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Issue 26 / Rainbow NewsEvery Rainbow Review includes a list of Judy related news. This article was originally illustrated with ten high quality Judy images. You can see the article with all the photographs, along with many others, in Issue 26 of the Rainbow Review. Table of Contents:
Judy Garland Oscar DebacleOver summer 2000 there was a flurry of media activity and litigation surrounding the attempted Internet sale of Judy's honorary juvenile Oscar. Apparently Garland reported it missing in 1958 and when the Academy kindly issued a duplicate, she signed an agreement giving them "first right of refusal" to buy back the statuette - for $10. In 1993, Luft tried to auction the replacement Oscar at Christie's, and the Academy prevented the sale. There was also an addendum to the agreement covering the original - if it should re-appear. Last year an advertisement on a WWW site implied that it did, and the press was quick to report that Luft was behind the sale. Luft proclaimed his innocence saying that he didn"t have the replacement Oscar or the original. He had given the replacement to Lorna because "Liza already had her own." She confirmed that Sid had given the prized possession to her and that it now resides in a bank vault where it will continue to stay until "I hand it down to one of my children." Sid told the press that Judy had thrown the original Oscar in a rage and the broken pieces were picked up by a servant. Peter Fearon of the New York Post reported in June: 'mystery still surrounds the fate of the little statuette with a twisted history. Despite the legal action being taken by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the unique miniature Oscar - which had been missing for 40 years - may still end up in the hands of a private collector in Europe or Japan, out of reach of US courts. "Judy Garland's Oscar is the Maltese Falcon of Hollywood memorabilia,' said Steven Lambert, a Chicago dealer and collector. 'I don't suppose people would kill for it, but $3 million is still $3 million. As powerful as the Academy is, they can't come to your home and check that you still have an Oscar keeping your kitchen door open." Judy's 1939 Oscar is described as the greatest prize of all. Unlike any other, the Garland Oscar is a miniature - half the regular size. Her friend Mickey Rooney presented it to her at the Oscar ceremony at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on February 29th 1940 - and sealed the moment with a passionate kiss. Garland called it The Munchkin Award. Hollywood's premier organisation wants the gold-plated statuette to remain among the few things in Tinseltown - perhaps the only thing - that money can't buy. But with the asking price for the Garland now a staggering $3 million, many are wondering how long it will be before Oscars are being traded like Pokémon cards. Eventually, the Academy may have to change the rules again and insist that every future Oscar statuette remains the property of the Academy, the way sports trophies remain the property of sports authorities and not the winners." Litigation was still in the air in September with the Academy alleging breach of contract. Army Archerd, Daily Variety Senior Columnist noted: "The plot thickens. This would make for a mini-series, or maybe an entire season's dramatic series, titled Who Really Has Judy Garland's Oscar?" Grant For Judy MuseumThe Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that a grant of $990, 000 was awarded by the Blandin Foundation to the Judy Garland Children's Discovery Museum "to provide active hands-on learning for children in rural Northern Minnesota." Me And My ShadowsThe "Me And My Shadows" ABC TV four hour mini-series will air in the United States on two consecutive nights - February 25th and 26th 2001. TV Guide will issue a set of four covers showing Judy Davies as Garland. The TV version of Lorna Luft's book stars Judy Davis as Garland; Marsha Mason plays Ethel Gumm; Victor Garber plays Sid Luft; Vincente Minnelli is played by Hugh Laurie and Lorna by Allison Pitt. Filming started earlier this year in Toronto with Lorna as executive producer and the successful TV team of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron producing. Lorna assures it will be "a loving story of a mother and a daughter. I can understand her weaknesses and her frailties. But, it has taken a long long time (for me to understand). She was a decent human being. I've come full circle. I've made friends with a ghost. I understand the legend, and I understand people's admiration and adoration. But I didn't know her as an icon or a legend. For me she was my mother before she was everything else." Lorna would like every fan of her mother to know that the movie has been made responsibly and with respect and humour and sensitivity. "Judy