According to an article in Marie Claire last year, the big brass had her on a restricted diet of cottage cheese and chicken soup. They even reprimanded her for enjoying a rare sundae! In addition, the article stated the teen smoked up to 80 cigarettes a day. That is truly messed up!
shareJudy Garland was an abuse victim - by her mother, Hollywood executives, and Big Pharma. Makes me sick.
shareJudy Garland was an abuse victim - by her mother, Hollywood executives, and Big Pharma. Makes me sick.[/quote]
BINGO !
[quote]In addition, the article stated the teen smoked up to 80 cigarettes a day. That is truly messed up!
The same with musicians, Motown legends Mary Welles and Eddie Kendricks, as well as ex- Beatle George Harrison died from lung cancer.
shareoh my.. that's a lotta smokes.
shareThings aren't much better for young actresses today, except that today the studio heads don't give orders to the studio commissary regarding what they are allowed to serve a certain actress. The pressure to stay well below their natural weight is still there.
No, today's actresses are able to choose what food they don't eat, all by themselves!
I agree, even today the studios go to far. But this anything goes authentic movement is ridiculous as well. I like seeing performers and models looking their best, with makeup and trim physiques in fabulous clothes. But it's only fantasy to me,plus it's their job. I also think the studios need reform in regards to caring for their emotional and physical health as wel l. But sadly, money does talk.
When it comes to employing minors, I'd say the studios and entertainment conglomerates have an official "duty of care", and that includes refraining from starving their young moneymakers or giving them "pep pills" (or employing Dan Schneider). But in the 1930s when Garland was young, child labor was still legal and so was Dexedrine, and look how Mickey and Judy turned out.
As to your other point, I agree that I like to see celebrities looking their best, and I enjoy the red carpets of Awards Season as much as anyone. But one of the things I enjoy about it is seeing how a variety of humans dress to the nines, not just the ones with model-perfect looks. I mean, a regular person with regular looks can't really learn anything about fashion from watching the models, they get the big bucks because they're capable of looking good in anything and making anything look good! No, in addition to the perfect young things, I want to see how the veteran actors or the behind-the-scenes pros or the kids dress, it's more interesting.
I have a good friend who was a network TV producer who saw Judy in concert, I think in Philadelphia. The poor woman was so intoxicated that she fell off the stage. My friend rushed to her. She said that, when she reached Judy, she was writhing on the ground and crying, “God, please let me die.” I do not know how anyone could not have his/her heart just go right out to such a gifted spirit who was in so much pain. Judy Garland was a Gift to the world.
I had the privilege of seeing her daughter, Liza, in concert with
Ben Vereen and The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes at Boston’s Symphony Hall at Christmastime long ago. No matter how good an audio or video recording may be, it cannot come close to live entertainment, and that give-and-take between the performers and the audience, just as there is no substitute for being in bed with your lover. Ben Vereen performed first. He was just coming off his Broadway run in Pippen. We gave him a standing ovation. He applauded us in the audience back! And said, “Liza is just going to eat you all up!” You CAN’T get that off a recording.
A lot of young women went through MGM from the 1920s through the 1950s, and the great majority of them did not end up deranged and dead in their forties. There was something mentally wrong with Garland in the first place. As for smoking four packs a day, everybody in the 1940s knew that was unhealthy. That's why cigarettes were referred to as "coffin nails". In school in the 1960s, I saw an educational film from 1948 about smoking and lung cancer. People didn't respond to this knowledge as much back then because they hadn't been beaten over the head with it day in and day out the way we have been for the past fifty years.
shareIs that film on You Tube? I enjoy vintage educational films. I am an 80's teen, now those films are vintage!
shareA lot of young women went through MGM from the 1920s through the 1950s, and the great majority of them did not end up deranged and dead in their forties. There was something mentally wrong with Garland in the first place.
She was 48 when she died and looked like she was a senior citizen by then.
shareI know, it was sad. Her emotional and substance abuse demons really wrecked havoc on her appearance. She was not the only one. Look how badly David Cassidy looked in his final years. As well as other celebs over the decades.
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Cassidy was another one who burned his candle at both ends and even singed the middle a bit. His old man was a fall down drunk and I guess he thought he'd be like daddy.
I was only 3 when the PF premiered on TV in 1970, but I liked the reruns as a kid. I watched all seasons on DVD last year, that was fun. His brother Shaun has aged well. I heard about how Jack Cassidy resented his family's fame, and his coldness towards David.
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