Little Girl Lost: The Life & Hard Times of Judy Garland

by Al DiOrio

Judy Garland was born Frances Gumm, was on stage from the age of 2 1/2 and died aged 47. Weaving all the fascinating sides of her life through the texture of her unique career, Al DiOrio creates a magical picture of innocence, talent and heartbreak. Here are all the moments of triumph and tragedy, the men in her life - the bad and the Mickey Rooney, Robert Donat, Louis B. Mayer, Arthur Freed, David Rose, Vincente Minnelli, Robert Walker, Joe Pasternak, Sid Luft, John F. Kennedy.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Music

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Jen]

Terrible, 75% of the book is regurgitated newspaper/magazine articles. Complete waste of time. I didn’t learn anything new about Judy Garland.

[Mick Meyers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously a fan boy based book.none of the usual salacious stories of her life.the author is so enamoured by the subject he has a blinkered way if writing about judy.nothing she did was wrong,and even glosses over her parents and Louis b Meyer, misuse if her talent.

[Andrea Pryke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published just 4 years after Judy Garland’s death in London, Little Girl Lost is a fan biography of the star dubbed ‘The World’s Greatest Entertainer’ and although lovingly written, it is clearly a fan bio written through the Rose Tinted glasses of youth, even the author has said in the years since, that there was so much more to her story.

Although the more traumatic episodes of Judy’s life are skirted over, what this book does give us is something that the popular press, when reviewing new books on the star does not mention – the triumphs, the legend, the laughter and the talent. If Garland was as bad as everyone said then she never wound have made as many movies as she did, as many records and performed as many concerts.

While maybe not as thoroughly researched as some books on Garland (anything by John Fricke is highly recommended.), it is a lovely look at a troubled and sometimes troublesome star.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot. I was afraid that it was going to be a dry biography, but it was very thought out and it was obvious the author was a fan of Judy Garland and did a lot of research when writing his book. The author quotes from his sources and credits them. This book was published in 1973. It is out-of-print and I found my copy at a local Friends of the Library sale, but I did see that used copies are available on line at sites like Amazon.

Garland was a sad person, who suffered from weight problems, self-esteem and depression. However, she was extremely talented and warm and funny. Her audience loved her and I can see why she is now considered a "legend" in many ways.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an entertaining read while I had jury duty. The author was a bit of a superfan, so it was pretty biased, but all in all pretty fun to read.

[Mark Bunch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I enjoyed this candid view of Garland.