avatarJacob Wilkins
# Summary

Judy Garland's life was marred by substance abuse instigated by her mother and exacerbated by the exploitative practices of MGM, leading to her tragic overdose death.

# Abstract

The article delves into the darker aspects of Judy Garland's life, revealing how her mother, Ethel Gumm, introduced her to drugs at a young age to maintain her energy for performances. Signed by MGM at age 13, Judy faced a controlling environment where she was subjected to strict diets, sleep-inducing pills, and constant surveillance. Despite her success in films like "The Wizard of Oz," her struggles with substance abuse, mental health, and professional pressures persisted. MGM eventually fired her from "Annie Get Your Gun" due to her unreliability, replacing her with Betty Hutton. Judy's later years were marked by personal turmoil, including five marriages and a continued battle with addiction, culminating in her death from an overdose at age 47.

# Opinions

- The author suggests that Judy Garland's talent was exploited by her mother and Hollywood executives for personal gain.
- There is an implication that the film industry during the Golden Age was complicit in the abuse and exploitation of its stars, particularly through the example of MGM's treatment of Judy Garland.
- The article conveys a sense of inevitability about Judy Garland's death due to her lifelong struggle with substance abuse, which began in her childhood.

Four Uncomfortable Facts About Judy Garland

The dark side of the rainbow

A publicity photograph of Judy Garland from MGM, 1943 (Wikimedia Commons)

The dark history of the Golden Age of Hollywood is well-documented. Beneath the wealth and glamour, the film industry had an ugly underbelly consisting of economic exploitation, bullying behavior, and substance abuse.

The story of Judy Garland — one of entertainment’s greatest legends — is the perfect distillation of this disturbing side of Hollywood. If you want proof that people will exploit talent for their own gain, you’ve come to the right place.

1. Judy Garland’s Mother Gave Drugs To Her Children

A photograph of the Gumm Sisters by an unknown photographer, 1935 (Wikimedia Commons)

In all of Judy’s accounts of her childhood, her mother is made out to be a villain, and it’s easy to see why. Determined to see at least one of her children become a star, Ethel Gumm pushed her daughters to the limit.

Weekend after weekend, Ethel took Judy and her two older sisters on a three-hour trip to Los Angeles in search of fame, where the girls would perform as a threesome known as the Gumm Sisters.

Ethel gave her daughters pills to perk up their energy levels and then knocked them to sleep with more pills when they needed rest. By the time she was nine years old, drugs had become a normal part of Judy’s life. This was the start of her lifelong battle with substance abuse.

Loneliness was also a problem. Judy was always being taken out of school, so it was difficult to maintain friendships. As it became clear Judy was the most talented of the Gumm Sisters, she started to perform without her siblings.

2. MGM Abused and Controlled Judy Garland

A photograph of Judy Garland performing in The Wizard of Oz from MGM, 1939 (Wikimedia Commons)

Ethel’s hard-fought dream came true when Judy was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Hollywood’s most prestigious and glamorous studio, in 1935. But despite having to spend less time with her mother, the abuse didn’t stop.

MGM boss Louis B. Mayer wanted his leading actresses to stay slim for the camera. Consequently, executives placed Judy on a strict diet of soup and pills. Unfortunately, the latter gave Judy insomnia, so MGM executives gave her more pills to put her to sleep, continuing the tactic used by her mother.

Worse still, if Judy sneaked off to ice cream parlors to escape the restrictions of her diet, spies would report her activity to Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM. (Mayer was one of the most powerful men in Hollywood and was known to have a penchant for young girls.)

Despite this difficult working environment, Judy’s talent continued to shine through, and in 1939, she played the leading role in one of the most famous films of all time: The Wizard of Oz.

3. MGM Fired Judy Garland and Replaced Her With Another Actress

A photograph of Betty Hutton from Paramount Studios, c. 1945 (Wikimedia Commons)

Judy continued to perform for MGM for many years. In 1949, she started working on the musical film Annie Get Your Gun (1950).

However, after years of abuse, Judy was starting to struggle both mentally and physically. Burdened with a mixture of insomnia, migraines, and nausea, her attendance was erratic. She often wouldn’t show up to work, and when she did, her performances varied in quality. Matters weren’t helped by the fact that Judy frequently quarreled with one of the directors.

As anxiety and insecurity started to overpower the actress, she resorted to drinking and drugs. This did nothing to help the situation. One day, she left the set of the film after a couple of minutes and was found inside her dressing room banging her head against the wall.

Soon, the inevitable happened. MGM bosses closed down production, fired their leading lady, and replaced her with an actress named Betty Hutton. When Annie Get Your Gun was released the following year, it was a commercial and critical success.

4. Judy Garland Died of a Drug Overdose

A publicity photograph of Judy Garland from MGM, 1950 (Wikimedia Commons)

In March 1969, Judy, long out of the movie business, married a nightclub manager called Mickey Deans. This was Judy’s fifth marriage, and — just like the other four — it wasn’t destined to last.

Several months later, Judy and Mickey were staying in London when they had yet another argument. Judy ran into the street shouting, and Mickey went out to find her. Unable to locate his wife, he returned to the house alone. The next morning, he woke up to find the bathroom door locked.

Once inside, Mickey discovered Judy’s lifeless body. She had swallowed ten capsules of Seconal (a powerful barbiturate) and died of an overdose. Given Judy had committed acts of self-harm before, it’s easy to label her death as a suicide. But there’s no way of verifying this. The overdose may have been accidental.

Having relied on drugs since she was a child, Judy’s death was tragically predictable. It was the most probable ending for a life plagued with substance abuse from the very beginning.

Sources

The Complete Judy Garland (1990) by Emily R. Coleman

Judy Garland (2007) by Paul Donnelley

Judy Garland: Beyond the Rainbow (1999) by Sheridan Morley

Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend (1993) by David Shipman

History
Hollywood
Judy Garland
Movies
Drug Addiction
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