The Impact of Judy upon me

Gary Horrocks from The International Judy Garland club asked me about my earliest memories of Judy.  I thought it was in the Introduction, but apparently not; the Introduction is just ramblings about how I got into writing about Judy.  The relative comments are in the chapter on early MGM years.

Judy on the set of "Strike up the Band" 

But here are my first memories of Judy.   My mother and I went to see the movie, Strike Up the Band, I must have been about 5 or 6 years old.   We came out of the Embassy Cinema in North Harrow (it is not there now, so sad) and walked along outside the cinema to where the pictures and posters were advertising the film.   I was holding my mother’s hand and I announced to her that I “wanted to see all the films of this girl in future.”    This was a statement to ensure that we didn’t miss any future films because I realized I was too young to have any control over our activities.   She pointed out that I had see Judy a few months earlier in The Wizard of Oz.  I did not agree.... the girl in the Wizard of Oz had pigtails (braids in US) and this girl in Strike Up the Band did not and so it was NOT the same girl!   I insisted I was right and we argued for a bit and eventually she gave up because what is the purpose of arguing with a small child who determined to go down a path even though it is incorrect.

Judy has often said that she felt the Wizard of Oz was really too scary for small children and I can remember being quite scared of the flying monkeys and the witch.  My favorite part of the movie was the three little ballet dancers dressed in pink (no wonder my daughter was taken to ballet classes at an early age.)   So much for the appreciation of Judy from this 5 year old!  If I begin to analyze it now, I can realize that a vivaciously American teenager singing and dancing and having an exciting life at high school would be much more interesting to this small child than a movie which seemed about in the fairy story category.