Davis gives one of the greatest performances a human being has ever given on a screen - outside of my mother's." The Toronto Star ran a feature entitled: "Somewhere Over a Rainbow, Judy's Smiling" in August. Martin Knelman wrote: "Toronto's Elgin Theatre is standing in for the Palace Theatre on Broadway. The year is supposed to be 1967, and the legendary trouper on stage in the gold sequinned suit, belting out 'Me And My Shadow,' is unmistakably the late Judy Garland. But the woman facing the camera is actually gifted Australian actress Judy Davis playing Judy Garland. The big voice with the emotional tremor in the lower range sounds uncannily like Garland, but the invisible singer is neither Garland nor Davis but Lorna Luft, Garland's younger daughter and half-sister to Liza Minnelli. Luft recorded this version recently, so brilliantly imitating the style of her mother that they could have fooled me. These are early days on the set of 'Me And My Shadows,' a four-hour miniseries for ABC television being filmed in Toronto over the next two months. On stage at the Elgin with Davis-as-Garland are young actors playing Lorna at age 15 and her kid brother, Joey, at age 12. As the sound of the song being performed becomes more compelling than the conversation at the back of the auditorium, the real Lorna Luft - wearing blue jeans and a grey sweatshirt - jumps up from our interview to tune in to the number. More than thirty years after her sensationally melodramatic life came to an end at age 47, Judy Garland still commands attention. Luft, who just happens to be 47 herself, is paying close attention not only because Garland was her mother. She also happens to be the author of the 1998 book 'Me And My Shadows' - a compelling, truthful memoir that's more an intense mother/daughter saga than a Hollywood bio - and she is the movie's hands-on executive producer as well. At the moment, there are three Lorna Lufts at the Elgin: the one masquerading as Garland on the playback system; the one being portrayed at age 15 by an actor; and the one standing at the back of the theatre looking on with a critical eye. The 15-year-old Lorna on stage is wearing a yellow dress. 'I certainly do remember that yellow dress,' says Luft. 'I looked like Big Bird.'" John Fricke stressed that all of Judy Garland's singing will be done by Judy Garland. "This has been the producers' intent since Day One. The only brief 'ghost-singing' moments will happen during brief episodes when there are no surviving Garland tracks to tell the story: the early Metro auditions with a 12 or 13 year old Judy singing 'Zing!' and/or 'Eli, Eli' with just piano accompaniment; an upbeat chorus of 'Me and My Shadow' for the 1967 Palace segment. (Those of us with long memories and/or tapes of the 1967 Palace act know that 'Me and My Shadow' was basically sung by John Bubbles during that engagement - and just danced and kiddingly sung in part by Judy, Lorna, and Joe. Apparently, some artistic license has been taken with that moment - thus Lorna pre-recorded a portion of the song 'as' Judy to which Judy Davis lip-synchs during the sequence.)" In September Claire Bickley, on the set of the TV drama noted in the Toronto Sun that Lorna Luft was watching her life pass before her eyes. " 'Oh look, there's my grandfather,' she says as actor Aidan Devine strides down an aisle at The Music Hall on Danforth Ave. Luft's grandmother Ethel Gumm, as played by Marsha Mason, will be along shortly. For two months, Luft has been here keeping company with her memories, both good and bad, watching as her 1998 memoir 'Me and My Shadows' becomes an ABC-TV miniseries. They've all been by: her gifted mother, Judy Garland, dead now some 31 years, and portrayed in the film by actress Judy Davis. Her father Sid Luft (Victor Garber); her sister Liza Minnelli (played at various ages by four actresses). 'My dad got incredibly angry at me when I wrote my book because he said I beat him to the punch. And I said to him, 'You're 84,' explains Luft. She's 47, the same age as her mother when four decades of prescription drug addiction took their final toll. Luft felt she had to write her book, to share her memories of a surprisingly happy childhood with a woman so frequently depicted elsewhere as a one-note tragedy of drugs, despair and instability. 'There have been over 30 books. None of those authors was in my house. They're all unauthorised. Whenever I see the word 'unauthorised,' I know that it's written by the pool man,' says Luft, who clearly inherited her mother's lively sense of humour. 