Mamma Dearest
I am watching a strange and wonderful DVD. It's also a very precious document that I found in, of all places, the Esplanade Library. They actually have some very good stuff if you will spend an afternoon searching through their catalogue. Anyway, today I found Judy Garland Live at the London Palladium with... wait for it... LIZA MINELLI! This performance from November 1964 was one of Judy's last appearances at the historic venue, and Liza's first public stage performance with her mother. I read about this in one of Judy's biographies and remember that it was described as being fraught with tension between famous mother and rising daughter. After Liza's first number, she received a tremendous ovation that seemed to match Judy's reception from the audience. When Judy came back on stage to sing "Hello Dolly" with Liza, one of the things she did was to keep pushing Liza's microphone closer to her face, as if teaching Liza stagecraft right there and then! Liza kept on smiling and singing although she did push Mommy's hand away once. I can only imagine what must be going through their hearts and minds during that song, and throughout the duets they performed next, including an entire medley that Judy had already performed with Barbra Streisand. Very exciting stuff, but to me, it was almost like watching a car accident, a beautiful accident that you can't take your eyes from. Right this minute as I'm typing, Liza just walked out on stage after Judy does a number and asks her mother," How can I follow that?" to which Judy replied," You can follow it just by singing better notes." A wince on my part, and Liza's smile freezes, not for the first time. Maybe this is the point when she decides," No more holding back!" and pulls out all the stops. Liza was 18 years old at the time, and she was in fact already very impressive, if not the perfectly polished pro that she would become later. Judy's jealousy of her obviously talented daughter was a natural reaction, yet not one that she handled very well. There would be pain and hurt on both sides, much of it already evident on that stage that night in 1964. The "Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again" duet sounded like a sing-off, as most of their duets do. Damaged is as damaged does. No matter, despite all that pain, and because of it, they were both marvelous artists. It's an incredible opportunity to watch Judy live on stage performing all those songs that she's famous for. Still, this is probably not a DVD to return to, however, not for me anyway. The rivalry onstage is just too difficult to watch. This from the Wikipedia entry on Liza Minelli: "Although Minnelli and her mother shared a warm personal relationship, during the London Palladium performances Garland recognized Minnelli's talent and felt a sense of competition. Minnelli recalled a time where she was singing on stage: "I was onstage with my mother, but suddenly, she wasn't Mamma ... she was Judy Garland."" As I end this entry, Judy is singing Over the Rainbow, and exhorting Liza to sing it with her because," You can sing it better than me." Of course Liza doesn't dare to sing a note. Geez.