Heartbreaking. That beautiful child with the immense talent was so broken, manipulated and abused. She looked so much older than 22 when she married Minelli. She was so adorable, and I loved her in so many of these films. I recently saw The Clock and thought it was such an unusual role for her. She really showed a whole different side of herself. So incredibly talented and so incredibly tragic. I'm sure Mickey Rooney wasn't being truthful when he said that MGM didn't force drugs on her. Maybe nobody forced drugs on him but young women had to conform to a certain look and size to be leads in the movies. Any, great biography and research as usual Professor!
I was just 5 years old in the 1940s when, my parents ani were staying for a weeks holiday with relatives. We all went to a small local theatre on a Saturday afternoon to see The wizard of oz. I remember the whole afternoon as if it was magic. I adored the music, the colour, Judy, the dog, the red shoes. It took my breath away. What a happy day that was. ❤
My heart breaks for sweet Francis and the mental anguish she went through as a child. Judy gave the world such wonderful joy with her music, hoping she rests in peace knowing how much she is loved by her fans. 🌈🕊️
Her mom was the worst because she couldn't become a star she decided to live through her daughters but mostly through Judy & Jean Harlow's mom was the same way even Natalie Wood's mom was a terrible mother. When Natalie broke her wrist her mom refused to take her to the hospital to get it treated so her wrist didn't heal right so after that she wore bracelets to hide her odd, angled wrist.
I went the the Judy Garland museum in Grand Rapids, MN last week. We took both tours. The house and life tour and the stolen ruby slipper tour. They both were excellent.
I thought her uppers and downers started with the studio . It’s almost worse that her mother had already put her on them when she was so young . She didn’t stand a chance as an adult of coming off them when she’d been made to take them for so long .
Great piece Graeme! You put a great deal of work and depth into this biography. I would say that it is the best that I've ever seen and Albert, has seen many!
Thank you for getting your facts right and obviously doing your research. But, mostly, thank you for your great sensitivity on the subject. I look forward to part two!
Yes, I laughed, too, with Dr. Yorston's Mickey Rooney 'had an addiction to taller woman.' Apparently, Rooney was so completely full of himself that hardly anyone could stand him ? ... 🇨🇦
@professorgraemeyorston I guess all geniuses are more interesting and madder than the average man and their lives should be studied and analyzed. beside that, your amazing analysis and narrative can make anything worthwhile. but I suppose more popular ones might be more suitable to analyze. figures such as the ones that you mentioned and like Darwin, Jung, Freud, Galileo, Da Vinci, Schopenhauer, Rousseau and some others.
@@professorgraemeyorston Would you consider documentaries on : John the Baptist, Martin Luther, Corrie Ten Boone (sp) , David Hume, D.H. Lawrence, Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Hardy, Ann Rand (sp), George Orwell ... Thank you. 🇨🇦
I've driven Lancaster, CA to LA. It ain't fun drive. Good content. The reason the film was a success because it was one of the few films on tv. Most films in the U.S would get rereleased to the movie theaters. Watching it on tv was huge event every year. As a boy (late 60s and early 70s) it was a huge deal to watch it and we looked forward to it every year. We were allowed to stay up late. I remember watching it before 1972 (age 5 or 6). There was nothing like it on tv except "It's a Wonderful Life" which lost copyright and hence was on tv. You ripped my heart out when you said, "Part 2" --- gripping
Your postings are delightful. Thank you for all the research and insight provided. I loved Judy Garland. As a child we were introduced to her MGM years via Turner Classic Movies. Ted Turner ‘bought the vault’ and provided a new generation the opportunity to see these great productions. I was old enough to remember her live TV show. She was a WOW. Sometimes an individual is granted a great light to share with the world. Rarely is their life an easy one, but they bring something remarkable to share with us mere mortals. And we’re all blessed for it.
@@professorgraemeyorston Her performances were magical. Her comic performance, expressions and timing were absolutely superb in The Pirate and Summer Stock. And she was going through so much on that last movie. Gene Kelly really pulled some strings to help her get that film finished. She was in a really bad way, her weight fluctuates wildly in that film. He was repaying her for the kindness she showed him, as a newcomer to movie acting, from his time on Broadway, in his first film, and it was with *her*. The film was For Me And My Gal. Do a video about their three films together, it would make a great topic for you 👍🏼
Mickey Rooney must have been lying about the drugs. Hollywood has ALWAYS been a cesspool of corruption. I loved Judy Garland. May she rest in peace. Her mother was an absolute NIGHTMARE! Thank-you for your wonderful, thoughtful documentaries!
@@professorgraemeyorston Yes, he certainly did. Look at how many times he was married. His close friend, Elizabeth Taylor had some of the same issues. Very few "child stars" had happy endings!
Thanks, Errol Flynn was an interesting man - there's a local connection to Northampton, England where I live as he worked at the theatre here for a while.
