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...

           

Continuation of saga of why I am writing

The next spring I think about going to the big Judy Garland Festival in honor of Judy’s 75th birthday in Grand Rapids and start trying to find out about it.  Of course, I called the Michigan Tourist Office first before I found my way to Minnesota. (Now you would think as a Judy fan I would know it was Minnesota, but when Lorna Smith wrote her book, “Judy, with Love” she started of with Judy being born in Murfressboro, Tennessee, but that is another story.)  I managed to locate the site and plan to attend, but my life becomes very confused as there were other demands on my time and an opportunities to go work in a archaeology laboratory in Mexico, and it appears that the dates clash, I can’t do both!    But the Mexican “dig people” keep changing their minds about exactly which day they will arrive in Mexico City and everyone is coming in at different times.  I decide I will try to do both activities and fly on a night flight (the only one) to Minneapolis, rent a car and drive four hours to Grand Rapids, spend the weekend, and then rush back down to the airport on the Sunday night and fly out to Mexico City, on the Monday.  Everything works out fine and the Mexico trip is worth a book in itself, but back to Judy. 

            I am a little apprehensive about attending a Festival on my own, being basically rather shy--yes I am!   I am checking out the rental car and the woman at the next counter asks about the route to Grand Rapids and I catch her eye.  It takes one to know one and I meet my first friends, Bill and Carolyn Seibel.   After the long drive to Grand Rapids I check into the Sawmill Hotel, where most of the Judy activities were taking place, the first people I meet are five or six 15 year old girls and one boy from Holland of a similar age.   They are all wearing Judy tee shirts and I want to know how they became friends - from the internet club, they say.  They all live in different parts of the country and have met for the first time that day and they are very excited. (It is really for these young people are the reason I am writing this).   Moments later Sid Luft comes down the stairwell and goes into the indoor Jacuzzi.   The girls and boy run screaming after him, “We know it is Sid from his baggy eyes.”  I have not forgotten how to be a fan I’m not going to be left behind.  I leave my suitcases in the middle of the hallway and follow the girls.   Sid is shaking hands with the girls and after they leave I say “Hello Sid, do you remember me from the recording studio in London, with Lorna Smith, in the 60s?”  “Of course,” he says (what else could he say?) “And what are you doing here dear?”  “I’m here for the same reason you are, here for the 75th Festival.   Isn’t it wonderful about all the young fans”  and we talk of  this and how the last time I had seen Joey was when he was five years old at the CBS Television Studio.   Joey didn’t seem very impressed with this memory, but later we will have several delightful conversations about his mother, and Sid and I talked more.  

            The days in Grand Rapids were filled with meetings with other fans.  I was on a panel, trying to explain what it was like to attend one of Judy’s concerts and this experience led me to dig down deep into my soul to remember things and begin to articulate them.  I realized that I had experiences which others had not been able to have and that I should share these memories. (Afterwards people came up to me and asked me for my autographs!!  I was no one, why did they want my autograph? It was then I realized I should share my memories and the first started using the expressions, “Always for Judy.”)   This panel was organized by the UK Fan Club and they urged me to attend their next meeting which will be held two days after my arrival in England.  I was going to be there for three months and another club meeting was held before I left in October.   So suddenly I am being immersed in “Judy.”  I am meeting so many old friends and most importantly I am meeting so many new young fans of Judy.

my inspiration-I have kept in touch with one of these girls 

Sid can be a charmer-we talk of surviving cancer

believe this is dear Michael Siewert, we were so young then

the panel

The Dominion, London 1957

I have going to continue with my saga about how I got to write this book, but so captivated by Gary Horrocks talking about Judy's visit to the Dominion; this is foremost in my mind + internet been down all day because of power outages, it is very hot here.

this was our group then, Lorna Smith in front

we get to meet Judy after the last performance

Ninnie me in standing at the back....very shy...what a twerp I was...

I can't begin to explain how exciting it was in London that November, a chill in the air, shops full of Christmas decorations.  Judy was coming, we had not seen her since 1951 and by then we were a close group, maybe twenty or so in the London area.  We'd been listening to the LPs, JUDY, etc. and we'd seen "A Star is Born" but not any of the television specials.   We all ran out and bought as many tickets as we could afford and seeing as I got in on opening night, received a individual LP that Judy had recorded just for that night, as a "thank you" to the London audiences,  who she loved.  But I shouldn't say more now, watch the information coming from Gary and The International Judy Garland Club.  Now how to I download a photograph? 




 

Introduction Chapter

I feel rather like I am in a car (which I don't know how to drive) and going somewhere I don't know...with the publishing business.  Anyway here are some thoughts on my Introduction:

So how and why did I decide to write a book about Judy? Judy had been in my life since I was about six years old and it had never occurred to me to write a book about her.  Sometimes I feel that life is a path we meander down, people we meet, ideas which are exchanged (rather like the Celestine Prophecy) and suddenly one is doing something which a few months ago would never have occurred to us.  My endeavors to write this book are in this category and I think it is important to document them--well I always need to document everything and so it satisfies a need in me.

