Over the Rainbow

The Saturday, March 15, 2008, New York Times Crossword puzzle started off with:

1A: Judy Garland or Liza Minnelli

The answer had 7 letters. I had a hunch but, doing the puzzle in ink (on a Saturday!), worked my way back to the spot. Sure enough the answer was "Gay Icon."

Judy Garland died 40 years ago today.

I was in the back seat of the '55 Chevy being driven somewhere downtown by one of my big sisters and the radio was playing a Rock and Roll station from Santa Fe. The DJ told us that Judy Garland had died then played "Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead." I thought that that was rather rude, celebrating the death of the wonderful "Wizard of Oz" star.

Grandma told me a story about the last episode of Judy's television show. She told me that Judy was told that her show was being canceled and that Judy went out and threw her all into that final show (with no guests?), then, at the end, threw down the microphone in disgust and stormed off the set. I don't know if that is indeed what happened (it should be easy enough to find out but I'll just live with this memory of my Grandmother). I guess Grandma was a fan.

I've tried to be a fan. I've bought a bunch of her CDs. I got some videos of her television show. 142 songs of hers on my jPod. Often, when a song of hers get played (it's always in shuffle mode), it sounds to me like I'm hearing a cruel parody of Judy. I just can't get terribly excited by a lot of her performances (at least the live performances of the '60s). I hope this doesn't mean that I have to turn in my Gay Card.

I'll turn off shuffle mode for the day and devote my iPod time to Judy. Then I'll watch "The Wizard of Oz." Maybe I'll come around.

Poor Judy. I hope her troubles melted like lemon drops.

Where were you when you heard that Judy had died?

Speaking of Gay Icons, here's a part of one of the episodes of the Judy Garland Show I recorded when it was played on Showtime: