Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland

by Gerald Clarke

Judy Garland. The girl with the pigtails, the symbol of innocence in The Wizard of Oz. Judy Garland. The brightest star of the Hollywood musical and an entertainer of almost magical power. Judy Garland. The woman of a half-dozen comebacks, a hundred heartbreaks, and countless thousands of headlines. Yet much of what has previously been written about her is either inaccurate or incomplete, and the Garland the world thought it knew was merely a sketch for the astonishing woman Gerald Clarke portrays in Get Happy . Here, more than thirty years after her death, is the real Judy.

To tell her story, Clarke took ten years, traveled thousands of miles across two continents, conducted hundreds of interviews, and dug through mountains of documents, many of which were unavailable to other biographers. In a Tennessee courthouse, he came across a thick packet of papers, unopened for ninety years, that laid out the previously hidden background of Judy's beloved father, Frank Gumm. In California, he found the unpublished memoir of Judy's makeup woman and closest confidante, a memoir centered almost entirely on Judy herself. Get Happy is, however, more than the story of one woman, remarkable as she was. It is a saga of a time and a place that now seem as far away, and as clouded in myth and mystery, as Camelot-the golden age of Hollywood. Combining a novelist's skill and a movie director's eye, Clarke re-creates that era with cinematic urgency, bringing to vivid life the unforgettable characters who played leading roles in the unending drama of Judy Louis B. Mayer, the patriarch of the world's greatest fantasy factory, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Arthur Freed, the slovenly producer who revolutionized the movie musical and gave Judy her best and most enduring parts. Sexy Lana Turner, Judy's friend and idol, who had a habit of trying to snatch away any man Judy expressed interest in.

And what men they were! Oscar Levant, the wit's wit, whose one-liners could all but kill. Artie Shaw, whose sweet and satiny clarinet had a whole nation dancing. Handsome Tyrone Power, who caused millions of hearts to pound every time he looked out from the screen with his understanding eyes. Orson Welles, Hollywood's boy genius and the husband of a movie goddess, Rita Hayworth. Brainy Joe Mankiewicz, who knew everything there was to know about women, but who confessed that he was baffled by Judy. Vincente Minnelli, who showed what wonders Judy could perform in front of a camera and who fathered her first child, Liza-but who also, with an act of shocking betrayal, caused her first suicide attempt. Charming, brawling Sid Luft, who gave her confidence, then took it away. And the smooth and seductive David Begelman, who stole her heart so he could steal her money.

Toward the end of her life, Garland tried to tell her own story, talking into a tape recorder for hours at a time. With access to those recordings-and to her unfinished manuscript, which offers a revelation on almost every page-Clarke is able to tell Judy's story as she herself might have told it. "It's going to be one hell of a great, everlastingly great book, with humor, tears, fun, emotion and love," Judy promised of the autobiography she did not live to complete. But she might just as well have been describing Get Happy . For here at last-told with humor, tears, fun, emotion and love-is the true, unforgettable story of Judy Garland.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Film, Music, History, Audiobook

528 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2000

About the author

Gerald Clarke is a journalist and biographer.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

LADY GAGA AND PRINCE HARRY - FINALLY THE TRUTH

It's good that biography isn't hagiography, and if you go round censoring the lurid aspects of your subject you're now engaged in PR which is a whole other thing. I dunno. Do we really need to know that Marlon Brando and J Edgar Hoover were lovers? Or that Richard Nixon sired a love child in 1960 who later briefly married Britney Spears? And this thing about Prince Harry - well, I can never look at a koala bear in quite the same way again. You see how tricky this stuff is. What with 24 hour celebwatch channels and Heat magazine and Walmart selling kits on how to liposuct your own baby it's not easy to keep an even keel.

Judy Garland was born not only without an even keel but without a keel of any sort. She wrote the book on how not to be famous. Your Britneys and Lindsays are following bravely in her rubyslippered footsteps but she had to do it all without the help of the 74 different varieties of space dust you can now purchase from your friendly neighbourhood dealer and the obligatory leaked home movie sextape. (Not done one of those yet? Make it your New Year's resolution!)

But if there were smart phones and internets in the 1940s, you just know Judy would have had her threesome with the very young Richard Nixon and J Edgar right up there for all to goggle at. And plus she did have large amounts of talent.

