(A reformatted copy of this is being E-mailed to my Congressional representative as we speak; watch this biographical documentary--my Exhibit A--again, and I'm sure you'll want to contact YOUR Congress person, Prime Minister, head sheikh, etc., as well.) I just finished reading a message board thread titled "Traci . . ." for the Afterdark Horrorfest cheapie CRAZY EIGHTS, discussing whether one-time (or 200-time, depending on who's counting) child porn star Traci Lords--who appeared in CRAZY EIGHTS long after she reached "legal age"--was exploited by the porn industry (or vice versa). Watching JUDY GARLAND the same week as CRAZY EIGHTS, I cannot help being struck by the parallels between Lords' infamous early work (none of which I've seen) and Garland's--especially the WIZARD OF OZ, my all-time favorite movie.
Since Judy's beloved dad died days after her mom signed her life away to MGM, Judy viewed studio head Louie B. Mayer as her surrogate father. How did "dear old dad" respond to this "in loco parentis" role? By constantly calling Judy "my little hunchback," surrounding her with "real beauties" on every set (including Billie Burke as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in OZ), whose role in her films (from her Andy Hardy work with Mickey Rooney through OZ to EASTER PARADE, etc.) was to make her a miserable wreck till the final frames. Meanwhile, behind the scenes she was made to submit to a daily regimen of uppers and downers to keep awake for double shifts, and each time she went to detox she had to PAY HER OWN WAY, and as soon as she came back to the studio "clean," her bosses said, "Judy, you fat little pig, you're topping the scales at 105 pounds--pop some diet pills right this instant!" Even as she merged into "adulthood," she retained the psyche of the emotionally crippled perpetual child MGM had made her, down to allowing studio flacks to arrange for the abortion of what would have been her first-born.
Since this child abuse started when Judy was in her early teens, and since the U.S. government ALWAYS has applied censorship and kiddie porn laws RETROACTIVELY, the availability of Louie's exploitation films all over the internet (and even in the local "Family Video" store) makes a mockery of the American penal code. Do you think the Italian government would leave the Sistine Chapel standing if it were documented that Michaelangelo had painted with the blood of murdered virgins? Would Egypt tolerate the Pyramids if evidence proved they were made entirely from the teeth of slaughtered Jewish slaves? This JUDY GARLAND testimony proves that all of her MGM work is indelibly tainted with sadistic exploitation just as reprehensible as the foregoing hypothetical examples. Yet the heirs to MGM's copyrights still reap millions annually from little Frances Ethel Gumm's blood, sweat, and tears. It's long past time to stop this madness. Please join me in helping to stamp out this torture porn--NOW!
Since Judy's beloved dad died days after her mom signed her life away to MGM, Judy viewed studio head Louie B. Mayer as her surrogate father. How did "dear old dad" respond to this "in loco parentis" role? By constantly calling Judy "my little hunchback," surrounding her with "real beauties" on every set (including Billie Burke as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in OZ), whose role in her films (from her Andy Hardy work with Mickey Rooney through OZ to EASTER PARADE, etc.) was to make her a miserable wreck till the final frames. Meanwhile, behind the scenes she was made to submit to a daily regimen of uppers and downers to keep awake for double shifts, and each time she went to detox she had to PAY HER OWN WAY, and as soon as she came back to the studio "clean," her bosses said, "Judy, you fat little pig, you're topping the scales at 105 pounds--pop some diet pills right this instant!" Even as she merged into "adulthood," she retained the psyche of the emotionally crippled perpetual child MGM had made her, down to allowing studio flacks to arrange for the abortion of what would have been her first-born.
Since this child abuse started when Judy was in her early teens, and since the U.S. government ALWAYS has applied censorship and kiddie porn laws RETROACTIVELY, the availability of Louie's exploitation films all over the internet (and even in the local "Family Video" store) makes a mockery of the American penal code. Do you think the Italian government would leave the Sistine Chapel standing if it were documented that Michaelangelo had painted with the blood of murdered virgins? Would Egypt tolerate the Pyramids if evidence proved they were made entirely from the teeth of slaughtered Jewish slaves? This JUDY GARLAND testimony proves that all of her MGM work is indelibly tainted with sadistic exploitation just as reprehensible as the foregoing hypothetical examples. Yet the heirs to MGM's copyrights still reap millions annually from little Frances Ethel Gumm's blood, sweat, and tears. It's long past time to stop this madness. Please join me in helping to stamp out this torture porn--NOW!