            In October 1996; my son and I were in New York State in October for my daughter’s wedding and were spending a few days in Manhattan.  While in a theater shop I notice someone buying a Judy/Carnegie Hall poster--I had one of those once, now lost with many of my Judy cuttings and so I look ruefully at the poster.   The woman who is buying this last copy tells me of the Judy Garland Festival in Grand Rapids the next June and tells me that I should go because it is the celebration of Judy’s 75th birthday.  The guy behind the counter asks us if we have been out to Fernleaf Mausoleum, where Judy is laid to rest.  “No,” I say, “but I always wanted to go”  “Can we find it?” I ask my son.   We are leaving the next day for Monroe which is about fifty miles from Manhattan and it appears we will go past it, that is, if we can find it!   Time is of the essence because we must be in Monroe by 5 p.m. for the wedding festivities to start.   I begin to get very anxious.   “I know we won’t get to Judy,” I wail.  “Oh, yes we will”, my son insists.  It is a beautiful day in New York City, as it only can be in October, and we have Frank Sinatra singing to us about “autumn in New York” as we leave.   We search the map as we drive and suddenly my son, who is driving, sees a small sign “Fernleaf” - I would never have seen it!   We turn quickly and drive through the beautiful grounds.   The video camera is going all this time and, of course, the moment is captured.   I go to the search desk and there are a few people ahead of us.  I expect to feel a fool, asking “Where is Judy Garland?”   But my son rushes up, “I found her, I found her!” and we run through the quiet halls to where she is laid.  Sadly I realized that in the rush to leave I had not brought any flowers, everything had been too unexpected, but there are two poses of flowers there with messages of love.  (I learn later that the UK Fan Club regularly collects money and sends flowers and I always contribute to their fund now.)   We take a few photographs and they ask if I want to be alone, but I just wanted to see it, and I am content.

Second Try I seem to have lost the last blog

Spend an hour trying to get to this page, wrote a blog and it flew away....putting together a book proposal at the moment - very tedious and I'd much rather be writing more to the book.   Have to detail so much information, the floor is covered with books, some open and half opened and various versions...maybe I should take a photo to remember these days, that is if they ever end....Thanks to dear Hannah Brown who keep encouraging me onwards and my son who sends me interesting stuff.   lets hope this one goes through...

how I got into writing

Why do I feel it necessary to document things?  Here I must give credit to my dear departed Uncle Reg.  During the war years my uncle and his wife, Aunt Netta, took me on holidays (vacations to Americans) to the English coast.  My father had died when I was about 6 years old and my uncle and his wife took over many duties to amuse and educate me.  They put off having children themselves because of the uncertainty in war years, so I was their substitute child.  (they later had three sons--my cousins and their extended family is my family--they must read this blog!)

My uncle explained that we must document each day's activities so we would have a record to look back on later.  I still remember the little notebooks with his elegant handwriting, sad I didn't retain any.  So this began my documenting holidays and trips.  These documents became much more interesting as I traveled around the world.   I found one recently on the trip my children and I took over Europe when they were 13 and 15 years old.  Seeing the written word brought back so many memories.  Unfortunately our brains become full of current stuff and we can't remember everything, just highlights like son pouring water into the street from a balcony in Florence and daughter walking off in huff on her own in Switzerland and I didn't care, it was Switzerland, she was safe. But to read words that were written years ago brings everything back.  So this is why I encourage others who witnessed Judy's performance to put their memories down on page. 

Currently I have discovered some more detailed information about the life of Virginia, Judy's sister and that is being added..back to the book..  

why the book?

This is all very new to me but I guess this is how you write a new blog, rather than just commenting on the last one?  Guess someone will tell me if I am wrong?  The first suggestion was for me to say what the book is about, a big item. 

After I went to the Judy Festival in Grand Rapids in 1997 and discovered all the young teenagers and I realized that my first hand experiences seeing and meeting Judy were of some value.  I talked about experiencing one of Judy's concerts in GR and made contact again with Lorna Smith and the British club that year.  In the early years of being in the club in Britain in the mid 50-60s I had written up for the club Judy's performances, meeting her, attending press reception and recording sessions, also CBS Television shows.  These writings I still have, including a carbon one (yes we used carbon paper then to make copies).  Some how I felt these should go into a book for future young people who would discover Judy in 100 years hence.  But like all writing and research the more I wrote the more I discovered and the book has become much more complex.   I am an anthropologist and social scientist by instinct and education (have degree in anthropology and a master in SS on a life history of a Chinese lady who escaped from China) - so women's lives are my interest, how and why are questions I ask.   

Next blog will explain how I got into  writing and what I'm working on now.