Our Barcelona chairs from A Star is Born have a long and interesting history. We first see them in 1954 on the colorful Hollywood Regency / Billy Baines inspired Malibu living room set. You get your best look at the chairs in a 12-minute sequence featuring Judy Garland singing and dancing her way around all the furniture.

Once filming for A Star is Born was completed, the chairs along with the rest of the interior décor were relocated to 144 South Mapleton Drive, the English Tudor home of Judy and Sid Luft, her husband and the producer of ASIB. How they got there is the interesting part of the story! Sid Luft claimed his contract stipulated the furniture could be purchased as salvage for $4,000 or 10 cents on the dollar. Jack Warner says Sid stole them. There was a lawsuit which settled out of court.

The chairs became part of the living room furniture that Judy’s children grew up with. By the late 1960’s, when Judy and Sid divorced, the furniture went into storage. In 1978, wanting to raise some cash, Sid Luft consigned the furniture along with clothes and memorabilia to C. B. Charles Auction Galleries.

We HAD to attend the auction. We were big Judy Garland fans, but we were also fans of the Barcelona chair. Our Mill Valley house had a pair of the classic black leather with chrome chairs. Luckily, we came home with a beautiful pair of white leather and brass Barcelona chairs.

This is our fourth book on all things Judy Garland. Brown Satin Dress, The Poppy Dress and Judy’s Joseff Earrings were all tributes to Garland. And with all our books, our friend Charles Triplett contributed articles, photographs and information. We always owe him a big thank you.


Marianne and Tom O’Connell October 2020