Judy Garland as gay icon
Gay identification with Garland as a tragic figure was being discussed as early as 1967. Time magazine reviewed Garland's 1967 Palace Theatre engagement in New York City, and wrote that a "disproportionate part of her nightly claque seems to be homosexual." The review goes on to say that "[t]he boys in the tight trousers" (a phrase Time repeatedly used to describe gay men) would "roll their eyes, tear at their hair and practically levitate from their seats" during Garland's performances.