Get Happy (80 page)

Watching the two Garland’s tape-recorded reminiscences.

So strained Minnelli,
I Remember It Well
, p. 189.

Eventually, silence gave way Ibid.

Most of her friends Frank,
Judy
, p. 368.

Before long
Los Angeles Examiner
, June 26, 1950.

“Judy didn’t want” Johnny Thompson to GC.

“Poor Ethel!” Dorothy Walsh (Morrison) to GC.

“I’ll tell you” Finch,
Rainbow
, p. 190.

Hurt and insulted Paul V. Coates column,
Los Angeles Mirror
, May 2, 1952.

“Garland’s Maw”
Los Angeles Mirror
, June 12, 1952.

“Judy and I” Sheilah Graham, “Just for Variety,”
Variety
, June 16, 1952.

“If you have a daughter” Sheilah Graham, “Hollywood,”
New York
Daily Mirror
, July 20, 1952.

“My mother’s a fucking riveter” Harry Rubin to GC. Judy made the remark to Rubin.

“What have I done” Frank,
Judy
, p. 366.

Americans have always idealized Theodore Roosevelt is quoted in Victoria Secunda’s
When You and Your Mother Can’t Be Friends
, p. 43.

Apparently forgetting Lazar with Tapert,
Swifty
, pp. 151–52.

“Maybe I fulfilled” Judy Garland, “There’ll Always Be an Encore,”
McCall’s
, Jan. 1964.

As she grew older Garland’s tape-recorded reminiscences.

“Nothing, ever” Simone de Beauvoir,
A Very Easy Death
, p. 34.

“A career” The final script of
A Star Is Born
by Moss Hart, dated October 7, 1953.

A Star Is Born
, she told Sidney Skolsky column,
New York Post
, Oct. 31, 1954.

Belying his cynical screen reputation Sperber and Lax,
Bogart
, p. 466.

“Those two alley cats” Haver,
A Star Is Born
, p. 71. Haver’s 300–page book offers the most exhaustive account of the making of the movie.

“Understand Want Me” Telegram from Flynn to Steve Trilling, Aug. 8, 1953. Warner Bros. Collection, USC.

“James Mason Set” Telegram from Steve Trilling to Flynn, Aug. 15, 1953. Warner Bros. Collection, USC.

Cukor grumbled Haver,
A Star Is Born
, p. 133.

“Don’t worry” Gene Allen to GC.

Hired to supervise Harry Rubin to GC. Rubin is the chief source for most of the episodes he witnessed or was involved in.

“Miss Garland phoned” Memo from Eric Stacey to various Warner Bros. executives, Nov. 19, 1953. Warner Bros. Collection, USC.

“It scared me” George Cukor interview, Columbia Oral History Collection.

Judy would complain Haver,
A Star Is Born
, pp. 184–85.

“Judy, you’ve given us” Gilbert Perkins to GC. Perkins was playing tennis with Warner and heard his end of the conversation. A column item of Dec. 29, 1953 (newspaper unknown), also mentioned their conversation.

“A charming fellow” Warner,
My First Hundred Years in Hollywood
, pp. 316–19.

A Star Is Born
was a movie George Cukor to Moss Hart, March 30, 1954. Warner Bros. Collection, USC.

“Big mistake” Haver,
A Star Is Born
, p. 190.

“Don’t let ’em”
Los Angeles Examiner
, Aug. 5, 1954.

“Neither the human mind” Haver,
A Star Is Born
, p. 196.

“He snipped” Haver,
A Star Is Born
, p. 197.

“What you should do” Frank,
Judy
, p. 383.

What, Noël Coward was to ask Coward,
The Noël Coward Diaries
, pp. 248-49.

Extravagance also marked Edwin Schallert, “‘Star Is Born’ Hit at Lavish Premiere,”
Los Angeles Times
, Sept. 30, 1954.

“Brilliantly staged” “New Day for Judy,”
Life
, Sept. 13, 1954.

“One of the grandest” Bosley Crowther,
The New York Times
, Oct. 12, 1954.

“A mighty long” “The New Pictures,”
Time
, Oct. 25, 1954.

Though James Mason Ibid.

“It is a curious instinct” Ed Sullivan, “Toast of the Town,”
New York Mirror
, Oct. 13, 1954.

Jack Warner Although Warner Bros. claimed
A Star Is Born
cost $6 million to produce (not counting distribution and advertising expenses), Ronald Haver reckoned its cost at $5,019,770. Only
Duel in the Sun
, which cost $5,225,324, was more expensive. Haver,
A Star Is Born
, p. 203.

“I’ll kill you” Sperling and Millner,
Hollywood Be Thy Name
, pp. 284–85.

“Marvelous
things” George Cukor interview, SMU Oral History Collection.

