Judy Garland: The final shows

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 August 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Judy Garland ended her long and glitzy stage and screen career at a London theatre club in January 1969. She was booked for five weeks of nightly shows at the 'Talk of the Town', but by that time, the former child star of the 'Wizard of Oz' was struggling with a drug and drink addiction. In 2019, Mike Lanchin heard the memories of Rosalyn Wilder, then a young production assistant, whose job was to try to get Judy Garland on stage each night. (Photo: Judy Garland performing in one of her final shows. Credit: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you're listening to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:11.3	We're going back to 1969 when Judy Garland, the world famous singer and star of the Wizard
0:16.7	of Oz, was nearing the end of her long career.
0:19.9	By that time, she was struggling with a drug and drink addiction and made her last public
0:24.4	performances at the popular London venue, The Talk of the Town.
0:28.6	In 2019, Mike Lanchion spoke to Rosalind Wada, then a young production assistant, Rosalind
0:34.6	helped support Judy Garland during her final performances.
0:39.2	The fact is, there was an enchantment about her.
0:49.6	Of course, the voice wasn't as great as it had been.
0:53.2	The ability to control her audience wasn't as great.
0:56.9	She couldn't always remember which the next number was.
1:00.7	But there was still that amazing bit about her that you knew that this was still right
1:09.0	down at the bottom there that was still Judy Garland.
1:17.2	When you first met her, what was your first impression of her?
1:21.1	Tiny.
1:22.1	She was probably one of the tiniest people that you'd ever met.
1:25.6	She wasn't remote, but she wasn't chatty.
1:29.1	She kind of was quiet.
1:30.9	You'd say, hello, Miss Garland, and she'd say hi, and are you all right?
1:36.6	Can I get known?
1:37.6	Fine.
1:38.6	But there wasn't any great conversation from her.
	...

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