‘Friends of Dorothy’: How Judy Garland beme a gay in – The Irish Tim

Contents:

• ‘FRIENDS OF DOROTHY’: HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN
• WHY IS JUDY GARLAND THE ULTIMATE GAY IN?
• I'M A FRIEND OF DOROTHY - JUDY GARLAND AS A GAY IN
• HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN — AND WHY SHE ENDUR AS ONE
• WHAT MAK JUDY GARLAND A GAY IN? EXPERTS EXPLA WHAT SHE AND OTHERS, OM DIANA ROSS TO MADONNA, HAVE MON
• 10 FEMALE MOVIE AND TV CHARACTERS WHO ARE NOW GAY INS

‘FRIENDS OF DOROTHY’: HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN

Judy, a new bpic ncerng Judy Garland, was adapted om Peter Quilter’s stage play End of the Rabow, a work that wrer Robert Lelx has characterised as “a gay versn of Passn of the Christ” film, which featur a big, showy turn om Renée Zellweger, is reful to clu two fictnalised gay super-fans who have bought many tickets for Garland’s five-week bookg at the Talk of the Town nightclub London 1969, jt months before her ath om a barburate overdose, aged ’s the latt maniftatn of Judyism, the gay, quasi-relig worship of The Wizard of Oz star. Charl Kaiser’s 1997 book The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life Ameri not that the Stonewall protts happened hours after Garland’s spectacular funeral, an event that saw 20, 000 New Yorkers le the streets to see her whe glass ff – the biggt funeral Manhattan had wnsed sce Valento’s ath Garland a promotnal still for Prentg Lily Mars (1943).

”This ia of Judy Garland's repertoire, pecially her Grammy-wng live rerdg Judy at Carnegie Hall (1961) – the first double album to sell more than a ln uns – as a dramatisatn of gay life, is not was “the Elvis for homosexuals”, Barry Walters once wrote The Advote, “a symbol of emotnal liberatn, a woman who stggled to live and love whout rtrat. The boys the tight troers roll their ey, tear at their hair and practilly levate om their seats, particularly when Judy sgs Over the Rabow” same review quot om “Manhattan psychiatrists’ terpretatns of the gay-Garland nnectn, ” ncludg that: “Judy was beaten up by life, embattled and ultimately had to bee more mascule.

WHY IS JUDY GARLAND THE ULTIMATE GAY IN?

“This event, ” wrote Dyer, “nstuted for the public a break wh Garland’s unplited, ordary MGM image, [and] ma possible a readg of Garland as havg a special relatnship wh sufferg, ordars, normaly, and is this relatnship that stctur most of the gay readg. By the early 1960s she often relied on late night sh--hand turns at gay piano bars to get her through the next was a heartbreakg tragedy that was appealg for gay men stgglg through a crimalised phrase “iend of Dorothy” – a slang term for gay men that refers to Garland’s character The Wizard of Oz – dat to the send World War and likely relat to the Cowardly Ln, an avowed sissy, and the alternate, rabow fay that Dorothy gathers around her. ”Wrg The Atlantic 2000, unr the headg “The Queen Is Dead: Once a gay in, Judy Garland has bee an embarrassment”, Michael Joseph Gross suggts that: “Judy Garland began losg her power over gay men bee we got that msage and started beg more tegrated characters than the screamg queens of yore.

I'M A FRIEND OF DOROTHY - JUDY GARLAND AS A GAY IN

Gay magaze The Advote once lled her the “Elvis of homosexuals”, and a 1967 review of Garland's ncert at New York Cy’s Palace Theatre, Time Magaze observed that a “disproportnate part of her nightly claque” was gay. The buzz surroundg the release, partnered wh the 2018 remake of A Star is Born – the inic showbiz drama that earned Garland an Amy Award nomatn 1954 – has brought her distctly gay legacy back to bpic Judy, Renée Zellweger plays Garland – and is a favoure for next year’s Osrs (Cred: David Hdley/ LD Entertament / Roadsi Attractns)To many gay men, Garland is the mother of all ins.

HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN — AND WHY SHE ENDUR AS ONE

Analysg her story, om upbrgg to ath, helps unrstand how and why some gay men look to famo women to help them navigate the town to Tseltown In 1922, Garland was born Franc Ethel Gumm – named after her parents Frank and Ethel – Grand Rapids, Mnota.

