In a 4.30 piece that includes some thoughts about the forthcoming Bluray of George Cukor‘s A Star Is Born (1954), N.Y. Times contributors Charles Taylor and Stephanie Zacharek note that Judy Garland “looks badly used up here” and “is just not believable as a fresh young star.”

In a 4.22 HE posting I wrote that Garland “was born in June 1922, and was between 31 and 32 years old when she made A Star Is Born. That’s fairly young in my book, but she looks closer to 40 in the film, certainly by today’s standards. She certainly doesn’t look like a young actress-singer just breaking through, which is what Esther Blodgett is supposed to be. She looks stressed, worn down and plain with a too-short haircut and her chin starting to disappear — there’s a straight line between the tip of her chin and the base of her neck. Garland had lived a tough life up that point, and it didn’t get any more peaceful. She died in 1969 at age 47 — barely into middle age.”