- Dallas State Fair Music Hall -

Dallas After Dark
by Tony Zoppi

Advance Article - - 

The girl they call Miss Show Business comes to town Tuesday night to weave her magical spell at State Fair Music Hall.  By  all that's right, it should be a sellout--but we kid you not. As of this writing, there are many seats to be filled--a sort of mixed  blessing. If you haven't purchased a ticket, you still have an opportunity to secure a good one. Still, it seems inconceivable that  a city as cosmopolitan as Dallas would let a Garland show leave town anything less than SRO. We had the good fortune to see Judy in action just briefly at the Copa in New York last month. It was Sammy Davis's closing night and almost everyone  in his audience was a celebrity of stature. Sam asked only one to stand up and be recognized--it was Judy, of course. The crowd cheered and stomped and begged for a song. When Judy asked for a request, there was unanimous agreement on "Over the Rainbow," and she did it beautifully. Shep Fields will direct a 30-piece orchestra for the gifted headliner. Most of  the instrumentalists will be members of either the Dallas or Houston symphonies. "I don't expect to back many shows of this  quality in my lifetime," he said. "I'm assembling the finest musicians available in Texas for the occasion." Miss Garland will arrive here Sunday and has scheduled rehearsals both Monday and Tuesday.

"We love you Judy," rang a voice from the balcony of the packed State Fair Music Hall Tuesday night. 

"I love you too darling." she said, gently blowing the young man a kiss.

Thus, this city freely forgave Judy Garland for her last hectic appearance here in 1957 when before a similar throng of admirers she sang two songs and tearfully left the stage.

"I just can't go on," she sobbed at the time. Her ailing health was the reason.

Miss Garland did not disappoint her fans Tuesday. Looking remarkably young and hearty, she sang for more than two hours and won a rousing standing ovation. She cried again (and so did many in the audience), but the circumstances were different.

Don Saffran of the Dallas Times Herald said her reception was only equaled by the frenzied demonstration staged for Maria Callas' debut here in "Medea."

J. David Nichols, who is promoting Miss Garland in the state, said that he expected an even more enthusiastic crowd when she performs at the City Auditorium in Houston Thursday night. She has never visited the city before, and he is almost assured of a full house.

Up until the night miss Garland performed here, Nichols had reason to worry whether her Dallas admirers had forgotten 1957. Ticket sales were slow until the day of the performance.

The impresario, who is paying her $20,000.00 for her two Texas dates, was still not sure that she had fully recovered from her past fears and ailments when she arrived to rehearse Sunday night.

She was having trouble with her throat (A cold? No one was sure) and a doctor was called in. The jittery actress was then met by and attorney who had a 1,050 claim brought by a hotel for a bill delinquent since her last visit here. Finally on Monday, the case was settled for $750.00. 

The night before the show, her nerves were giving her trouble and she couldn't sleep. So she slept all day Tuesday, and saw no one but her doctor and her hair dresser, whom she had brought with her from London.

But she did arrive at the Music Hall on time. No sooner had Shep Fields and his 30 piece orchestra (which will also be in Houston Thursday night) finished the overture in fine style when she stepped out on the stage, glowing with the magic she is noted for.

Miss Garland, of course, no longer looks like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" (and it is about time), but she is still remarkably lovely, reminding you of a plump little porcelain doll with shapely legs. She is not nearly as heavy as you may have heard, and her face still has the glow of an innocent, dark-eyed cherub.

After her winning performance (she sang 31 songs, taking in most of her repertoire except for the "Born in a Trunk" routine, which she said would take four days to sing), she turned up at a party in a private club.

Wrapped in an armor of mink and on the arm of her doting manager (Freddie Fields) she came to relax and to sip Rhine wine.

Exhausted from the show, she talked very little. Her plans: A new movie in Hollywood ("I play a German frau in The Nuremberg Trial") and a debut on Broadway (everybody from Leonard Bernstein to Jules Stein want to write a musical for her, and she is considering 5 scripts).

Her funniest story concerned her recent engagement in London.

"All the British press was fearful I wouldn't show up," she said. "For days they ran headlines saying 'Will She Or Won't She?' and 'If She Does Show Up Will She Finish?'"

As in Dallas, the 'new' Judy Garland did show up, and was well received.

Her performance in the City Auditorium Thursday will begin at 8:15 PM. She says she will be on time there too.

Judy Garland, alternately sipping Rhine wine from a tall glass, wiping perspiration from a fevered brow, and singing her big heart out for a deeply appreciative audience, exploded the "temperament" myth which marred her 1957 appearance in Dallas. 

She orbited a near 3-hour show which landed gracefully between a couple of adjectival planets called "charming" and "bombastic." 

All the skepticism which accompanied the possibility of empty seats, unpaid hotel bills, dressing room explosions and a headliner too ill to perform, went by the boards the moment the box-office opened. There were lines of ticket purchasers eagerly seeking the best seats available. It was what the critics like to call "an artistic and financial success."

As for the indomitable Miss Garland, she lived up to the title of Miss Show Business this misty evening.

It was a case of love at first sight when she stepped onstage. The audience gave her a warm reception and all the backstage nervousness vanished in the few seconds required to walk from the wings to stage center.

Someone yelled, "We love you, Judy!"

"I love you, too," she cooed, and the stage was set for an evening of music which her audience will long remember.

The first half of the show was devoted to a wide variety of tunes ranging from an uninhibited "You Go to My Head" to the soulful "Man that Got Away". There was a touch of old time jazz in the medley which featured the headliner and nine members the superb Shep Fields orchestra.

Second half of show was a nostalgic recollection of tunes which will be as much a part of Miss Garland as "Some of These Days" is a part of Sophie Tucker.

"Over the Rainbow," "Meet Me in St. Louis" (sic), "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart," "Rock-a-bye Your Baby" and "After You've Gone" were just a few of the all-time all-timers she unleashed before her cheering admirers. 

Many greats have walked the dusty boards at the Music Hall. None did so with more charm and dignity than Judy Garland.

The Fields orchestra won a rare rave from Miss Garland. "I'd like to take them on a coast-to-coast tour," she exclaimed. She appears next in Houston Thursday in a show also sponsored by the J. David Nichols organization.