Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, or Judy Garland as she’s also known, has been largely gone from the public eye for what we think must be centuries.
She’s been dead since 1969, but a new book on her is coming out anyway. It doesn’t seem to answer any of the questions you’d hope, like if a dwarf really does hang himself in the background in the orchard scene, or whether or not Pink Floyd synched there album to the Oz film with her blessing.
No, instead it throws up the horrible reality that was Garland’s post-Oz life. As the headline up there indicates – that life was filled with some very non-Dorothy-like things – imagine if the Wizard was really super horny and those monkeys were all drug pushers.
Now that’s more what her life was like.
Perhaps you view Judy Garland as a picture-perfect slice of Americana whom you really don’t want to see fall from grace in your mind’s eye in the next 7 minutes or so. Or perhaps you’re a pervert. If the former, stop reading. If the latter, it’s good to see you again but remember our restraining order.
When Dorothy got back from Oz, apparently, all did not go well. Her children say they remember living in hotels and skipping out on the bill back when that type of stuff was still really cool. They also remember, sadly, their mother’s several suicide attempts. It seems she really had a hard life.
According to a new Garland-biography, an encounter she had with then MGM boss Louis B Mayer left her with a fondled breast, and him crying in a corner. As The Daily Express puts it:
“Aged 14 Garland landed a contract with MGM and came under the influence of the studio’s legendary boss Louis B Mayer. He saw that her natural screen presence had the potential to turn her into a star and was soon running virtually every aspect of her life. He took to groping her in his office, telling her as he put a hand on her left breast that she “sang from the heart”. “I often thought I was lucky I didn’t sing from another part of my anatomy,” she once quipped. When she found the courage to tell him to back off, he wept in shame.”
Weird, right? It gets weirder. Studios (and her mother) would give her ‘pep pills’ during the day, and sleeping pills at night. Worse yet – in 1941 Garland married a man MGM didn’t approve of and, again, according to The Daily Express:
“The studio even attempted to control her romantic involvements. She fell in love with and married composer David Rose in 1941. MGM, however, disapproved and later forced Judy to have an abortion.”
The story could go on, but we can’t see through our tears and we want to end it all.
Just the article. We’re only ending the article here.
To read more see New Kerela’s article entitled: ‘How Men Turned Judy Garland Into A Drug-Addled Woman’
A.J. Chilson says
As I am writing this, 22 June 2008, I realize that it has been 39 years to the day that this beautiful but tortured in spirit icon left us for a better place. In reading this review of the newest biography of Mrs. Garland, and reading about her being forced into sexual abuse, drug abuse, having an abortion, all this, all that, living the not-so perfect life, I must say this for you all: If I lived back and the day, and I was known to the world as "Mr. Judy Garland", I guarentee you that all the shit that happened to her would never have happened with me around. But then again, I was born in 1984, when another Hollywood performer of that time, Ronald Reagan, was in the White House. So who am I to determine what would’ve happened to Judy Garland, back when she was alive? All I have to say here is "May God rest her wonderful soul!"
Richard Lake says
Monsters, we know you’re out there waiting to destroy people anytime and anywhere you can. Cry out for help! Don’t take our loved ones from us. Don’t force them to shrivle and die before our eyes like you have. Have the God given strength to get help as soon as you can. You don’t have the right to steal a person’s future.
Shannon says
most, if not all, celebrities (men and women) are more or less at some point found in unwanted sexual scenarios by or with those in control of their career; but i am quite cynical in my belief that most celebrities, although not wanting this scenario, let it to happen in order to further their career. i completely believe that Judy is one of the very rare that would not allow this happen to her and furthermore had always primarily, if not solely, relied on her raw talent. she was far too talented to need to rely on something that ANYONE has…. a hole to stuff something in, or something to grope…… lol (seriously though, really). watch any movies shes been in. when she performs she has this look in her eye as if shes far away, and just by what this article reveals about her life she must have brought herself somewhere the world is just as wholesome as her character, and puts her heart out because thats what any real talented performer does. she brings herself to another realm where she becomes her character and the characteristics she displays always rings genuine. its never even a question when u watch her. she carries herself in such a way that is effortless yet deliberate, confident but not cocky, which is much harder to distinguish than most people make it out to be and just so genuine, a RARE characteristic, very distinguishing for actors but also just desperately sought after in the sad facade of our world (believe it, everyone wants to meet someone who is truly talented, truly this or that). and, i suppose, most people find themselves in a situation at some point in their life where they have a choice to rely on superficiality rather than talent to determine their “success”. let judy be an example that even though the world can hand us a bad deal that we may persevere WITH our dignity fully in tact, it IS possible. let the world produce or transform more humble, talented, and just overall lovely people, such as Judy Garland, in which to enlighten the rest in order to follow in suit.