Judy Garland and Creepmas?

The Judy Garland Christmas Special
1963 | B&W |  60Minutes | Musical | TV | VHS
Director: Dean Whitmore

Writers:

John Aylesworth

Shelley Berman

Stars: 

Judy Garland

Liza Minnelli

Peter Gennaro

Celebrate Christmas with this rare footage from Judy's acclaimed 1963 CBS-TV series, with special guests Mel Torme, Jack Jones, and Liza Minnelli. Judy performs "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "The Christmas Song", "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", and other favorites. It was originally created because after President John F. Kennedy's death, and America was feeling sad, she felt that there needed to be some Christmas spirit. That's why she started with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

How dare I you ask? How dare I put the beloved Judy Garland on display during Creepmas? And her Christmas Special of all things!! Read on my dear readers read on...

So I have to ask have you ever seen this special? Most of us  would say no simply because the lonely VHS tape is the only way to see it all tho I have heard rumors it's on YouTube I just have not looked into that yet. So the thing is I love old Christmas shows like this they are so fun and charming to watch. Little did I know I was about to watch something tragic. A little back story if you will I think of Garland as Dorothy and a wonderful singer. Now I'm not that young born in the 70's so she had passed already, so growing up I had no clue about her troubles with alcohol and that is what leads me to Creepmas.

As the show moved on at a snail pace I might add it became really uncomfortable to bare you could really feel the tension with other cast members and Judy herself just looked plain awful. The songs were great and not all geared towards the holiday which was nice. And the way the guests came and went from the house works well but I can not get past how bad she looked. I was even starting to feel bad about the kids like if they made one wrong move she was going to beat them with a wire coat hanger! 

Then things get really uncomfortable when Mel Tome stops over to sing "The Christmas Song" man the tension really comes off on the screen it's scary in so many ways. Really did feel like she was going to start a fight. Then Judy flubs a line and Tormé reacts jovially, laughing and making the aside comment, “Close....” But there is clearly some friction when Judy purposefully alters the next line to add a lyric from her signature tune "Over the Rainbow" on top of his masterpiece. I had to rewind that I just could not believe it. After watching this you can see why her show was short lived. 

Now there is good to be had as well Liza was awesome and I never realized just how cute she was. All I know about her is how many times she has been married and she has perfume. This was also one of the only times Garland looked comfortable as well.  And the music is great of course and the set is pretty cool based on her own house. Garland will close the show out with Somewhere over the rainbow and once again you can see the terror in her kids eyes and Garland looking for her next drink, Phew with all that said it is still worth finding and watching I'm sure I will check back next year giving it one more shot now that I know what to expect.

Make sure to check out the other bloggers during Creepmas!