Judy in Hollywood April 2013
Celebrating the 50th
Anniversary of The Judy Garland Show at CBS 1963/64
How do I begin to talk about the four days we
spent this April celebrating Judy’s television series? Maybe I should start at
the beginning.
Many of my friends from other parties cannot
come. We have lost dear Steve. How will we get through the occasion? I will
have Ellie (Eleanor Lyon), and Meredith Ponedel to
sustain me.
Ellie and I manage to find our way to the
welcoming party room and Kate Russell, Bev Shields and Meredith are checking
people in. The first person I see is Jon Perdue. I am so happy to meet him finally;
Jon has been helping me with the book, checking over confusing chapters and
generally keeping me on the straight and narrow. His partner Rob Mills is with
him. (Later I will find out that Jon had been in the Stock Market and Rob is a
Real Estate broker; two subjects which are close to my heart. As we live fairly
near to one another and we will be able to visit.) Dear friend Jack Wood is
here; we occasionally meet in San Francisco for lunch. Jack lives a charmed life;
he has friends all over the world and travels constantly. I hug Frankie; we had talked
about how difficult this evening would be. I flit around in true Judy manner
(for I had been at a couple of parties with her and had seen her in action). Managed
to have a chat with Woolsey Ackerman, who is so knowledgeable about all things
Judy related. I rush over to ask Tracy Terhume a question–he has published two
books on Rudolph Valentino (my mother would have loved him). He reminds me that
we talked last year at the Heritage Museum; I am such a twit! Here is Randy
Henderson; we had talked for a long time at the Judy “do” last July. What a joy
to see Ruth and Robert again! There is a new girl in town. She has big green
eyes, blonde hair, petite and beautifully dressed. “I have a degree in
journalism,” she tells me, “but I don’t work in that field.” Her name is Lauren
McShea. She looks very capable.
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| Woolsey Ackerman listening to me |
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| Beautiful, talented Ruth and her Robert Turner |
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| Rob Mills signing in |
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| Lauren McShea who went from JudyFriend to niece, to godchild in a week |
Richard and Jan have prepared interviews with
Ray Hirsch, who danced with Judy (mentioned earlier), Clyde Willson, who was in
the movie, Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, and Gene Allen, Art
Director on the movie A Star is Born,
for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, and the incomparable Mickey
Rooney.
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| Gene Allen with Richard Glazier |
Our guest speaker was Robert L. Freedman
producer and writer of the Life with Judy Garland “Me and My Shadows”(2001) won the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries in
November 2001. He shows clips and tells us about making the series. The most
exciting thing was his new project “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder"
co-written with Steven Lutvak and which has been performed in San Diego’s Old
Globe Theatre, which usually means it will go to Broadway.
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| Robert L.Freedman, Richard and one of Trace Terhune's collection |
At one point, Jan and Frankie hear a knock at
the door and in bursts D.j.Schaefer and Peter Mac, as Judy. Peter/Judy immediately
leads us in a sing-along. (I am devoting a whole blog to Peter.) D.j. is standing
over at the side. When the show is over, I rush up to him, “It’s me, it’s me,”
I say. “I know, I know” he replies and we dance a little jig so happy to
finally meet. D.j. had been very upset recently about that awful British woman
(from the north) in a play I still refuse to remember the name of and I had to
calm him down. Peter Mac wrote a blog for HuffPost Not the End of the Rainbow: Fact vs. Fiction and so I knew the boys
had done their research on Judy. Later I would sit next to D.j. at the dinner at
Matteo’s, we exchanged life stories and discovered we were both eggheads.
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| With Peter Mac/Judy - he admired my jacket |
Suddenly I realize Sam Irvin is sitting at our
table. I jump up lean over the table; two glasses of red wine go flying – over
Ellie’s phone. I am so excited. “I need to talk to you about your Kay Thompson book,” I say. (He probably
thought I was a mad woman!) “Don’t worry,” he says, “I’ll be here all weekend,
we will have time to talk later” and we do and he is very helpful to me.
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| Sam Irvin and his book on Kay Thompson |
The morning of Day 2 is a tour of the Warner
Bros. campus. Meredith had arranged with the studio to give us a special tour
with emphasis on the locations of ASIB. Our tour guide had decided to work on
his day off because he was so thrilled to take around such an interesting group
as we were! And boy were we interesting! The Security is tight, similar to an airport
except no removal of shoes. They show us movie clips and we tour the various
back lots, Norman Maine’s dressing room, various external entrances where
filming had taken place and we were all excited over the cross way ramp. We also went in
several museums and storage areas and checked out items which had been in the
movie.
