A Garland
for Edinburgh
(from an article produced in July
1951) From the moment
she stepped on to the stage, at the Edinburgh Empire the diminutive singer
was eager to please and appeared genuinely moved to tears as the audience
shouted, stamped and whistled their approval from the beginning and
throughout the evening. She's
a bonny lass, this Judy Garland, with a well turned leg, and a fine
Scottish complexion (is gift from her "Irish Grandmother" she
says). A bit sturdier built than we are used to and with darker hair, she
is very much the girl we fell in love with 12 years ago. She was quick to
tell the audience she felt at home in Scotland and that her Grandfather's
people were called Milne originally from Aberdeen. Between songs she told
show business and family stories, saying she was "Scots and Irish and
that her grandparents house was "filled with music from those
countries" and she and her sister often danced kind of a
"fling" with their Grandfather while their grandmother lilted the
tune. Leaning over the apron, she chatted with children and women in the
front rows. She invited several delighted girls who presented her with a
posy up on to the stage for an impromptu Highland Fling and Irish jig.
Kicking off her shoes, the American star was graceful, quick and clearly
proved a natural aptitude for our national dance. Unlike other American
celebrities (who only come for out golf courses) she is well able to
understand and hold her own with our humour, filling the hall often with
an impish schoolgirl laugh as musical as her singing. Make
no mistake, Judy Garland was in control last evening. Her voice is rich,
sweet and powerful. She shook the walls of the theatre with her raucous
version of "It's A great Day for the Irish", telling us that it
was written just for her. Some of the audience danced in the aisles while
others kept time by clapping and stamping their feet. She told the
audience that she had added a few "new things" just for Scotland
and Ireland. The audience was whipped into a frenzy with "Loch Lomond",
starting soft and sweet with no musical accompaniment then joined only by
a lone bagpiper at the back of the house for the second chorus, gradually
building into a jazzy swing number involving the entire orchestra with a
lung bursting finale. With all the coyness and charm she shouted back to
the audience over the applause "did you like that one?" Songs
from Hollywood to the deep American southlands her songs were happy, sad,
patriotic, loud and gentle, songs of love lost and love found she
effortlessly changes key several times in a single lyric. She mimics and
pulls faces and did a wonderfully funny impression of Mickey Rooney doing
an impression of Sir Harry Lauder. Her
voice is a fine instrument and something that she seems to take for
granted. I don't think this lady knows how talented she is, which
contributes to her appeal. Like
a lost highland lassie alone in the spotlight, for one number, then in the
next, arms waving, expressive hands coaxing their magic she is a sorceress
weaving a spell, and we her willing victims. Her rebel-rousing version of
"Flower of Scotland" (one of the additions just for Scotland)
brought the audience to its feet in thunderous applause. Followed by the
Trolley Song, every bit as fresh as the day we first saw and heard her in
that colour masterpiece of Americana, Meet Me in St Louis, nearly 10 years
ago. Each time one
thinks "She can't top that" the show's over she goes on to prove
us wrong. Her final number for the evening was "Somewhere Over the
Rainbow" sung from the very edge of the stage, no microphone, her
lovely legs (which she shows plenty of) gracefully folded, her angelic
wistful voice soared through the theatre with a reverence that one (only)
feels in the presence of greatness. Childishly brushing her fringe away
from her face the final notes "oh, why, oh why can't I?" rang
with the clarity of bells on a Sunday morning and faded into a hushed
silence before the audience rose in unison to applaud this phenomenon who
is nothing less than a human marvel beyond country and ethnic boundaries,
she is a universal treasure, touched by these Celtic islands of song and
story and me things - probably God. Judy
Garland turned a formal concert into an intimate singsong house party with
3500! The audience adored her and would have carried her on their
shoulders out of the theatre and down the Royal Mile if she had allowed
it. I can say for Scotland - "Miss Judy Garland, will ye no come
back again?"
 Judy
Garland always an accessible star to her fans accommodates happy children
during her UK Tour which included: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow,
Edinburgh and dates in Ireland.
(Many
thanks to Carl von Ohsen
for forwarding this review to me which he found at the National Library of
Scotland). |
