Saturday, October 26, 2013

Blind Item #1 - Old Hollywood

To see this woman in the last few years of her life was to see a shadow. A pasty shadow who looked as if she would crumble at any time. I guess in a way she was the original coke mom but her drug of choice was heroin. Introduced to her by some musicians she met at a recording studio they showed her what to do and how to inject it. One of them also became her lover and that would have been a scandal still reverberating if it had been discovered at the time. For her there could be no crossing any racial lines like that. The last year or two of her life the forever A+ lister would wear long sleeves to cover the tracks on her arm. Is it any wonder her kids had such huge addiction problems?

84 comments:

Simon said...

Hmmm, Judy Garland?

The Real Dragon said...

Betty White

Lizzie said...

That's who I thought, Judy Garland.

sandybrook said...

I think she was pills and booze.

ladybaus said...

tammy wynette

sandybrook said...

She wad also always married.

Katie said...

I thought it was well known she was an opiate addict though. No?

Freya said...

Sounds like Judy Garland. Who's the musician? Sammy Davis Jr.?

msgirl said...

I thought of Judy too but thought she was booze and pills as well.

Clearly someone who sang, and I'm thinking jazz since at that time blacks were only really super successful in that genre.

sandybrook said...

Tammy was pills too because she was usually very sick.

Simon said...

Would Tammy Wynette be considered "old Hollywood"? I think Judy fits that more but who is to say what's in the mind of enty...

msgirl said...

Just checked, there have been lots of rumors about Judy and heroin, so this must be her. She did do lots of jazz, which was notorious for heroin abuse - RIP Billie, Coltraine, etc.

Unknown said...

There's only one start in a Helen Lawson production...

Debbie Reynolds loves her smack and drummers.

Bacon Ranch said...

Joan Crawford?

Simon said...

Joan Crawford wouldn't be in a recording studio

CarolMR said...

Ha, Helen Lawson! That character was to be played by Judy Garland but she backed out at the last minute and Susan Hayward took over ("The Valley of the Dolls").

Count Jerkula said...

Judy chased the dragon over that rainbow.

Lizzie said...

1950's female singers:
danièle dupré
dinah shore
roberta sharewood
barbara lewis
darlene love
dee dee sharp
carla thomas
mary wells
doris day
jo stafford
kay starr

1960's female singers:
arertha franklin
connie francis
jo ann campbell
cher
jullie budd
petula clark
jackie deshannon
mary hopkin
lesley gore
ellie greenwich
carole king
brenda lee
kathy linden
bambi mcormick

sandybrook said...

Judy Garland is the best bet for this second choice would have been Billie Holliday. However I don't think either one is right. Garland died of a pill overdose which she wouldnt need if taking smack. I also looked up Dinah Washington not her and Dorothy L'amour not her. So Enty wins!

sandybrook said...

Edith Piaf would have fit perfectly but no kids after her first one died.

Unknown said...

W Lizzy -I don't see Rosemary Clooney on your list. I don't think she's the one, but as far as listing singers, she deserves to be there.

Lizzie said...

A few aren't there.. trying to think. Rosemary Clooney should be there. I found the list already put together. It does seem like if it was Judy Garland, it would have been in her system at the time of death.

Lizzie said...

Peggy lee too.

audrey said...

Peggy Lee makes sense. How about Julie London?

SueRH said...

Joan Crawford is still alive.

SueRH said...

Joan Crawford is still alive.

Simon said...

It has to be someone whose kid(s) have a well known addiction problem as well (Liza) as the blind indicates. That's why Judy fits best. Not sure the others have kids that fall into that category

Lizzie said...

I can't find anything on Peggy Lee's daughter Nicki.

sandybrook said...

Joan Crawford died in 1977 and didn't sing. Peggy Lee died in her 80s. Clooney had the Ferrer kids but she died in her 70s.

Unknown said...

Sue are you thinking of Joan Collins? Crawford died ages ago.

bookjacket said...

The point of this blind is that Judy might have had an addiction that even today is rarely admitted to among the rich and famous. Cocaine, booze, pills? Rich people addictions. Heroin? The dregs of society, and in those days associated in the minds of many with black musicians.
Pill addiction was a very suburban thing by the time she died; and this blind certainly raises the question of whether the "pills and liquor" gossip was actually promoted to cover something that would have destroyed any sympathy for her. Well, she certainly looked more like a junkie than a pill popper.

Lizzie said...

I will always love Judy. My heart is filled with sympathy, and sadness for anyone with a drug addition. She always had a sadness about her.

Kitty said...

I doubt it's Judy Garland because google and you'll find pictures of her wearing sleeveless clothing.

AIP said...

Nope, it's Doris Day - she was in today's Daily Fail.

msgirl said...

Kitty - but not in her last few years. I only see longer sleeves.

AIP said...

Oh wait, I hadn't noticed the use of past tense. If not Nina Simone (there is such a sad interview with her in the RTÉ web archive if anyone wants to look- she was so out of it that she hadn't realised there were two people asking questions).
It was Judy I suppose- she was a divil for the horse.

msgirl said...

