...away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me.

It's been 45 years since Judy Garland passed away. Instead of focusing on her tragic end, I want to celebrate the joy she brought to Old Hollywood and to millions of people throughout the decades. 

Judy was born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. She was the youngest of three girls, and her family nicknamed her "Baby". The three Gumm sisters started performing song and dance routines as young girls in their Episcopal Church and in their father's movie theater. In 1926, the Gumm family moved to California, where it didn't take long for the girls to get started in motion pictures. In 1934, the sisters changed their name to Garland, and they appeared together until 1935 when oldest sister Mary Jane was married.

Mary Jane, Dorothy Virginia, and Frances Ethel, 

1920s

The Gumm Sisters

Judy eventually signed a contract at age 13 with Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Judy would soon garner attention by singing her rendition of You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It) to Clark Gable at his birthday party. It would lead to a part in Broadway Melody of 1938 where she would sing the same song to a photo of Gable. 

Judy, age 13. Judy always felt out of place & not as beautiful

as the girls she went to school with at MGM, including Ava Gardner, Elizabeth

Taylor, and Lana Turner. 

Judy c. 1935 

Judy would soon start her series of musicals with fellow MGM star and lifelong friend, Mickey Rooney, in 1937, starting with Love Finds Andy Hardy. The pair would go on to appear in 13 films together. However popular the Andy Hardy series was, Judy's life would change when she was cast as the lead character, Dorothy, in 1939's The Wizard of Oz. It's one of the all time greats, a film every child has seen. I was born and raised in Kansas, just like Dorothy, so The Wizard of Oz means a great deal to me. 

Mickey and Judy in Love Finds Andy Hardy.

"I'm not a witch at all! I'm Dorothy Gale, from Kansas."

The 1940s were a plethora of musicals for Judy Garland. Standing under 5 feet tall, the little girl with the big voice delighted audiences in musical films such as For Me and My Gal (with Gene Kelly), Babes on Broadway (with Rooney), Meet Me In St Louis, and Easter Parade (with Fred Astaire), among many others. 

"I was born at the age of twelve on the MGM lot."

-Judy Garland

Judy was so gorgeous in the 1940s.

"I made all these great musicals with Judy Garland. It was all

about me going into a barn and saying, 'Let's put

on a show.' That's what me and Judy did."

-Mickey Rooney

Gene Kelly and Judy in For Me and My Gal, 1942

Presenting Lily Mars, 1943

  

Publicity still as Esther Smith in Meet Me In St. Louis, 1944

With Meet Me In St. Louis co-star Tom Drake

Judy and friend Frank Sinatra. Frank would be Judy's 

daughter Lorna Luft's godfather.

With Easter Parade (1948) co-star, Fred Astaire

Judy met her first husband, Vincente Minnelli, on the set of her 1944 picture Meet Me In St. Louis. Vincente was the director, and they began a romantic relationship during filming. The couple married on June 15, 1945. Their only daughter, Liza, was born in March 1946. The pair divorced in 1951.

Vincente and Judy married in her mother's backyard.

Judy and baby Liza.

“It was no great tragedy being Judy Garland's daughter.

 I had tremendously interesting childhood 

years -- except they had little to do with being a child.”

-Liza Minnelli

Judy and Vincente divorced in 1951. Soon after, Judy employed Sid Luft as her manager, and would soon begin a relationship. They were married in 1952. Sid and Judy had two children together, Lorna and Joey. They divorced in 1963 after a seemingly rocky relationship. Judy would marry three more times in her life.

"When we got married in the early '50s, Judy was still very beautiful. 

She was only 5-foot tall -- just a shrimp of a girl, really -- but she 

had a very sensuous body, and up close, her skin was 

like porcelain, pure white. I was crazy about her. 

She had incredibly kissable lips."

-Sid Luft

Judy and Sid with Liza, Joey, and Lorna, 1960s

Unfortunately, Judy succumbed to pill addiction while living in London in 1969. She died in the early morning hours of June 22. It is said that there was a tornado around the same time she died near Salina, Kansas (which is right near my hometown) late at night on June 21. Maybe it's true, maybe it isn't, but I like to believe it is. Judy was a tornado of a woman, in a good way, and her presence and voice are missed terribly. 

Who's gonna fill George's shoes?

“If we could all sing like we wanted to, 

we’d all sing like George Jones.” 

–Waylon Jennings

I'm not a fan of country music, especially the current manufactured sounding songs and artists that are popular (and that goes for any genre). I have a soft spot for the old country music, thanks in part to my awesome grandparents, with whom I've listened to George Jones and the likes all my life. On April 26, 2013, however, my love for George grew into something special. It was the day he passed away, and a radio station was playing nothing but George. I wondered why I had been missing out on listening to George all my adult life, on my own, not at my grandparents' house! He sang with heart. His love songs with Tammy tugged at the heart strings. It wasn't until I read up on George that I learned of his hard and troubled life, and, of course, that only made me love him more.

George Glenn Jones was born September 12, 1931 in a small Texas town. When George was seven, he heard country music for the first time when his parents bought a radio, and he was given a guitar when he was nine. He would stay awake late on Saturday nights just to hear Bill Monroe and Roy Acuff on the Grand Ole Opry. His father was a terrible alcoholic, and when he drank, he was physically and emotionally abusive to his wife and children. George said, "We were our daddy's loved ones when he was sober, his prisoners when he was drunk." George's father would come home late at night, drunk, and wake up the entire family and make young George sing for them. George left home at 16 to work for a radio station in another Texas town, and in 1950, he married his first wife, Dorothy, though they divorced a year later. Around this time, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps, and was stationed in San Jose, California until his discharge in 1953. 

