It was exactly 50 years ago this past June 22 when Garland died in London and sent a shockwave through global culture.
Under the bright New York City summer sun and among the abundant flowers at the Flatiron rooftop eatery Serra by Bierra, Lorna Luft is nursing an iced tea and talking about the legacy of her famous mother. “She really championed everybody,” she says of Judy Garland in between sips. “She championed the message of decency and hope. I mean, she recorded ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow,’ the song of the century about hope that’s become an anthem for so many people.
Luft -- who was born in 1952 and whose father was Garland’s second husband, the producer Sidney Luft -- was taught the virtues of equality by her world famous mother. “Don’t forget, she grew up in the studios and they encompassed every single type of person, from black artists to gay people who were closeted and had to be,” she explains. “That’s what I was taught from a very young age. I never understood how you can’t understand another person.
With a connection to her gay audience in place, perhaps it was a cosmic twist of fate that Garland would die the week of Stonewall, forvever linking the fans to their idol. Though how much of an impact her passing had on the uprising at the Christopher Street bar is up for contention. Fricke, a lifelong Judy fan, still remembers, at 19, driving back to his home in Milwaukee from aconvention that late June day.
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