Update on my book, Always for Judy: Witness to the Joy and Genius of Judy Garland

I was writing a blog about my visit to Yorkshire and the recent International Judy Garland Club meeting when I realized that I had not written any blogs during the past year. Very remiss of me!

The year has been busy. In January I went with my friends from the Town Square Writers Group to have my book printed at the I Street Press at the Sacramento Public Library. I doubt if I could have come this far without the support of this group.
Bette Lucke undertook to produce the cover page.
One uploads the cover page first from one flash drive and then the PDF of the book from another flash drive and in five minutes a book is punched out. I had about 30 printed to send out for review and Gerald Ward kindly uploaded the book onto worldwide Print on Demand.

Then to took off for Virginia and a month's worth of snow.... April and May were spent editing and making adjustments to the book from the inputs of received from many friends and I'm grateful for their help. We did one book signing at McBride Center.

In June Ellie(Eleanor Lyon) came up from Santa Barbara to celebrate my birthday and we were lucky enough to attend one of Richard Glazier's concerts in San Rafael. It was good to see him and Jan again. Jon Perdue and Rob Mills joined us for this happy occasion. One day Ellie and I decided to check out old haunts in San Francisco and found a restaurant she had frequented years ago in Fisherman's Wharf and we took a jaunt to the Top of the Mark, singing Judy's version of San Francisco all day. 

Richard talking with admirers

View from Top of the Mark

Fisherman's Wharf

After all the edits were done, we went back to I Street Press and had a few more copies printed to check everything was okay and then I found a printer and submitted an order for 250 copies.
At some point I got carried away and started inputting information into Amazon to sell the book there, and amazing I must have completed it correctly and someone on Facebook commented about the posting. Of course in days I received an order from them and panicked because the printer had not delivered the books and so I pushed back the release date to 28 August, 2014, the anniversary of Judy's concert at the London Palladium in 1960. Finally the books arrived and the next few weeks were busy sending books to Amazon in strange consignment figures: 7, 12, 15, and one for 79!  I most enjoy sending to individuals because I could sign each one personally to them. All this took a long time because being one's own publisher, one has to learn how to re-invent the wheel time and time again.

I am currently negotiating with Barnes & Noble to get my book into their distribution centers. Another endeavor is to get the book into the IngramSpark program. This organization puts the book out in Print on Demand all over the world and saves high postage charges. I am sorry that I ran out of books and a have a few orders which I will fulfill as soon as the next delivery arrives in a few days.

In October I traveled to the UK to attend the Club meeting, a separate blog is coming about this joyous occasion.

When the next supply of books arrive in a few days I will be busy packing up books again hence my determination to get this blog out.

They will available from my web site www:always4judy.com and later on Amazon.

Much Love and a Happy New Year to everyone.... Joan

The International Judy Garland Club meeting in Beverley, October 25/26, 2014

So many things to catch up with after being away for five weeks, but I must put some thoughts down on paper before they disappear.

The main purpose of the trip was to attend the International Judy Garland Club meeting in Beverley, Yorkshire, the weekend of October 25/26 but having the wanderlust that I have I had to stop off in a couple of places first. First a visit to my daughter and three grandchildren; two exciting days in Istanbul; a few lovely days with my friend, Inger and her family in Sweden; a nostalgic week with my Devon relatives tracing my family’s history (more on that later) but finally I am on a train from Tiverton, Devon, through Sheffield to Beverley. I had seen photographs of the town but I was suitably impressed with the charm of the place. How marvelous for Justin to find this location when he took the position at Hull University a couple of years ago.

The original name was Inderwauda. In the 7^th century,  John of Beverley, Bishop of York built a monastery. He was associated with miracles and became a saint in 1017. For a while, the Vikings ruled, and then the Cerdic religious dynasty, finally the Normans established a wool trading site. At one time, it was the 10^th largest town in England. Now  known for its racecourse and hosting music and food festivals. In 2007, it was named as one of the best places to live by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Justin and Gary’s living room overlooks the beautiful Beverley Minster.

