John Fricke

Confirmed for 2011

John Fricke is the author of three books about the history of The Wizard of Oz and three books about Judy Garland. The latest of these, Judy/A Legendary Film Career, was published this month by Running Press; we are proud to have a Fricke book make its Oz Festival debut here in Chesterton! The beautiful hardcover volume includes over 500 illustrations in its 352 pages and includes a detailed history of all of Judy's film appearances -- including, of course, The Wizard of Oz. Additionally, John is the recipient of two television Emmy Awards as co-producer and co-writer of the American Masters and Biography documentaries about Garland. He received a Grammy Award nomination for his liner notes for the EMI compact disc release, Judy Garland/25th Anniversary Retrospective. Earlier this summer, he was co-curator and consultant (respectively) for the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Paley Center during New York City's "Summer of Judy." Their four-week celebration featured John as emcee and host for screenings of thirty-two full-length movie programs, as well as excerpts from -- or complete versions of -- almost forty TV appearances, all centered on the talents of the "world's greatest entertainer" from her screen debut at age seven until her final concerts forty years later. John can be heard on the commentary tracks of such Garland film DVDs as The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, Easter Parade, For Me and My Gal, The Pirate, Babes in Arms, and Girl Crazy. He wrote the deluxe booklets that accompany the Blu-ray Oz and A Star is Born dvds, as well as the Mickey Rooney/Judy DVD box set. Among his many compact disc booklets, John has written and compiled all eight of the acclaimed Savoy Jazz releases of "rare recordings from The Judy Garland Show."