AP - I was just coming to say I can't believe Doris is still alive, holy shit!

Lizzie said...

She looked so old. She was only 47 years old, and looks about 80. But she is sleeveless here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNmTiS6_DBA

Flora Goforth said...

Doris only had one son who was a fairly successful music producer. He was the one the Manson family was looking for the night they visited 10050 Cielo Drive. However, he was not a fuck up and died in 2004.

FrenchGirl said...

billie holiday loved heroin , she discovered it by Joe Gy and she had 2 kids but you can find this information on her wikipedia(it's not a secret)

Flora Goforth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
msgirl said...

Lizzie, wow thanks for that.

She lived for her audience.

She was most definitely sleeveless, very very gaunt.

Flora Goforth said...

Eartha Kitt: From Wiki

"After romances with the cosmetics magnate Charles Revson and banking heir John Barry Ryan III, she married John William McDonald, an associate of a real estate investment company, on June 6, 1960.[18] They had one child, a daughter named Kitt McDonald, born on November 26, 1961. They divorced in 1965."

Flora Goforth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Flora Goforth said...

Probably not though. Her daughter does not sound effed up

http://bit.ly/17A3tGM

Rhody said...

I also have such sympathy for Judy Garland. This was a case of the studios making her take "pep pills" in order to work her like a dog and keep her thin. Those in charge should have been put in jail. They made her into the addicted mess she was.
I don't think this is Rosemary Clooney. Her son Miguel Ferrer has done well and is not a noted mess. And she was heavy the last few years of her life - not the normal thing for a cocaine or heroine addict.

FrenchGirl said...

oops Bille Holiday has no kids but she loved heroin

FrenchGirl said...

judy garland's fav drug were sleeping pills and amphetamines

Anonymous said...

Doris Day & Debbie Reynolds are still alive, try a simple Google search first it takes less time than commenting.

Also, Eartha was at least half black, the post makes it sound like the woman's white, otherwise nobody would've cared in those days of some no-name white musician and a black woman coupling. It was only the other way around that made waves.

And really kids with addictions from Old Hollywood parents are so common it's hardly a tell.

Jeannie said...

Farrah Faucett

sandybrook said...

I once saw Eartha Kitt on an elevator in the early 90s and she looked young and very healthy and she had to be about 70. Extremely attractive and talkative to whoever she was with.

What bookjacket wrote above makes a lot of sense.

Count Jerkula said...

Pep pills & sleeping pills are the old timey version of cocaine and Xanax.

Anonymous said...

Thinking about it more, my vote goes to Judy. It's documented she used pain pills & morphine. (She got fired from the "Barkleys of Broadway" specifically for missing days when she was on sleeping meds and morphine.) She most definitely wasn't just restricted to drink & tranquilizers.

Her whole deal was predicated on one unchanging cycle- uppers & downers- the types of which didn't matter. The likelihood is her addiction deepened, and the amphetamines & tranquilizers effectiveness diminished, it'd be logical to move add the powerful cocaine and heroin to the mix.

And don't be fooled, "street drugs" where just as prevalent with the rich and famous- specifically the Hollywood set- as prescriptions or drink. In the 20s/30s coke ruled Hollywood, snow balls were highly fashionable (the Fatty Arbuckle rape incident is an infamous example of one such soiree).

Then in the late post-war 40s and majorly into the 50s, with the movement of jazz into popular entertainment and then the birth of the beats and the counterculture movement coming in-vogue heroin became common too.

Lizzie said...

But Judy Garland has several different photos in the year she died where she was sleeveless. And wasn't it only Liza that had an addiction?

crazycatladyx6 said...

Funny, Jeannie, I thought Farrah too! But I don't think it fits. This shouldn't be so hard, A+, had kids..

bette said...

It's Doris Day. She's been in the DM all week.

Count Jerkula said...

Anyone ever hear of a junkie shooting up on the back of his/her ankle? Like Achilles area? I seen a broad w/ what looked like a vampire bite on the back of her ankle and figured I'd ask.

Lizzie said...

I'm going to be on the Tammy Wynette train. There was no autopsy, her daughter says she was shooting up on pain killers, and being from the south, she wouldn't ever want to cross a racial line.

chillip said...

"I'm going to be on the Tammy Wynette train. There was no autopsy, her daughter says she was shooting up on pain killers, and being from the south, she wouldn't ever want to cross a racial line."

I love Tammy but in no world outside of old school C&W is she a forever A+.

Lizzie said...

In Country music, she is A . Or was.

Unknown said...

Has anyone thought of Elizabeth Taylor? She was good friends with MJ and seemed like the last few years of her life she was always wearing long sleeve shirts.

Lizzie said...

She was known as "The first lady of Country Music" She was huge!

Anonymous said...

It's NOT Doris Day, she's NOT DEAD. She's in the news because her dementia's rendered her totally house-bound and needing nursing care 24/7.

Doris is a staunch Christian Scientist she won't even take Tylenol so I doubt she ever got near hard stuff. Plus she was is a notorious goody-goody on top of that. She said she didn't even realize Rock Hudson was gay, and if that's legit she might not even know what heroin is.

