Rainbow's End: The Judy Garland Show [Mass Market Paperback]

Judy Garland was at her pinnacle when she signed to star in "The Judy Garland Show" in the 1963-64 season. What went on behind the camera's was far more intruging than what went on in front of it. For years afterward the "failure" of the show was the subject of controversey and falsehood as Mel Torme blamed Judy for the demise of the show, painting her as an unreliable, demanding, temperamental superstar. This was accepted as fact, but now Coyne Steven Sanders reveals the truth for the first time.

"The Judy Garland Show" seemed doomed from the start, CBS tampered with it's format, hiring and firing it's staff members and refusing to move the series to a safe time slot to avoid competing with NBC's top rated show "Bonanza". During this time Judy was locked in power struggles with network executives, her managers (who deserted her) and also egotist Mel Torme (who wrote his self-serving book just after her death).

The many people quoted in this book all dispel Torme's falsehoods and reveal Judy as an unassuming, kind-hearted woman who was also a professional in her work and really tried to make her series a success. We hear affectionate rememberances from George Schalter, Norman Jewison, Martha Raye, Peggy Lee, Jane Powell, Jack Jones, Ethel Merman, Barbra Streisand, Jerry Van Dyke as well as Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, Joey Luft and Glenn Ford.

The "failure" of the series was not Judy's fault, as Torme would have us believe. Instead it rests with James Aubrey and Hunt Stromberg Jr who sabotaged it from the beginning.

Most books on Judy Garland exist only for the purpose of providing fiction instead of fact. One of the most infamous and innaccurate was Mel Torme's "The Other Side of the Rainbow" in which he portrayed Judy as a hopelessly drug addicted, temperamental superstar intent on destroying herself, the tv series and everyone around her. It was accepted as fact when it was written in 1970.

However, with excellent research Coyne Steven Sanders reveals a different Judy than the one Torme wrote about. With over 75 interviews with many people connected to the series such as Norman Jewison, Bill Colleran and Mort Lindsey and also with Judy's guest stars such as Tony Bennett, Ethel Merman, Barbra Streisand, Vic Damone, Jerry Van Dyke, Rich Little, Martha Raye and Jane Powell as well as her children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, Joey Luft as well as Glenn Ford, their affectionate and humourous recollections reveal a Judy who was affectionate, warm, witty, intelligent, professional and a joy to know and work with.

The blame for the "failure" of the series rests with presidents James Aubrey and Hunt Stromberg Jr, who refused to move Garland to a time slot of her own and pitted her against one of the most popular shows of the time, the Western series "Bonanza", they were more intent on destroying the series than helping it. Judy also had to contend with egotist Mel Torme and her agents Freddie Fields and David Beagleman who took her money and ran. The television series was deemed a failure by the bosses at CBS for which she was unjustly blamed. It is ironic that "The Judy Garland Show", once deemed unsuccessful is now considered amongst her greatest work. Liza Minnelli once said of the series "It's the closest to actually knowing her".

Highly reccomended for any fan of Judy Garland and for those who actually want to know the real woman.

This book, which accompanies the box set (Vol 1) of Judy's TV series, is an invaluable resource for any serious Judy Garland fan. The writing is clear and concise, the approach is objective (but with great empathy for Judy), and the research conducted by the author is impressive. Until this book was written, the only documented history of this landmark TV show was the book written by Mel Torme, which was mean-spirited and by no means a balanced account of what really went on. Congratulations and much gratitude to Mr. Sanders for a very memorable read.