Between 1936 and 1963, Judy Garland performed in thirty-three major motion pictures. That period marked a sea change in American history in which the United States was transformed from a sovereign nation in relative isolation in the Western hemisphere to a superpower on the world stage. As the cinema was changing dramatically during that quarter of a century, Garland was successfully adapting her performing style to new conventions.
From Pigskin Parade in 1936 to Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961, Garland drew upon her immense skill set as a triple-threat performer in acting, singing, and dancing, as appropriate to each film. This book is an appreciation of Garland's craft, which evolved through the studio system and was refined in the era of independent filmmaking with her consummate performance in A Star is Born in 1954. Many of her films have not held up well over time. But there is no debate about the timelessness of Garland's incandescent film presence and her unparalleled abilities as a triple-threat performer.
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James Norwood earned B.A. degrees in Drama and French from the University of California at Irvine and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Dramatic Art from the University of California at Berkeley. For twenty-six years, he taught humanities and the performing arts at the University of Minnesota. Among the curriculum he offered was a semester course on Judy Garland. He has served as a consultant for the documentary film Last Will & Testament and is the author of "Mark Twain and 'Shake-Speare': Soul Mates," which was published in Brief Chronicles in 2015 and was subsequently translated and published as an introduction to Twain's Is Shakespeare Dead? in German and Russian language editions.