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| My Pal Ellie (Eleanor Lyon) |
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| Outside the theatre where Vickie Lester's first movie was shown |
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| From the talented Lauren McShea |
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| Jeff Freeman going into Norman Maine's dressing room |
For lunch, we went to Musso and Frank’s Hollywood’s oldest restaurant established in 1919.
Someone commented that the waiters might be unfriendly but I found them
charming and courteous.
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| Lauren, Frankie, Richard, Tracy listening to Sam Irvin |
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| Remember don't give Meredith too many drinks |
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| Jan and Lauren - two ladies in red |
Ellie and I drive back to the hotel with
Meredith, stopping off at Ralph’s for some supplies and an ice cream at Baskin
Robbins.
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Meredith Ponedel and Jj Darling |
If one ever needs a tour guide, I can
thoroughly recommend Meredith Ponedel tour guide par excellence. Meredith has
lived in Hollywood all her life, spent her childhood around the studios with
her father and aunt, Dottie Ponedel. Meredith knows everything and everyone.
Last summer Ellie was having one of her Bench Wench “dos” and and I
crashed it. “Come a couple of days earlier and we can do things!” Meredith had
said. Remember to not pile on the drinks otherwise, Meredith will fall asleep on your
bed. Secondly, it is probably not wise not to schedule a tour when one of her
dogs are in heat or having puppies, otherwise you will have to take a detour
out to the valley to check up on them. Of course, a visit to Meredith’s house
is worth the price of admittance. She has a menagerie; apart from the usual
dogs and cats, there are reptiles and parrots. Oh and before I forget, take a
fresh supply of pretty tops, Meredith often has to change tops depending on the
weather, she feels the cold so. She won’t mind changing in the car.
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| Later we recovered and Jon and Ellie and I sent good wishes to Greg Speight who couldn't be with us |
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| Laruen went out exploring with Jeff Freeman while we recovered from Musso & Frank's |
Day 3 Friday. Thank goodness, for the schedule
Jan gave us otherwise I wouldn't remember one day from the next.
We are going to the Hollywood Heritage Museum.
George Kiel, manager introduced us to the museum and told us how it was
a converted 100 year old barn Lasky-DeMille Barn. Est.1913. It is a delightful
place. Meredith had taken Hannah and me there last year. Not only do I buy Sam
Irvin’s book, but several second hand autobiographies, Ingrid Berman, Carol
Burnett, Noel Coward, (shall surely find stuff to add from there) George Burns
(already added stuff from his book) and Eartha Kitt. Will I ever stop
researching?
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| Last summer in Cecil DeMille's office |
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| with Sharon Stewart |
Tom Barnes showed us a filmed version of from
one of the shows Judy did in her series.
Then Sam Irvin talked about his book, “Kay
Thompson,” fascinating. (Writing a separate blog on his book when I can finish
it.)
Christopher Finch talked about his book on
Judy, “Rainbow.” As Chris and I come from the U.K. we talked for about a half
hour of our memories of Judy while others toured the Hollywood Bowl. We had
both been at the London Palladium for the filming of “Blue Bird” for the movie,
I Could Go on Singing many years ago.
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| Kate Russell, Jeff Freeman and Bev Shields at Hollywood Bowl |
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| Laruren McShea and Ruth Turner at the Hollywood Bowl |
Then it was time for the tribute to Coyne
Steven Sanders.
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| Richard, Jan Glazier and Coyne Steven Sanders |
Randy Henderson read a tribute from Daniel
Berghaus. He then talked about meeting Steve 30+ years ago, when Steve
contacted him after Randy had written an article about Judy’s TV work in a
magazine called EMMY. The first thing Steve did was to invite him to a party
attended by his friends. Randy also talked of Steve’s kindness to Sid by
inviting him to a screening of ASIB with a group of others so he could enjoy
their appreciation for his work on the movie. Sid died shortly afterwards.
Randy’s final words summed Steve up “A self-created, generous and kind person,
who gravitated toward what he most loved and built a life around it.”
Don Azars (longtime friend and former roommate
in LA) prepared a video about Steve and talked of his friendship with
Steve.
Then it was my turn. Frankie had asked me to
read Gary Horrock’s tribute (Gary & Justin could not come because of house
moves to Yorkshire but the club would continue from there) and say a few words
of my own. I decided to gently “roast” Gary and tell some funny stories about
our friendship to lighten the atmosphere.
