By james art A few hours after being discharged from a nursing home, on the evening of July 23, 1964, Judy Garland walked into the London Palladium, where the annual television special The night of 100 stars was taking place. The doctor had forbidden her to sing, and she had only to take a bow.
“She was pretty frail, like a stick insect,” recalled Wendy Noel, Garland’s security guard, who escorted her to the stage. Noel was Agatha Christie’s stage manager and she was quick and real, but there wasn’t much she could do when, to the roar of the crowd, the 42-year-old Hollywood star began to sing softly Somewhere over the rainbow under a single spotlight.
When he finished, he received a standing ovation and