'My story is so much different because all of the other books are writing about her as an icon, as a legend, or as a tragic figure. I wrote about her the only way I knew how, and that was from the point of view of a daughter. She was the best mother she knew how to be, with all of the tornado-like experiences that were whirling around her.' Luft is also an executive producer of the film. She's been a daily fixture on set, absenting herself only when scenes of her mother's final hours were being filmed. Her own children, 10-year-old Vanessa and 16-year-old Jesse, have visited from California, taking in this incredible personal passion play. 'They met Alison (Pill, who plays Luft as a girl),' Luft recalls. 'I said, 'Well, there's Mommy and there's your Aunt Liza and there's Uncle Joe and there's your grandmother.' And I said, 'You'll be going to the therapist right after all of this.' On set this week, they are right back to the beginning, capturing Garland, still Frances Gumm then, taking her first steps into the spotlight. The year is 1924. The Music Hall is The New Grand Movie Theatre in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. 'The Gumm Sisters. Singing and Dancing Delights. Introducing Baby Gumm,' reads the marquee out front. Local three-year-old Carley Alves plays two-year-old Frances in the scene, in which she toddles onto stage, sings Jingle Bells and likes the limelight so much that her father has to come and carry her off. When Alves, Luft reports chuckling, sang with her dress pulled over her head at the audition, they knew they'd found their Baby. The ringleted moppet's response to the applause of this audience, dozens of extras outfitted in gloriously detailed period evening clothes, is proving them right. Before Alves went on, her sparkling fairytale dress still covered by a boy's shirt that reached to her toes, she eagerly asked Luft, 'Is it my turn?' As Ethel Gumm, Marsha Mason sits stagefront, accompanying little Frances and the older Gumm girls, Jimmy (seven-year-old Josephine Di Cosmo) and Suzy (nine-year-old Samantha Gerber) on the piano. "She was a reprehensible mother, what can I say?" Mason says afterwards of Ethel Gumm, who lived her show business dreams through her daughter, who was supporting the family by the time she was a teen. 'I don't think a lot of people necessarily know this story in terms of the price tag of certain things that happen and what that life was really like for her,' Mason says. 'I hope that people can understand that there is a price tag for fame on a certain level and you don't want to do this.' Luft also intends her mother's story as a cautionary tale and, perhaps surprisingly, believes it's one that will be just as relevant in neighbourhoods far from Hollywood. 'The difference was that we were on the front pages of papers. We had to live it out in the public. And that's the only difference between me and the other people who have addictions in their families,' she says." In December the New York Times Bernard Weinraub spoke to Judy Davis. "She aimed for an intensity that became thrilling for both herself and the audience... Her songs and orchestrations wind up and reach some peak you can't imagine. If she went any further, she'd have a heart attack and she'd be dead in front of you, and you get the feeling that even then she wouldn't mind." "Early screenings of portions of the film show Ms. Davis with the help of makeup, wigs and prosthetics bearing an eerie resemblance to Garland. At 45, she is two years younger than Garland was when she died of an accidental overdose of pills in 1969. The expensive ($12 million) film, which recounts Garland's troubled life and her intense bond with her children, is a risk because she is, like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, an iconic cultural figure whose talents have almost been consumed by her tragic persona. Susan Lyne, executive vice president of movies and miniseries at ABC, said that the biggest risk for the network was finding the right actress. "You've got to do a movie about Judy Garland only with an actress who has the juice to take on that role and Judy Davis has it," Ms. Lyne said. Ms. Davis, a smart, funny and engaging actress who has played other divas, including Edith Piaf and Lillian Hellman, said that Judy Garland was the hardest role of her 25- year career. Weeks after filming had ended, she said, she could not entirely free herself from Judy Garland. "With Garland there's always a line you're frightened of crossing," Ms. Davis said, seated in the coffee shop of a West Hollywood hotel shortly before flying back to her husband and two children in Sydney, Australia. "It's daunting to play someone that talented. And whether she's just sitting there having a drink or whether it's hysteria, there's a line that you must not cross, because then you go into caricature and that's too awful to contemplate." Ms. Davis said she had become unusually upset and broke down watching a scene in which she, as Garland, realized that her managers were stealing her money and that she was broke. "It was upsetting because it was real, and she was also physically