Judy married 14 guys, some three times, and each one stole all her money. Like Bob Dylan and John Lennon she had an unnatural ability to look like different people from one year to the next. That part may be due to the drugs and the extreme dieting regimes of course - same with John Lennon and Bob Dylan. I don't know about Marlon Brando. And Richard Nixon always looked the same, from the age of 19 right up to when he died and as far as I know he still does, like Lenin. (Not so Britney! (I loved her "raunchy biochemist" look.))






note change of face shape from round to hatchet


HAPPY LITTLE RAINDROPS

Judy Garland crashed and burned several times as we know and after being gurneyed off to some sanatorium she always came back with a different career. From child star to grown up star, to impossible diva, to concert hall sensation, to character actress. Had she lived she may have joined the Black Panthers or have invented Tippex or become the leader of the Central African Republic. She was exhausting. She had one of the 20th century's great voices, unmistakeable after one note, and she sang a lot of the great songs although much of what went down on record is a little too ringadingding for me. (That hi-octane 40s swing style did nobody any favours, it's like a smile painted on a corpse).

She was the epitome of the great star who you thought was really just like an ordinary person lost in a whirl of Hollywood mania - like yeah, of course she was! so ordinary! - but she could really sell that ridiculous idea. She even sells it to me. It's like she had a special heat that melted cynicism. So I wanted to find out about her life, and now I'm slightly sorry I did. This also happened with Dusty Springfield. Books can be dangerous, they're not something passive, they jump into your head and ramify your mind.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Triumph and tragedy in equal measure, although tragedy tended to dominate as she got older.

Gerald Clarke is a superb biographer. I loved his biography of Truman Capote 0786716614, and I loved this one even more, mostly because Judy had a more interesting life than Truman.

My library only had this in online audio format, so I don't remember as much as I'd like to of what I found interesting. This is an extremely thorough account of Judy Garland's life, and as such it includes a lot of disturbing and one could even say tawdry details. But they're not given in a salacious manner. They're just the facts of her life, and knowing them helps us understand why she was so self destructive, and why she made so many foolish decisions.

Almost literally from babyhood, her parents exploited her considerable talents and her love of performing. Sometimes it seemed to me that she was treated like a circus animal. She loved to perform because she loved the applause, but she wasn't given any choice as to how her life would unfold. She went straight from stage performance into auditions for movies, with her mother pushing her every step of the way. Her mother was the one that got her hooked on pills in childhood, giving her amphetamines to keep her awake and energetic for rehearsals and performances. This turned into a lifelong struggle with drug abuse, which eventually killed her.

After she became ensconced in the old Hollywood studio system, Judy was never allowed agency over her own life. They controlled what she ate in the studio cafeteria so she wouldn't gain weight, and they teamed up with her mom to strongarm young Judy into having an abortion when she really wanted to have the baby.

Considering the way she was manipulated from such a young age, it's no surprise that she sought solace and acceptance by marrying so many men she barely knew. She had terrible taste in men. Her father, the first man in her life, was a pedophile who had a fondness for adolescent boys. The family was run out of three different towns when word got around that her dad was eliciting sexual favors from boys in darkened movie theaters. So perhaps it's no surprise that Judy would spend her life looking for love in all the wrong places.

Learning all the painful and shocking details of Judy's life in no way diminishes my admiration of her as an actress, singer, and dancer. In my eyes, she had a once-in-a-century star power that makes everyone else on screen with her just fade into the background. I only wish she would have been allowed to get as much pleasure from sharing her talents as her audiences got from watching her. The studio system treated stars like pieces of property, and Judy was too fragile for such a brutal environment.

[Kerrin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In light of Renee Zellweger’s recent Oscar for portraying Judy Garland in the last year of her life, I was looking forward to reading this book. However, there is only one short chapter regarding her last days. There is a lot more detail given to her parents’ lives before she was born than is given to the events leading up to Judy’s tragic death. I am disappointed by the author’s choice of what he considered more important.

