Judy Garland: The Other Side of the Rainbow by Michael Freedland


Judy Garland: The Other Side of the Rainbow
Title : Judy Garland: The Other Side of the Rainbow
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1907532099
ISBN-10 : 9781907532092
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 260
Publication : First published April 1, 2011

Based on talks with people who actually knew her—from the woman who used to babysit the star to the producers and friends who knew Judy's problems as well as her successes—this is the real Judy Garland  Stripped bare, without the hype, this is a unique biography of the superstar born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. It reveals how she was shunned by local people when she made her only visit back to her birthplace by people who considered her a Jezebel, how her father was run out of town because he was gay, and how overworked she was while making The Wizard of Oz . The man who established the first Judy Garland fan club tells how he reluctantly walked out of one of her performances because she was so bad. Stevie Phillips, the "carer" imposed by Judy's agents, describes her as a "train wreck," while the son of the man who employed her at New York's biggest night club describes how she let him down, failing to appear for shows. We hear about a friend of the family asking MGM to cancel her contract because the work pressure was too much—but then we also hear how Judy was fired from Annie Get Your Gun and went through the MGM corridors in war paint and carrying her tomahawk "looking for someone to scalp" as TV-producer George Slaughter put it. This is a bittersweet sad, funny, very human, and full of personal stories not from stars but from the sort of people few biographers bother to talk to, but who provide the best and the truest tales.

Judy Garland: The Other Side of the Rainbow Reviews

  • Selina

    My version was called 'the other side of the rainbow' But its probably a title that has been used so much with Ms Garland that it's lost all meaning.

    This book, one of the many published on Ms Garland's tumultuous life, is one of the latest and mines peoples recollections of the Judy they knew. That Judy was complicated was an understatement. Judy was really two people, Frances Gumm/Baby and another- the showbiz creation, Judy Garland. Eventually the showbiz creation took over and morphed into something else, transformed by addictions to pills and liquor.

    Sad, compelling, and unputdownable. Diehard Judy fans may not like it, but whatever Judy had just couldn't be ignored when she was high as a kite or in the depths of despair. The woman was an emotional nutcase but she knew it an exploited it to the hilt. The interesting thing was through her marriages (five of 'em) only Sid Luft could be called a real husband to her. I think its because he was as ambitious and charming as she was. Though he knew a meal ticket when he saw one, and gambled all their money away, Judy didn't live on food like ordinary people. She fed on applause and adoration.
    Even when it killed her, she knew without it, she could not survive.

  • Lottie

    3.5*
    I didn't really know much about Judy Garland's life before reading this but I was interested in reading a biography about her after I watched Autopsy The Last Hours and wanted to find out more about her.
    I thought this was a good read, as the author spoke to people that knew her both before and after she became famous.

  • Aj

    This is a terrrrrrrrible book. Do not read. There is so little content in this book. The author talks in circles and makes up things. I can't say how many times the author makes presumptions about how Judy felt or what she did, without supporting facts. Very hard to read.