He theoris that turng out to be abnormal after beg “saturated wh the valu or ordars” is a pot where Garland and Dorothy’s stori align wh the experience of some gay men, enuragg those who perceive themselv as ‘different’ to gravate towards troubleGarland’s arrival as a major Hollywood star was plited by a seri of disastro personal relatnships, most notably wh herself. In the book, Changg Gay Male Inti, Dr Andrew Cooper suggts that the body n be a plex battleground for many gay men: that the body be a key se for projectg a “succsful” sense of self to gay peers, but also for embodyg succs the ey of wir society.

A Star is Born further blurred the le between her work and life, wh Richard Dyer intifyg this as the moment where Garland’s image of beg “damaged goods” be an sential part of her star persona and gay in stat. ”Gay men often reject gay cultural figur that they perceive as geared towards straight people – such as the st members of Netflix’s Queer EyeBut ntrastgly, the book How to be Gay, queer historian David Halper scrib a tensn wh the “mastream” that leads gay men to be “highly cril, if not ntemptuo, of their own artists, wrers and filmmakers”.

WHAT MAK JUDY GARLAND A GAY IN? EXPERTS EXPLA WHAT SHE AND OTHERS, OM DIANA ROSS TO MADONNA, HAVE MON

This some gay men to reject gay cultural figur that they perceive as geared towards straight people – such as, to e two very current exampl, the st members of Netflix’s Queer Eye and gay Democratic printial ndidate Pete Buttigeig.

Instead many embrace subcultural – and their ey, more subversive – female narrativ like Garland’ seen the new film Judy, Garland found a new niche as a live sger towards the end of her life (Cred: David Hdley / LD Entertament/ Roadsi Attractns)So, pendg on which way you look at , “disintifyg” wh Garland is eher gay men’s way of feelg aligned to mastream culture – or, fact, rejectg in athIt is an unavoidable tth that Garland’s tragic and untimely ath has also ntributed to her stat as a gay in, makg her a timels figure. ” But s later, you don’t have to look far to see how Garland was the first a ntug leage of ‘tragic’ female celebri who have acquired the stat of gay would e to a Judy Garland ncert and then scream at her when she was too dnk to fish – Dr Michael BronskiElements of Garland’s story n be found that of Diana, Prcs of Wal, and her mistreatment at the hands of the prs; Prcs Margaret, wh her ongog substance issu, and marriage to an exploative man who was moured to be gay; and Brney Spears, whose child stardom culmated a very public divorce and mental health stggl.

As Dr Michael Bronski, a Harvard Universy profsor and the thor of books on queer history and gay culture, asserts a recent article on the dark si of “stan” (superfan) culture: "There is a long history of gay male fan culture latchg onto famo women and then turng on them. Whether ’s Katy Perry beg, as journalist Brian O’Flynn wr, “gay Twter’s punchg bag”, or gay fans drsg as ‘bald Brney’ for Halloween and turng up to meet-and-greets drsed stume om Spears’s famo 2007 breakdown, gay men n be creasgly fickle towards famo a former child sat who has endured mental health stggl, Brney Spears is one of many female celebri whose experienc rell Garland’s (Cred: Alamy)Idolisg the women is one thg, but we shouldn’t treat them like playthgs for our entertament. And om the streets of Wisteria Lane to Big Ltle Li and the Real Hoewiv anchise, pop-culture enurag to love female characters when they’re screamg hysterilly, so we n nnse their pa to hilarly mp GIFs and say “yassss kween” as they smash up their is a huge part of what draws gay men towards women like Garland.

10 FEMALE MOVIE AND TV CHARACTERS WHO ARE NOW GAY INS

One article not that Dorothy’s journey om Kansas to Oz “mirrored many gay men’s sir to pe the black-and-whe limatns of small-town life … for big, lorful ci filled wh quirky, genr-bendg characters who would wele them. Dcribed as a “gay anthem” and “the sound of the closet”, many queer people hear the powerful ballad of someone trapped a drab black-and-whe existence, yearng to break ee and fly and n’t help but intify wh .

In fact, for the phrase to be ed by GIs durg the time of Amerin volvement World War II (1941–45) and refer to Judy as Dorothy, the movie would have had to appeal not jt to dividual gay mal but to those who had enough of a nnectn to gay culture to know that the movie was somethg special to gay men llectively. Dorothy Dean—another possibily—was a well-nnected woman who preferred the pany of gay men when she was a stunt Cambridge, Massachetts, the 1950s and the New York Cy lerary and art world om 1962 to 1980.