Thoughts on Judy Garland

My mum loved musicals. It’s a love I’ve inherited and that has continued to grow with each passing year. Growing up watching the likes of The Sound of Music, Grease, Mary Poppins, Cats, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat has led me to discovering new musicals over the year that I’ve come to know and love. I never forget the first musicals I watched as a child though, one of which is a little well known film called The Wizard of Oz.

The main star of the film, Judy Garland, was present in my life from an early age thanks to my mum introducing me to The Wizard of Oz, a film I’ve always loved but that I’ve come to appreciate more as I’ve gotten older. I was aware, as I’m sure most people are, of the hardships that Judy Garland faced in her life. The addiction to prescription drugs that took hold of her and led to her untimely death at the mere age of 47 in 1969. It’s a story that most people know of, but a lot of the time people don’t know much else other than this, and the fact she was in the box office hits Meet Me in St Louis, A Star is Born and, of course, The Wizard of Oz.

Since watching an old biography on Garland that I came across on YouTube, I’ve become ever so slightly fascinated with her, her career and her life. Through various searches on YouTube (isn’t the internet a wonderful thing?) I’ve discovered so many of her lesser known films, and the truly wonderful songs that go along with them, that seem to be so often overshadowed by her addictions, as well as the films I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

I feel so glad to have discovered these gems of Judy’s and to hear and see more of her amazing talent. She really was one of the most talented, beautiful and brilliant people this world has ever seen, and I find it so hard to grasp that her life was cut so short after years of issues in her personal life. Who knows what more joys her talent would have brought to the world if she’d still been alive today, or for longer than her 47 years.

She was the most amazing actress with the most breath-taking voice that I myself have ever heard. Her strong personality and humour are always present in her roles, and her ability to portray so many different emotions, both through singing and acting is a talent that is one of a kind.

In finding out more about the legendary Judy Garland, I have also learnt more about her sad past that ultimately led to her premature death. My blood physically boiled when I read about the way MGM treated a young Garland, who was only 13-years-old when she signed with the film company in 1935. The fact they called her ‘fat’, ‘ugly’, a ‘little hunchback’ sends shockwaves down my spine and fills me with rage whenever I read about their treatment towards her. Who were they to call a young, teenage girl fat and ugly simply because she didn’t ‘fit in’ with their ‘ideal’ standards of ‘beauty’. If the people who called her these awful things were alive today they would receive a piece of my mind.

I look at photos and films of Garland, both before and after she signed with MGM, and nothing that I see suggests she was fat or ugly. Far from it in fact. I see a normal teenage girl, slightly awkward, as all teenagers are, trying to find their way in the world and still discovering who they are as a person. She was a perfect shape for her age and height, and was still beautiful. The cruelty in the way she was spoken to makes me very emotional; anger at how anyone could speak to a person like that, and sadness at the thought of how Garland must have felt. I imagine myself in her shoes and my heart sinks. No one should have to hear those things said about them, let alone to their face, particularly when these words couldn’t have been further from the truth.
The fact they gave her appetite suppressers to stop her from gaining weight, as well as ‘uppers’ and ‘downers’ in order to keep her energetic for 18 hour days and to control how well and for how long she slept makes me incredibly sad for Judy Garland. Some people would say she should have had more control over her life, and that she should have had the power to stop herself from being treated this way. I feel these people forget that we’re talking about a young girl here, a young girl who was being told what to do by adults she thought she could trust, including her own mother. We were all children once, and I’m sure we all thought that what adults around us told us to do was the right thing to do. I have no doubt that Judy was any different. She may have had a talent that was out of this world, but at the end of the day she was a human. By the time she’d probably worked out how she was treated wasn’t right, it was possibly too late, and she was most likely in the grips of a dependence of prescription drugs.

There’s no doubt that a lot of people around the world may view Judy Garland as a tragic figure; one of the first child stars who experienced far too much far too young, and whose life was cut off too early. Yes, she did experience unhappiness in her life, largely due to her addictions. We must remember though that she also had a lot of happiness, and that this determined woman achieved so much and touched so many people’s lives during her own life. Her legacy is her talent, and how strong she was during times when others may have faltered. The fact she is still widely regarded and recognised almost 50 years after her death says a lot about the mark she left on the world. For me, she is, and always will be the greatest singer who ever lived and one of the most beautiful people the world has ever seen.

Book Review – Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley

Just ten or so minutes ago I finished the fantastic ‘Jane Austen At Home’ by writer Lucy Worsley. I read it in less than a week, just under in fact, and the majority of the time I felt unable to put it down.

As a huge fan of Jane Austen and her beloved novels, I found her life story portrayed by Worsley as completely gripping. In all honesty, I didn’t want it to end. I felt slightly disappointed when I found I’d approached the final chapters, and thus the end of Austen’s fascinating life.

Having read all of her published novels (with her final completed work ‘Persuasion’ being my favourite) I always noticed possible glimpses into the real life and character of Jane Austen. I sensed that locations present in her works were places Austen herself had visited, or at least were inspired by previous visits. I got the distinct impression that numerous characters were created from the influence of family, friends and neighbours that Austen surrounded herself with. Despite all of this, I myself, as I’m sure many of her fans felt, still couldn’t see the real life Jane Austen, the living woman who paved the way for women of the Georgian era to look for love in a man rather than marrying for consequence.

Lucy Worsley has opened up Jane Austen’s world to my eyes and has given me a whole new perspective of, not just her books, but of herself as well. From my impressions of Worsley’s book, I feel that Jane represented the hardships that love sometimes brings through the situations lived by her heroines. I believe that, whilst Austen never married herself, but had numerous marriage proposals, she knew that love also came with its difficulties. In the words of Shakespeare, the course of true love never did run smooth, and I feel that’s the theme Austen possessed throughout her stories.

All of her heroines, from Marianne and Elinor Dashwood in ‘Sense & Sensibility& to Anne Elliot in ‘Persuasion’, go through some difficulty in finding the man of their dreams and living happily ever after. Perhaps this is because Austen knew herself, from personal experiences and those of people around her, how hard it was to hold out for love, and in her case never meet a man who won her heart.

She was also surrounded by many young women who ultimately had to marry a man to secure fortune, security and a home. Austen’s depiction of Marianne Dashwood marrying Colonel Brandon, though she is portrayed as being in love with John Willoughby throughout most of the novel, is possibly Austen commenting on the number of acquaintances she had, as well as family members, who married for financial security rather than love.

The title of Worsley’s book suggests that ‘home’ is a running theme throughout her depiction of Austen’s story. As readers, we find out just how many times Jane was forced to move due to financial problems,?particularly after her father died.

For me, from my own knowledge of Austen’s books as well as reading Worsley’s work, I feel that for Jane that home was found, and therefore ultimate happiness, upon surrounding yourself with people you love. It wasn’t, as Worsley writes, all about bricks and mortar, but the security and love of people around her.

We’re also introduced to the comedic side of Jane’s character. She is often quoted in letters to her sister Cassandra as introducing a serious topic before completely turning it on its head and making a joke of what she’d only just previously written. I wonder if this personality trait of Austen’s was her trying to disguise her feelings through attempting to act as though she wasn’t emotionally affected. It’s something that I know I’ve done in certain situations, as well as friends and family members, both male and female.

For any self proclaimed ‘Janeite’, as well as those who are new to her works, I would highly recommend you read ‘Jane Austen At Home’ by Lucy Worsley. It gives you an in depth look into her world and a new appreciation of her work. I know I will definitely re-read her books with a completely new outlook. Most of all though, it gives the reader a look at who Jane Austen was, giving a story to a name whose face we will never properly know.