June 27, 1969

Thousands Line Up to View Judy Garland's Body

By BERNARD WEINRAUB

er fans said good-by to Judy Garland yesterday.

They arrived before dawn at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home and stood for hours behind police barricades- thousands of elderly women, weeping young men, teen-aged girls, housewives, nuns, priests, beggars, cripples and hippies.

They packed 81st Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues, streaming into the funeral home to gaze at the glass-enclosed coffin containing the body of the 47-year-old singer who, in death as well as in life, stirred emotions in her fans.

They wept.

"People identified with that woman," Mrs. Marilyn Ford, a 23-year-old Queens housewife, said as she stepped out of the funeral home. "Everyone's got sadness and problems, everyone gets lonely. Judy Garland made us all feel something tied her and us together."

Through the gray, murky afternoon, fans waited patiently in line to walk into the chapel.

Inside, the fragrance of flowers suffused the air- bouquets and wreaths of roses and pink and white carnations and yellow spider mums- flowers sent by Fred Astaire, James Stewart, Sargent Shriver, William Paley, Irving Berlin and dozens of other friends and fans.

A dozen feet from the steel coffin of white and gold stood a big wreath of peonies shaped like a rainbow- for Miss Garland's most famous song, "Over the Rainbow." The wreath was signed simply: "Cathy, Lou, Mike, Maria, Pam."

"She's found that rainbow now," Mrs. Mary Roberts, a 20-year-old typist, said quietly after staring for a moment at the coffin.

By 10 o'clock last night, nearly 15,000 people had walked past the coffin. During the day, the line, eight abreast, had curled around 81st Street to Fifth Avenue, then along the avenue to 82nd Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues. There was a four-hour wait to enter the funeral home.

"I don't remember anything of this magnitude and I go back 20 years," said Ted Thorne, vice president of Frank E. Campbell. "We sort of anticipated it."

Most of the funeral arrangements were made by Miss Garland's daughter, Liza Minnelli, the actress-singer, who remained in seclusion through the day.

Miss Garland's fifth husband, Mickey Deans, a discotheque manager, visited the funeral home in the morning and afternoon. He conferred there with family friends on burial arrangements.

Mr. Deans appeared haggard. He wore dark glasses and nervously ran his fingers through his unruly black hair. His black, tapered pants were rumpled, barely touching his ankle-length boots.

"I still can't believe it," he said hoarsely.

Mr. Deans and family friends delayed the start of the public viewing for more than an hour- from 11 A.M. to noon- to allow cosmeticians further time.

Miss Garland's slight, frail body was clothed in the high-necked gray chiffon gown in which she had been married to March. Silver slippers with silver buckles were on her feet. Her hands covered a prayer book that rested near the gown's gold and pearl belt. She wore a triple strand wedding ring on the little finger of her right hand.

As visitors streamed slowly into the chapel- designed vaguely in the style of an old New England church- many placed carnations and daisies on the pews.

There were large numbers of Negro women, too, young and middle-aged.

"Judy gave love and you got the feeling there wasn't an ounce of hate in her," whispered Mrs. Helen McClean Jaafer, a Manhattan housewife. "There's so much hatred now, so much meanness, and I think Judy Garland was just too kind for this kind of world."

The body arrived early yesterday in New York from London, where the singer and actress died Sunday, apparently of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. Mr. Deans and the Rev. Peter Delaney, who married the couple, accompanied the body.

A hearse then took the coffin to the funeral home. At first the public was to be admitted only until 11 P.M., but as the hour approached and 81st Street was still jammed with hundreds of mourners, Mr. Deans asked the funeral home to stay open through the night.

The police were consulted, and it was agreed to permit the lines to pass before the coffin until 11 A.M. today.

Mr. Delaney will officiate at today's private funeral services, starting at 1 P.M. in the chapel. James Mason, who starred with Miss Garland in "A Star Is Born," will deliver the eulogy.

Among those invited to the funeral services- from which the press and public are barred- are Mayor Lindsay, Richard Avedon, the photographer, and such performers as Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Lauren Becall, June Allyson, Katherine Hepburn, Mickey Rooney, Sammy Davis Jr., Bobby Short and Sid Caesar.

Interment will take place at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, N.Y. Family friends said the body would be placed in a crypt until a mausoleum was built.

Mr. Deans explained why the Westchester County cemetery was chosen rather than one in Los Angeles.

"Judy's always wanted to be wherever I am and my home is here and in London and I didn't want her where tourist buses and that sort of thing go through," he said.

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