- Denver Coliseum -

Judy's Denver Night Becomes a Triumph
By Larry Tajirl - The Denver Post

The show business phenomenon that is Judy Garland was manifested in Denver Wednesday night - as it had been last Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl where 18,000 sat in rain and mist for nearly three hours, and in San Francisco a week ago, and in a score of cities since her now famous Carnegie Hall concert in New York last April. 

Appearing at the Coliseum before a crowd counted at 7,456, Judy received an ovation accorded few performers in Denver's history. It started toward the close of her program after he had done 'Stormy Weather,' that lament of a woman alone. Suddenly the audience and the singer were one, and each song that followed gained a special meaning.

Judy did a medley of 'You Made Me Love You,' 'For Me and My Gal' and 'The Trolley Song' as members of the audience left their seats to join the burgeoning crowd around the stage. They reached out to touch her, to clasp hands with her, and their behavior approximated that of audiences from Carnegie Hall west to San Francisco's Civic Auditorium.

Judy's encores were sung before a standing audience which was still clamoring for more when she took her last bow.

In contrast to the warmth and fervor of the concerts final moments, the program started slowly. The Coliseum is fine for stock shows, rodeos, and basketball games, but is too big to provide the intimacy needed in an entertainment involving one artist and her audience. And the acoustics have never been the best. The big hall soaks up sound like a sponge. There were added complications when the sound system apparently was not functioning properly.

But Miss Garland is a personality not easily deterred. She has the show biz savvy to make even sound system problems a part of the act.

The Garland magic is a blend of the personality and talent which makes the great entertainer, plus an added ability to evoke an emotional response in her audience.

Judy sang of loves grown cold, and the man that got away, she hushed the audience with a love song, stirred it with a lively 'Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart.' She belted out 'Rockabye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody' and the Denver audience gave her their hearts.

Spencer Tracy once said: "A Garland audience just doesn't listen; they feel they have to put their arms around her when she works."

It was that way Wednesday night. By the time Judy was called back for her first encore, to sing 'Over the Rainbow,' simply and sweetly as Dorothy did it so long ago in 'The Wizard of Oz,' the evening was a triumph. Her tumultuous reception for 'Swanee' and 'Chicago,' done rakishly with a top hat, was just frosting on Judy's cake.

Judy was backed effectively, as she had been since Carnegie Hall, by Mort Lindsey and a 40 piece orchestra.