John Fricke

Judy Garland

Author/Historian

Attendance Confirmed

  Widely acknowledged as the preeminent Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland author/historian, John Fricke received a 2004 Emmy Award as co-producer of the two-hour, PBS-TV "American Masters" program, Judy Garland: By Myself. This was his second recognition by The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; he won similar honors in 1997 as co-producer and co-writer of the A&E "Biography" special, Judy: Beyond the Rainbow, based on his book, Judy Garland: World's Greatest Entertainer (Henry Holt, 1992). He is also a Grammy Award nominee for "Best Album Notes" for the Capitol compact disc, Judy Garland: 25th Anniversary Retrospective (1996). His most recent book about the singer/actress, Judy Garland: A Portrait in Art and Anecdote, was published in 2003 by Bulfinch Press and includes a foreword by Lorna Luft. This was the first such participation in any author's treatise on their mother by one of Judy's children. Fricke is also the author of the acclaimed centennial summation of the entire Oz phenomenon, 100 Years of Oz (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1999) and the 1989 The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History, most recently reissued in 1998 by Warner Books. For the Oz 70th anniversary in 2009, he coauthored (with Jonathan Shirshekan) The Wizard of Oz: An Illustrated Companion to the Timeless Movie Classic (Fall River Press), currently in its second printing. Total sales figures for Fricke's five books now approaches two hundred fifty thousand copies. Fricke has discussed Garland, Oz, and Oz author L. Frank Baum on literally hundreds of international, national, and local media outlets, including three stints on the NBC-TV "Today" Show (2005, 1992, 1989), as well as in appearances on the A&E cable network "Breakfast With the Arts," the syndicated "Entertainment Tonight," CNN, and on National Public Radio. He's worked everywhere from the Deauville Film Festival in France to The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles as spokesman for Warner Bros., Turner Entertainment, Rhino Records, Capitol Records, and/or MGM/UA Home Video, as well as participating as lecturer/moderator and/or master of ceremonies at all the major Oz, Garland, and Baum festivals, celebrations, and conventions throughout the United States. Most recently, Fricke was a major participant in the autumn 2009 Warner Home Video Blu-ray DVD release of The Wizard of Oz, serving as author of the mini-coffee table book included in the packaging and as creative consultant for many of the other Oz "extras." The discs include his on-camera appearance or behind-the- scenes participation in six of the eight accompanying documentaries, as well as his narration and hosting of the alternate audio track commentary heard throughout the film itself. The Oz set won highest honors in numerous critical and popular polls as "best of 2009." He performed some of the same duties for the 2010 Blu-ray edition of Garland's A Star Is Born. Earlier, in 2007, he consulted on the deluxe DVD release of the musicals Judy Garland made with Mickey Rooney, and worked as well on two other new-to-DVD Garland motion picture projects. He offers full-length audio commentary tracks on three of these Warner Home Video titles (Babes in Arms, Girl Crazy, and The Pirate); he also appears in two "making of..." documentaries and wrote the copy for both the 50-page book included in the lavish Garland/Rooney packaging as well as the text for Mickey Rooney's on-camera introductions to four films. These assignments were, in effect, a continuation of his ongoing association with all of Warner Bros. Oz and Garland home video productions. In autumn 2005, Fricke served as creative consultant for their new, expansive DVD set(s) of M-G-M's The Wizard of Oz. In 2006, Fricke appeared in the documentaries accompanying the first appearance on DVD of the Garland films Summer Stock, Ziegfeld Follies, and Till the Clouds Roll By. Two years earlier, he served as the on-camera DVD host for Warner Home Video, writing and delivering introductions to three other classic Garland films (Love Finds Andy Hardy, Ziegfeld Girl, In the Good Old Summertime); he also recorded complete historical commentary for the alternate audio tracks of three Garland titles making their DVD debut: Meet Me in St. Louis, For Me and My Gal, and (in 2005) Easter Parade. In the preceding decade, he was co-producer of the award-winning laser disc box sets, The Ultimate Oz (1993) and Judy Garland: The Golden Years at M-G-M (1995). Fricke was, respectively, associate producer and creative consultant for the CBS-TV documentary, The