My takeaway from this biography is that Judy Garland never was happy for any length of time. As the youngest of three singing sisters, Frances “Babe” Gumm, was pushed beyond belief by her mother, Ethel, whose drive in life was for her daughter to become a star. Ethel started giving Babe pep pills before her 10th birthday. As Babe Gumm developed into Judy Garland, she had already begun her life long drug addiction, which finally led to her death. Judy could be temporarily happy only when she had a man in her life who could give her constant attention and adoration. It didn’t matter if that man was freeloading or robbing her blind as long as he made Judy feel needed.

While acknowledging her impeccable talent and sense of humor, the book shows Judy’s real personality traits as bipolar, addicted to drugs and alcohol, insecure, co-dependent on men, unreliable, childish, egotistical, depressed, suicidal, over-dramatic and a sex fiend. In spite of making millions of dollars, she was often broke and being sued for debts of several of her husbands, who were reckless spenders. Her managers took advantage of her as well. There were many opportunities for her to turn herself around, but she never had the desire to help herself. She even used her fans to try to help her pay bills. She was an exhausting personality and most people who knew her, tired of her before too long. As a reader, I too tired of her story.

The book is well written but too long. While I did enjoy reading about the old Hollywood film industry, I can’t say I enjoyed reading about the life of such a self-destructive person. 3 stars. Check out my recipe for Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bundt Cake at www.booksandrecipes.com

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve had this book for years, and since a biopic is coming out this fall, I decided that it was time to read it.

Judy Garland has a sad life. Exploited by her mother, who could never show her any affection; exploited and verbally abused by Louis Mayer, who only saw her as a cash cow when she performed; exploited by all 4 of her husbands, a couple of who stole from her; addicted to drugs and alcohol all her life (her mother got her started on uppers and downers as a child); an immense talent who was excruciatingly needy, self absorbed, narcissistic, entitled and demanding.

The book is well written, and although the author doesn’t pull any punches, he treats Judy with compassion. The facts of her life are what they are: the drug abuse; the hyper sexuality; the histrionics; the need to feel loved by everyone, the feeling that she is nothing without a man: all this is told in great detail. Yet the author treats her gently.

There are some huge ironies in her life: her father was gay; two of her husbands were gay; and two of her daughter Liza’s husbands were gay, though only Liza’s first husband is addressed in this book. Judy (and Liza) became gay icons.

I shudder to think if what Judy’s life would have been like if she lived during the internet age. As it was, the media both loved and ridiculed her, her every foible making headlines.

Although the book is well done, I found Judy herself to be irritating. Although a supposedly great talent, she abused herself and her gifts, along with anyone foolish enough to hire her. Her constant no shows on movie sets, her showing up late for performances, or showing up high, her too numerous to count suicide attempts, her endless neediness was frankly ridiculous. She had very low self esteem and absolutely no respect for others. It was very hard to like her, and although I had compassion for her, I found myself having no sympathy for her.
She was an extremely troubled woman who desperately needed help, yet even when in a setting that could help her, she didn’t avail herself of it.

I recommend this book as a good insight into Judy Garland, but I can’t seem to recommend Judy Garland as a person.

[Heidi (can’t retire soon enough) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed May, 2009

An obviously well-researched and well-written biography leaves little to criticize except I have to admit, sometimes the author seemed to take a little delight in the exploits of Garland, especially in her failed romances and diva-esque escapades during her last years at MGM.

A lifelong Garland fan, I was blown away by how manipulated this young talent was by the "adults" around her... can't say the rest was a big surprise. An interesting reminder of how exploiting a young and gifted artist (be it singer, dancer, actor, etc.) is often the foundation of wasted talent (just look at some of the former child stars gracing the pages of any tabloid these days).

The older Garland got, the sadder she became... her early death almost seemed a blessing to her -- what a loss.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My teenage years were during the 1970s, probably the only decade since 1940 to mostly ignore Judy Garland's oeuvre. Yes, The Wizard of Oz was on TV every year (and it was miraculous), but other than than an occasional Andy Hardy movie on Saturday afternoons, her body of work didn't really make an appearance. I'm really just now discovering the depth of her acting and singing talent and her great movies.

