-  San Francisco Civic Auditorium -

Another Sensational Evening With Judy!
 By Stanley Eichelbaum, San Francisco Examiner

The new boom in Judy Garland's career was notably advanced last night when the singer performed at Civic Auditorium before 8,300 of her most ardent fans. They gave her the kind of flamboyant ovation that most stars never even dream of.  And Judy didn't disappoint them. 

The audience was squeezed into every available inch of space, hundreds of them behind posts or in side pockets where even the slimmest view of Judy was impossible. There were reports that tickets were being pirated for as much as $50 apiece.

None of Miss Garland's admirers seemed to care that the elephantine auditorium was hardly the best place -- acoustically or physically -- to appreciate her. As a matter of fact, there were moments when the sound system made a shambles of her voice.

But the concert was memorable on several counts -- for the astonishing slickness of Judy's vocal artistry; for her fantastic, inexhaustible energy; for her ability to hypnotize an enormous crowd or churn them into a mass of hysteria that was almost unbelievable.

When Miss Garland sang "San Francisco," for example, the frenzied shouting and foot stomping made her all but inaudible and one was reminded of a giant political rally.

The star was in rare high spirits and, by the second half of the evening, she had reached her top form. Her mood throughout was informal and infectiously uninhibited. She clowned, ad-libbed, told personal jokes, danced a little and conducted the concert like a house party, even to her costume, which consisted of a short silk jacket and black trousers.

She has slimmed down considerably from the alarming proportions we saw at the Opera House in 1959 and her appealing, little girl's face is again discernible.

The program was essentially the one that triggered her most recent come-back -- Carnegie Hall concert of last April, with Mort Lindsey and a lusty 40 piece orchestra.

For those who came out of nostalgia, Judy sang about clanging trolleys and bluebirds flying over the rainbow. Those who were there to identify with her private suffering were treated to all variations of love songs -- about men that got away, foggy days in London town and stormy weather.

There were smiling songs, tender songs and tearful songs -- all that her public expected And Judy sang them in that incomparable rich style that has gathered such a horde around her. I don't doubt that several thousand persons went home happy and totally satisfied.