Cranky Lesbian

Look what the homosexuals have done to me!

Tag: Judy Garland

Love, Soft as an Easy Chair

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On October 1, 2022

In BFFs

Barbra Streisand asks the eternal question in A Star is Born.

I have a thing about A Star is Born. Not the 1937 Janet Gaynor original or George Cukor’s 1954 musical remake starring Judy Garland, though I’ve seen both. It’s the worst of the bunch, the misconceived 1976 lovechild of Barbra Streisand and Jon Peters, that I love unabashedly, even though it’s a top-to-bottom disaster. (Was there anything about its conceptualization of Esther that wasn’t completely deranged?)

The excesses and eccentricities of that iteration of A Star is Born were at the forefront of my mind in 2018, as the October release of Bradley Cooper’s remake drew near. I almost revived this website, long-dormant at the time, to discuss it. Part of what drove me crazy was that my wife was unfamiliar with every telling of the story and couldn’t pretend to understand my excitement.

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Somewhere Over the Rainbow

By

On June 10, 2022

In Music

I don’t have many prized possessions, but this old poster follows me wherever I go. Judy at Carnegie Hall is one of those albums, like Pet Sounds, The Queen is Dead or Sweet Old World, that helps make life more understandable — and more bearable. Today, to commemorate Judy Garland’s centennial, I’ll listen to it “and swing it from Virginia/to Tennessee with all the love that’s in ya.” And I’ll also look for time to rewatch The Clock, my favorite Garland film, this weekend.

In keeping with the spirit of this website, I did a little digging to see if Garland’s younger daughter, Lorna Luft (of Grease 2 fame), had any TV movie credits. Behold, the poorly titled Fear Stalk from 1989, by director Larry Shaw. (I enjoyed his Mother Knows Best but wasn’t as keen on The Ultimate Lie.) The plot sounds rather thin: a purse thief stalks a producer in Beverly Hills.

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