Thank you, Dr. Yorston, for the footage and input on the sad life of Judy Garland. I am curious as to how mothers and fathers in the early 1900s got away with so much blatant child abuses. Did no authorities at this time in America and in Britain care about the treatment of children by their parents or guardians ? 🇨🇦
A truly bittersweet video presentation that identifies what you clearly state from your perspective "as a psychiatrist." Her life, while consumed by brutal demands and drugs, was a place that is rarely shared but so necessary, someone to share those voids/issues with - privately without judgment, rather genuine concern. It's a lonely place despite success at any level. I try not to share relative thoughts, as each lives their own life and experiences. Can't say anything to change it, but thank you for sharing...maybe someone will see and be helped.
Okay? I’m flabbergasted that you said her life was okay towards the end of this video! This poor woman was exploited and manipulated from the age of a toddler! She was exploited by the very mother that should have put her children’s interests before her own and exploited by MGM and studio people from adolescence. Manipulated and drugged. I was crying by 16 minutes into this video. I had no idea about much of this. When you mentioned she was only 22 when she married Vincent Minnelli, that she’d been forced to have two abortions by this point- I’m almost beyond words. I’m crying at how tragic this woman’s life is. I think we take this woman’s strength and pure guts very much for granted if we can say she was doing “okay” having endured what she had while still creating some of the most beloved and beautiful contributions to the arts and the humanities to this day. I also know about her dedication to the LGBT community. I’m heartbroken on her behalf and awed at the power of her talent that was able to shine despite such darkness.
Wow, your comment made me skip my breath ... Thank you for your well expressed view. How can any woman stay sane after being forced to have an abortion (two for Judy Garland that is known). Add to this the other brutality she had already endured . Dr. Yorston says it all gets worse. 🇨🇦
Thank you for your perspective. I have watched many documentaries about Judy. She fascinates me. She is able to make you root for her. There are a few questions I have that I have never seen addressed in a documentary. What about those two older sisters? What did they do to help Judy either as a young girl or woman? Also, how were they treated by the mother? How did they treat Judy as a she became famous? So many questions???
Oh Lord! Isn't she the best actress?: Bright eyes, beautiful eternal smile... But so many things about this. Her childhood of slavery, drug use as a way of life, the “entertainment” industry (full of evil)…. This is a GREAT VIDEO, which makes me reflects on my very lucky, simple and boring life. Great sensibility from you Dr. Thanks for sharing and cannot wait for the second part :)
Very interesting. I wonder what more you can find out or say about Ethel? What on earth causes a mother to treat her child in that fashion? Some people should never, ever be parents.
Judy fell out her sisters as they felt their mother wasn't as bad as Judy made out, but she may have been harder on Judy as she had the greatest talent.
@@professorgraemeyorston I think her mother gets a lot of unfair criticism . To have a bisexual husband in 1920s small town America could not have been easy & Ethel must have wanted to protect & do the best for her children, especially the most talented one. I think the long periods of traveling around with Frances was a way of escaping the situation. Judy herself sometimes admitted her attitude towards her mother was unfair.
The story that says Shirley Temple was in the frame for the Wizard of Oz is not totally true. The film’s producer Mervyn Le Roy wanted Judy Garland for the role and no one else. As a psychiatrist you may be interested in the back story. It had been believed for a couple of decades that American audiences were too sophisticated for fantasy films so the way the film was originally planned was totally different to the 1939 classic. The original concept was a teenage musical about Dorothy a young girl who sang jazz in competition with a teenager who sang opera who was to be played by Betty Jaynes. Mercifully for us all, when Walt Disney’s Snow White was released in 1938 it proved that fantasy films could be smash hits. Judy was still in the frame for Dorothy because Shirley Temple could never have competed with Judy as a singer and Judy was the heart of the film. I am not really sure why anyone thought audiences were too sophisticated for such films but I found the story interesting. I have read a lot about Judy already and know her personal life well, l just wish it could have been a happier one.
Graeme, I was born in the U.S. just east of the city of New York border. I've tested other places and always wind up back in the New York metro area. If you want the struggle and daily war in my life, it would make a very bizarre story. The only problem is that I'm not famous. You wouldn't be shocked but you would be shocked hearing things you never did. I'm 69 going on cemetery (70), and ...well...with four immigrant grandparents ( two from Palermo, Sicily and the more important ones in my life from Hamburg, Deutschland, it has been a long haul and struggle. The North German grandparents were the real good guys. They left Hamburg after WW l with my mother then age 6. The stories show that life is a business, a struggle, filled with pain and much needed energy. Learning how to use original survival skills that no one ever talks about, is the only real way any of us can survive. Graeme, I'm moving on to the Elvis video. So many Americans have some German in them, or at least they use to. Eisenhower, might be from Eisenhauer. Read about Doris Day...Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff April 3, 1922 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Very Nice One, You Only Been 5 Years Old,And have Family Cherished Memories Of This Such Love Kind Lady. I Think All The Acters In The Wizard Of Oz Was So, So, Fondly Nice People. I Never Kinder Really Know The Time Frame Of The Wizard Of Oz Movie, I Did'nt Know It Was Pre War 1 or 2.
