It's gratifying to see that though Judy has left our little world of humans, interest in Judy and her work continues to grow. I often think of the piece we included on our first CD. In it Judy explains how other people are afraid to ask for help but not her. "I need Help!".. Somehow when I hear her say that something opens up in me, where it seems ok to ask for help. In that sense Judy was a sweet liberator. She was a high maintenance friend that took care of her care giving. There was a lot of taking but also a lot of giving. And thatwas exactly who she was on stage too.

The Un-Cabaret has been many things to many people, for Judy, the Un-Cabaret was "the comedy of love". By that she meant that it was comedy where the comedian was free to love the audience and not to try to "kill them" and where the audience could love the comedian in return.

When Judy was performing and it looked like it was going to be a light night audience wise, she got very excited. The smaller the house the better was how Judy saw it.

Judy was a true believer in the Un-Cabaret. She saw it as a place where, through comedy, people could transform their lives. By being truthful with themselves about their pain and foolishness. Judy was well known for her stories about her quest for love and career success, scientology (which she always referred to as somethingology) and food. Judy loved to eat and eating wound up playing a big part in her very funny sit-com pilot.

Judy was queer in the old sense of the word. She wasn't afraid to be goofy, loud or annoying. It was quite endearing.

Judy had two pieces of clothing that seemed very her. One, a pair of cherry earrings, danced as she moved and she moved quite a bit. The other, were a pair of bicycle shorts that on stage she wore under flouncy skirts so she could move around. But off stage she wore them alone. Never was a more unflattering piece of clothing invented. And she just thought that was funny. Her body held the key to unlocking her comedy. If she was having trouble getting things going, she could find her center by moving. I remember especially her impression of niece doing a dance number. Judy loved to relive being an early teen.

All these years later, and I've just found your "Judy" site. I'd love to know if you have a Judy CD. And I'm thrilled to read that she loved to relive her teen years. I was there for them. Literally. We grew up next door to each other... I'm a couple years older and was the babysitter for her younger brother and sister.... although she claimed she was too old to have one for herself, her folks would hire me to "sit" when Judy was there.
That's when we would talk, laugh and tell dirty jokes. We found her father's stash of Playboy's and I would tell her what all the parts of the body were. We'd read the letters to the editor and make up even more. Then we'd run and hide them before her folks came home. Years later I'd moved to NYC and become a broadcast journalist and came back to visit my folks.... often Judy and I would talk for hours about show business. She once told me I was one of her inspirations for going into the business. I miss her laughter and I miss talking sometimes for hours on end.

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Judy's family has requested that any donations in her name be made to:

The Judy Toll-Trank Memorial Fund
John Wayne Cancer Institute
Medical Oncology Research Fund
Attn: Dr. Steven O'Day, Director of Medical Oncology
2001 Santa Monica Blvd.
Suite 860W
Santa Monica, CA 90404