There are Judy Garland historians—and then there's John Fricke.
For decades Fricke, who was born and raised in Milwaukee and attended Northwestern University before settling in New York City, has been the go-to guy for the media and the just plain curious on anything regarding the career of Garland, the legendary performer and gay community icon who became a bona fide star in 1939 with the release of the quintessential fantasy classic The Wizard of Oz. Both Oz and Garland have been favorite subjects for Fricke, who has written multiple books on each.
In addition, he has supplied commentary tracks for several Garland DVDs; appeared at festivals dedicated to her; programmed film retrospectives of her movies; had more than a hand in producing tribute documentaries attesting to her unparalleled talent; chosen rare tracks for CD compilations; and, in general, has held the light aloft for the multitalented vocalist, screen and television performer.
Now Fricke—whose commentary track is featured on an upcoming Blu-ray edition of Garland's charming 1944 musical Meet Me in St. Louis—has written a sumptuous coffee table book called Judy: A Legendary Film Career that provides an overview of all 34 of Garland's movies. With his new book, Fricke hopes to remind younger audiences or those new to Garlandmania that it was as a movie star that the world first fell in love with Judy. As the book—which is filled with hundreds of rare photos points out—there are a lot more Judy films than just her unassailable triumphs in Oz, St. Louis and A Star Is Born to treasure. The openly gay Fricke's undimmed enthusiasm for all things Judy was palpable during an exclusive interview with Windy City Times.
Windy City Times: It's so fun to talk with you about Judy Garland the movie star—my favorite aspect of her career.
John Fricke: I oversaw four weeks of screenings of Judy's film career this summer at Lincoln Center in New York and what was so amazing—and I say this as a fan since I was 5—is that this business of watching her never disappoints. No matter how many times you've seen the stuff or think, "Okay, my sense of perceptions will change this time around," no, they don't. You put her on a big screen in front of a crowd and she never disappoints.
WCT: It's great to see this all collected together—the rare photos, the details about the making of the films, the interesting bits of trivia.
JF: That's the wonderful thing about her—there's always something new photographically, in terms of facts and factoids, etc.
WCT: For the uninitiated, your book is a great introduction to Garland's movie career.
JF: We went out of the way to find pictures that hadn't been shown before. I couldn't do a book like this unless I could give a new spin on it and I'm proud of the new art; I'm proud of the fact that the review quotes are all new—none of them have been in Garland books before. So there's a lot here for older Garland fans and the new as well.
WCT: I know, of course, the classic film fans will love this new book but how about younger audiences?
JF: Quick anecdote: There was a young man who only knew Judy in The Wizard of Oz who came to Presenting Lily Mars on a lark—not intending to see the rest of the movies in the series—and he never went home. He was texting and tweeting and tooting [laughs] and whatever you do to all of his friends from school about the movies. I think that's representative of Judy's continuing appeal—which, of all the golden-age movie stars, has never dimmed.
WCT: So for those who know just the Big Three, what movie of Judy's would you recommend next?
JF: If I had to pick just one it would be Summer Stock. Between Judy and Gene Kelly it's amazingly entertaining but then you get Phil Silvers, Gloria DeHaven, Hans Conried and Marjorie Main. Between all of them there's not a dull moment in that film. It's just a joy from beginning to end.
I think, of the Judy-Mickey films, Girl Crazy is the least typical because for once he's pining for her and not vice versa and she's never looked lovelier. The "Embraceable You" sequence is one of five Judy Garland clips that I would take to a desert island. I also love Everybody Sing for the pre-Oz films because it's Judy with Billie Burke and Fanny Brice. There's a lot of great stuff out there to investigate.
WCT: I think I Could Go On Singing, her last film, is greatly underappreciated.
JF: Well people want to camp it and, yet, by the time you're 15 minutes into it, it cannot be camped because it's so real and it's so sincere and she's so honest in what she's doing.
WCT: Your book also gets into some of the movie roles that got away. What are some that you would love to have seen?
JF: Showboat would have been a vastly different film if she had played Julie, and Judy was to have additional songs and scenes; it would have been a really nice transition to see her go to a genuinely tragic character. The Helen Morgan Story, from 1959, is a lousy picture but I would have loved to have heard her sing those songs. Of course, Mame; of course, Gypsy—those are two projects that cry out for Judy Garland. Arthur Laurents was excited that Judy was going to do the film but Warner Bros. wouldn't risk it with her.
WCT: For gay men, Judy's concerts are a part of our history—they were a place to meet and to join fellow Judy worshippers. Did the movies have that same ability to draw together gay people? Did that happen during her MGM years in the '40s?
JF: I don't know because I think it was so much more of a secret society. I'm 60 so I wasn't around then but I do remember seeing A Child Is Waiting and I Could Go On Singing, her last two movies, when they opened. But even then, there was no sense of that community, and neither of those were typical Garland films. The three concerts I saw in Chicago, yes, there was representation—let's put it that way—but again, the cross-section of people who loved her was extraordinary. She had across-the-board appeal. Judy's ability was to not only fill a live theatre or stadium or nightclub with her persona but she could rein it in so that it worked in a film or on TV.
WCT: That's a very rare ability that she had.
JF: So many things put her in a league of her own. First of all, [there was] the fact that she truly was multitalented. Then there's her charisma, which she practically invented in terms of getting across in person and then being able to get across in the very cold mediums of film and videotape and audio recording. [Also,] she's also one of the comparatively few movie stars who was more interesting as herself than as she was as Dorothy or Esther or Polly or whoever.