sick and obese and sick with drugs and I was relating it," Ms. Davis said. "This role demanded every part of me. She was bigger than me, much more talented with much bigger emotions. She was braver. So I had to get bigger to play her." Ms. Davis said she had read every book about Garland and had watched the numerous videos of her interviews and performances. "Playing her scared me, to tell you the truth," Ms. Davis said. "It was the sort of challenge I didn't need because there was an in-built failure to it. I was frightened all the way through filming, which was unusual for me. Every day. But I knew I couldn't have taken one step forward if I kept worrying that people who knew her will say, "Well, she didn't walk that way," or, "She didn't speak like that." I suppose in the end the danger for me was that I would not be able to inhabit her in a truthful way." Robert Allan Ackerman, the director, said that the danger in making the film was focusing on Garland's personal life at the expense of her artistry. "This is a great artist, a thrilling artist, and it would really do her a disservice not to focus on that," Mr. Ackerman said. "You didn't want a horror movie or Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.' You had to exercise restraint at every level"." Ruby Slippers Go For A BombAt Christie's on May 24th somebody shelled out $666,000 (£51, 000) for a pair of Tony Landini's famed ruby slippers. The news about this ultimate piece of movie memorabilia made international headlines. Landini explained: "I feel I have done all I can do to keep the magic of The Ruby Slippers alive by showing them to millions of people at Disney/MGM, by giving talks and showing my video at the many Judy/ Wizard of Oz Festivals and by answering the correspondence I get regularly about the slippers. And like Roberta Bauman said when she sold them, I'm not getting any younger. I am reaching an age when I want to simplify my life, and get things in order. I do hope someone will continue my endeavour to keep the magic of the Ruby Slippers and The Wizard of Oz alive. I am overwhelmed at what is going on at the Ruby Slipper Fan Club Web Site. You must go there and see for yourselves; it's unbelievable. They actually have a T-shirt commemorating the auction date! I hope the slippers continue to travel down that Yellow Brick Road for another hundred years!" The E! channel aired an hour long special entitled "The Trail of the Ruby Slippers" based on Rhys Thomas book "The Ruby Slippers of Oz." Rainbow's EndFox Searchlight is to produce a film of Steve Sanders" excellent Garland book: "Rainbow's End." (1991) It will be directed by Bronwen Hughes, with Steve as associate producer. He responded to concern that Oliver Stone (co-executive producer with Sid Luft) was handling the project by saying: "The film was optioned by Fox Searchlight largely on the strength of Stone's company's interest in the project. If this film comes about, it might well be (largely) because of Oliver Stone. I've seen the script, was involved in the writing of the script and the script stays remarkably true to the spirit of the book in terms of Judy and her role in the series. It does her no damage in, to my mind, serves her well." The Judy Garland Club WWW PageThe Judy Garland Club has a new, easy-to-remember WWW address: www.judygarlandclub.org Judy In LondonIn June the Judy in London WWW site won BT Internet Customer Homepage of the Week. www.btinternet.com/~judyin.london/judyil1.htm 25th Annual Judy FestivalThe 25th Annual Judy Festival was held over summer at Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The programme included a candlelight vigil to mark Judy's passing, seminars, the showing of the restored "Oz" and a collectors' exchange. Mickey Rooney and his wife Jan guested. www.judygarlandmuseum.com The new Judy Garland Museum publication "There's No Place Like Home" has merged two previous offerings "Letter From Home" and "The Garland Independent." One of the museum's featured new acquisitions is an engraved perfume bottle that Judy presented to her friend Maxine as a graduation gift in 1941. Garland TapesLorna Luft hired an attorney to try to stop the sale of a 2 CD set of Garland's autobiographical tapes that she recorded at a low ebb in her life in preparation for a potential autobiography. The tapes include some "very heavy stuff,'' says Lorna. "You have to realise what caused her negative times.'' Bill ColleranSteve Sanders reports the death of Bill Colleran. "The last executive producer of Judy's series [has] passed away at age 77. I first met Bill by chance years before I wrote [Rainbow's End] when I worked for a production company that rented office space from another producer. Bill happened to work for that company to answer phones and other light office duties, working there because the sympathetic owner respected