Gary met me at the railway station and assured me that it was within walking distance. Everything is within walking distance in the town, the Post Office, the railway station, Marks & Spencer’s, and every possible eating or drinking establishment  Well perhaps not really a walking distance for some of us. I found myself being often being escorted by two gentlemen either side saying, “It is not much farther.”  Later some of the group said to me, “Do you mean you walked all the way to that restaurant?”  

Gary prepared me one of his enormous gin and tonic-thank goodness, Justin came home from work and helped me drink it!

Justin showed me the helium canister he had bought to blow up the red and black balloons for his vision of décor for the plain Church Hall. The small black balloon went inside the big red balloon. What on earth  I ask?  Poppies from Oz movie, of course, he replied. Silly me! While the BBC is interviewing Gary, Justin and I go out for more supplies. We find one of those stores, which sell just about everything. He bought popcorn and came down to me carrying a roll of material to check whether this was like Dorothy’s dress in Oz?  It was fine. Justin is the artistic one with a vision of how he wants the Hall to look. Gary is the practical one, running around checking all the plugs work for various presentations.

We set off in the evening to the sample the new cocktail, the Ruby Slipper that had been created, just for us at The Shed restaurant where we would have one of our meals. Where to eat? So many choices, finally the Thai Palace won out. We noticed a group of young Chinese at another table, suddenly one of them rushed over to us—it was Conan, one of Justin’s PhD students. He told me how happy he was to be working with Justin. When his finished his degree, he would return to China.  

  

Thursday

The next day started with the ritual of a cup of tea in bed—how nice of Gary! Then a delicious breakfast; his special recipe of scrambled eggs and sausages. I draped Oz material over the staircase to greet Frank Labrador who is coming in from Germany. Then I called Lorna Smith, original leader of the club during Judy's lifetime.

It is lunchtime so we go out to look for food ending up at Rebel's Smoke House where I enjoy a cider and the boys a Guinness.

We are so happy to be together again. Frank and Gary rush off the Parish Hall and Beverley Arms Hotel to ensure the venues and equipment were in place.

In the evening, we all went to Lucia for dinner and talk about the activities for the weekend. I had mussels! However, on route I was thrilled to see this delicious old-fashioned butchers shop. 

Friday

For some complicated reason, which we don’t need to be bothered about, my mother’s ashes are buried at St. Nicholas Anglican Church in Hornsea on the coast about 10 miles from Beverley.  Gary, Frank and I took a taxi out to find the church. Justin and I had bought a large bunch of chrysanthemum, mums as they are more commonly called, on one of our shopping expeditions. Upon closer inspection we realized it was a plant with roots and so when we returned home, Gary called the church and arranged for the gardener to plant it in the grounds the next day, so that was nice. Apparently, Chrysanthemums are regularly used on graves in various parts of Europe. It was nice to have company on this somber visit.

We had a lunch at home of pork pies, Scotch eggs and wine

Some folks had arrived in town and so Gary and Justin invited some of the old timers around for a drink before we set off for Chinese meal. Justin made his Cosmos, a very strong recipe. I finally got to meet Marielle O’Neill, who brought along Dorothy Cowling, the newest member of the club, so Dorothy and I chatted being the oldest and newest members. David Allum, Peter Davis and Annie MacMillan all from the London area were there. We had a jolly meal at Lee Garden and enjoyed listening to Dorothy's stories. 

Saturday 1.30 pm – 6.30 pm Emmaus Conference Room, Parish Hall, Beverley Minster

Gary and Paula Turpin

The event was due to start at 1:30 pm but we went early to put up the balloons, Oz tablecloth, popcorn and posters. The church supplied coffee and tea. Nothing is dull around the “Boys” who popped out to greet Minster choir.  

Sarah and Ellie

The biggest thrill for me was meeting in person, Ellie Upton, Sarah Westhead and Steve Gillespie from Facebook. Also discovering Ron Wells from San Francisco.

The main event was a presentation of several videos Frank Labrador, from his production company, Labrador Productions. I had met Frank originally in 1998 when he came to my house in Palm Springs to video tape my memories of Judy at the beginning of his video career. His work is quite wonderful and we saw the following presentations.