Twelve year old George on the streets of Beaumont, Texas

The Possum in the Marines

In 1954, George married Shirley Ann Corley after only 2 weeks of dating and together they had 2 sons, Jeffrey and Brian. When it came down to it, neither one knew what they were getting into with the other. George had his heart set on becoming a country star, and Shirley was set against it. George cut his first record, No Money In This Deal for Starday Records also in '54. George was also working at another radio station in Beaumont, Texas at this time, where he acquired the nickname The Possum, simply because of his looks, his long turned up nose and his small eyes. He was affectionately called Possum all his life. George's first hit came in 1955, Why Baby Why, and he began performing on the Louisiana Hayride with the likes of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. When Elvis became popular with his rockabilly sound, George was pressured into taking on the style as well. Rockabilly wasn't George's style, though. He recorded a couple of rockabilly songs under the assumed name Thumper Jones, because he didn't want his real name on anything that wasn't good. 

George, left, with James O'Gwynne in 1956 

on the Louisiana Hayride

George, right, with friend Johnny Paycheck on stage

His first Billboard number one came in 1959, White Lightnin', which George admitted in his autobiography he recorded drunk, taking 80 takes to do. In the 1960s, he recorded hits like She Thinks I Still Care and a duet with Melba Montgomery, We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds. During this period, he was already becoming well known for either not showing up to his scheduled concerts or showing up under the influence of a great deal of alcohol. This alcoholic behavior would continue throughout the 1970s and gain him another nickname, No Show Jones. After 13 rocky years of marriage, and after George was coming unglued, he and Shirley divorced in 1968.

George married his third wife, fellow country singer Tammy Wynette, in 1969. They recorded an abundance of songs together, and although George was more sober at times than in previous years, he still was an alcoholic. It eventually led to the demise of his marriage to Tammy in 1976. 

George with wife and duet partner, Tammy Wynette

Tammy and George chat with Merle Haggard and wife Bonnie Owens

Audrey Winters, Little Richard, Tammy and George

George and Tammy with their daughter, Tamala Georgette.

Georgette was born in 1970.

George and Georgette in the 1980s

After the divorce, George ran rampant. To add to his constant drinking, a manager introduced him to cocaine. George, broke and homeless, filed for bankruptcy in 1978. A year later, he entered a psychiatric hospital. Although he was still drinking upon his release, he managed a comeback in 1980. The song He Stopped Loving Her Today came out in April and shocked the world with its huge success. Soon after, he met and married Nancy Sepulvado who he credits with turning his life around for good. She took care of his financial situation, she kept him away from anyone providing him with drugs, and she helped him stop drinking for the most part. They had a love that lasted the rest of his life.

"It wasn't love at first sight or anything like that. But I saw what a good person he was,

 deep down, and I couldn't help caring about him."

The beautiful Nancy at George's memorial/gravesite

in Nashville.

George has been hailed as one of, if not THE greatest country singer who ever lived, by Garth Brooks, Waylon Jennings, and Merle Haggard, just to name a few. There will never be another one like him. 

"He stopped loving her today
They placed a wreath upon his door
And soon they'll carry him away
He stopped loving her today."

Rest easy, Possum.

We still love Lucy!

25 years ago today, we lost the greatest comedienne who has ever lived. We miss you, Lucy.

"One of the worst things the studio people did was shave off

my eyebrows. We were all trying to look like Jean Harlow."

Lucille spent two years re-learning how to walk after

being stricken with rheumatoid arthritis at 19.

Using the name "Diane Belmont," Lucille started work as

a chorus girl on Broadway in 1932.

She was known as Queen of the B movies

She was friends with some of Hollywood's biggest actresses,

including Ginger Rogers and Carole Lombard.

When Lucille was a teenager, her mother sent her to drama school 

in New York City, where she was in classes with Bette Davis.

Lucille said, "All I learned in drama school was how to be frightened."

Desi and Lucille met in 1940 and married soon after. 

They had a rocky relationship, though they were deeply in love.

Technicolor Tessie of the 1940s

The studio dyed her hair her trademark red for the film

DuBarry Was A Lady in 1943.

MGM publicity shot

 Lucille started on the CBS radio show My Favorite Husband

 in 1948.

Her favorite movie she appeared in was The Big Street in 1942 

with Henry Fonda.

Lucille had the longest association with Max Factor

out of anyone in Hollywood.

"One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged.

Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your

faith in yourself."

She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

One for motion pictures, and one for television.

Lucille suffered three miscarriages before having her two

children, Lucie and Desi Jr. She was 39 & 41, respectively, when 

she gave birth to her children.

Lucy claimed that her friend, Carole Lombard, who had passed away

in a plane accident in 1942, came to her in a dream and told her to

"give it a whirl!" in regards to I Love Lucy.

Lucille and Desi performed a Vaudeville act in the early 1950s.

Some of their acts were performed in I Love Lucy episodes.

I Love Lucy began its 6 season run in 1951.

After I Love Lucy, the Ricardos and Mertzes continued their

hijinx on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour until 1960.

In 1953, Lucille went on trial and was accused of being a Communist.

She was later acquitted after disproving the claims.

When Desi and Lucille created DesiLu,

she became the first female to head a production company.

Lucille and Desi divorced in 1960, shortly after The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour

ended.

In 1960, Lucille appeared on Broadway once again, 

this time in Wildcat.

Lucille also starred in two other sitcoms, The Lucy Show and later Life With Lucy.

She also made a few films in the 1960s.

Lucille attempted a comeback in the 1980s, hosting a retrospect of Three's Company.

She also made Stone Pillow, a movie which was not widely accepted.

Lucille passed away after complications from surgery on April 26, 1989.

I love you, Lucy!!