“It is our destiny” Quoted in Phillip Lopate, “A Master Who Confounded the Categorizers,”
The New York Times
, Nov. 16, 1997.

“Congratulations!” Letter to Jack Warner, Oct. 14, 1954. Warner Bros. Collection, USC.

These remarks proved prophetic Haver,
A Star Is Born
, p. 217.

Judy, the Associated Press had said Bob Thomas, Associated Press report, June 1954 (exact date unknown).

“This is the biggest robbery” Aline Mosby, “Judy Feels ‘Grateful’ Over Oscar Condolences,”
New York World Telegram
, April 12, 1955.

“There should have been” Louella Parsons, “‘Little Joe’ Judy’s Joy,”
Los Angeles Examiner
, April 1, 1955.

“I admit” “Judy vs. Grace—Could Be a Tie,”
New York Journal-American
, March 20, 1955.

“It confirmed her belief” Bacall,
By Myself
, p. 220.

“It’s only the beginning” “20,000 Hail Judy Garland at ‘Star Is Born’ Premiere,”
New York Herald Tribune
, Sept. 30, 1954.

“We did too much” Sid Luft interview for a Garland television documentary, p. 34 of transcript. A copy is in the possession of the author.

Hauled into court “Luft Wins Court Round in Lynn Bari Battle,”
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
, Jan. 27, 1955.

To prevent Joe Hyams, “Judy Garland—Problem Girl,”
New York Herald Tribune
, Sept. 21, 1956.

All the love Zuma Palmer, “Radio-Television”
Hollywood Citizen-News
, Sept. 21, 1955.

“I’ve never seen her” Mike Connolly, “Rambling Reporter,”
Hollywood Reporter
, July 1956 (exact date unknown).

She attracted Joe Hyams, “Judy Garland Star in Night Club, Too,”
New York Herald Tribune
, Aug. 10, 1956.

“New York is good” Associated Press report by William Glover, Nov. 10, 1956.

“I’m sorry” “Protecting the Source,”
Time
, Jan. 12, 1959.

“I must say” Dorothy Kilgallen, “The Voice of Broadway,”
New
York Journal-American
, Jan. 14, 1959.

In October
Variety
, Oct. 23, 1957.

“Why don’t you” Earl Wilson, “Screaming Dispute with Patron Leads to Canceled Contract,”
Los Angeles Mirror News
, Jan. 2, 1958.

“Judy Garland Quits”
Los Angeles Mirror News
, Jan. 2, 1958.

“Judy Garland,” wrote Earl Wilson, “Judy Walks Out in New Uproar,”
Los Angeles Mirror News
, March 31, 1958.

Moved by what it termed “Judy’s Comeback,”
Los Angeles Examiner
, July 26, 1958.

“I’ve found” Helen Hover Weller, “Judy Garland’s Untold Story,”
Movie Stars
, January 1955.

“Sid took a castle” Harry Rubin to GC.

“If the light” Bacall,
By Myself
, p. 220.

“Do you sing?” Lazar with Tapert,
Swifty
, p. 153.

“And I can tell you” Joe Hyams,
Bogie
, p. 11.

If the gibes Bogart,
Bogart
, p. 45.

But talent, Bogart added Bacall,
By Myself
, p. 221.

“What fun” Ibid., p. 222.

Based on an actual case Johnson,
Flashback
, p. 261.

After reading the script Nunnally Johnson interview, Columbia Oral History Collection.

“Schizophrenic,” he explained Cameron Shipp, “The Star Who Thinks Nobody Loves Her,”
Saturday Evening Post
, April 2, 1955.

“Wonderful in every way” Crane,
Detour
, p. 134.

“Shh!” Harry Rubin to GC.

During shooting Irene Sharaff to GC.

Later, for the picture’s premiere Michael Woulfe to GC.

“You’re a gumshoe” Frank,
Judy
, p. 398.

“Where are they?” Paul Sand to GC. Sand played opposite Judy in her famous tramp number. He heard her screams.

“I think Sid” Kendis Rochlen, “Candid Kendis,”
Los Angeles Mirror-News
, Feb. 3, 1955.

Theirs was more than a marriage Joe Hyams, “Mr. and Mrs. Luft, Inc.,”
New York Herald Tribune
, Sept. 18, 1956.

In September 1956 Ibid.

When Judy visited C. Z. Guest to GC.

Owed six times that Warner,
My First Hundred Years in Hollywood
, pp. 316–20.

So strained were the Lufts’ finances Frank, Judy, pp. 430–32.

Unable to do either “Judy Garland Goes to Court in Sack,”
Rocky
Mountain News
(Denver), April 5, 1958.

“So I’m broke” “‘Broke—But I’ll Get Along,’ Says Judy,”
New
York Journal-American
, April 1, 1958.

