aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Liza on Judy from 1972
I did some old-fashioned digging through the library stacks hunting for reviews of the original ’Liza with a Z‘ to compare with the heaps of praise the restored and remastered program - free on Showtime tonight - is getting.
Alas, I found none. But I can’t let all that digging go without posting something! So here’s Liza on Judy from a February 20, 1972 New York Times interview:
When asked to describe her saddest memory of Judy Garland, Liza smiles. “I’m never sad when I remember Mom. Our home life was strangely normal. My mother was not the tragic victim of fate that she presented to the world. That was something she planted there for the public to see. She let everyone else wallow in her misery, while she sailed on through life. Mom was exactly what she wanted to be, a brilliant witty, optimistic lady.
“She was not self-pitying, either--except on rare occasions. We were having an argument once, and I turned to her and said, ‘How can you be so self-pitying? Why are you so full of sympathy for yourself?’ She looked me straight in the eye--I’ll never forget it--and she, said, ‘Sympathy is my business!, You see, Mom always knew what she was doing.”
There were times, though, when Judy did experience some slight doubt, and she went to Liza for advice. “I talked my mother out of doing the part that Susan Hayward finally did in ‘Valley of the Dolls.’ I said, ‘It’s going to be a cheap movie, Mom. Don’t you understand? That woman they want you to play is a tough, hard woman,’ And Mom said, ‘But I like to play that sort of woman.’ ‘O.K, Mom,’ I said, ‘but not in this film. It’s not up to your standard”
I also found more Liza footage. Here mom introduces her at the Palace in 1960-something. More recently, Myles marked the occasion of Liza turning 60 with this footage of her Royal Variety Performance.
And if you missed my post yesterday, here’s clips from Liza’s appearance on Larry King that include her “gravelly Phyllis Diller cackle.” And my favorite, this clip from Ellen where she croons, “Oh I’m so glad I’m not young any more!”
