Book Review: GARLAND--THAT'S BEYOND ENTERTAINMENT Is a Grand Guide to Judy's Legacy

Do you recognize this lyric?:

“There's a road that leads to happiness/  I know we can find it./   Although it's full of hills and spills, darling, we won't mind it./  I've got you, you've got me, who cares how rough the road might be?/  We'll go bumpty-bumpty bumpty-bump on the bumpy road to love.”

Teen-aged Judy Garland chirped it cheerily, in a car, in one of her early movies, Listen, Darling.  Some have seen it and think it’s darling and can tell you what her life was like back then.  When it comes to the many professional and personal roads traversed by Judy Garland, your mileage may vary.  You’re likely more familiar with her torch song reporting how “the road gets rougher/ it’s lonelier and tougher” (“The Man That Got Away”). But how do her many released versions of it compare?  And which re-mix or re-master among the reissues of the Carnegie Hall or other rendition sounds best?  Writer Lawrence Schulman has opinions and all the 411 in his two-volume set, Garland: That’s Beyond Entertainment: Reflections on Judy Garland, a cornucopia of articles, album liner notes, reviews, interviews, and other commentaries.  He’s traced and tracked her steps and schlepps from before she set her ruby-shod feet on the yellow brick road, followed the path to Abbey Road in London where she did some recordings years later, and all the way to the end of her road.  Along the way, he gives the road map to where and when she sang such sweet street treats as “On the Sunny SIde of the Street” and the number about various methods of traveling “up the avenue ‘til we’re there” in “A Couple of Swells” —  Shall we talk about the first time around with Fred Astaire in the film Easter Parade in the ’40s? With Jack McClendon in concert at The Palace in the ’50s? Or alone on her TV series in the ’60s? 

You can learn a lot from a guy like Lawrence Schulman.  And in admirably massive detail.  I came to this after many years of digesting gallons of Garland from books, articles, and profiles (the good, the bad, and the ugly; the excellent, the explosive, and the exploitative), seeing her movies, and listening to her recordings, including those Mr. Schulman has had a hand in bringing to us, so I’d already read some of his informative liner notes and am grateful for his dedication that has resulted in the finding and releasing of radio appearances and other under-the-radar discoveries.  While the focus is on the professional life, the personal life of the legend isn’t ignored.  However, it’s often brought in for context and doesn’t become gossipy and judgmental. There are many black-and-white photos that add “color” to the history.

The title, That’s Beyond Entertainment, is not just a kind of nod to That’s Entertainment, the retrospective of MGM movies that prominently featured the Garland screen legacy, or the song of the same name that was in her repertoire (and titled one album), but emphasizes a point the author is intent on making: He objects to having her called merely an “entertainer” as if her talent were just capable of being pleasantly diverting or mildly amusing enough to distract via a cute novelty tune or the way an audience might smilingly respond to a tap-dancing toddler or trained seal.  He’s an advocate for her to be understood as a gifted artist with the power to connect viscerally, transmit emotion, dazzle, and thrill. Lawrence Schulman enjoys, admires, respects, and is affected by Judy Garland’s talent and skills.  But please, he insists, he does not want to be called the “F” word —No, he is not to be labeled a “FAN.” And, certainly, he is far from being a fawning fanatic who dotes on and defends everything indiscriminately, exults about the excesses, or perversely takes pleasure in the struggle moments.  He shares his vivid memory of, as a young man, encountering the rabidly demonstrative devotees (the “cult”) the first time he attended a concert (in 1967, two years before the diva died). He also tells of two meetings with the man he calls a “parasite” for gambling away some of the star’s money during her lifetime and, after her death, making more for himself off material to which he held the rights. That was Sid Luft, who married and managed the lady for a while and he released “botched” product. Imagine the moment in the parking garage when he saw Luft lift the trunk of his car: That’s where he kept the inventory. 

