Miss Garland appeared to promote her role in the upcoming film version of Miss Susann's novel "Valley of the Dolls", joking that she was the only character in the book who doesn't take pills. Garland was known for her struggles with pill addiction dating back to when the studio would give her uppers to control her weight and sleeping pills at night. Ultimately Garland was unable to complete work on the film, replaced in the role of Helen Lawson by Susan Hayward.
Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland's daughter, had just married Peter Allen two days before this broadcasting.
Jacqueline Susann had published her iconic novel in the previous year, one of the best-selling books in history, which was adapted into 'Valley of the Dolls (1967)' and for TV as 'Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls (1981)'. One of the characters in the novel was reportedly based on Judy Garland.