go to where you're not.

JG:
I don't like it too much. It's just that sometimes the lack of privacy … it's hard to just grow up in the public eye. And I'm a
terrible
eavesdropper. I
love
to eavesdrop and peek through keyholes, and I've never peeked through one keyhole without finding somebody looking back at me.
[Laughs.]
It's terrible!

BW:
What are you the least tolerant of these days?

JG:
The least tolerant? I'm the least tolerant of
[more deliberate]
any more lies or foolishness in print or spoken about me. That. And I think people should stop. I've never done anything. The only mistake I ever did … the only harm I ever did was sing “Over the Rainbow,”
[Barbara laughs]
so I don't think that I should get any more than a
traffic ticket
for that! But to be called anything that is not true, I don't like it. I really have gotten to the age where I rebel, and I'm gonna
hit,
hit back!

BW:
One of the very good things about television is that what you say is there. Nobody can put the adjectives to it. I can't. You know, I can't describe you. Everybody will see you as you are. So since we have this
opportunity, are there any lies you like to clean up or correct? Are there things that have been said about you for years that you feel are untrue?

JG:
Well, I think the fact that some kind of pattern of publicity started when I was very young and was becoming a famous person. This business of anybody implying that I'm either addicted to carpets or drinking or pills or … I wouldn't have had time to learn a
song
if I'd been as sick as they've printed me all the time. And temperamental. I haven't been able to
afford
to be temperamental. And I don't want to be temperamental. Now, nobody ever sues for slander because, obviously, all lawyers just say, “Well, forget it!” But the lawyer doesn't have to worry. But the newspapers—the scandal sheet—sells two million dollars. I mean two million copies. Or maybe makes two million dollars just with the front page J
UDY GARLAND ADMITS SHE'S BROKE.
And then it's all in quotes by a man that you've never—[to Lorna] pardon me, darling—I've never met. They must be stopped! That must be stopped! I want the money, I want a public apology, and I want them to be taken to court.

BW:
Mm-hm.

JG:
And I don't see any reason. I'm not a member of the Mafia. I'm not a cruel person. Why should I be run over? And why should my children be subjected to that kind of thing?

BW:
Of course, we have heard for years about the concerts where there were times when you couldn't appear, and there was some conversation when you were doing a television show, and, of course, there
are
these rumors that “she's difficult, she's difficult, she's …” How do they—

JG:
[Interrupting.]
Well, I'm about as difficult as a daisy. I really am. Now, I do have times when I get the flu, and that's when they say, “Well, you know about
her
… it's not the flu.” I catch cold now and then, but this business of being difficult is not true. It really isn't true. I may be pressed for time because I've been working so hard all my life, but I like to laugh, I like to have a bag of popcorn, go on a roller coaster now and then … but the fact of this thing about … People who haven't met me say, “Oh, I'm afraid to meet her!” Well,
why
are they afraid to meet me? I'm not going to hurt any[body],
bite
them, or have a conniption fit in the middle of the room. I
like people. But they don't call me … [to Joe] but you call me, will ya? You know my number?
[Laughs and hugs Joe.]
No, I think my only anger is that it's just been such damn foolishness—[to
Joe and Lorna]
excuse me— about this difficult business. I've been working for forty-three years. Now, if I were as difficult or as ill [as they say], I wouldn't have been able to be working for forty-three years, so I think it's time to put a stop to all that.

BW:
I heard recently that you no longer sing “Over the Rainbow.” I hope that's not true.

JG:
[Shocked.]
Of course it's not true!

BW:
Good.

JG:
That's the best song ever written.

BW:
Well, someone had said, “Judy Garland isn't singing ‘Over the Rainbow' anymore.”

JG:
Now, who said that?

BW:
A reporter. And I just heard it last week.

JG:
Really? And what does his wife do? Sing?

BW:
[Laughs.]
I think she sings “Over the Rainbow.”

JG:
She probably … [
Laughs.]

BW:
Someday there will be a great deal of applause for a young lady named Lorna. And we asked Lorna earlier if she would sing something for us. This is
extremely
difficult to do, to sing without accompaniment, and in advance I want to tell you how grateful we are. Would you do something for us now?

LL:
Well, I'll try. I do have a sore throat [
clears throat]
because of the weather in New York, but here goes nothing.
[Judy and Joe laugh and applaud as Lorna belts Petula Clark's “I Know a Place.”]

JG:
Brilliant, Lorna!
Marvelous! [Leans in to kiss Lorna's neck.]

