- Pittsburgh Arena -

Judy Has 12,219 Buzzing At Arena
 Garland Magic Holds Crowd Under Spell In Moving Performance
 By Barbara Cloud - The Pittsburgh Press

How do you explain Judy Garland? 

It is altogether possible that if she just walked around a stage and waved her arms and blew kisses to the audience she would have a following second to none.

She creates the magic which is what entertainment is all about and yet you can not pinpoint just exactly why it is that she manages to pull you in from the audience as a bee to honey, as puppets in her hand and she controls the strings.

At the auditorium last night where she presented the concert which had Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl both bursting at the seams, she scored another triumph if attendance is any criterion.

There were 12,219 ticket holders who witnessed Miss Garland's performance. Many were fans, many were curious, many attended with a 'show me' attitude. What is it, Miss Garland, that makes sentimentalists of us all, makes us burst into applause when you simply move a finger, leave the stage for a drink of water, do a fancy little step or stop in the middle of a number to adjust some of the technical equipment?

But then, why question it? It is there and it was obvious last night that the audience was in love with the singer who cavorted on stage, backed up, to be sure, by an impressive musical aggregation and Morton Lindsey, her conductor.

Miss Garland does cavort, you see. It isn't simply a matter of singing a song, which she does like no one else I can think of. If everyone has as much fun watching her perform as she seems to have while doing it, then it is indeed a perfect balance of entertainment, a love match without quarrel.

Maybe that in itself is the secret. She obviously loves what she is doing and if this is not true then she deserves to be known as a great actress in addition to a great singer.

The tremor in the voice that would make you recognize Judy Garland without sight is still there, just as it was when she performed her magic tricks in a dozen or more films, "Wizard of Oz" being particularly notable.

She was young Dorothy of that film most of last evening. She was youthful and she made the audience feel the same way. You could hear the familiar laugh when she came close to the microphone, the shy laugh of Andy Hardy's girl friend, and she wasn't even trying.

Is she fat? Who cares. Certainly she couldn't have looked more chic than she did in black street length dress and red satin jacket studded with sparkling stones that caught the light from the spots and danced all over the stage.

And the second half of the show found Miss Garland wearing black slacks and a multi-colored jacket of iridescents.

She moved about the stage in such a way that you felt the gaiety of the song she was presenting. And the same feeling came when she took her stance in front of the microphone, feet spread apart as if to hold on to some gravity as she reached for, and found, that last note that would bring down the house.

Vitality . . . it might be that. Choice of songs, such as the familiar 'Bells are Ringing,' 'Stormy Weather,' 'Man That Got Away,' 'San Francisco,' 'Come Rain or Come Shine'. . . . it could be this that brings over 12,000 people to a performance.

The crowd applauded if they had the faintest hint from the musical introduction as to the song she was going to sing. Many of those attending called her by name . . . "We can't hear you, Judy" . . . "Turn the lights on, Judy, we want to see you."

And there is the whole story of Judy Garland. She has to be seen to be believed. The audience wanted to be 'in touch' with the star last night and that was the pity of it. Some could not hear as well as they wanted to and the stillness of the Auditorium proved they were giving their full attention.

She sang 'Over the Rainbow' as her last number . . . supposedly. But the audience stood up and cheered and screamed for more and Miss Garland shook hands with a few of the people sitting close to the stage. This brought even more applause and more hands reaching out to shake hers.

She came back six times, four of those times she simply walked around the stage like a child and threw kisses to the audience, most of them already standing with coats in hand, realizing the show was over but reluctant to leave for fear of missing something. She did sing two more numbers, 'Swanee' and 'Chicago,' and they did turn on the lights, which probably brought more applause than any song she sang all evening. 

Now they could see her.

Now they could believe her.