Former monthly contribution by late TCM host Robert Osborne to the TCM newsletter Now Playing in April, 2004.
You'll have to excuse our pride and somewhat puffed-up chests right about now. TCM celebrates its 10th anniversary this month, and it's something we can't help crowing about. It was on April 14, 1994, that Ted Turner pushed a switch at a brief, but lively ceremony in New York's Times Square, after which the first film our network ever showed went out over the airwaves. It was Ted's favorite movie, Gone With the Wind, the same classic-of-classics we'll be showing on April 14 at 8 pm (ET) as the keystone to our Big Ten celebration. Further, we'll also be surrounding that anniversary screening of the Scarlett and Rhett saga with all sorts of movie gems all month long. And since April 2004 marks a genuine milestone in TCM's history, we couldn't think of a better person to salute as our star of this landmark month than the great Judy Garland. Was there anyone in movies more talented, more interesting to watch, more unpredictable? Doubtful. I've always felt that of all the people we've had in our midst as movie stars through the years, no one has ever equaled Judy when it comes to pure, unadulterated talent. She did it all, and brilliantly: acting, singing, dancing, entertaining, touching us emotionally while also making us whoop with laughter. (The tragedy, of course, is that there were also demons, which derailed that talent and ended her career and life much too soon.)
We'll be showing 28 of Judy's movies, including the magical Meet Me in St. Louis, which she did under protest (having belatedly graduated to playing grown-up roles, she didn't relish being cast as a teenager again at age 21), Easter Parade, in which she was supposed to have an on-screen reunion with Gene Kelly but, instead, worked with the one and only magical Fred Astaire) and A Star Is Born, Judy's triumphant 1954 movie which was later badly botched in an editing room, hacked down in length to accommodate more theatrical showings per day. (Happily, we'll be showing a version that restores the film to its original length, with help from found footage, still photographs and a meticulous restoration.)
We'll also be showing two excellent movies in which she shows how effective she could be without singing a note (The Clock, Judgment at Nuremberg), plus two documentaries that give unusual insights into her persona away from the cameras. Some things about Judy that perhaps you didn't know: it was her MGM boss Louis B. Mayer who insisted she sing her famous rendition of "You Made Me Love You" to a photograph of Clark Gable, not the actor who was actually her favorite (Robert Donat of Goodbye Mr. Chips). She adored Marilyn Monroe ("I barely knew her but it's like we shared a soul," she said), Joan Crawford scared her ("So controlling!") and she always wanted to look like Lana Turner, a close pal until Lana eloped with bandleader Artie Shaw, a man Judy was crazy about at the time. I have all sorts of stories about Judy to pass on to you this month, so I hope you'll be spending a lot of time with us. This birthday celebration belongs to you, too, so do come help us blow out the candles.
