- Melbourne, Australia
- May 20, 1964 -
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Please Note ~
This
information was sent to me by Charles Triplett for use on this site.
It was originally compiled and written by Sonny Gallagher when it happened
in 1964 for his fan club.
The
Sydney & Melbourne pages
are
dedicated to Sonny's memory.
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Melbourne Concert
May 19 headline upon arrival
- Judy Out Of Sorts.... 500 Fans Mob Judy
May 20 Morning - headline
Judy
Spent Day in Bed
Articles reveal that no one
has seen her since her arrival at the hotel. Mr. Brent (her road
manager) was later to reveal that after the disastrous concert that evening,
"Judy slept all day Tuesday and when she awoke she had a dry cough and
a rasping throat. She thought she had laryngitis. We we realized
her throat trouble was caused by the heating system. From 7:30 until
8:00 P.M. the night of the concert Miss Garland sat out on the terrace
outside her room trying to get some humidity. We had some electric
humidifiers taken up to her suite" From another paper: Five
bottles of Smirnoff's vodka were delivered to Miss Garland's suite May
19 and five empty bottles were removed the night of the concert.
Disaster
Judy gets possibly the worst
press notices of her entire career and the Melbourne concert becomes big
news around the world. The events bear an uncanny resemblance to
the closing scenes of her last motion picture, I COULD GO ON SINGING.
One Melbourne newspaper that apparently had a deadline to meet just reviews
the first half of her concert as though it has been a great success.
In brief, this is what happened:
Judy was on stage for three-quarters of an hour, then she called an intermission
which lasted from 15 minutes to a half-hour, depending on which report
you read. After that she returned and sang three songs then walked
off without a word. The orchestra played OVER THE RAINBOW for five
minutes then Mr. Brent signaled them to stop and the house lights went
up. One paper reported "Thousands of patrons stood dazed for several
minutes, then began filing from the hall. First hint that the show
would close earlier than expected came after the long intermission when
Miss Garland seemed reluctant to continue singing."
The events made world-wide
headlines. I suppose the final word should come from Harry Miller,
the Australian impresario. (See Sydney page for his notable quote.)
After the Sydney concert he took an ad in one of the papers that proclaimed
HARRY MILLER LOVES JUDY GARLAND BECAUSE... SHE WAS ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS
LAST WEDNESDAY EVENING. This touching message was inscribed in a
heart-shaped ad.
On May 21 in the Sydney Sun,
promoter Harry Miller said that he was stunned by last night's performance.
"I'm speechless - what can I say. It is out of my hands." Mr.
Miller said he would never again have anything to do with Judy. "I'll
never bring her to Australia again," he said. "I've had enough.
Even if she were desperate, I wouldn't touch a Judy Garland show."
In another article on May
21: Mort Lindsey and two of the musicians brought from the states
fly out of Australia. Judy's' jazz trumpeter, Pete Condoli (husband
of Betty Hutton) says that he will never play for her again, and friends
report that Mort is "deeply embarrassed" over the entire episode.
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~ Personal Thoughts
by Sonny Gallagher ~
From what I can gather, Judy
must take full responsibility for the fiasco, but I hardly think it merited
world-wide headlines and censure when you stop to consider all the great
performances she has given through the years. Why didn't the
first two concerts make news since they were described as great milestones
in Australian show biz history and all the reviews were glowing?
We only heard half the story here in the states.
Judy was probably not aware
that this concert caused world-wide publicity for her, and she probably
hurt herself by refusing to allow her road manager, Mr. Brent, make a statement
to the press. He prepared three separate statements for her to sign
and she tore each one to shreds. The only thing she would allow him
to say was that "I've enjoyed three enjoyable concerts in Australia.
PERIOD." As a result, none of the news articles carried any personal
statements by Judy or an explanation for her behavior.
One final news article from
the Melbourne Sun, which expresses perfectly the way I feel:
The good name of show business
got a bad blow in Melbourne this week. So did the public who went
to Festival Hall to hear Judy Garland. I was one of them, and I'm
still wondering how Miss Garland even managed to perform, looking as sick
as she did.
Surely some of the theatrical
people responsible for presenting Miss Garland's show must have known how
things were. Among the questions being asked all over Melbourne (and
probably round the world by now) are these....
"Why was Judy permitted to
go on stage and try to perform?"
"Why wasn't her show canceled
and the ticket money refunded?"
Calling off the show would
have saved a lot of sadness... and anger. We have feelings for our
favorites. We feel sad when a racehorse or a footballer or any other
star performer fails because they are sick. We feel sad about Judy
Garland for the same reason.
In Closing
I don't pretend to know what's
ahead for Judy. But I do know this. She may be unpredictable,
unreliable, and undependable, but she's also talented, and her talent has
saved her from disaster on many occasions. It's entirely up to her.
She hasn't hurt anyone except herself. Accept her for what she is.
There's no reason to believe she will change. |
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05/13
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