Judy, Judy, Judy....at the Palace!

...three days before my ex wife's birthday, August 2d, 1967, I surprised her with tickets to see Judy Garland at the Palace Theater, in New York City.

It was the first time either of us had seen her in person.
We sat front row, the tickets were $5.50 each!

About ten minutes before show time, the Palace was full, and the crowd rose to their feet and started a standing ovation. I was wondering what I had missed? This continued for several minutes. Curtain closed, no music, I thought, did the Vietnam War end? What?

The curtain moved a bit and the roar from the crowd grew to a tornado like rumble.

Then I knew what it was all about. Judy Garland stepped partially out from behind the curtain in a robe and her hair was in a net, waving and telling everyone she will be "right back" to sing.

The show seemed more like a coronation, ovation after ovation, classic tune after classic tune, she never stopped for an hour. Then she brought out Liza, Lorna and Joey her kids and they joined in the singing and dancing. When the family segment was over Judy got back to electrifying the audience with the show stoppers, "Over the Rainbow", "The Man that Got Away", "The Trolley Song", "What Now My Love" and "Rock A Bye My Baby" to name some of the evergreens.

All throughout the performance men rushed the stage with gifts, flowers, cards and letters to a point where I though they would pull her off the stage, however she obliged them all and thanked them all....

Judy, exhausted and almost out of tunes, came a piece of the show I will never forget. She stood in the middle of the Palace Stage as the crowd roared again, she blew kisses and said, "what do you want now".

A male voice from the rear of the orchestra section shouted..."you don't have to do anything, just stand there"...and again a roar!

After several encores the show came to an end. Being in the front row we were the last to get out. As we approached the lobby and the street, Broadway, there was a bottle neck and the lobby was a dead end.
I thought it was traffic or maybe worse someone got hit by a car. But no, as we reached the street we saw
something I have never seen again, Judy Garland was standing on the median (there use to be one on B'way)
a thin strip of grass between north and south flowing traffic. The north bound traffic was being held back by NYPD. She was in an evening dress, shaking the hand of every patron, and saying good night.
That's the "Rainbow" my friends.

These are actual photos taken at that show, I dug them up on the WWW!

 by Pete Carma, follow Pete  www,twitter.com/petecarma
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