In my opinion, Deanna Durbin had an excellent reason to walk away from Hollywood and show business for good to live a peaceful retirement in France. Her abandonment of show business is the linchpin of a wickedly amusing (and unsourced) anecdote the late Gore Vidal relates in his memoir Palimpsest: Deanna Durbin [was] a child soprano and competitor of Judy Garland, whose imitations of her rival were marvelously cruel, invoking a crooked arm and a radiant mad smile to match luminous crossed eyes. But Garland could be equally mordant about herself. When she had made her triumphant comeback at the Palladium in London, inspired by merry schadenfreude, she rang her now-forgotten rival. After many delays and false starts, Garland got the sleepy, ill-tempered Durbin at home in the French countryside. Tonight I had the greatest audience of my life! At length, Judy recounted her triumph. Finally, out of breath, she stopped. There was a long silence. Then a pitying voice said: Are you still in that asshole business? :D (Source: somecamerunning.typepad/some_came_running/2013/04/deanna-durbin-1920-2013.html)
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 02:33:24 +0000
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