Rainbow's End: The Judy Garland Show [Paperback]

C. S. Sanders (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1992

A profile of the legendary performer during the run of her successful television program discusses her battle with substance abuse and includes previously unpublished photographs. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The last major effort of Judy Garland's career was the Judy Garland Show , which aired on CBS for 26 weeks in 1963-64. Its commercial failure has often been attributed to the star's insecurity, her problems with substance abuse, and her difficulty in dealing with the pressures of producing a weekly series. In this well-researched, objective work, TV journalist Sanders portrays Garland as a demanding individual but blames the network for the show's demise. He describes network infighting and monumental ego battles and provides almost minute-by-minute details of how each show was put together. Garland fans will appreciate Sanders's senstive yet straightforward treatment of this troubled superstar--and look forward with interest to the release of the shows on videotape. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This Garland book carves out a niche for itself in the mass of material about the singer with a specialized focus on her 1963-64 television series. Sanders, a former editor for The Hollywood Reporter , interviewed many Garland contemporaries and gleaned information from detailed fan publications to create an inside look at how a talented entertainer was forced into an inappropriate weekly format against Bonanza 's established Sunday time slot. The appendix has complete rundowns of each show: guests, songs and sketches, date taped, date aired, etc. For libraries with hard-core Garland fans or an interest in television/entertainment history.
- Rebecca Sturm Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Zebra (March 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821737082
• ISBN-13: 978-0821737088
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,616,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #33 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( G ) > Garland, Judy

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fearsome Portrait of Incredible Mismanagement, January 18, 2005

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rainbow's End: The Judy Garland Show (Hardcover)

The Judy Garland Show consisted of twenty-six shows that aired in the CBS Sunday night line up in the 1963-1964 season. The network considered it an immediate and expensive failure and the series was canceled as soon as contractual obligation allowed. Isolated exceptions aside, the series was neither syndicated nor re-run and, with the exception of various "art" screenings it seemed to vanish completely.

Nonetheless, The Judy Garland remains one of the single most discussed and written-about series in broadcast history. Garland biographies aside, it is inevitably touched upon--and often focused upon--in histories of broadcast television, where it is usually held up as an example of how even the greatest talents, biggest budgets, and best intentions can be exploded by mismanagement, network politics, and in some instances pure spite.

Two major publications have focused on the series. The first was the 1970 OVER THE RAINBOW WITH JUDY GARLAND ON THE DAWN PATROL by Mel Torme, the respected singer-songwriter-composer, who contracted to write and arrange special musical material and make three guest appearances during the first season. Torme places blame for the series' failure squarely upon the shoulders of Garland herself, painting a frightening portrait of a greatly talented but extremely unstable and often vicious star self-destructing through booze and pills and determined to drag all those around her down with her. Although denounced as grossly inaccurate by many associated with the series, it was for many years generally accepted as authoritative.

The second was 1990's RAINBOW'S END by Coyne Steven Sanders. Amassed from meticulous research and seventy-five interviews with individuals directly involved in the series, it explodes DAWN PATROL with the force of an atomic bomb. Sanders freely acknowledges that Garland was a tempestuous individual with profound chemical dependencies--but his interview subjects note that, far from being difficult, she actually withstood a great deal more unpleasantness from others than she actually caused herself.

What ultimately emerges is a story of Garland's mismanagement, first at the hands of agents Begelman and Fields, then at the hands of such employees as Mel Torme, but ultimately and most destructively at the hands of CBS executives James Aubrey and Hunt Stromberg--each with their own self-serving agendas and all determined to drain The Judy Garland Show to further them. It is also a story of great talents and opportunities simply thrown away.

With the advent of DVD, The Judy Garland Show at last began to reach a wide audience, and the actual product bears out Sanders' contentions. At its best, it was extraordinary, offering not only Garland very near the peak of her vocal talents, but a host of great performers that read like a Who's Who of 1960s show business--June Allyson, Tony Bennett, Vic Damone, Bobbin Darrin, Lena Horne, Ethel Merman, Peggy Lee, Jane Powell, and Barbra Streisand, to name but the most obvious, most of whom Sanders interviews to great effect. But the program was "fiddled to death" by constant CBS reformatting, too often saddled with inept writing and insipid guest stars booked on studio demand, and ultimately unable to establish any consistent formula acceptable to both Garland and CBS.

According to Sanders, Garland did indeed spiral out of control toward the end of the series--but given the madhouse into which she was thrown it is amazing that she did not run screaming down the street at the very beginning. And, as Sanders so astutely points out, she has had the last laugh after all. Few series television programs of the early 1960s, including those that bested The Judy Garland show in ratings, have survived in the public memory. But The Judy Garland Show, for all its flaws and faults, seems to become more greatly respected with each passing year.

After reading Sander's meticulously documented assessment of The Judy Garland Show, you'll never again look at broadcast television with quite the same eye. Very strongly recommended, not only for Garland fans, but for any one with an interest in the medium.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on Judy Garland available today, March 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rainbow's End: The Judy Garland Show (Paperback)

I'd rate this up there with Christopher Finch's "Rainbow" and "Judy", by Gerald Frank. Absolutely one of the best books written about her talent and her life and it shows finally that Ms. Garland was NOT the self-destructive psychotic that was featured in Mel Torme's book on the same subject. Having the hardcover version, I wouldn't trade it for anything. It is comprehensive and well thought out. The pictures are fabulous! She never looked better! Along with some newer CD releases, such as "Judy' by 32 Records, they all show what a wonderful talent she was and at the peak of her abilities during the taping of her television show. Thank you, Mr. Sanders for finally setting the record straight on just what happened to The Judy Garland Show. A tragic story, not of her own doing, as Mr. Torme would have us believe.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS ONE SHOWS THE REAL 'JUDY'!!!!, March 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rainbow's End: The Judy Garland Show (Paperback)

Over the years I have read every book about JUDY and excluding the 'book' written by Mel Torme' many have been decent. But, not until this book has the talent, the class, the POWER that was JUDY GARLAND been properly conveyed!The book is informative about what went on in front of and behind the scenes of THE JUDY GARLAND SHOW. But also, it shows how at certain points JUDY wanted certain things done a certain way for a specific reason!!! Case in point, her singing 'THE BATTLE HYMM OF THE REPUBLIC'. She knew why it had to be done, she knew how it had to be done, and she knew that it had to be done!!!! AND SHE DID IT!!!! And what 'we' see on video during that performance is what JUDY was, is, and always will be!!! A performer who should have been left to do what she did-SING!And reading this book, you'll see why she is what she is, and how she got what will always be hers! LEGEND!!!!