The Strings of Judy Garland’s Heart

Thirty years after Judy Garland-”Dorothy”-first publicly performed “Over the Rainbow” on June 29, 1939, previewing the soon-to-be-released Wizard of Oz, this quintessential girl-next-door reached for more sleeping pills and hoped-for sleep, only to be, mercifully, granted eternal rest.

She always wanted to be “glamorous,” forgetting her far-surpassing appeal as the very essence of America. 

Her story, the final earthly chapter ending forty years ago today, embodies American triumph and tragedy.  

Born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, her life nearly ended in 1921 after her parents’ marriage was rocked by revelations of her father’s homosexual infidelity. 

But, family physician Dr. Marcus Rabwin told Frank Gumm, “you go back to your wife and tell her I said she must have this baby.”  The “powerful” Garland “force field,” as fellow MGM star Ann Miller put it, was evidently already at work.  (more…)

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Tags: Frances Gumm, judy garland, MGM, mickey rooney, Strike up the Band
Posted Jun 22nd 2009 at 3:21 pm in Classic Hollywood, Music | 166126One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mckendall/2009/06/22/the-strings-of-judy-garland%e2%80%99s-heart/The+Strings+of+Judy+Garland%E2%80%99s+Heart+2009-06-22+22%3A21%3A49Mary+Claire+Kendall

The Stoning Of Team Hollywood

The crime is complete. Judgment has been passed. The killing stones are in hand. As per the harsh stoning penal code of Iran’s Islamist thugocracy (for however long that lasts) where the crime took place, my stones are not so big as to kill right away, not so small you can’t call them stones. And I’m winding up like Nolan Ryan. Feel free to pick up a stone of your own. But wait for it!

And let me make this perfectly clear, even if they do say Jehovah!

Sentence must be read before being carried out. And unlike Soraya M., the board members of the Asylum of Motion Picture Airheads and Stooges will deserve every rock that’s thrown their way. I also believe that, in light of events in Iran today, the following commentary will stand out in much starker prominence than it did when I first started reporting on them in early March, when Team Oscar first set off for the Unfriendly Skies of Islamist Iran. (more…)

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Tags: Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Ahmadinejad, Al Franken, Alireza Davudnejad, Ambush Bay
Posted Jun 19th 2009 at 5:45 pm in Entertainment, News, Politics | 1641062 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/19/the-stoning-of-team-hollywood/The+Stoning+Of+Team+Hollywood2009-06-20+00%3A45%3A26John+T.+Simpson

Hollywood Unveiled: John Wayne Walks Like a Girl

John Wayne walks the walk in Hondo, 1953.

It’s in the walk.

Think of Mae West, hands caressing her Rubenesque hips, head tilted, not just sauntering, but oozing forward, the exaggerated female.

Elbows cocked and angled at his hips, moving with concentrated energy, Jimmy Cagney looks like a coiled spring about to explode.

Joan Crawford, leading with her linebacker shoulders, like a tank on the battlefield, determined, dangerous, unstoppable. (more…)

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Tags: Andy Hardy, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Harry Carey, henry fonda
Posted Jun 9th 2009 at 6:42 am in Celebrity News | 153810One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/06/09/hollywood-unveiled-john-wayne-walks-like-a-girl/Hollywood+Unveiled%3A+John+Wayne+Walks+Like+a+Girl2009-06-09+13%3A42%3A35Robert+J.+Avrech

Unearthed Video: Classic Hollywood ‘Pledges’ to FDR

This clip is from the finale of “Babes In Arms,” the first of four extremely entertaining, black and white, “Let’s put on a show” musicals Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland made over just a few years.

The context of the clip is what’s fascinating. The year is 1939, two years before Pearl Harbor, so this is not a studio humorously and affectionately saluting a wartime president. In fact, FDR’s New Deal was well into its fifth year but still the Depression raged. Even more interesting is that MGM studio head, Louis B. Mayer, was a staunch and active Republican who opposed FDR and loathed his Big Government solutions. (more…)

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Tags: aston kutcher, demi moore, judy garland, louis b. mayer, mickey rooney
Posted Jan 22nd 2009 at 10:46 am in Entertainment, Politics, Video | 2742567 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/01/22/unearthed-video-classic-hollywood-pledges-to-fdr/Unearthed+Video%3A+Classic+Hollywood+%27Pledges%27+to+FDR2009-01-22+18%3A46%3A10John+Nolte