Who am I?
What's my name?
Where I'm from?
How I came
Doesn't matter, dear
Long as you are near....
--- Peter Lawford to Judy in "Fella With An Umbrella" from
EASTER PARADE (1948)
Who are you?
My name is Mitali Chaudhuri, I'm 22, and I am a graduate student at the
State University Of New York at Stony Brook (on Long Island, New York)
studying Electrical
Engineering. I'm from India but I've lived in the Middle East for
many years of my life. I've been a Judy fan for about 7 years now.
Why do you like Judy?
Well, I like classic movies and I like old songs and Judy is the
link between the two! That's not the exact answer, I guess.
There's something
about Judy that attacts a lot of people to her legacy.
Her life, her
death, her work, her songs, her personality.
Each of these factors contribute
to the cult that is Judy Garland.
Is there a particular period of Judy's that you prefer?
I always like Judy from any year but since I love interpreting her
songs (and singing them!) and emulating her style,
I prefer the forties in that regard. Otherwise, I'm open to anytime
Judy!
Why should someone like you like Judy so much?
Beats me! Most Indians of my age that I know have never heard of
Judy Garland and I certainly am an exception. They're not even
interested in classic movies. What happened that day
when I was watching "When the Lion Roars" (a documentary on MGM) when
I heard Judy sing "Over the Rainbow" is not really mystifying. I just
heard her voice and fell in love with it. Then, of course, I had to
find out the personality behind the voice. What happened to me happens to
a lot of teenage girls who are on my Judy list and other lists.
MGM musicals are very appealing to teenage girls who are introduced to
classic musicals at the right time and it's difficult for
them not to start liking luminaries like Judy.
What are your other interests?
Books : My favorite is Sherlock Holmes. I also keep in touch with my inner "child" by re-reading
the books that I loved as a child. Perhaps one day, I would like to write children's books.
Tintin's my favorite. Tintin's a lovable comic book boy reporter who solves mysteries
around the world with his terrier Snowy. He was created by a Belgian and has
been around for around 60 years. I also like reading classic fiction as well
as biographies of classic actors and actresses.
Movies : There's only one type of movies that will do for me. And those are of the classic kind.
My favorite actors are Spencer Tracy, Buddy Rogers, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, Frederic March, and
James Stewart. My favorite actresses are many : Claudette Colbert, Myrna Loy,
Katharine Hepburn, Eleanor Parker, Ingrid Bergman, Carole Lombard,
Clara Bow, Eleanor Boardman, and many others.
Music : I love any kind of music that is *real* music in my opinion.
This includes old Hindi music, Western classical music, swing music, vocals,
and classic musical soundtracks. As a matter of fact, a lot of Nelson Riddle's
arrangements on "Judy in Love" and her other Capitol albums and his use of
bongos and strings is similar to the kind of film music that was around in
Hindi films in the fifties and sixties. I love picking out the similarities!
How much time do you spend online?
A lot! Doing this dang website, of course, half the time. In the other half, I
live on the TCM Message Boards. If you see names which belong to Judy characters,
that's probably me. :) Knowing my love for the classics, it's a cinch that I'll post something
there every two or three days. I also used to
post on the main Judy Garland list quite often, till I got sick of it all!
How many mailing lists do you run?
Quite a few! Though I used to run many more a few months back. At one point,
I used to run mailing lists (mostly on onelist.com) on Katharine Hepburn, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
the Andrews Sisters, P. G. Wodehouse, Ella Fitzgerald, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Meet Me in St. Louis,
and classical music. Some of them flickered out due to lack of membership.
Others had tons of members but no one wrote. Right now, I run two mailing lists
and they are all on onelist.com. They are on
Vivien Leigh and
vocal standards/showtunes ("Words and Music").
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