Song:Come Rain Or Come Shine
Album:Judy At Carnegie Hall: Fortieth Anniversary Edition
Most folks should be familiar with Judy Garland's film career as a teen. What's unusual about her is she maintained an active recording career at the same time. By the late 50s, she suffered from a serious bout of hepatitis. And by this time, most folks knew she had serious drug and alcohol abuse issues. But then she stormed back with this 1961 Carnegie Hall that was a huge seller and arguably the highlight of her recording career. Though the 1954 film A Star Is Born is considered a classic, it didn't do well financially. So Judy and her manager and husband Sid Luft turned to TV and signed a three year contract to do a series of live shows for CBS. Judy only did a 1956 episode of General Electric Theater and then the deal broke down over a dispute about the format of the shows. After a successful run at the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, Judy contracted hepatitis. When she was released from hospital in Jan. 1960, she was told she had five years to live and she would never sing again. But she returned to the stage in Aug. 1960 at the London Palladium and got such a great reception, she decided to do a similar concert at Carnegie Hall. That concert was on Apr. 23, 1961 and was recorded for release by Capitol Records. The concept of the concert was "Just Judy" with no frills other than Mort Lindsey's orchestra. He was Judy's long time musical director and later was Barbra Streisand's musical director. The album Judy At Carnegie Hall charted for 73 weeks and topped the Billboard Hot 200 for 13 weeks. That's pretty amazing for music that was not modern rock. It also won four Grammys including Album Of The Year. Though Come Rain Or Come Shine is considered a standard, it was never a chart hit. Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote it for the 1946 all black musical St. Louis Woman starring The Nicholas Brothers. Harold Nicholas and Ruby Hill sang the song in the show. At the time it was recorded by Dinah Shore and Margaret Whiting among others but was not a hit. The Fortieth Anniversary Edition of Judy At Carnegie Hall has been remastered and is available on 2CDs. Judy Garland signed a new deal with CBS and after three special, The Judy Garland Show ran for one season in 1964. Judy attempted some other things that didn't work out and she died of an accidental drug overdose on June 22, 1969 at age 47. Here's Judy Garland performing Come Rain Or Come Shine on GE Theater 1956.
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