Steve was a part of Gary’s ‘A’ team along with
John Fricke. Steve suggested that Gary and Justin Sturge managed the
International Judy Garland Club and create the ‘Celebration’ magazine. When
they were visiting Los Angeles, he arranged for them to have lunch with Sid
Luft. His final words to Steve were “Goodnight
Sir. With the deepest affection and appreciation.”
I am sure Steve’s friendship with each of us
was different, he had an uncanny ability to connect with our souls and give us
the friendship and help that we needed. As Frankie said, he encouraged us and
made us better than we thought we could be. In my case, our connection was the
television series and he inspired me to write more about Judy. He would leave
complimentary responses to my blogs. We were going to discuss my book this April
and I am selfishly devastated by our loss. I ended with the words of Will Shakespeare: “Good night sweet Prince. May hosts of
angels sing you to sleep.”
Ruth Turner had met Steve in JIH 2010 and they
became great friends, visiting each other’s homes. Ruth talked of her love for
Steve and how she would always miss him.
Tracy Terhune read a tribute from Charles
Tripplett and reminisced about his relationship with Steve and the many hours
of fun at parties. Extracts from his comments"…Friends of his caliber are a
treasured breed…with his death, what a tremendous void has been inflicted upon
the Judy Garland community…Coyne Steven Sanders is an iconic example of the
impact of one man…"
It came to Frankie to wind up the tribute. He told
us that he felt Steve was his biggest cheerleader, always encouraging and
supporting him. We were shown 55 minutes of highlights from the documentary
about TJGS, based on all of Steve’s research materials gathered for the book, “Rainbow’s
End” and approximately 90 audio interviews he conducted and recorded for it.
The work-in-progress documentary will be done before the end of the year.
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| Frankie Labrador talking about Steve |
Jan added a few words about her love for Steve,
and how he never gave less than 1000% to anything he did.
Although it was obviously a sad occasion
loosing Steve, it was also joyous remembering his love for Judy and his great
contribution to the Judy Family. I like to think Steve was sending us happy
vibes: not to mention the ones coming down from Judy!
Now it was time for Fun. Many of us were going
to see Peter Mac in his fabulous show “Get Happy” at the Oil Can Harry’s in
Studio City.
Again, the cars roll onto the LA freeways.
Oil Can Harry’s is really a lovely dive,
probably doesn’t hold more than 75 people. But what a great bunch of
people, all bubbling and ready to enjoy themselves. I spy Wayne Lawless and
Larry and try to sit with them, but I’m moved on to make room for prestigious
guests, Margaret O’Brien and Randal Malone. Oh well, fair enough. I managed to
get a few words with Margaret saying how I had enjoy seeing her on a talk
program and learning how she loved the archeology of Peru. She had lived there
once for a couple of years. I had studied all the art of Mesoamerica while
I completed my anthropology degree. Randal shared with me that Margaret would
have been an archeologist if she had not been an actor. Me too, if I had
discovered who I was earlier in life.
Peter Mac- I am speechless and intend to
devote a whole blog to him. I cannot remember a single song he sang; I was so
captivated with his stories. Judy sang, “The story of my life is in my songs”
Peter told her story in his chatter between the songs. I was impressed with his
research; everything is in my book. Oh! Just realized you don’t need to buy my
book, just go and see Peter! But my book won’t cost $32!.
When the show was over, he ran up to me, as if
for approval, with a freshly scrubbed face and I saw this very nice young man.
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| Peter Mac with long time Judy friend, Wayne Lawless |
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| A thoughtful D.j.Schaefer |
The Last Day and we are going to Television
City. Yippee!!
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| Going to work after 50 years |
The cars roll out again onto the LA freeways.
They check driver’s license and the number in each the car. Again this is a
special tour arrange by George Sunga. George Sunga and his sweet wife, Judy, greet
us and guide the tour. He showed us where Judy’s trailer was and took us up in
freight elevator to Studio 43. I wrote a long piece and video about the
presentation George gave us in 2010 and published in the Judy Garland
International Club – perhaps I will dig it out and post as a separate blog as
it was very interesting, but I don’t have the energy to re-create it.
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| Waiting to go into CBS with George and Judy Sunga |
After the tour Eleanor Lyon took over and
reminisced about the hours after the show, when she and the other Bench Wenches
and Dudes waited for Judy. Get on with
your book Eleanor!
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| Randy Henderson, Ellie, Jack Wood and Kate Russell |
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| Eleanor Lyon telling Kate Russell about those marvelous days |
Lunchtime and we drive to Farmer’s Market.
Fifty years ago, there were no barriers and we used to walk over for lunch
there. Now everything is so built up and the market crowded.
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| Eleanor and Lauren |
Party Time Again! Farewell Dinner at Matteo’s
and George Schlatter!!!!!
