Judy Garland at 100: A Pictorial Tribute

I have long been a fan of Judy Garland, sometimes called the World’s Greatest Entertainer. Judy is today best remembered for her role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, but her career, which spanned nearly four decades, included 32 film roles, a successful series of concerts, and her own TV show. June 10th would have been Judy’s 100th birthday, so in honor of that, in this post I will share some photos I’ve taken over the years that relate to her in some way.

In 2014, I had a chance to see some costumes from Judy’s film roles on display in Chittenango, NY.
A Judy Garland rose.
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is watching Meet Me in St. Louis.
In 2016 I visited the Warner Brothers backlot. Stage 24, famously known as the “Friends stage,” was also where scenes from Judy’s 1954 remake of A Star is Born were filmed.
This movie theater on the Warner Brothers backlot has been featured in The Way We Were, The Artist, Gilmore Girls, Pretty Little Liars, as well as A Star Is Born.
The Pantages Theater was the site of the 1954 premiere of A Star Is Born.
My parents and I stand around one of Judy’s stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.
Me posing with Judy’s star.
Judy left her handprints and footprints in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre at the 1939 premiere of her film Babes in Arms.
Mickey Rooney watches as Judy makes her handprints in the cement. (Public domain photo)
Me putting my hands in Judy’s handprints.
Judy spent over 15 years under contract to MGM Studios. Today Sony Pictures Studios owns the studios and backlot. This building, named the Irving Thalberg Building for the famed producer who met an untimely early death, was essentially the center of the studio in its heyday. Studio head Louis B. Mayer and many of the big time producers had offices in this building. Judy found herself here numerous times during her tenure at MGM.
This little building is now an office at Sony Pictures Studios, but in MGM’s heyday, it was a schoolhouse, where Judy and her contemporaries Mickey Rooney, Lana Turner, and Elizabeth Taylor all had their daily lessons.
Judy lived in this house in Los Angeles with her mother around the time she was filming The Wizard of Oz. Interestingly enough, the house next door is the house from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Judy famously lived in this Bel Air home in the early 1940s.
Judy attended a fundraising event for her friend John F. Kennedy at the Beverly Hilton in 1961. Judy was quite close with the Kennedys and was devastated by the president’s passing. Inside the hotel is a statue of a camel that was seen in A Star Is Born and subsequently owned by Judy.
Judy’s most famous concert was the one she gave at Carnegie Hall in New York City on April 23, 1961. The album recorded that night, Judy at Carnegie Hall, won the Grammy for Album of the Year, making Judy the first female to achieve the honor.
Judy had three runs at the Palace: in 1951, 1956, and 1967.
This home in Santa Monica once belonged to MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer. Footage of Judy and her contemporaries swimming in the pool at the house can be seen below.
When I was in Seattle, I stopped by the Paramount Theater to take a photo, as Judy performed here as a vaudeville act with her sisters in 1934.
The Cal-Neva Lodge on the border of California and Nevada is said to be where Judy Garland was discovered. She met someone here that got her an audition at MGM.
Judy and her sisters performed vaudeville at the Bishop Theatre in California in 1929. I happened in this town on a trip through the Eastern Sierra.
Judy is depicted as an audio animatronic on The Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which has sadly been replaced by a new ride.
When I was in Westchester County, I visited Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, where her remains were once located. They have since been moved to Hollywood Forever Cemetery in California.
Many fans had recently visited, bearing gifts and cards.

I’ve also made a number of illustrations featuring Judy, and here are some of my favorites.

Judy as Dorothy with the pride flag in the background. Judy is well known as a gay icon, and some even say the pride flag is a rainbow because of her.
Judy as Esther Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Judy as Jane Falbury in Summer Stock (1950)
Judy as Esther Blodgett in A Star Is Born (1954)
A table with a record player playing Judy at Carnegie Hall (I don’t actually own a record player, but if I did, that’s what I’d be spinning).
A birthday illustration I made.

To see more of my photography be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook. To see more of my illustrations, follow @sddoodles on Instagram. All photos and illustrations in this post © Samantha Decker and may not be reused without permission.

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