Bill enormously and knew it was important for him to remain connected to the industry even though he was greatly impaired by a serious auto injury. Bill became a dear friend and was delighted to share his memories of Judy with me. While we lost touch over the past few years, I miss him terribly. He was one of the kindest, funniest and wonderful souls I've ever known. And in reading the book, it's readily apparent how much he loved and respected Judy and remained devoted to her. (Judy so respected Bill and knew he loved her so much - that when they very briefly lived in the same apartment building in '68, she avoided meeting him to not upset him by seeing her at her current state, telling a friend, 'I don't want him to see me like this.') He was an enormously talented man, winning Emmys and a Peabody during his career. It was obvious upon my first meeting with him why Judy was so immediately taken with him." Hip, Hop Oz?"Auntie Eminem! Auntie Eminem! An earthquake's comin'!" screamed a recent headline. "A cast of hip-hop superstars have reportedly hopped onto Fox's yellow brick road for a still-in-the-works urban update of The Wizard of Oz. And it ain't Kansas." According to the Hollywood Reporter, this new version, tentatively titled "The O.Z." may star "Queen Latifah as Glenda the Good Witch, Busta Rhymes as the Cowardly Lion and Ginuwine as the Scarecrow. No word yet on who will play Dorothy (may we suggest Lil' Kim?) or the Tin Man. But instead of an innocent farm girl from Kansas, this latest version would make Dorothy a successful but lonely hip-hop producer in Los Angeles. When a massive earthquake hits the city, Dorothy and her little doggie Toto will be transported to the fantasy netherworld known as the Big O.Z. Also attached to the project are Patti LaBelle, who would play the Wicked Witch of the West, Little Richard, who would be the infamous Wizard behind the curtain and rap group IMX which would play LaBelle's band of evil flying monkeys. It's only a slightly different spin on the more gangsta hip-hop version that surfaced three years ago. In it, Snoop Dogg was originally eyed to play the Scarecrow (perhaps now he can go for that Toto role), with where-are-they-now rapper Warren G on board as the Tin Man and Heavy D as the Cowardly Lion. Latifah was originally slated to play the Wicked Witch of the West, but her witch allegiance has since changed over to the good side. Sources say the project was created by Marci Pool, the former head of Fox TV Pictures who recently moved over to the network to head up movies and miniseries. Up-and-coming producer Chris Stokes is reportedly attached to the project, and Fox is now searching for a writer to update L. Frank Baum's classic story, as well as a team of musicians to compose the original music." Oz CelebrationsThis Wizard of Oz centenary celebration - "An American Fairy Tale" - was held at the Library of Congress in Washington over summer. The Oz items on display included a pair of ruby slippers; the mane and beard donned by Cowardly Lion Bert Lahr; Ray Bolger's scarecrow costume; a Munchkin outfit; and an Emerald City townsman's coat. The International Wizard of Oz Club held its Centennial Convention in Bloomington, Indiana in July. There was an extensive programme of events. Four M-G-M Munchkins participated, and there were several presentations centred on the 1939 film. In Los Angeles there was a gala reception for the "Century of Oz" exhibit which features selections from Willard Carroll's collection of "Wizard of Oz" memorabilia. One delighted guest noted: "There are numerous articles on display including the original artwork from W.W. Denslow and original blueprints from the MGM art department for the 1939 film." The exhibit runs until February 24th 2001 at the Getty Gallery in the LA Central Library. Award For Pioneer Box SetThe Video Software Dealers Association announced in its DVD 2000 Awards that Pioneer Entertainment's "The Judy Garland Show Collection" took home best "Non-Theatrical Release." It's All For YouA message from Al DiOrio: "Over the last several months I've had quite a few inquiries about the status of my book, 'It's All For You.' These came both from those newly interested and, of course, from many of those who have ordered the book and not yet received it. Several of those in the latter group, understandably, expressed extreme frustration although an equal number showed the same patience and understanding that they've shown all along. Obviously, the time for an update on the book is long past due. Over the last couple of months I've been working with someone to make the book available to everyone over the Internet. Everyone who has ordered the book already and has access to the Internet will be able to use a password I give them to access the manuscript including all of the pictures. They will see the book