Happy 4th July....Finding the UK club again and more photos

For 35 years, after moving to the United States in 1962, having and bringing up a family, I had no contact with other Judy fans.  I have no idea how or why I lost contact with Lorna Smith, who had been the President of the UK Club, but trying to survive in Los Angeles as new immigrant was not exactly easy.  It wasn’t that Judy was forgotten, she was always in my thoughts but I just did not meet anyone to talk with about her.

            While in the London I was able to re-new my contact with Lorna Smith    Lorna had written two books, one a straightforward biography, Judy with Love  which came out at the same time as two other books on Judy, and Lorna’s  book did not get much attention but now when a copy comes up on e-bay it sells very quickly.  The second book was a book about some psychic experiences Lorna had had with Judy.  Now I have to explain that Lorna was a very serious person, an Internal Revenue Official before she retired, and not someone to become involved in bizarre activities so I was interested to hear about how this book had come into being.   All this is documented in Lorna’s book, Over the Rainbow.  Judy wanted Lorna to try to put the record straight.  Lorna gave me a copy of the book and after reading I thought the words in it were beautiful.   Lorna told me that many copies of the second book were sitting on Sonny Gallagher’s patio in Pennsylvania and I determined to try to get the books out to the public.  I advertise it in the internet Judy Fan Club and got to speak to even more young fans.  People still say to me, but she committed suicide and suddenly I understand why Lorna felt she had to write her books.

Joey and me in GR 1997

Sonny Gallagher at the Carnegie Hall do in 1998?

Better one of Sonny Gallagher

The new friends I found, Frankie, Wayne, Meredith and Bev. way back about 15 years ago...

 Bev me and Frankie when he interviewed me a long time ago in Palm Springs.

 My friend, Lorna Smith

When Lorna heard I had made contact with the club after 35 years, she said "Oh she has surfaced again!" such a Lorna expression.

            I feel I must try again to make some sense of her life and, particularly for the young people.  A biography should try to make sense out of the person’s life and this is what I am endeavoring to do.   Just before I left England that summer I went to visit two clinical psychologists, which I had met on a previous vacation in Europe.  In discussing my recent activities I mentioned Judy and my thoughts of her life and one of the women said, of course, she was an abused child.   Also discussing my life, my mother’s marriage, I was classified as an abused child also.  As I have I said before there is always the reason we go somewhere and meet someone, they are to led us to the truth. 

            I see many parallels in Judy’s life and mine.  Both our mothers were widows, who married again when we were 17 years of age.   There is a sense of abandonment that one is not the most important person anymore.  Judy’s mother was in awe of Judy’s employer MGM and mine in awe of my employer, Eastman Kodak (again similarities-movie film!!)  If I wanted to leave Kodak this would bring disgrace to her.   I wonder how many time, Judy was told the same thing when she wanted to leave MGM.

            Well time goes bye, five grandchildren are born, several house moves, various medical problems to be overcome and I continue to wander the world seeking out strange and magical places.  But Judy is always there – I spend many weeks with Lorna hearing first hand her experiences with Judy, write this up for the fan club; attend several  club meetings and then the advent of face book brought more young fans into my orbit.

Still working on book proposal...ugh...