I think that the world in the 1970s was too stunned, too sad, too ashamed, too angry, too deeply grieving her sad end to face up to the loss of such an extraordinary talent. Her struggle with addiction made her into a person who, like all other addicts, can form a relationship only with her drug, thus driving away those she loved and everyone else. The pattern is so clear in this book: the pain of exploitation as a child submerged beneath uppers & downers, the agony of being used and viewed simply as a paycheck by those who should have loved and treasured her, more drugs, more rage, more despair, more suicide attempts, and finally early death by overdose. Yes, the world loves to watch the anonymous train wreck, but ultimately, we loved Judy and it was unbearable to watch her crumble. So in the 70s, we turned away.

Gerald Clarke is a wonderful writer who does the next-to-impossible: he tells all without making us hate Judy. It's not that he excuses her or blames everyone else, but he reveals her heart & vulnerability, he tells "her side of it," making us always understand Judy's motivations even when they are so entirely wrong-headed or delusional. He makes it clear that Judy could only really Get Happy on stage. Interacting with and responding to an audience was the only place that she felt confident and alive -- off-stage were shark-infested waters. Clarke tackles the inherent mystery of WHY Judy Garland's voice and songs strike such a deep chord across all categories of people -- like, why gay men love her so -- and does a good job of explaining its resonance of joy & pain.

Clarke is a wonderful storyteller. Generally, I struggle through biographies when I read them because they often founder on the details and can't convey the sweep of a life or make the subject feel known. Ultimately, Clarke does all that as skillfully as a master weaver -- creating a whole cloth that both warms and scalds as we wrap it around ourselves and see Judy's life from the inside.

[GoldGato · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a ride at Disneyland called, "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride". They could replace Mr. Toad with Judy Garland and it would still have the same effect. Wild and chaotic.

She was not singing songs: she was dispensing spiritual health and enlightenment, sustenance for the soul. And therein lay the magic.

She was born Frances Ethel Gumm and was soon on stage with her older sisters as part of a vaudeville act. Her mother was ambitious and quickly realized her youngest daughter had the makings of a star. Her father was a sweet, docile man, who was consistently run out of small towns when his bisexual proclivities became unmasked. The future Judy Garland became used to moving from town to town and belting out songs for the adulation she craved. Her life could be carved up into thirds.

ACT ONE
Judy gets discovered by MGM and becomes part of the stable of the greatest stars on one movie lot. Although she had great talent, she had a lack of self-esteem, worsened by seeing the other MGM youngsters such as Lana Turner and Elizabeth Taylor at the studio school each day. To keep her going, Garland's mother fed the teenager the uppers and downers to ensure her daughter would follow a set schedule of performing and resting. As she grew older, Garland became more and more addicted to her pills and her increasing tardiness and absences made it difficult for MGM to stay loyal to her. When Louis B. Mayer lost control as head of the studio, the new regime had no patience for Garland and sacked her.

ACT TWO
Garland stars in the remake of A STAR IS BORN and her star rises again at Warner Brothers. It is short-lived. Convinced that the critically acclaimed movie is too long, WB cuts it apart and the new movie takes a drastic decline at the box office. With movies no longer her key to security, Judy went back to the stage to wow audiences across the globe, especially in England. Again, following the same pattern, she loses track, becomes un-professional and declines. Again.

ACT THREE
It's now the 1960s and Judy moves into television. Once again, acclaim. Once again, decline. Missed performances. Drugged-out onstage. Hard to handle. This time, the fall from grace was final, resulting in her death from an overdose of pills in 1969.

"Don't for heaven's sake give me that old sob stuff routine. Of course I'd do it all over again. With all the same mistakes."

By the time the book hits the mid-1950s, I had a hard time relating to Garland. It is clear that she was one very spoiled little girl who felt it was appropriate to blame everyone but herself for her actions. She married men who used her. She was used by her agents (including the infamous David Begelman who stole almost $500,000 from her). Hosts of industry parties feared her showing up at their homes, because they knew she would immediately go through each bathroom in search of the prescription pills they might have stashed. She made the same mistakes over and over again. She was the daughter of a gay man, yet she would marry two gay men and then get upset that she did. My head was spinning at one point and frustrated that she simply refused to wake up and take control. She didn't have just one overdose, but had several, along with slit wrists and constant suicide threats. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

In drugs, she had a wider selection: Nembutal, Seconal, Tuinal, Demerol and Dexamyl - they sound like a recitation of kings from the Old Testament...

