Among Marlene Dietrich’s many friends in the industry was Judy Garland. The personas of the two couldn’t have been more different, yet they remained longtime friends and once shared an apartment building in the 1960’s. Marlene, the epitome of otherworldly glamor and chic, sharply contrasted with Judy’s humanity and humorous outlook on life, never taking herself too seriously and having a glorious time teasing those who did.
So as you might imagine, Judy had a field day with her good friend Marlene. Always a wicked impersonator with a real knack for mimicry, Judy could “do” Marlene to a t, and employed her talent both privately and publicly.
Here she is fooling around at a rehearsal, making fun of Marlene’s low voice.
In an appearance on the Jack Paar Show in 1964, Judy recounted a story about a strange record that Marlene put on at a party.
When the two shared an apartment building, Marlene was the frequent target of pranks at Judy’s hand, as Judy thought it was great fun to mess with someone who took herself so very seriously. Nonetheless, the two remained good friends until Judy’s death in 1969.
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Backlots 
Two of the 20th Century’s great icons together…wonderful – & priceless clips. I’ve always loved Judy Garland’s Jack Paar appearances – now THAT was late night.
Thanks! Yes, Judy’s appearances on Jack Paar were always top notch. That was quality television!
Just goes to show you – two geniuses will find one another, The one thing they had in common was uncommon talent. Swell post!
IT’S INTERESTING TO NOTE HOW JUDY GARLAND CAME ACROSS ON THE JACK PARR SHOW, IN COMPARISON TO HER OWN ILL FATED CBS WEEKLY SHOW…..IN THE BEGINNING OF HER SHOW, THE PRODUCERS WANTED TO BRING OUT THE “PARR” SIDE OF JUDY, BUT THE POWERS THAT BE STOPPED ALL OF THIS AFTER THE FIRST FEW SHOWS AND MADE FUN OF HER INSTEAD…AND THEN THE SHOW WAS CANCELLED…YOU CAN’T MAKE FUN OF A ICON AND THEN EXPECT THE PUBLIC TO ACCEPT IT…POOR JUDY…BAD LUCK “AGAIN”….
I adore The Judy Garland Show, in fact I am a HUGE Judy Garland fan–I have all 26 episodes of the show on DVD. I think Judy’s wit was well used in the latter part of the episodes, when they had her tell stories in the “Born in a Trunk” segment. It was a bad move to cancel it. The only reason was that it was scheduled opposite “Bonanza” and Jim Aubrey refused to move its time slot.
The Judy Garland Show (thank god it’s available on DVD) was one of the best variety shows of TV’s late golden age. And you’re 100% right about its time slot, Lara, that’s what killed it. Jim Aubrey has been accused of “despising” Judy and “torpedoing” her show by refusing to move it to a better slot. I don’t know whether all that’s true, but he clearly made a bad decision about a show that otherwise would’ve had a far longer run.