Wizard of Oz: The Making of A Movie Classic (1990) and the PBS-TV "Great Performances" program, Judy Garland: The Concert Years (1985), both of which received Emmy Award nominations. He was consultant to virtually all production departments for Life With Judy Garland/Me and My Shadows (2001), the top-rated, multiple Emmy Award-winning ABC television motion picture. Fricke also wrote, hosted, and co-directed the Telly Award-winning home video documentary, We're Off to See the Munchkins, in 1993. Between 1995 and 2002, he wrote the extensive booklets for the Turner Classic Movie Music/Rhino Movie Music series of Garland Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer soundtrack compact discs, thus providing detailed histories of The Wizard of O z, Babes in Arms, Strike Up the Band, Babes on Broadway, For Me and My Gal, Girl Crazy, The Harvey Girls, The Pirate, Easter Parade, In the Good Old Summertime, Summer Stock, as well as the back story for Judy Garland: Collector's Gems from the M-G-M Films. Fricke provided similar notes for the 2004 Sony compact disc of Garland's A Star is Born and the 2006 compact disc of Liza Minnelli's Liza With A "Z." In June 2008, Fricke was part of the production team that produced the sold-out, rapturously-received Boston Pops event, Judy Garland In Concert, at Symphony Hall; the show is now being booked internationally. In June 2006, Fricke produced the "launch" event for the United States Postal Service and their Judy Garland/"Legends of Hollywood" first-class stamp at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City. That evening's capacity crowd enjoyed film and video clips of Garland in action; reminiscences by actress Jane Powell, television host Dick Cavett, and award-winning playwright Terrence McNally; and musical performances by Michael Feinstein, Diane Schuur, Rufus Wainwright, and Lorna Luft. To coincide with the stamp's debut, Savoy Jazz issued the third compact disc of material Fricke compiled and annotated from Garland's 1963-64 TV series: Great Day!/Rare Recordings from "The Judy Garland Show." In August 2007, Fricke provided the same service for the fourth Savoy CD, Judy Garland Greatest Hits Live; in May 2008, Savoy released Fricke's fifth Garland disc, Judy Takes Broadway! With Friends. Judy Garland: Love Songs and Judy Goes Hollywood!/Music from the Movies appeared in 2009, and Judy Garland/On Broadway Tonight! With Friends debuted on April 6, 2010. (He first launched that series in 2005 with the Savoy Jazz CDs, "That Old Feeling"/Classic Ballads from "The Judy Garland Show" and Judy Garland and Friends: Duets.) In 1998, Fricke served as associate producer and writer for New York City's two sold-out concerts, Carnegie Hall Celebrates the Music of Judy Garland. For those productions, Fricke oversaw much of the casting and reperto ire assignments for both shows, as well as selecting and helping to edit the various Garland film and video clips that were part of the performances. He also co-produced the 1992 Garland exhibition at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. That ten-week run of Judy Garland: A Celebration drew the largest crowds for any such retrospective in the history of the venue. In 2006, Fricke scripted the acclaimed "Lyrics & Lyricists" evening, With Mabel Mercer, The Lyrics Came First; he has been associated with the work of The Mabel Mercer Foundation since its inception in 1985. His 6500-word profile attendant to the career association of Garland and Oz/A Star Is Born composer Harold Arlen appeared in the April 2005 issue of The Cue Sheet/Quarterly Journal of The Film Music Society. Earlier, Fricke's articles were seen in TV Guide, People, and Memories magazines among many other periodicals. For The International Wizard of Oz Club, Fricke worked over many years as president and vice-president; as a member of the Board of Directors; and as editor-in-chief and contributing editor of its magazine, The Baum Bugle. He has also served as consultant to both The Land of Oz Preservation Company in Syracuse, NY, and The Judy Garland Heirs Trust. As an entertainer, Fricke sang on many of Cunard's premier liners, including the Queen Elizabeth 2. His performance career also encompasses appearances at the Rainbow Room, Town Hall, and many cabaret venues in New York City; at the M-G-M Grand Hotel in Las Vegas; and in countless one-man pops concerts across the country. Fricke has made his home in New York City since 1974. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he attended college in Illinois and is a McCormick Scholarship graduate of the famed Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

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