Garland never had any kind of interest for me. I saw THE WIZARD OF OZ on the telly. I saw THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT and realized she had done other roles outside the Emerald City. I watched THE PIRATE in a revival movie house, but I can barely remember her. Yet, there seems to be a large audience devoted to her memory. They worship her as the Queen of Victims and it's rather weird. To each their own, but her belting style of singing is just not something I can stand. That's why I picked up this book in the hopes of trying to understand her 'aura'.

The style of writing by the author is, however, entertaining.

Like the savage rites of the Aztecs, M-G-M's religion of beauty demanded human sacrifice - an offering of spirit if not blood.

Like a virus in the blood, a dark mood would unexpectedly seize her, and she would almost hunger for self-destruction.

So I was shaking my head at both the subject and at the writing, entertaining as it all was. At one point, author Gerald Clarke compares Judy to Lindbergh and Ben Hogan, men who overcame great odds to reach their famous destinies. He compares her to soldiers and statesmen, those are the heroes who make the blood race. Okaaayyy. I don't see it but again, to each their own.

The book did have one effect on me...I will happily stick to aspirin, thank you very much.

Book Season = Winter (wings of madness)

[Kerra✨️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to start off by saying that I love reading biographies so I may be a little biased.

I picked up this book because I needed a biography of a tragic hero for a grade 12 English assignment. I did not know anything about Judy Garland before reading this except for the fact that she was Dorothy in one of my favourite movies, "The Wizard of Oz".

The beginning chapters were a little dull because Judy had not yet entered the world of the famous, but it is necessary to know someone's past before understanding their future.

After reading this book, I am officially in love with Judy Garland. I cried while reading about her stuggles with self image and drugs, and I bawled through the chapter about her early death.

This was truly a spectacular biography about a woman the world needs to know more about.

Overall I rate "Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland" five stars. It is a beautifully written book about a beautiful and inspiring woman.

* * * * *

Long live the ruby red slippers!

[Jordan Kinsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

*prepare for stereotypically gay comments and response to this book*

Pretty much everyone knows that Garland's life was a true American Tragedy. This book altered that opinion in me only by making it clear that the story is more complex than that. Was it ALL "everyone else's" fault? (MGM, her parents, her lovers/husbands, etc.) or is she partially to blame? Some of her "diva-like" behaviors in her later career (trashing dressing rooms, being completely impossible to work with, etc.) were nobody's fault but hers. Or were they? Were these just natural reactions to the way she was treated earlier? It's a complex story.

Clarke is an incredibly gifted writer...I will definitely be reading his Capote biography. He has the rare gifted of crafting a non-fiction work that is impossible to put down, but at the same time doesn't appear to take huge liberties with the truth. (I can usually detect that...Nigel Cawthorne comes to mind).

A quote that stuck out to me, which I think sums up what my response to Judy's voice has always been, even before I had the words to describe it. This quote is also handy to describe my reaction to excellent performances of any kind, and thereby my choice of profession. Clarke is describing Judy's enormous triumph at the Palace, not long after her enormous triumph at Carnegie Hall:

"Judy's conquest was so complete that critics and commentators, hard to account for it, eventually gave up, likening it to a miracle - and miracles can only be described, not explained. 'Where lay the magic?' inquired a bewildered Clifton Fadiman, who saw her not at the opening, but many weeks later, at a point when many shows have lost that first-night fervor. 'Why did we grow silent,' Fadiman went on, 'self-forgetting, our faces list as with so many candles, our eyes glittering with unregarded tears? Why did we call her back again and again and again, not as if she had been giving a good performance, but as if she had been offering salvation?'"

Such is great performance...a miracle each and every time. A miracle which "can only be described, not explained." And the best part? You don't need a music degree to recognize it when it happens. You just have to be there.

[Crystal FloridaGrams Of3 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It glossed over so much.

[Krystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Credited as being one of the most researched and comprehensive accounts of the life of Judy Garland, Get Happy by Gerald Clarke is in essence the story of a girl who wanted to be loved. Born Frances Ethel Gumm and nicknamed “Baby,” Judy began singing in vaudeville acts with her two sisters by the age of three. Ten years later would find her with her first movie contract, and ten years after that in danger of becoming irrelevant, another child star grown up. As Clarke comments throughout the book, this seems to be the pattern of Garland’s life: the highest highs followed by the lowest lows, only to be followed by an even more buoyant comeback. As a reader of Garland’s story, you can’t help but feel a similar rollercoaster of emotions which I feel in large part was due to Clarke’s delicate treatment of her life. He is eternally respectful of the talent that Garland possessed, while at the same time he is able to discuss her often scandalous personal life honestly and without judgment. What remains is a true portrait of Judy Garland, at both her best and her worst—exactly what I want out of a biography.

