The Judy Garland Show - Production

Production

Judy Garland's four-year contract for the series called for 26 weekly shows, for which Garland's corporation, Kingsrow Enterprises, would be paid $140,000 per episode. Of that Garland was guaranteed between $25,000 and $30,000 per show. Kingsrow Enterprises would also retain ownership of the tapes, allowing Garland to sell the series into syndication. Although Garland had said as early as 1955 that she would never do a weekly television series, in the early 1960s she was in a financially precarious situation. Garland was several hundred thousand dollars in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, having failed to pay taxes in 1951 and 1952, and the financial failure of the film A Star is Born meant that her share of any profits from that film would be eaten up immediately. A successful run on television would secure Garland's financial future.

The Judy Garland Show was initially slated to be taped in New York City. The network initially offered the producer's job to Bob Banner, who was at the time producing a series for Garry Moore. Although he was interested, he declined to relocate from the West Coast. Bob Finkel, whose credits included shows for Dinah Shore and Andy Williams, was next approached but similarly refused to relocate. Veteran producer and director Bill Hobin, then heading up Sing Along with Mitch, was approached to produce and direct the program. Already based in the East, Hobin eagerly accepted. Unbeknownst to Hobin, George Schlatter had been lobbying on the West Coast for the producer job and was signed to produce. Ultimately Hobin bowed out of the producer slot and Schlatter became the producer while Hobin was retained to direct.

With the producer question settled, Schlatter set about assembling the crew for the series. Mort Lindsey was hired to conduct the show's orchestra. Gary Smith, who had designed the earlier Sinatra/Martin special, was signed as art director. Multiple Academy Award-winner Edith Head was engaged to design Garland's costumes while Ray Agyahan, who Schlatter knew from their work together with Dinah Shore, was hired to costume Garland's guests. Mel Tormé was brought on as musical arranger and to write special musical material and would also appear as a guest on the program. Choreography duties were taken by Danny Daniels. Comedian Jerry Van Dyke was engaged as a series regular.

In addition to musical performances from Garland and the week's guest stars, the series' initial format included the recurring segments "Born in a Trunk" (the name taken from a number in A Star is Born) in which Garland would tell stories of her show business career and sing a related song, and "Tea for Two" which would feature her chatting with a surprise guest. Van Dyke would perform comedy sketches, sometimes with Garland or the guests. Garland would close each episode by singing the song "Maybe I'll Come Back." The obscure novelty song, selected by Garland and Schlatter over CBS's objections (the network wanted a few bars of Over the Rainbow), included the line "And President Coolidge is a cousin of mine." Garland as a running gag would substitute a different name for Coolidge's each week.

Although initially planned for an East Coast shoot, The Judy Garland Show was taped at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. The network had gone to great expense to prepare the studio, including an estimated $100,000 to raise the stage and install a separate revolving stage. Garland's dressing room was a 110'x40' trailer which had been decorated as a replica of her newly purchased Brentwood home. The corridor that led from her dressing room to the stage was painted to resemble the Yellow Brick Road from The Wizard of Oz.

The first taping commenced on June 24, 1963. Garland's old friend and frequent MGM co-star Mickey Rooney was, at Garland's insistence, her first guest.

On August 2, after six weeks of taping and five completed shows, Schlatter was fired as producer by James Aubrey, Jr., president of CBS. Also fired were several of the writing staff and choreographer Danny Daniels. Replacing Schlatter as executive producer was Norman Jewison, who shared a vision for the series that was closer to that of Aubrey's. That vision was that Garland was too glamorous for television and that she needed her series to present her in a more conventional light. Jewison, who had agreed to serve as producer through the thirteenth episode, implemented changes designed to "make the sacred cow less sacred," including subjecting Garland to Van Dyke's jokes that denigrated her issues with her weight, her reputation for unreliability and her career highs and lows. Jewison also introduced a new recurring feature, "Be My Guest," with Tormé's writing tailored material for the week's guest to perform with Garland near the top of each show. Production was suspended for five weeks.

After Jewison, Bill Colleran joined the show as Garland's selection for its third executive producer. Colleran revamped the format yet again, doing away with the insulting humor and focusing the show back on Garland and her singing, including several "Judy Garland in concert" episodes. It was during Colleran's time with the show, following show 22 specifically, that Tormé was fired, replaced by Bobby Cole, a musician Garland had met recently in New York. Tormé would later file suit for breach of contract and write a tell-all book about the series, The Other Side of the Rainbow: With Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol.

CBS announced the cancellation of The Judy Garland Show on January 22, 1964. Officially, it was reported that it was Garland who exited the series, as explained in a letter released by CBS, supposedly from Garland to Aubrey advising him that she wanted to spend more time caring for her children.