Thank you for presenting a different angle and lens on the tribulations of such a well-known and beloved woman. Despite all of the emotional damage, instability, and substance abuse, she demonstrated a remarkable resilience. Would you consider delving into Edgar Allan Poe or Meriwether Lewis of Lewis And Clark? Their respective psychological profiles are equally dire and bewildering. Thanks!
You neglected to mention Betty Asher who was Judy “best friend” but ended up being a spy for MGM and reported to them on everything she did outside of the studio. The betrayal devastated her and was the impetus for her resentment of the studio.
That was a magical movie, there have been other great movies that didn't start out well, blade runner was a flop, unable to earn as much as it cost to make, it's like some songs, at first they don't catch on but then all of sudden they become a smash. When Judy sings somewhere over the rainbow, I can't imagine anyone not touched by that song alone, nevermind the memorable, dramatic characters.
Several sources have noted that Judy's mother, when she learned of her own 3rd pregnancy was very unhappy about it and tried various ways to induce a miscarriage or abortion. Thankfully, she was not successful, and Judy was born.
Have you ever thought of making a video about a composer? The other day on litening to one of your videos I could hear faintly Erik Satie's fifth gnosienne on the background. He was a strange person. His annotations for the third gnosienne is by all accounts very odd. He didnt have the career he should have had. What was wrong with him?
Hi. I'm waiting fore you to make a story on Howard Hughes. I have read a good amount on his life and would be keen to see your view to his life. He was after all a rather odd ball in USA. Greetings from Sweden. / Neo .
I have read Hughes was a mean tormentor to his wife, and planned the kidnapping of his little son as a sick prank that went terribly wrong ; and, Hughes let the German innocent man take the blame for the death of the boy. 🇨🇦
Mickey Rooney certainly knew that Judy was indeed given drugs by the studio, if he didn't, he wasn't too bright. Another contemporary and co-star of Judy's, Jackie Cooper, remembered Judy telling him that she wanted to stop them, but didn't know how since she had to keep the pace up at MGM; even her surviving sister when interviewed in 1978 said that her mother gave Judy pills, but said that if Ethel had known they were harmful she wouldn't have allowed them. Yip Harburg, the man who wrote the lyrics to Over The Rainbow, also verified her addiction. Judy was a money maker, a commodity, and MGM used her time and talents as they saw fit.
I can understand how back then doctors said taking all those pills was safe, but what I don’t get is how they could possibly think the human body could function on three hours of sleep a night for extended periods of time. Like what?!
@professorgraemeyorston: Maybe doctors didn't want to know ... Just like dentists, for decades, refused to delve into the effects of mercury fillings in the teeth of children and adults when suspicions of mercury fillings was hugely determental.🇨🇦
I Hate it Judy Garland's Mother She Was an Evil Woman I'm So Mad at Her Mum Putting Judy on Tablets 🥺 💔 at a Very Young age She Did Not Deserve the Life She Had with Her Mother Judy Deserved Much Better Sick Woman Her Mother So Mad 😡
These people were horrible to the little darling, the father needed a spinal adjustment for sure to allow this to go on. I wish as an adult Judy would have gotten therapy without the prescriptions.😢😢😢😢
Very sad how the producers were only interested in making money. Just imagine how much more $$ they could have earned TAKING CARE OF JUDY. She never made it to 50 years old but looked like an old woman. Very sad
Hello Dr Yorsten.. sharing names of a few people that might be of interest: Helen Keller, Babe Ruth, Jessie Owens, Marie Curie, Barbara McClintock and Greta Garbo.
I Love Judy, She Was A Very Sweet, Beuitful,Loveing, Happy Kind Girl /Lady. So, So, Sad About lose Her 2 Baby's, And A Demanding Mom. I Think 🤔 This Judy life Story, And Job Play Roles Was Very Private To Her Own Life. But it's Her Own Private Life Story And Respeat Her own life Story. But In Some Ways, It Is A Story To Tell - Where People Could Then And Now Relate To Her Life. Like ie, Her Lose Of Her 2 Baby's, The Bills, Over- Worked, Depresions + Up And Downs,Broken Marries, Mom & Dad Break Up, Family Life. Judy Lovely Lady, well Love, Liked Lady. God/Jesus Bless Her. Jan
I never knew that she had an affair and got pregnant with Tyrone Power! I thought I knew everything about Judy Garland. I love Tyrone Power! It's upsetting that they didn't allow her to keep the baby.
