Reluctant to miss the chance to capture Garland’s postnatal victory, NBC promptly invaded her maternity ward. “They built a tower for the TV cameras outside my hospital window,” Garland told the United Press two weeks later. “There were cameras, people, microphones all over the place.”
More details spilled out as the legendary entertainer retold the story over the years: the furry bed jacket she used to cover up her mic wires, the makeshift Venetian blind entrusted to the terrified nurse, the friend who happened to be visiting and was promptly ordered to get on the floor.
But much to Hollywood’s surprise, William Holden announced that the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role was Kelly. In a haze of manically applied powder and hairspray, Garland watched as the NBC crew packed their equipment and left the building.
Groucho Marx later sent her a telegram expressing that her loss was "the biggest robbery since Brink's."
Ever the professional, however, Garland took it in stride, turning the whole incident into a funny anecdote to open her songs. When she recapped the story on her variety show eight years later, she pulled the same furry bed jacket out of a trunk, draped it over her shoulders and sighed, “This reminds me of the Academy Award that I lost.”
Ironically, in "A Star is Born," Garland's character wins the Oscar, and, in the middle of her acceptance speech, her character's husband (played by James Mason) interrupts her speech, rambling and pacing back and forth in front of her. While begging for work from the assembled and embarrassed Hollywood community, he accidentally strikes Garland in the face...
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