Lorna Luft may be the daughter of Judy Garland, but her first experience watching 'The Wizard of Oz' was surprisingly similar to that of countless other children: she was terrified.
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NEED TO KNOW
- Lorna Luft says the first time she saw her mom Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz she found it terrifying
- Luft was just a child at the time and, in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, she says she became convinced the film was real
- She spoke to PEOPLE as The Wizard of Oz continues to resonate with audiences at The Sphere in Las Vegas
Lorna Luft may be the daughter of Judy Garland, but her first experience watching The Wizard of Oz was surprisingly similar to that of countless other children: she was terrified.
Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE ahead of her mother's June 10 birthday, Luft, 73, recalled seeing the beloved classic for the first time when she was just 4 years old.
"It was the first time it was on television," she says. "They had a big screening for my sister and myself."
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At the time, Garland was in New York while her children (Luft, Minelli, and their brother, Joseph) watched the film from Los Angeles with their nanny, who kept reminding Luft and her sister, Liza Minnelli, that their actress mother was on screen.
"I remember that we had a really well-meaning nanny who kept saying, 'Your mom's on TV, your mom's on TV, your mom's on TV,' " Luft recalls.
But instead of delighting the girls, the movie's frightening moments left a lasting impression. "It was the same emotion I think that every child goes through when they see the film," Luft says. "The frightening image of Margaret Hamilton and the flying monkeys scared us."
Then, in a twist that has become family lore, Garland happened to call her children while the screening was underway.
"My mom called us from New York," Luft says. "She thought that she was going to get … very, very happy children."
Instead, Garland found her daughter in tears. "I was really, really frightened and crying."
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Garland tried reassuring her daughter that everything was fine. "She kept saying to me, 'But I'm in New York,' " Luft says, adding that her mother's words did little to calm her fears. "I said, 'The monkeys took you to New York.'"
Eventually, Garland made a promise: "She finally said, 'I will never let you watch that movie without me ever again.' And she never did."
Part of the confusion, Luft says, came from the strange experience of seeing a parent portrayed as a childlike character on screen. "You know your mother's voice," she says. "But it's also interesting because I think it's very difficult when you are a child to view your parent as a child."
Another factor was the technology of the era. When Luft first watched the film, most households still didn't own color televisions – so the scene in which the film transitions from sepia to vibrant color didn't quite have the impact when it remained in black and white.
"When I saw it the first time … nothing happened," Luft says of Dorothy's iconic arrival in Munchkinland. "People didn't have color TVs back then."
Years later, when she watched the movie again on a color set, the famous moment finally clicked.
"It wasn't until 1963 when I watched it again [and] I said, 'Ah, now I get it,' " Luft adds.
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Garland shared daughter Liza Minnelli with ex-husband and Meet Me In St. Louis director Vincente Minnelli (to whom she was wed from 1945 to 1951), and children Lorna and Joseph Luft with ex-husband Sid Luft (1952 – 1965).
Garland died on June 22, 1969, less than two weeks after her 47th birthday — but all these years later, the film is reaching new audiences through The Wizard of Oz at Sphere in Las Vegas, an immersive attraction that Luft and her daughter, Vanessa Jade O'Neil, have both attended.
O'Neil says watching the film on such a large screen was a full-circle moment.
"I've had people my whole life talking about it, but it just feels [like] my normal. But as I've grown, the perspective for me has definitely shifted to understanding what this movie means to so many people," she says. "It's definitely taken time to understand that."