@Lizzie Liza of coarse. Joey Luft also apparently has drug issues, heroin mentioned with him too. He was good friends with former addict/showbiz kid Christopher Lawford, which speaks to the notorious drug-crowd he ran with.

Lorna Luft is also an addict, she talked about it in year book. Here's some info on that-

Anonymous said...

Sorry, here's the info link- http://www.biography.com/people/lorna-luft-307310

Lizzie said...

Thanks. I didn't know that about Lorna. I thought Joey Luft had mental issues due to Judy's alcohol abuse during her pregnancy. I'm torn on this. I'm between Judy, and Tammy...although Judy fits more with the "Old Hollywood" No one else seems to fit.

Katie said...

You are spot on.

amused bush said...

If this is Judy, exactly why is this a blind? I guess the heroin aspect would be mildly surprising, but by no means a shock.

That said she seems to be the best fit. I was also thinking Lucille Ball, but I don't recall her kids being affected by drugs.

I'm also drawn to Tammy Wynette, but she isn't old Hollywood.

Lizzie said...

It seems like if this was Judy, something would have come out about it since her death. Tammy Wynette had a lot of hit on the charts in the late 60's. I'm just so torn. Lucy wasn't a singer and was far from thin when she passed away.

CarolMR said...

Farrah didn't sing, did she?

amused bush said...

@lizzie - re: Lucille Ball, I was thinking she could have been in the recording studio with Desi, but I don't think it is her.

Alita said...

Agree about Judy Garland, @V. Heroin - injecting it - would be a jump, but it's just such an obvious one that I feel it should be someone else. I like old movies, but I'm not amazingly up on any of their lives.

@CountJ: shooting up anywhere but the obvious elbow/hand is commonly done by prostitutes (and no doubt others) to avoid the tell-tale signs. I've not seen someone do the back of the ankle, but have seen foot, between knuckles on the hand, and heard of ditto between the toes. I don't think it would look like a bite though - more likely a bruise and lump, and they wouldn't get an amazing scar because they shouldn't be able to do it there enough for a proper scar to happen. It's possible, but I think pretty unlikely, that what you're describing is a mark from injecting.

amused bush said...

Right Alita? If it's going to be that obvious, I would rather see a blind about Grace Kelly's exploits as a call girl :)

Alita said...

@V yup, Grace Kelly is definitely the Old Hollywood star that keeps giving – surreal beauty, actually sort of a funny personality, seamy past and stories … legend :)

I’m convinced that none of those stars – Grace included – could have been what we think of them now if the internets had existed back then, imagine. Grace Kelly would possibly have been a Lindsay Lohan type figure, someone with loads of promise that became a cautionary tale! Way to destroy an icon, eh ;)

amused bush said...

Absolutely agree Alita. MM, Ava Gardner, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Rita Hayworth, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford...all of them would be raked over the coals in today's world. Makes me wish for the days of yore when stars seemed untouchable and had mystery.

Moonmaid said...

You can see the obvious emaciation and bruising the final year of her life in this photo - really scary: http://www.cine-images.com/moteur_photo/exportation_images/chapitre_portraits/judy%20garland_01.jpg

lazyday603 said...

Anita O'Day

She was a junkie for decades. Lived into her 90's. She's Keith Richard's godmother.

lazyday603 said...

I didn't see all the Judy Garland guesses before posting mine. Anita O'Day in her autobiography tells how through most of the 1960's she & Garland ran around because they were both shooting up all the time. Birds of a feather.

Hanwi said...

I've been wanting to read the O'Day autobiography for a while now. One of the best jazz singers ever. But this can't be her, right? As far as I know she didn't have kids and everyone knows she was shooting heroin.

I guess it's Judy. She looks absolutely horrible in late 60s pictures, like a living corpse.

mizzavrid said...

@ Northbynorthwest..... in tight hllywd circles, believe it not not, it was known back in the 'Day' that Doris and Sly Stone had an affair. Doubt this blind is about her but she wasn't so 'goody goody'.

Lizzie said...

Okay, I'm back on the Judy train. I still can't get over how old she looked. She was only 47, and yet looked like she was in her 80's. So sad!
http://thejudygarlandexperience.blogspot.com/2011/05/on-this-day-in-herstory-may-21-1969.html

Lizzie said...

Completely agree V.... I sometimes think we'd be better off with some mystery. Sometimes, it's hard to watch a movie, as the info about the star shadows the movie for me. That's shallow, I know. But I can't watch a Brad Pitt movie, or Angie movie.. know too much about them.

Andrea said...

I thought Sandra Dee, but her son seems well adjusted.

BrainyAngel said...

This is totally Judy...the famous TV movie about her starring Judy Davis was called "Me & My Shadows" and she sang a song called "Me & My Shadow" (...shadow of her former self)

C'estMoi said...

It's not Doris Day because she's still alive, but there was a rumour back in the day, that she had an affair with Sly Stone. Her son Terry Melcher was a friend of Sly and Sly covered Doris' song "Que Sera Sera."

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