The first was a 35-minute overview of Judy’s three successful tenures at the New York Palace Theatre, called   Judy at Home at the Palace.

Next came,  Judy at Carnegie Hall – 7 minutes of silent footage (Jerry Waters gave permission to use his home movies taken May 21, 1961) synced with Judy’s record-breaking album shown for the first time. 

Then we saw  Judy at the Dominion, London, 1957 – the International Club’s 30 minute documentary featuring interviews with members who were there and met Judy, alongside hundreds of archival photographs and press clippings

Followed by ‘I Could Go On Singing’ – a 2013 50^th anniversary tribute to Judy’s final and only British movie

The final segment was    A celebration of ‘The Judy Garland Show’ CBS TV’s 1963/64 26.  

Frank prepared this extravaganza showing Judy working with the greatest stars of her generation in collaboration with Coyne Steve Sanders, who has sadly left us. It was Steve’s wish that the video would be shown at the next Judy Garland Club meeting. Steve Sanders was a great friend to many of us in the Judy World. He encouraged me in moments of doubt to finish my book and was inspiration to all of us. He seemed to know what our strengths and interests were and attempted to help us fulfill these desires. We miss him every day.

 There was no more time to chat because we had to rush off for dinner at the Westwood Hotel. I was lucky enough to sit with Ellie Upton, her mother and Margaret Harris. Margaret told me about her uncle, who worked on the Judy Garland Show at CBS when I was there. Musical producer David King had come from London with his wife, and the evening finished with Gary serenading us. A lovely three-course dinner was had by all.

Sunday Elwell Room, Beverley Arms Hotel   11 am – 2 pm

No time for breakfast at home, so Justin and I wandered around until we found a café open to buy some coffee and snacks to sustain us. Justin and I seem to do a lot of that. Nice hotel and equally pleasant room where video is set up for Frank and Justin lays out the books for the raffle. 

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Gary talked about Judy Garland's love affair with the UK, in a photographic tribute. He explained how Judy held the UK in great affection, touching on her legendary visits here in the 1950s and 1960s including concerts in London, Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. This presentation by Gary Horrocks took us on a whirlwind tour, with anecdotes and included my memories of meeting Judy.

 Dr. Matthew Kerry thought it was the highlight of the weekend!!!  What a nice young man he is. 

Justin raffled off over a dozen books, photo and lots of back issues of ‘Celebration’. And I signed some copies of my book, ‘Always for Judy’, and enjoyed talking with Adrian Wild and new friends. 

Then we saw some more of Frank Labrador’s videos. His first video was about the history of the Gumm Sisters, using the only known footage of an interview with John Graham about his research findings. The title of the film is “Frances Gumm: From Grand Rapids to M-G-M.”

John Graham was one of the first and prime researchers on Judy’s history. He has now passed. Some of his research is in Scott Schechter’s book, “Day-by-Day.”

The next was a compilation of Mickey Rooney and Judy clips Frank had made, with the collaboration of The Judy Garland Experience, and shared on the internet after soon after Rooney’s passing in April 2013.

Frank also showed a video “Judy at Capitol Records: 1955-65.” This birthday salute included Judy’s work with Capitol Records using footage from TV and home movies (1955-1964).  

We were lucky to see the world premiere of this video, as well as the France Gumm film made for Judy’s 90^th Birthday in 2012.  

We had lunch at The Shed and we sampled the Ruby Slipper cocktail especially created for the Club.

Adrian, Marielle and Sarah

Dorothy, Marielle and Matthew

Gary, Annie, Matthew and yours truly

Me with Sarah and her sweet mother

The team at Shed said we were the best guests they had ever had! So many photographs were taken so hard to include them all.

Ron, David, Annie and Peter

Justin, Margaret and Frank

                                            

Sadly it is over. 

Dorothy,Frank,Justin,Ron,Annie
Gary, Marielle and me 

Everyone has gone and the evening comes to a close so the boys and I go to an Italian place called, Ask.