exactly as I do in my master document with all of the photos placed appropriately and in their full black and white glory. It is certainly not a final resolution to the problem - long term I'm still going to want to rebate some portion of the price paid by everyone who pre-ordered but at least they'll get to see the book that they have patiently waited for all this time. As for everyone else - those who have been expressing an interest in ordering the book - they too will have the opportunity to order 'It's All For You' over the Internet. Once they make payment I'll be able to give them an access code as well. For those of you who are not familiar with the book, it's full title is "It's All For You: The Judy Garland Story, From A to Z." It is a full encyclopaedia of everything there is to know about Judy - over 900 pages in length with over 700 photos - many of which are very rare. I have not yet determined what a fair price is for the Internet version of the book - that'll be announced when we're ready to take orders. [The book] was the hardest thing I've ever done and a labour of love for a woman I've loved and admired for almost forty years now. I want to extend a sincere and personal thank you to all of those who have shown extraordinary kindness and understanding over the situation with "It's All For You."" True Hollywood StoryThe "E" Entertainment channel will be broadcasting a two-hour "True Hollywood Story" on Judy in February 2001. I'm Always Chasing RainbowsBBC Radio 2 aired a two-part two-hour documentary about Judy on December 12th and 19th. Flowers For LizaThe Judy Garland Club sent flowers to Liza in hospital earlier this year where she was recovering from viral encephalitis. The Associated Press reported in late October that "a smiling Liza Minnelli was released from a hospital Monday after spending the better part of October recovering from viral encephalitis and dehydration. The 54-year-old singer, clutching the hand of her half-sister Lorna Luft, waved as she was escorted in a wheelchair down a hospital ramp to a waiting limousine. 'I feel wonderful," Minnelli said. 'I'm with my sister, and I've never felt better in my life.' She stood and hugged Luft, from whom she has reportedly been estranged, before getting in the limousine. Minnelli said her near-death experience has brought her and her sister closer together. 'My sister is the best,' Luft said. The Oscar-winning diva was hospitalised at the Cleveland Clinic Hospital about three weeks ago after contracting the disease, a potentially deadly inflammation of the brain that had left her in serious condition. Although the condition is now under control, due to the initial severity of viral encephalitis, it will be several months before Ms. Minnelli is completely well," Dr. Maurice Hanson said in a statement. Publicist Michael Hartman said Minnelli is 'feeling much better and is looking forward to being home." Paramedics were summoned to Minnelli's Fort Lauderdale home October 8th after an aide told them Minnelli had been found unconscious. Liza said: "I don't mind having nearly died to bring me back to this one!" (Pointing to Lorna and hugging her) Pulling up at her temporary Fort Lauderdale home, Liza once again spoke about her sister. In a prepared statement, Minnelli said 'This is what family is all about. You can bicker all you want but when the chips are down you're there for each other My sister is here for me, and I love her very much.' Michael Hartman, Liza's publicist: "Liza's feeling much better and she's looking forward to being home and she wishes to thank all of you for your prayers and love, and the concern of the fans, once again, is the thing that has pulled her through"." It's been a roller coaster year for Liza. Her show Minnelli on Minnelli continued to wow in early 2000. Club member Steve Peterson went to see her at The Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco in March on the eve of her birthday and the audience sang her Happy Birthday. "Thanks so much for coming to see me, especially now that there is so much more of me to see." Thanks To Lorna SmithThe Club sent Lorna Smith a bouquet of flowers to thank her for supporting recent issues of the Review with photographs from her collection. She was, she noted, "a lousy flower arranger. I used to try to do the flowers Judy received in 1969. I arrived one evening to find her improving on my efforts. I told her how much better hers were and was informed she had once taken a flower-arranging course. She was full of these little surprises." Club Meeting 22nd October 2000The autumn Club meeting was held on Sunday 22nd October at the Bonnington Hotel, London. There was a film show, sales table, raffle and a brief AGM that established the new committee for 2001. Find out about: Club Members... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