The tone of the writing can be businesslike and plain-spoken when he’s delivering helpful history, such as annotating the credits and facts related to recordings (such as sources, using noise reduction technology or reverb, speed correction, alternate takes) and the films and concerts. Every now and then, he’ll allow himself some wordplay (applauding engineers who were able to “masterfully remaster” some old tracks) or with a memorable zinger (such as one underwhelming release summed up thusly: “This pressing is memorable for utterly forgettable.”  There are some interesting word choices that pop up, such as “porosity,” “hagiographer,” “aperçu,” 

For prospective listeners/music purchasers, it can be dizzying and darn confusing to keep track of all the tracks released and repackaged and re-engineered and remastered — especially when it comes to those songs she sang in MGM movies AND again for release as singles on Decca Records AND re-recordings for Capitol AND on one or more radio shows that have been preserved AND later performed on television AND in concerts (oh, there are many recordings of those concerts). Arrangements may be the same.  Or not.  Her voice might sound pretty much the same.  Or not.  One can end up unintentionally buying what was bought before or thinking, “Oh, I have that version” when it’s NOT that version.  So, in that way, these books are an indispensable guide, comparing and clarifying.  (Sometimes desired info on a recording’s packaging is missing or misleading or plain wrong. Buyer beware!)

Perhaps someone with a more eagle eye or photographic memory could find an error in the hundreds of pages of text and endnotes and index beyond any “oops” item that jumped out at me (the surname of composer Richard Rodgers being spelled as Rogers in two of several mentions; technically, the Annie Get Your Gun rouser is published as “Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly,” to indicate the title character’s accent, but the book spells it as you would naturally — as “Naturally”). And when he gives the first line of the British national anthem as its title, we still know what he means. But there’s one true boo-boo: It’s describing Barbra Streisand as being “unknown at the time” that she appeared on Judy Garland’s TV series.  That was in October of 1963 and she’d already guested on numerous TV programs (including The Today Show, The Tonight Show, and variety hours hosted by Ed Sullivan and Dinah Shore), played nightclubs and Las Vegas, made a splash on Broadway the year before in I Can Get it for You Wholesale, been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for it, and the cast album had been released of the Harold Rome score, as were a studio cast recording of his Pins and Needles.  Earlier in ‘63 her first two solo albums had come out and been on Billboard’s Top 10.  

Now we come to the maddening thing for those of us who read through all the many admittedly interesting entries in the two volumes over a short period of time. Each had been written as a stand-alone piece and works wonderfully as such, but… Since the material being reviewed and analyzed on many occasions covers a lot of the same ground in various combinations and collections, and interviewers ask some of the same questions, we read the same info and the same opinions over and over and over, sometimes using the same phrases, so that it starts to feel like living in a Groundhog Day-type loop.  But the alternative would be to unavoidably throw out the baby with the bathwater, like removing a few bricks from a wall that would then collapse.  The reviews of recordings would no longer stand on their own as references and guides, which is the asset.  So, it’s a no-win situation.  I suppose some things could have been edited out more easily, with the editorial equivalent of tweezers, but it would misrepresent what was conceived to be thorough — similar to one of those budget reissues of a Judy Garland album that leaves out some of the original tracks and omits details about the other songs.  Still, one can go mad with the dread of déjà vu. Of course, the story about a passerby rescuing the presumed lost-forever test recordings of the very young Judy from a pile of trash on the street, and how it was obtained for release, is fascinating — the first time you read it. And you’ll soon be able to complete his sentences to name the titles of the about: which Capitol album was reissued in wonderful quality sound, frustrating only due to the fact that it was only available as a download; how one song included on the recording of the legendary Carnegie Hall concert was actually a track recording in a studio one year earlier; the checkered history of getting a recording of Judy and daughter Liza Minnelli’s joint concert; the financial circumstances of her final year; why the intended full album of Broadway songs wasn’t released as such; and you, too, could go on and on regarding I Could Go On Singing and where he saw it and who else was in the movie theatre (very, very few people).   You may be rolling your eyes when they roll around for the third or fourth time, rolling along less merrily each time he explains why “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is the glorious Garland at her best. But the comments were sometimes made years apart and not intended for readers or listeners who could be expected to have already been presented with the info or remember specifics if they had.  Like Judy Garland going on stage for the 100th time with the same songs, she knew things were “new” for some in each new audience and had to be presented again, with commitment.

After reading and heeding the words of Lawrence Schulman, you’ll have guidance in finding the best sound and the best buys among the many overlapping collections. And you’ll appreciate his appreciations and perhaps hear Judy Garland as his insights reach your brain, her voice reaches your ears, and her emotions reach your heart.

 Garland: That’s Beyond Entertainment: Reflections on Judy Garland –Volumes 1 and 2 (sold separately), by Lawrence Schulman are published by BearManor Media, available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle editions.  The BearManor Media website is right HERE.

 

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.

Test and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia?	Play the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
How well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends.	Can you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!