Judy Garland: By Myself

I've tried every Avenue there is to watch this online. I was even willing to pay to rent it on streaming apps but it's nowhere to be found. Was told it's included in the deluxe edition dvd of "Easter parade". I ordered the dvd which stated it contained the documentary but it did NOT! Needless to say I was very upset and gave up my search for it.

Director Susan Lacey made this film for the Public Broadcasting Corporation's American Masters series. I saw it tonight at the Jacob Burns Film Center in the Westchester (N.Y.) County village of Pleasantville. The director engaged in a spirited conversation with the audience after this fine documentary was shown.

I've always been a fervent Judy Garland fan. She was one of the most talented actresses and singers ever produced in this country. I have seen all of her films, I own some on VHS or DVD, and I have a number of CDs of her singing. Her legendary Carnegie Hall concert is the highlight of my collection of this "take no prisoners" stage giant.

"Judy Garland - By Myself" is aptly titled. As a child she was more or less separated from any normal life by mogul Louis B. Mayer and made a contract slave to the studio system, in this case the property of MGM. I'm not stretching the analogy to indentured servitude at all. As shown here with stills, film clips and spoken narration she was put into an inhuman pressure cooker where every last bit of pressure was exerted and all possible profit was extracted by a heartless machine.

As a teenager scoring one success after another she was given pep pills to make her work harder and longer followed by sleeping pills so she could get some rest before the cycle repeated itself the next day. Any studio trying that with a kid today better have a legion of very good criminal defense lawyers.

As shown in this penetrating biography, Judy Garland was recognized for extraordinary ability almost from the get-go with, of course, "The Wizard of Oz" propelling her to world acclaim.

In the process she slowly began to lose her sense of self, succumbing to studio entreaties (and when that failed, threats did the job). She became involved in one doomed relationship with a man after another disappointing one, a lifetime pattern. Sickening and chilling is the account of how both Mayer AND Judy's mother virtually forced her to abort her first pregnancy because it was the "wrong" time for her to have a child.

There are many clips of her powerful acting and incredible singing in this almost two-hour film. While sympathetic to her travails, Ms. Lacey deserves credit for showing the price she paid, a price that ended in her death at age 47 from the very drugs she depended on for decades to get her through an up and down career.

Until the fatal end Judy Garland wasn't simply a survivor, she was a hugely talented and ambitious woman who, like water, carved out a new course when an earlier one was blocked. To her fans she seemed irrepressible and the film makes the point that the people who made up her audience were her principal motivator. She's quoted as saying she knew she always wanted to please audiences and fans. It's truly tragic that so many in show business who profited from her incomparable talent didn't have the decency to want to please her. And, probably, save her life.

A terrific addition to one of PBS's best series.

10/10

Done with great care, Judy Garland: By Myself (2004) underscores the fact that her legacy is on film. Some really wonderful musical moments are included in this film. The narrations were well done. As I watched performance after performance, I realized no one could tell Judy's story like Judy -- her songs tell it all! This film also touched on one of Judy Garland's greatest joys: motherhood. Some of my favorite moments in this film was the scenes with her children, they were so touching. Also, the unsuccessful string of marital relationships were alluded to, but, not elaborated on (perhaps that was a touch of discretion on the part of the film makers).

I saw the Wizard of Oz (1939) on TV when I was a kid. I continued to watch her movies on TV down through the years, growing to appreciate her performances more and more. I loved it when Judy Garland paired up with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Watching these show biz heavy weights on film together, it was magic! And, viewing her later performances, one could see the fire still in her eyes, she was such a fighter! This film gives an apt representation of Judy Garland's career; her ups and her downs, her victories and defeats. It even touches on how the industry ravished Judy Garland's genius to their own selfish ends. Despite being at the mercy of the entertainment system and a stage mom who allowed the abuse to go on (over work, drug abuse & etc), Judy Garland was able to give timeless performance after performance.

I do not think that you can do justice to her life's work in two hours, but, this film does her life's work some justice.

Just watched this on disc 2 of the Easter Parade DVD set. Judy Garland was always that something special-a singer who began in vaudeville as a young girl, grew up before our eyes on the M-G-M movies, then continued to triumph at concert tours. All while also suffering many off-screen troubles with her employers, husbands, and her own self-esteem which often went up and down and was related to her drug problems she went through most of her life. The failure of her TV show may have been the last straw for her but Ms. Garland was always a trouper as evidenced by all those clips of her performances. All I'll say now is this is perhaps the best documentary I've seen yet of Ms. Judy Garland. Highly recommended!

Having watched this for the third time, it kills me to think what Jusy Garland went through to amuse and entertain us. Judy got the applause and the studios got the money and the public was entertained, but at what price? Would Judy have been better off being a waitress in St. Paul Minnesota married to the corner pharmacist? Would she have traded the stage for a normal life free of the pills and drugs that fueled her and ultimately led her to an early death? You keep asking yourself, was she ever really happy? Watch the pictures of her with her babies and it sure seems she would have been very happy just being a mom.

I love bio documentaries such as these because you see more than just what is on the screen or read in People magazine. This is a pretty good doc though some things are left out or underplayed (her father and husbands sexual orientation) but you can always read a Garland biography for those details; books don't give you the film clips the show does.

Louis B. Mayer gets the bad guy treatment. But would MGM have been as successful as it was without Mayer making the decisions he did? Would the movies we all love have been as good as they were without him? Yes, Mayer did not always have the best interests of the talent in mind, but again,is this the price of success?

Sonmeone like Bette Davis was strong enough to fight the studio system and win, but Judy, being younger and dominated by her mother and Mayer, never was strong enough to stand up for what was best for Judy. But like Bette, she never seemed to know how to pick a husband. If anyone needed the safety net of a good marriage, it was Garland.

The saddest part for me was when she got fired from Annie Get Your Gun. The studio was pushing her so hard that she eventually cracked. MGM bled her dry and then blamed her for not being a bottomless tank of gas.

Isabel Keating does a great job impersonating Garland, reading from Garland's own writings. Since Garland never got to publish her autobiography, this is the closest we get.

For anyone that questions what Judy had, this is a good primer. The great nature vs. nurture debate gets a big vote for nature since Judy caught lightning in a bottle with her talent but her sisters never were close to her level.

When she dies at the age of 47 (47 for goodness sake) she left behind a legacy of entertainment that is unmatched by anyone over such a relatively short time. But if her goal was always to entertain us, are we partly responsible for her early death? Would we give up her movies and songs if it meant she would have lived a normal and long life? Rest In Peace, Judy.