BW:
Lorna, you're wonderful and I thank you.

JG:
Say, I must say, you're terribly good! Isn't she marvelous? There was no accompaniment.

BW:
This is one time it wasn't motherly pride. You
are
marvelous.

LL:
Thank you!

JG:
[Instructing the crew and others around the room.]
Everybody applaud now. Go ahead. Joe?
[Clapping.]

BW:
And we applaud you, too, Judy Garland. You've been a wonderful interview today.

JG:
Why, thank you, Barbara.

BW:
I'm so pleased to have had the opportunity to talk to you.

JG:
[Nudging Lorna.]
I'm so
impressed!

BW:
Thank you, Joe, as well.

JL:
You're welcome!
[Judy smiles and laughs.]

BW:
How old were you when you got your first job?

JG:
Thirty months.

BW:
What was it?

JG:
I was
singing!

BW:
Were you
really?
When you were that young? Did someone push you on a stage?

JG:
My grandmother. I sang “Jingle Bells.”

BW:
And was that the beginning of the whole career?

JG:
Yeah … been a long one!

BW:
Yes. Did you have a stage mother, as we have heard about, the stage mothers?

JG:
One that wouldn't quit! [
Shaking her head and smiling.]
My mother was truly a stage mother. [To
Lorna.]
A
mean
one, wasn't she? Well, you didn't know her, thank goodness, but she used to….She was very jealous because she had absolutely no talent. [
To Lorna.]
Now she's gonna knock my earring off!
[Both giggle.]
My mother … You know, my mother died and whenever I talk about her—and I
should
because she was so wicked—but whenever I start to talk about her she inevitably [
gestures]
knocks one earring off. So she's still around. So, now Mother,
[pointing and looking upward]
you behave yourself! She would sort of stand in the wings when I was a little girl and if I didn't feel good, if I was sick to my tummy, she'd say, “You get out and sing or I'll wrap you around the bedpost and break you off short!” So I'd go out and sing.

BW:
When you look back at your childhood …

JG:
[Groans.]
Ugh!

BW:
Should I forget the whole period?

JG:
[Groans.]
Ugh! No, it's all right.
[Feigns panic, then smiles.]

BW:
Was there any part of it that was happy?

JG:
Yeah, one day, about … [
laughs].
No, let's see. I was … I didn't mind it too much when I was in vaudeville. You know, I wasn't always a movie star. I was on stage for ten years and that was kind of fun because Mickey Rooney was in vaudeville, too, and Donald O'Connor, and we didn't have the pressures that, later, we had when we got into movies. We used to play tag or backstage sometimes we'd run into the wings 'cause it was always dark. 'Cause we were in kind of
rotten
vaudeville where they ran movies and then threw five acts of vaudeville on in between a movie. And then they'd run the movie again and another show. We did nineteen shows a day, but I liked that better. I didn't want to get in the movies at
all!

BW:
When you were growing up in those Hollywood days, did you have dates? Did you go out at all?

JG:
No, we worked all the time! We worked night and day. I've never been to a prom. We went to school on the lot and in those days you worked,
oh, six days a week. and Mickey Rooney and I, for instance, would work sometimes seventy-two hours at a time.

BW:
Do you still see Mickey Rooney at all?

JG:
I see him whenever I can. He's the most
marvelous
gentleman and the most … well, I think he's the world's greatest talent and the loveliest person, too. But we never went out together. He liked other girls, which kind of miffed me for a while. No, I'd grown up with him in vaudeville anyway…. Neither one of us grew very tall. They worked us so hard we became Munchkins!
[Laughs.]

BW:
You know what I must ask you, before I forget? We used to read that you were dieting and I've said several times in this interview you are so tiny and you look to me, oh, I'd say about seventeen. Do you still have to diet?

JG:
No, I don't have to. Finally I don't have to. About … [to
Lorna].
When was it? About two years ago I went on a thirty-day fast. I fasted without vitamins or anything. I just had a cup of tea in the daytime and a cup of tea in the evening. And that seemed to sort of balance my metabolism, so I don't think I'll ever have a problem with gaining weight anymore, you know.

BW:
I'd never realized that you were so tiny. Movies and television are very deceiving and when I saw you come out of the room … which is why I keep talking about what a little girl you look like. Could I ask you to stand up next to Lorna …

JG:
My daughter …

BW:
… so that the world can see that you're a very small young lady?

JG:
Very small …

BW:
And you're not … Well, you took your shoes off, I noticed.