A High Quality Record Of The Legend At The Peak Of Her Abilities"
-- TV GUIDE
"The Show That Got Away"
Pioneer Entertainment and Classic World Productions
proudly present
The Judy Garland Show Collection
a DVD BOX SET
The Ultimate Tribute to the American Icon’s legendary TV series, this DVD exclusive debuts on November 2nd, backed by a major advertising and PR campaign. Set Includes 14 Complete Episodes From 1963-64, And Many Extras
Includes episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22
plus many outtakes. [JJ]
For more information, and to buy the DVD, please visit the Pioneer Website The Judy Garland Show Collection [now closed - JJ]
* * *
JUDY GARLAND and CLASSIC TV NEVER LOOKED OR SOUNDED SO GREAT!
This Collector’s Dream includes :
* 14 Complete Episodes of this 1963-64 Series -- including two CONCERT programs .... Plus : "JUST JUDY" : a specially selected program of Garland SOLO songs.
* See The Legend with Other Legends, including Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Lena Horne, Jack Jones, Martha Raye, Count Basie, Diahann Carroll, Vic Damone, Ethel Merman, Steve Allen, Ray Bolger, Mickey Rooney, and Liza Minnelli.
* Newly created 5.1 surround sound and original mono audio tracks.
* Digitally restored and remastered from the original 2" videotapes.
* Over a dozen, rare, never-aired outtakes and dress rehearsal footage.
* Audio Commentary with the series original producer, George Schlatter.
* A paperback edition of Coyne Steven Sanders’ book on the series, "Rainbow’s End."
* Complete index of all 26 episodes as well as an alphabetical song listing for all songs in the box set.
* DVD-ROM Features.
* Packaged in a stunning recreation of Judy’s own legendary show business trunk.
About "THE JUDY GARLAND SHOW" and it’s star
In the early 1960’s, Judy Garland (1922-1969) was the biggest name in the entertainment industry, even surpassing the level of worldwide popularity she had first enjoyed from 1935-1950 while MGM’s "greatest asset" as queen of the Metro musicals (including her classics "Meet Me In St. Louis," "Easter Parade" and of course "The Wizard Of Oz"), and reaching heights higher than even her first remarkable "comeback" ten years earlier on the stages of the London Palladium and NYC’s Palace Theater in 1951. Following further triumphs on stage, records, TV, and film (1954’s "A Star Is Born"), an overworked Judy ended the 1950’s barely surviving hepatitis. Yet within 16 months her health and professional reputation had never been stronger, as her 1961 solo one-woman concert tour thrilled audiences at nearly 40 venues. The corresponding Capitol Records 2-LP set "Judy At Carnegie Hall" captured her most legendary concert, spent 73 weeks on Billboard’s bestseller charts (13 of those weeks spent in the Number One position), as well as winning 5 Grammy Awards, including Best Female Vocalist and Album Of The Year (the first time a woman won in this category). During this same period Garland also made four films, including her Oscar-nominated performance in "Judgment At Nuremberg."
Television was the final medium left to re-conquer. The impact of Judy’s 1962 special with fellow "Rat Packers" Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, along with the year-end showcase of her wit on TV’s "Jack Paar," brought about a battle between all 3 networks when Judy’s managers convinced her to headline her own weekly variety series. CBS won her services in an unprecedented pact worth an astounding $24 million dollars, and "The Judy Garland Show" was born.
From June 1963 through March 1964, 26 one-hour episodes were videotaped at CBS’ Television City in Hollywood. Behind the scenes interference and a time-slot opposite NBC’s top-rated "Bonanza" made "TJGS" a critically acclaimed single-season casualty. In spite of dealing with professional and personal problems (including misappropriation of her funds by advisors, divorce and child custody battles), Judy Garland was crafting work on these shows that remains timeless. The 41-year-old star was showcased in once-in-a-lifetime pairings with other legends (including Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, Ethel Merman, Lena Horne, Count Basie, and Mel Torme, among others); popular stars of the day (including singers Steve Lawrence and Jane Powell; Broadway stars Chita Rivera and Peter Genero; comedians Terry-Thomas, Dick Shawn, Carl Reiner, and Rich Little; and movie stars June Allyson and Peter Lawford); as well as reunions with "Scarecrow" Ray Bolger from "The Wizard Of Oz," and frequent MGM co-star Mickey Rooney, along with the first official pairing of Judy and daughter Liza Minnelli.
In the 30 years since Garland’s passing, she has had yet a third astounding comeback, as powerful as the ones in 1951 and 1961. Her popularity continues to grow among both the public and the media, as proven by her placement as Number 8 on the American Film Institute’s list of "The 50 Greatest Screen Legends" in June 1999 -- the only singer to make this prestigious list. All of her films have been issued on video, and her records get released on CD, most notably the 4-CD Box set that spans her entire 1929-1969 catalogue : 1998’s critically acclaimed "Judy" from 32 Records. However, the classic performances by Garland and Guests on her TV series have not been widely seen since their original broadcasts over 35 years ago, despite numerous attempts at syndication or complete video releases, dating back to 1966. These shows are the only existing audio/video the world has of this legendary icon at a physical and vocal peak, not as a character in a movie, but as arguably the most beloved entertainer of the 20th century. Judy Garland’s best body of work is now forever preserved for our next century on the finest home video format .... and these shows are making their home video debut -- and are seen for the first time anywhere from the original 2-inch videotapes -- in "The Judy Garland Show COLLECTION."