Monday morning comes and the taxi arrives to take Frank and me to Manchester airport. We drop Justin off at Hull University where he is doing some ground shaking scientific investigations helping to cure cancer.

We extract ourselves from the taxi, get something to eat and find the correct platform. So glad I have Frank with me.

The journey starts well, but gradually our train seems to keep going slowly and slower and we wonder what is wrong. The conductor comes to tell us that we will have to get off at Stalybride  and catch another train to the airport on the opposite platform. So we drag our suitcases off, and wait in the howling wind on this miserable station. My thoughts go back to the many times I stood shivering on Willesden Station as a child, when returning from the Saturday ritual visit to my grandmother. Why does the wind always scream through the stations and why is there little shelter. We are told we can catch the next train on the other platform. Unfortunately, no one told the train driver he should stop and he slowly went through forgetting to pick us up. I begin to be fascinated with the name Stalybridge. North Country names are so different from those in the south and I wonder at the origins. So I have to investigate. The history goes back to late Neolithic/early Bronze Age. In medieval times, its name was Stavelegh, which comes from Old English (meaning “wood where the staves are got). The Industrial Revolution expanded the area in the 18^th century and the Bridge built in 1707. By 1803, there were eight cotton mills and Huddersfield Narrow Canal completed in 1811 and still runs through the town. The character altered in the 20^th century when the trade dwindled and population declined.

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But back to the journey. It is amazing how train delays bring people together. The British people have a long history with suffering under the rule of British Railway–or whatever name they are calling themselves now. The public huddles, compare notes, and mutter about other delays they had experienced and how to deal with this current disaster. Eventually we are told we can catch the next train, get off at Manchester Piccadilly, and catch another one out to the airport.  By now, we have friends and one nice young man carried my suitcase up a flight of stairs. Someone tells us we should look for Platform 13. Something scary about that! We find the platform but there is more confusion. One end is labeled 13, and the other end – 13A.  Now I suppose that if one went regularly to Manchester Airport, one would be aware of the fact that one has to catch the train at the 13A end, but there are absolutely no indicators of this fact on the platform. We ask complete strangers, who don’t know the answer but willingly run up and down, trying to find the answer for us. Eventually we notice people pulling suitcase running down to the 13A so that must be the place!

On arrival, the shuttle bus greets us and takes us to my hotel, the Bewleys, thank goodness. I check in and Frank and I go for our last meal together. His plane is due to leave at 6 pm taking him back to Frankfurt.  Yes, says the girl behind the desk, “We do have WFII” for check in, but what she forgets to tell us that it only works in the lobby. It doesn’t work in my room and it doesn’t work in the restaurant, people run around checking with each other about their inability to log on. Again, I notice how friendly and the people are. Unfortunately, this fact does not apply to the girls behind the check in counter. “No, sorry, we can’t help you with air plane check-in.”  What!!! This is a hotel catering to people getting on planes. Motels regularly help one with this in the States and certainly, in Istanbul they printed my boarding pass. Frank and I say our last farewells and I stand lost in the lobby. I need an adaptor for my ipad and iphone because we left mine behind in some electrical socket. The shuttle driver comes out from behind the reception desk and asks how he can help me. Why is he kind and the receptionists cold and unfriendly? I explain my problem. There is one in the vending machine but how do I know it is the correct one and I don’t want to lose my 10 pounds.  “I’ll get you one from the storage and we can check it before you buy it." He comes back with one, it works, and I pass over my 10 pounds.

When I visit my home country and I constantly observing and noticing things about my countrymen.  The British are unfailingly kind and helpful when one asks for help with directions, but sometimes when they are in position of “what they perceive as authority”, they become snippy and unhelpful. The thing, which amazed me most though, was the kindness and sense of humor. I had nearly forgotten how funny everyone was.

I must not forget to give my thanks to Justin and Gary for organizing such a wonderful weekend for the Judy Club, and opening up their home to Frank and I. I shall never forget our forages out for supplies and the laughter.

I set off for my 7^th plane journey of this trip back to my family in Virginia. Nearly Home!