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| Lauren and Bev Shields |
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| Jon Perdue talking with Joe Luft and Tom Early at Matteo's |
The first person I see is Joe Luft. We had
many conversations in Grand Rapids in 1997 and chatted again JIH 2010. In Grand
Rapids I told him that he reminded me most of his mother, rather than his
sisters. He agreed, been told that himself. If you look at photographs of him
as a child, you see the same elf shaped face and warm eyes. Of course, they are
different genders and everyone now says “ he looks more like his father every
day.” I do not think so. Liza has Judy’s
mannerism and chuckles but she is her father’s daughter and certainly, Lorna is
her father’s daughter. Now I am digging back into my genetics and anthropology
for this. As I stood talking to him the other day, it reminded me of when I
talked with Judy. I told him about my book and how I’d like to include some
photographs I’d taken of him in Grand Rapids. Did he want to see I ask. “No,
No,” he said, “that will be fine.” He
told me he was working in a photographic studio near LA airport and was happy
with this new venture.
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| George Sunga and Joe Luft |
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| Joe Luft and Paul Herrick at Matteo's |
I left him free to talk to other people and
wandered out into the patio where George Schlatter was holding court. Yes, that
is exactly what was happening; he was “Holding Court.” The great man was
accepting adoration from his public, which he certainly deserved to receive. People
circled around him taking in every word. I had told George Sunga previously that
I would like to talk to George and he very graciously moved from his position and
I was able to move in. Told him I had worked in Business Affairs while he was
producing Judy’s show and he recognized this department. We shook hands. Told
him I was writing a book about Judy. “Why hadn’t I interviewed him?” he asked.
Ha! Chance would be a fine thing, I thought. We talked of this, that, and all
the bad stuff which had gone on. I left CBS soon after they fired him on August
6.
I told George that the biggest regret of my
life was that I had not tried to contact her while I was there. Directives had
come down from Jim Aubrey that people working in the building were not to
attempt to talk to Judy or go near her trailer. I was very timid at that time
and very much a new girl just arrived from England, I looked for her but never
saw her. Later when I read Steve’s book and understood exactly what she had to contend
with I regretted my inactivity. I thought later I could have sent her a note in
the internal mail telling her I was working in the building reminding
her she’d taken me to recording studio etc. George looked at me understandingly and
nodded, “You should have,” he said, “She needed a friend, she would have been
glad to have a cup of tea with you.”
Dinner is over and the floorshow starts with
George Schlatter as stand-up comedian and George Sunga as his straight man. “How
old were you when we started the series, two years old?” asks Schlatter. “No,
four years” says Sunga and holds up four fingers….It does on from there. At one
point, he calls over to Joe Luft, “About that father of yours, he was a piece
of work” Joe laughs, agreeing. Many of the stories and comments cannot be
documented. Someone head would roll, probably mine. Enough to say that George
repeated many of the stories which are documented in Steve Sanders, book.
“Rainbow’s End.” When you read them they are in black and white, but when
George tells them they are in glorious Technicolor with many embellishments.
Think it was a night none of us will ever forget.
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| George Sunga and George Schlatter go into their Act. |
I told him before he left when he was chatting
up Margaret O’Brien,(yes he gently flirts
with ladies of a certain age and makes them feel attractive–quite a Gent!) that he should have been a
stand-up comedian. He replied, “No they would have killed me” and he is
probably correct, they would have.
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| Beautiful Margaret O'Brien wearing her Peruvian jewelry with Sam Irwin |
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| Last but very certainly not least, here are the Bench Wenches and One Dude Margo Slaughter, Norman Chramoff, Maureen Case Davis and Eleanor Lyon |
Jan credits many people with helping her put on this event. Richard created those fantastic video interviews and filmed our participants in their individual interviews as well as interviewing Robert L. Freedman and introducing Margaret O’Brien and Joe Luft. Frankie worked tirelessly on the fabulous TJGS anniversary video, a couple of videos we didn’t have time to see, and conducting Steve’s very loving memorial. Tracy Terhune arranged to get us use of the Barn, printed all the brochures and helped wherever needed. Kate Russell, Bev Shields, Amalia Armijo and Stella Grace helped with registration. Meredith Pondedel arranged for our tour at Warners Bros. and lunch at lunch at Musso & Frank’s. Paul Herrick helped with shuttling people around. Tom Barnes showed his marvelous film of the television series. Eleanor Lyon shared memories of the Bench Wenches at CBS. George Sunga used his influence to get us into CBS and arranged for our audience with George Schlatter.
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