15 MINUTES WITH JUDY GARLAND AND COUNT BASIE

AN OPEN LETTER FROM FILM MAKER FRANK LABRADOR

As many of you know, I was the video editor and videographer for Jan Glazier's "Judy in New York" festival in 2011. I had the privilege of producing some special video presentations at that event, in collaboration with our own Steve Sanders. In April 2013, Jan Glazier will be having the next "Judy in..." festival in Hollywood. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the premiere of "The Judy Garland Show" during the festival, Steve and I are collaborating again to create a documentary about the making of the TV series based on his book. Personally, I am most humbled in Steve's trust in me to create this film, based on all his research materials and 80-plus audio interviews he conducted.

But we need your help! Though there are hundreds of performance shots from TJGS available everywhere, there are comparatively few photos from behind-the-scenes or from rehearsals. And of the few we found, they mostly come from the first three shows taped (Rooney, Basie, Minnelli). So I am reaching out to all the Judy photo collectors out there and ask if you could please check in your collection. If you have any rehearsal or behind-the-scenes photographs of Judy interacting with the staff and crew at CBS, please contact me atfrank.labrador@gmail.com. 

Even if Judy is not in the picture, I would be interested. For example, at this time, we have no pictures of the guest stars doing their solo numbers.

And over the years, there have been contact (proof) sheets sold on eBay from TJGS. If you are the owner of any of these, I would definitely appreciate hearing from you.

We have poured a lot of time and energy towards this project already, but I'm asking for your help to make this private video presentation about the making of "The Judy Garland Show" TV series as spectacular as possible. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me privately at frank.labrador@gmail.com.

Thanks,
Frankie

JUDY AND BARBRA IN LIVING COLOR

Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand perform on The Judy Garland Show. The program was taped on Friday, October 4, 1963 for broadcast two days later on Sunday, October 6, 1963.

Ethel Merman interrupted the taping with a surprise visit and an impromptu song.

EYDIE GORME ON THE JUDY GARLAND SHOW

Well, she wasn't exactly a guest, but she did appear in the audience of the show, and even took a bow. And yes, we have that rare piece of audio, as well as some live recordings by Ms. Gorme, including a Medley of Sinatra songs which suspiciously includes a few Garland songs in it.

All this (and more) is posted over at the mama group.