The
Los Angeles Examiner
Jack Lotto, “Judy Garland, Luft Row Over Money,”
Los Angeles Examiner
, April 1, 1958.

Much also went Harry Rubin to GC.

By contrast Associated Press dispatch, June 26, 1953.

“It’s nouveau riche” Sid Luft to GC.

Before the Bogarts bought Bacall,
By Myself
, p. 197.

“Listen,” he said Harry Rubin to GC.

Many of those greenbacks Hopper and Brough,
The Whole Truth
and Nothing But
, p. 128, and
Time
, Feb. 13, 1956.

Indeed, one of Jack Warner’s complaints Warner,
My First Hundred
Years in Hollywood
, pp. 316–19. All of Warner’s remarks are quoted from his autobiography.

How much money
Time
, Feb. 13, 1956.

“Nobody ever made money” Florabel Muir, “Judy Sues Sid, Blames the Nags,” New York
Daily News
, Feb. 4, 1956.

“I love Sid” Louella Parsons, “Judy, Luft Reconciled,”
Los Angeles Examiner
, Feb. 7, 1956.

“You could hear her” Robert Street to GC.

Years later Sid Luft to GC.

Despite a prenuptial property agreement Though the agreement was dated October 10, 1953, more than a year after their marriage, it
memorialized an oral agreement they said they had entered into before their marriage. It was filed with the Los Angeles County Clerk on August 11, 1958.

Sid was both too proud Sid Luft to GC.

In a 1955 article Judy Garland, “How
Not
to Love a Woman,”
Coronet
, Feb. 1955.

On a trip to Long Island Anne Ford Johnson to GC.

At a party at Chasen’s Mike Connolly, “Rambling Reporter,”
Hollywood Reporter
, date unknown.

Claiming that Sid had beaten her Evie Johnson to GC.

“Get that son-of-a-bitching pig” Harry Rubin to GC.

What Sid did Sid denied that Judy had extramarital affairs during their marriage.

Frank Sinatra Harry Rubin to GC.

And off Ibid.

Though no one “Divorce Bug Again Bites Judy Garland,”
Los Angeles Mirror-News
, Feb. 26, 1958.

Alleging, for the first time in public
Frances Gumm Luft vs. Michael Sidney Luft
. Los Angeles Superior Court, March 4, 1958.

“You don’t know” Otash,
Investigation Hollywood!
, pp. 159–70. The head of the detective unit, Otash devotes a chapter in his memoirs to the Garland-Luft dispute.

Still, no one was surprised Louella Parsons, “Judy Garland, Luft in Reconciliation,”
Los Angeles Examiner
, April 15, 1958.

He must be the leader Judy Garland, “How
Not
to Love a Woman,”
Coronet
, Feb. 1955.

Despite the bouquets Shana Alexander, “Judy’s New Rainbow,”
Life
, June 2, 1961.

“I don’t think” Frank,
Judy
, p. 451.

For seven weeks This was probably accomplished, medical experts tell me, by the use of intravenous diuretics, which caused the fluids to be excreted in her urine. It is also possible, though less likely, that the fluids were removed by the insertion of a needle directly into her abdomen.

“You want to know” Jane Ardmore, “Judy,”
The American Weekly
, Oct. 1, 1961.

“He’s magnetic” “She Will Tell the Troops—and Maybe Even the Marines,”
Daily Mail
(London), Oct. 21, 1960.

“I was liked” Shana Alexander, “Judy’s New Rainbow,”
Life
, June 2, 1961.

“I want to get off” Frank,
Judy
, p. 455.

She enjoyed weekends William Hickey, “21 Years After the Wizard of Oz …”
Daily Express
(London), July 15, 1960.

Indeed, Coward was Coward’s deference to Judy is noted in Philip Hoare’s biography,
Noël Coward
.

“You are probably” “A Redbook Dialogue: Noël Coward and Judy Garland,”
Redbook
, Nov. 1961.

It was, rather Judy Garland, “Show Page,”
Sunday Guardian
(London), Sept. 11, 1960.

“Now we know” “Judy’s a Hit in Gay Paree,”
Los Angeles Mirror
, Oct. 12, 1960.

“Greetings, Mr. President” John Moynihan,
Evening Standard
(London), Nov. 9, 1960.

At Sid’s behest Contract between Judy Garland and Freddie Fields Associates, December 1960; a copy is in the possession of the author.

In exchange for handing Fields
Michael Sidney Luft vs. Creative
Management Associates, Ltd
. Los Angeles Superior Court, No. 832,645, July 22, 1964.

He was not a job hunter Jody Jacobs, “Fields’ Day,”
Women’s Wear
Daily
, June 1, 1970.

His plan for Judy “‘Revitalized’ Judy Garland to Star in London Musical Prior to B’way,”
Variety
, December 1960 or early January 1961.