- Westchester County
Center -
A Hit at Center
County Center Crowd Hails Judy
Garland
By Louise Shonts,
The Reporter Dispatch
A sellout crowd ranging from
spellbound small girls in the balcony to Marlene Dietrich in the second
row welcomed Judy Garland last night at her first Westchester appearance.
At the County Center, Where
she was presented by the White Plains producer Richard E. Petrucci, Miss
Garland transformed the huge auditorium with its 4,300 audience into an
intimate and lively party.
The one-woman-with-orchestra
performance, which has drawn overflow crowds around the country, was attended
by large numbers of her faithful fans, a considerable sprinkling of youngsters
who know her only from late movies on television and an assortment of listeners
who share the late Al Jolson's simple evaluation of her as "the greatest."
They came early and stayed
late, many of them charging down to the footlights when "Over the Rainbow"
signaled the end of the evening, besieging the singer for encores and handshakes,
both of which Miss Garland gave generously.
With only one brief intermission
for a change of clothes, Miss Garland gave the performance for which she
is justly famous, literally singing her heart out in dozens of songs, nearly
each of them which was wildly applauded before as well as after her rendition.
In between, she talked informally to and with the 4,300 people in the hall.
Or so it seemed, to the many people to dazedly expressed the feeling afterward
that they had just come form a particularly joyous party. At one point,
on invitation from Miss Garland, they helped out as she sang "For Me and
My Gal," and, so great was her power and persuasion, they all sang together,
and in time -- a feat which any community song director will testify is
rare.
Her special talent for "working
up" a song dominated the performance, which, according to Garland buffs
familiar with her style, even topped her own past performances in spirit,
timing, and pure quality. The incredible energy and joie de vivre were
also up to -- and way beyond -- the Garland standard, which is high indeed.
MY
EVENING WITH JUDY AND MARLENE
A
Personal Remembrance
by
Ray Hagen
Originally
printed in the "Songbirds"
Mailing List
OK, it's 1961, I'm living
in New York, and Judy Garland's Carnegie Hall concert album had just come
out. I'd been avoiding her rather "uneven" recent concerts and didn't
go to that one (I always loved Judy, though not unconditionally), but I
got the album and was KNOCKED OUT by it! She was in great voice,
the arrangements were fabulous, and the Judy I'd loved was back in business.
And damn, I'd missed it. Then she takes the concert on the road,
and one Sunday I see, in the NY Times, an ad saying she'd be doing that
concert in White Plains NY, not that far away. So I call up my friend
Phil, who also loved the album (and who, unlike me, had a car), and asked
him if he'd like to go. Sure. So I write out a check for two
tickets, put it in the mail, and a week or so later they arrive.
And they were for the FRONT ROW. Way cool.
Comes the night of the concert.
We get there, and we're seated in the third and fourth seats left of the
center aisle, front row, and it's not that big a theater. So we're
quite jived and waiting for the show to start (no opening acts, just Judy),
and we hear a commotion building behind us. We turn around, and who's
walking down that center aisle but, holy smoke, Marlene Dietrich!
Now up till then Phil and I had both had the same opinion
of Marlene - we'd simply
never understood what the big deal about her was. But now here she
is, coming down the aisle, and she sits in the first seat left of the aisle,
second row, right behind us. All we had to do is turn our heads maybe
1/4 around. And our jaws dropped - I swear, neither of us had ever
seen such an ASTOUNDINGLY BEAUTIFUL face in our lives, nor have we to this
day. We still talk about it. I've never seen a photo or a movie
frame that comes close to what we were staring at. Un-bleeping-believable!
OK, now the show begins,
and Judy, RIGHT in front of us, is AMAZING!!!!! Two & a half hours
of non-stop peak-of-her-powers electrical dynamite! Indescribable!
And every so often we'd turn our heads just a bit to the right and look
a row back at that phenomenal Dietrich face with just enough stage light
spilling over to illuminate this unimaginable presence - then back to POW!
POW! POW! from Judy - a peek at The Face again - back to Judy - back
to The Face - for two & a half awesome hours. I mean, WHERE DO
YOU
LOOK?
Finally the concert is over
and, on cue, everyone (the guys mostly of course) charges to the foot of
the stage to touch LaDivina's hand, and she's leaning over to touch the
worshippers. That was the script and everyone knew it. Phil
and I stay seated, totally wiped. Then suddenly the crowd of worshippers
parts like the Red Sea - MARLENE is walking ever soooo slooowly to the
front of the stage. Judy sees her. Everyone is frozen.
Marlene is inhumanly cool and composed. She raises her arm ever sooo
slooowly to Judy. Judy leans over - and they TOUCH FINGERTIPS. Then
Marlene calmly turns and
leaves, the frenzy resumes,
Phil and I remain seated, utterly zapped. I assume we eventually
got up and drove home, but that's my final memory of a rather astounding
evening.
Like no business I know.
Ray
Hagen |
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01/09
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