very angry at the end
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi_xjmfoop0
shareShe had every reason to be angry. She was used and abused by husbands, managers, her mother, and MGM.
She made millions for the companies she worked for and was paid millions, but she died homeless and broke. She was couch-surfing in the last years, before her final marriage.
Wonderful woman, very sad life.
I don't go much on biopics these days. Never saw this one on Judy and also missed the one on Laurel and Hardy.
shareBiopics are usually terrible and embellished. I based my comments on a number of biographies on Garland that I've read.
I haven't seen the movie, but most of the comments I've read (and on YouTube) have been positive as to the accuracy of the woman's life.
I saw the biopic with my boyfriend. It was very sad. I would be angry if I had been left in Garland's position too. The scene with her children searching for a place to sleep when she is a 'star' is heart breaking. Also memorable is when the two gay men in England take her in while GLBTQ people are litterally still being prosecuted in the united states just for who they were. Whether she actually hooked up with that couple it illustrates the ironies of compassion.
shareIt wasn't really a biopic, as it only covered a few months in winter 1968-1969. She died the following June.
I read that the scenes with the Gay couple didn't actually happen, but were included to show Judy's openness to Gays and to reflect her own loneliness and reaching out.
It is believed that things like this really happened, because until she married Mickey Deans (as depicted in the film), she was basically broke, homeless and couch-surfing, accepting the help of any kind soul.
I'm not sure how much better things were with Deans, although I've never read anything specific against him. Many people thought he was another user, who would try to capitalize on her name.
Very sad end for such a gifted and beautiful person. 🌈
she was in England--where laws against GLBT people were lifted though ironically while they were still criminalized in the USA. That much is factually accurate. No that specific couple did not exist but yes she was a good person even if she had several problems.
shareShe made millions for the companies she worked for and was paid millions, but she died homeless and broke.
Lots of entertainers were paid a lot less than Garland, but didn't die homeless and broke. It speaks to character far more than circumstance.
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Lots of entertainers were paid a lot less than Garland, but didn't die homeless and broke. It speaks to character far more than circumstance.
Garland seemed to lack the ability to pull herself up by the bootstraps. Why, I don't know. (It's true that doing the same things over and over and expecting different results is akin to insanity.)
However contributing to this was being robbed by husbands, managers, and trusting the wrong people. As a young person at MGM (where they got her hooked on uppers and downers), everything was done for her -- or she was TOLD what to do. The studio system was like a parent.
In her formative years, I don't think she ever learned (or had to learn) how to be responsible in life. She was allowed to coast on her talent.
She most likely was manic/depressive, and they didn't have the knowledge or medications to deal with it in those days.
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Well, I wasn't there and have no first hand knowledge, so everything you say could very well be accurate in Garland's case.
Still, the percentage of people who achieve fame and fortune in the "arts" (and sports) and lose it all is remarkable.
It's probably got a lot to do with the fact that it happens to them (artists and athletes) while they're young and it happens FAST. Most of them don't have a head for or training in business management (which, with all the managers, agents, publicists, etc., and the vast amount of capital - they're basically managing a business at that point) and so they're dropped into this crazy world. Meanwhile, the lifestyle is nuts, and not all of it is self-imposed. A good deal of it is, of course, but even that becomes more understandable when you factor in the psychological and emotional pummeling a lot of them take (with athletes, also physical).
Judy Garland was, what?, fourteen when she was in The Wizard of Oz, became a superstar, mega-famous, getting money and deals, meanwhile she's being abused on basically every level. It's no wonder she wound up unable to retain money.
I read once in Closer mag a few months ago, she was once offered thousands to perform in London in the mid 60's, but sadly her personal demons destroyed the deal.
shareI read once in Closer mag a few months ago, she was once offered thousands to perform in London in the mid 60's, but sadly her personal demons destroyed the deal.
The movie "Judy" (2019) chronicles those winter months in 1968-1969. It's pretty accurate, from the books I've read. She died the following June. She was only 47 years old. 🌈
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Lithium treatment for bipolar disorder existed in her lifetime, in fact, it had been in use to treat "mania" since the 19th century. But when during the 1940s and 1950s, people still believed that talk therapy was the answer to everything, which certainly isn't true of bipolar disorder, not that I'm convinced that was her biggest problem.
Of course she had major long-term substance abuse problems, dating back to years when the brain was still forming, so who the hell knows what all those "pep pills" she took as a kid did to her brain. Plus the fact that she was removed from contact from the real world, and the development of life skills was prevented or delayed, her husbands and family members all mind-fucked her in various ways... with all that, I don't think it's possible to figure out a psychiatric diagnosis.
Plus the fact that she was removed from contact from the real world, and the development of life skills was prevented or delayed.....
I've said that too, in various forums. MGM was all-controlling. All her decisions were made for her. She never had a chance to learn the life skills that we all are faced with as teenagers and adolescents. (Handling money, for example. The money was always there -- till it wasn't!)
Maybe she liked it that way. Very difficult to figure out. For one so gifted, it's beyond sad, the way she wound up.
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It wasn't just MGM that kept her from learning life skills, there were also her mother and her agents or managers and her husbands, all of whom wanted to make decisions for her. And I also think she didn't want to learn how to be an adult, she was an emotional mess and wanted someone to take care of her and do all the grownup stuff for her, whether it was a husband or Mayer or even her teen daughter.
But really, when it comes to her mental health and coping skills, there's really no telling where one possible cause left off and another started. What was learned, what was imposed, what was lurking at the bottom of her neurons, and what was the result of taking uppers and downers from the moment she hit puberty until she died? Needless to say, there's no research on the latter question, there couldn't be.
And I also think she didn't want to learn how to be an adult.....
I agree with everything you said; she didn't seem to want to take responsibility.
Even in her music, I get the impression that she didn't want to learn anything new, relying on the tried and true. Go through her discography, and how many times did she record the same songs? (She even joked in concert, about singing new material.)
Yet, in her youth, they say she was a very quick study.
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