Posted by Introducing a new section to the site: “Judy Garland – The Concert Years.” This new section features comprehensive details about Judy’s amazing concert years from 1951 – 1969. Included in the pages are photos, audio files, videos, newspaper articles & ads, and more!
Judy Garland in concert was an event like no other. Fans and show business veterans spoke of them with awe. Even now, as the 100th anniversary of her birth nears, her concerts are still legendary. “Legendary” is a word that’s used a lot these days, but in her own time, the word was used to describe her concerts and Judy herself. She truly was a living legend.
Judy pioneered the format of the one-woman, two-act concert that is still used today. In 1951 she successfully brought Vaudeville back to the Palace Theater in New York, breaking all house records, while creating a new career for herself after her equally legendary film career at MGM. Her 1961 concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall is still the concert by which all other pop diva concerts are judged. The two-record set of that concert was an unprecedented success and has never been out of print.
During these concert years, Judy found time to make radio and television appearances, record albums & singles, make a comeback for the ages in films, and star in her own TV series. She also made countless personal appearances for charities and a wide variety of other events. All of these (and more) are represented in these new pages.
What Judy Garland packed into those short eighteen years is an incredible and unique show business legacy. Lucky for us, many of her performances have survived in one format or another and are featured here.
Enjoy browsing and reading through these pages. And check back for updates and new media. Things are always being found and my heartfelt thanks go out to the many generous collectors who share their treasures. This couldn’t be possible without them!
Love it!
I wish we had crisp, clear recording of Judy’s first concert at the Dell in 1943.
Another comment I feel compelled to write: when one actually reads how much money she was paid in concerts between 1951 and, say, 1966, it is nothing short of astonishing that she wasn’t financially secure by the mid-’60s, even discounting the failure of the TV series. Sid Luft was a an irresponsible fool!!
You are much more polite than I would be when describing Sid’s management of Judy and her finances, Gary. Judy was a victim of money-skimming and embezzlement her whole life, and treated like a commodity by those who were hired and trusted to protect her finances. Disgusting.
Like many rich and elite, Judy didn’t want to touch money, preferring to let employees- and face it, Sid was an employee, David Begelman was later an employee- handle her finances. That was her choice. And being in a daze a great deal of the time… I don’t even want to go there… didn’t help matters. I can only think of one true peer of Judy’s, and that’s Piaf. Her philosophy regarding money was the same as Judy’s. And the result was the same. Early death with massive debt.