Re Judy Garland, is Simon Doonan Blind...

[Fiddle Peghead]

... or just making stuff up?

In this article on Slate, Simon Doonan makes the following comment about this pic of Judy Garland:

[Garland] is caught backstage wrapped in a towel. Her face is a festival of anguish. One rigor mortis hand claws the air. The other clutches at a bottle of rubbing alcohol which has clearly just been torn from her grasp. Judy is having a preshow meltdown.

Well, he's right about her face anyway. Does anyone know of a reliable account of what is actually happening in this picture? Perhaps what Doonan states has some basis in truth, but the picture does not back up his assertions about her hands and whether or not she's just been trying to dip into the rubbing alcohol.

[CatherineZeta]

To me it just looks like an unflattering photo in which she's in the middle of saying something and making a hand gesture for emphasis.

I'm aware of her multitude of problems, but sometimes a weird photo is just a weird photo.

[Bryan Ekers]

Unless Doonan was there when the picture was taken, or spoke to someone who was, his guess is as good as anybody's, and anybody's is as good as his.

[Eve]

Judy: "Omigod, will this nail polish never dry?"

Judy: "There is the biggest spider on the wall right behind you!"

Judy: "And then the grasshopper said, 'you have a drink called 'Kevin?'"

[Rhiannon8404]

She looks like she's telling a story about something awful and making appropriate face and gestures to me. The bottle in the background could be anything and she certainly doesn't seem to be paying any attention to it.

[Eve]

Judy: "Wait, Liza married who?"

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by Eve

Judy: "Wait, Liza married who?"

For the win!!

I knew we could depend on you, Eve!

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

"...and gazongas out to here!"

[Eve]

Judy: "Ten goddam movies with that fucking Mickey Rooney, they made me do! Seemed like a hundred!"

[Eve]

Judy: "And the turkey was killed by hand, with a knife!"

[Cartooniverse]

Judy: Do you have any idea how much it hurt to have my tits taped down every goddamned day??? How did they know they needed to be taped down? Because that pencil-dicked little Napoleon Louie B. Mayer used to "measure" them with his hands just like this !!!

[StGermain]

The pic actually looks like she was getting a massage - towel, bottle of alcohol. She didn't have very attractive hands, though.

StG

[needscoffee]

"I had his nuts RIGHT where I wanted them!"

[Bryan Ekers]

"...so then I said 'Oh, shit, we're back in KANSAS?!' "

[Bumbershoot]

"Wanna see my Marlon Brando?"

"Hey Stellaaaa!"

[panache45]

"I still have scars from where that fucking munchkin had grabbed me by the buttocks."

[Susie Derkins]

"Give me that alcohol, I need it to wash down this invisible meatball sub."

[Eve]

"And the lobster looked at me just like this when it went into the boiling water!"

[Scumpup]

"...and Bert Lahr's were like two tennis balls stuffed in a sweat sock...a dirty sweat sock!"

[Eve]

"The eyeballs on Jerry Colonna--I still have nightmares!"

[Scumpup]

"Crimoney, doc, do you keep your speculum in the f***ing refrigerator?!"

[Fiddle Peghead]

Yes, well, um, okay.

Can I assume then, that the answer is no?*

*You know, the whole thing about a reliable account.

[madmonk28]

FWIW, I googled the name of the photographer + Judy Garland + alcohol and this was the first hit http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0103/wc30.htm

However, at one point Judy grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol and one of those around her quickly took it from her, saying, "No, Judy dear!"

She displayed such angst and fear. I felt for her, but most of the people in the room seemed used to it. I felt that she was miserable and was crying out for help, and yet, she seemed to be enjoying it all.