"This Is The Kind Of Software Event That Deserves To (And Probably Will) Sell Some Hardware" -- USA TODAY
Supported by ads in BILLBOARD, DIGITAL HOME THEATER, THE ADVOCATE, and THE VILLAGE VOICE, along with TV and Press coverage.
Pioneer Entertainment (USA) L.P. is a full-service producer and distributor of entertainment software including film, music, animation, and television shows, on VHS, DVD and laserdisc. Pioneer Entertainment (USA) L.P. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pioneer Electronic Corporation (PEC) and is headquartered in Long Beach, California.
Classic World Productions Inc. ranks as one of the most respected and resourceful labels for back catalogue music and television programs, which owns over 30,000 titles from legendary entertainers such as Tony Bennett, Tom Jones, and Engelbert Humperdinck, etc. "We feel thrilled in presenting 'The Judy Garland Show,'" says Darryl Payne, president of CWPI. "The sound and visual quality makes you feel as if you're watching the shows in a theater."
LIZ SMITH -- Thursday, November 4th, 1999
HAVE YOURSELF A Merry Little Christmas! Arriving in time for the holidays: Pioneer's spectacular DVD box collection of "The Judy Garland Show" - full episodes from the ill-fated 1963-64 series. Dazzling digital re-mastering reveals these shows looking and sounding better than they did when originally broadcast. Twelve more hour-long Garland episodes will appear next year. If you want to see Judy at the peak of her latter-day performing style - electric, tremulous, powerful; every emotion in capital letters - you cannot pass this up.
USA TODAY -- Tuesday, November 2nd, 1999
Another last word on Garland
DVD Box set is fresh look at tragic star's failed variety show
MUSIC NEWS & VIEWS
By David Patrick Stearns, USA TODAY
Few failed TV series have prompted as much continual posthumous attention as has The Judy Garland Show.
Entire books have been written about those 26 weeks , during which one of America's greatest singers matched pipes with the likes of Barbra Streisand, Lena Horne and even her own daughter, Liza Minnelli, but saw her showcase canceled before the end of the 1963-64 season. Adding to the show's intriguing aura is that its demise was the beginning of Garland's own downward spiral, a self-destructive cycle that would end in her death in London in 1969.
Now, after years of isolated showings, often on poor-quality tapes, the Garland show is back - in full - with numerous never-before-seen outtakes. Though individual titles have come out on DVD this year, a 14-show box set titled The Judy Garland Show Collection will be released today (list price: $119.98). An additional 12 shows are due later this year and next, both individually and in yet another box set.
Garland archivist Scott Schechter, a consultant on the project, calls the series Garland's most important video legacy as an adult performer. The programs show a Garland light-years away from the super-stylized MGM musicals of the 1940s, a child star grown into a powerhouse concert singer who needed only a stage, a microphone and an orchestra to hold audiences spellbound.
"This was the first time she was presented as a glamorous, sophisticated chanteuse," Schechter says. "It captures her intelligence and humor. Liza has said it's the closest you could come to knowing her as a person."
So what went wrong? The usual explanation is that Garland was positioned opposite NBC's supremely popular western Bonanza. But it was hardly that simple. Ratings were good - at times. When they weren't, executives got nervous. Producers, directors, formats and regular performers came and went quickly.
"She would've given Bonanza a hell of a run if they'd left her alone," says the show's first producer, George Schlatter. "It was alternative programming. It was the difference between watching five old guys in the wilderness with no broads, or Judy Garland standing at a trunk talking about show biz."
Garland's reputed volatility, unreliability and long-term dependence on prescription drugs were cited as problems . But many of the disparaging tales documented by series regular Mel Torme in his book The Other Side of the Rainbow, written after her death, have been rebutted in Coyne Steven Sanders' book Rainbow's End. Torme was one of many fired from the show - Garland referred to him as "the velvet smog" - and was probably motivated by bitterness, Schechter believes.
Even the complaint that Garland didn't show up for rehearsals isn't what it might seem. Recalls Lena Horne: "She was a lot like Sinatra - she didn't show up until the day of the shooting." Garland was known to have a photographic memory; the downside is that she grew bored easily, particularly if nobody was telling her off-color jokes.
In one situation when there was lots of backstage mirth - on Torme's birthday - Garland was said to have been so sloshed for the final taping that rehearsal footage was telecast. However, Schechter claims, the unused footage in The Judy Garland Show Collection is perfectly presentable.
If none of this was previously apparent, it's because the series was kept out of circulation by constant litigation. Telecasts in foreign countries resulted in Garland being sued by guest stars who hadn't given clearances; thus, what might have been an annuity for the money-troubled singer left her broke. After her death, the master tapes were stored in a Florida garage until her third husband and manager, Sid Luft, legally won the rights in 1979. While bits and pieces came out on VHS, the more comprehensive deal with Classic World Productions didn't happen until 1997.
Viewed now, the show is a relic of when America was Camelot. Garland was a friend of and campaigner for John F. Kennedy; she regularly phoned him for advice on the series in exchange for singing him a chorus of Over the Rainbow. After he was shot, she concluded one telecast with an emotional rendition of The Battle Hymn of the Republic that's widely considered one of her - and the show's - finest moments.
But what makes the show seem surprisingly current is the touching: Whether with Streisand or with Vic Damone, Garland didn't just sing with her guests, she held their hands, calming their nerves and her own. It made CBS executives uncomfortable at the time, but now that unguarded moments are common on television, it's clear that by making personal contact, she also was establishing musical contact.
© Copyright 1999 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
For more information, please contact :
Judy Garland Program Inquisitions
Scott Schechter / email : GARLANDS63@AOL.COM
