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How does one capture the essence of a legend as large as Judy Garland? That task is about<br />
as easy as cramming an elephant into a bottle… or at least that's how it felt when we set<br />
out to summarize the life of this celebrated woman for the readers of THE VOICE. We<br />
weren't sure where to begin. And then, like the tornado that plucked Dorothy from Kansas<br />
and delivered her to Oz, John Fricke came along to put us on the right path. He helped us<br />
navigate the yellow brick road of Judy's life, and deliver her story to you. We'd like to<br />
introduce him to you now…<br />
VOICE: How did you become a Judy Garland expert?<br />
JOHN: Well, it's something that just happened, I guess... although it's not a noun I use to<br />
describe myself. "Author/historian" and/or "archivist"… "producer" — somehow, those seem<br />
a bit more legitimate and less maniacally focused [smiles]. I figuratively fell in love with<br />
Judy when I was five; from then on, I wanted to know anything I could about her —<br />
especially in terms of her career and achievement and repertoire and the backstory<br />
attendant to the concerts and movies and TV shows and radio appearances and recordings.<br />
I guess I have (what I've since heard applied to others as) a "writer's memory." And so<br />
much of the masses of journalistic material I ingested over the years stayed with me... and<br />
John Fricke<br />
has come in inordinately handy when it came time to write books and essays and liner<br />
notes and articles — and to advise, consult, produce product about her. The fact that it's Judy Garland material that I'm putting<br />
forth makes my job the easiest in the world. To give it an artistic allusion: all I do is try to create a suitable framework and fit it<br />
around a masterpiece. Then I get out of the way — and SHE does all the "work" [smiles].<br />
VOICE: Did you ever meet Judy Garland? If so, what was she like?<br />
JOHN: I met Judy at 2 a.m. in the Pump Room restaurant at the Ambassador East Hotel in Chicago; this was the night/early<br />
morning of September 14/15, 1967. I was 16 and had seen her in concert that evening for the second time, this go-round at<br />
the Opera House. (I attended my first Garland show two years earlier, also in Chicago, at the Arie Crown Theatre on May 7,<br />
1965 — and my third the evening after we met.) She was as welcoming, warm, funny, convivial, and quietly sincere and<br />
appreciative as I always knew she'd be... and as I had no right to expect her to be after she'd completed a 90 minute show and<br />
was in a comparatively private, post-performance "unwind" mode. What was remarkable in retrospect about our brief<br />
conversation is that neither of us could know then that I would end up being responsible for the preservation and presentation<br />
of so much of her legacy in the decades ahead. But how very grateful and (hopefully pardonably) proud I am to have been<br />
entrusted with that amazing artistic history... and to have the memory of her kindness and attention and humor and charm on<br />
that (to me!) historic occasion in 1967.<br />
VOICE: When and how were you introduced to <strong>Linda</strong>'s work?<br />
JOHN: I've known of <strong>Linda</strong> for a long time... I used to hear her CDs played at Sam's theatrical hangout/restaurant on West<br />
45th Street here in New York when I'd go in there for dinner; it's right across the street from where I've lived lo! these 31<br />
years. And even as purported background music, her voice couldn't help but garner attention and interest. I think the first time<br />
I heard her in person came on the opening night of JEKYLL & HYDE; I knew one of the producers, so we were all out in support<br />
and enthusiasm on that occasion. And if I'd been an admirer prior to that, I became a fan as of that evening.<br />
VOICE: Did you have a role in the background preparation of BY MYSELF? If so, could you tell us about it?<br />
JOHN: No, I really didn't, in any way, shape, or form. I had heard — via the Garland grapevine — that <strong>Linda</strong> was in London,<br />
doing the sessions. And I was aware that she'd spoken about Judy with the former editor-in-chief of the International Judy<br />
Garland Club magazine around the same time as the recordings were being made. But my "connection" is a very minor, postperformance<br />
one; Jill Siegel and I have a mutual friend here in New York, who brought us together to "talk Judy/<strong>Linda</strong>" — and<br />
that's how I was asked to spread the word and provide a conduit to the Garland factions.<br />
VOICE: Do you have a favorite song from BY MYSELF?
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