I found Get Happy to be one of the most moving (and at the same time haunting) biographies I’ve ever read. Having studied psychology, it’s easy to see how Garland’s childhood and adolescent experiences shaped the person she became: a woman incapable of lasting happiness and repeatedly drawn to people who only wanted her around for her money, fame, etc. So even though I would argue that by all definitions Garland was the original diva, each incident, regardless of who was at fault, would leave me thinking, “Poor, poor Judy Garland.” What was amazing to me is that a person that seemed so weak in most areas of her life was able to make comeback after comeback throughout her career, her fans able to love her in a way that those close to her seemingly could not. This paradox of utter weakness met with supreme strength was for me, the most fascinating aspect of the book.

[Samantha Glasser · Rating 2 out of 5]

Judy Garland is one of the most heralded stars in history. She is recognized by young and old because of her participation in The Wizard of Oz, but her long career and undeniable talent have made her a legend. Just 47 years old when she died, the victim of an overdose of sleeping pills, Judy drew masses to her funeral who loved her and felt sorry for the many hardships she faced in her life. They are all spelled out here in great detail, from her controlling and ambitious mother, to her difficult relationship with Louis B. Mayer at MGM, to her drug addiction that she tried and failed many times to overcome, to her never-ending financial difficulties, and her attractions to the wrong men.

Reading this left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Although there are moments of glowing awe over Garland's talent, Clarke succeeds in making her out to be a selfish and vindictive woman whose irrational behavior consistently hurt the people who loved her. These passages make it difficult to understand the intense adoration of her even after all of these years.

This book ends rather abruptly with Judy's death and has little reflection on her life. What about her children? Clarke touches on Liza's blossoming career, Judy's last husband and their rocky relationship, Lorna and Joey going to live with their father, but all of that falls by the wayside and none of those stories are included here. Nor are the reactions of Judy's friends and family to her death in any great detail. It all wraps up quickly and without flourish.

It is odd that it ends this way, because Clarke embellishes quite a bit when he describes Judy's singing and the impact she had on audiences. He writes with the overly enthusiastic gusto of a fan and is far from objective. Perhaps other avid fans will relate, but I found the praise to be overkill.

While I enjoyed reading this book, I did not find it to be the be-all end-all of Garland biographies. I will need to read on to get a full picture of the woman who still captivates audiences decades after her death.

[ColumbusReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible biography! Judy Garland was a gargantuan talent with an oversized personality and this book really spotlights both. We get an equal amount of her life both onstage and off with the book detailing her bouts with alcohol and prescription drugs and her tumultuous love life. We also get the fights with the studio over these demons she constantly battled and the way she was treated over her weight fluctuations through the years.

I read this book about 18 years ago but I think it's time for another reading. I loaned this book to a friend but never got it back. In truth, I'm not sure if I ever asked for it to be returned so I guess I'll need to purchase another one.

Anyway, I think Garland is one the greatest talents ever! Ever! And I often get the urge to break out the Garland Live at Carnegie Hall record, watch the dvd footage of the classic 60's performances and skim through the arthouse books on her. Yep, it's time!

Forget your troubles
Come on get happy
You better chase all your cares away

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this was a really good and sad book. I kind of wish I didn’t know how depressing Judy’s life was.

[J.H. Moncrieff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew. The title of this one is very much sarcastic. Though "Get Happy" was one of Garland's popular songs, her life--and this book--definitely did not follow that theme. "Get Depressed" would be a more accurate title.

Clarke's objective perspective sheds a lot more light on the not-so-positive aspects of Garland's life and personality than the memoirs of her daughter, Lorna Luft. It's exhaustive in detail and sources until the end. Garland's last days are merely a footnote, while her parents' early lives are given a lot more time and attention. Personally, I wish the two had been reversed.

By the end of the book, it's hard to know how to feel. Without succumbing to the current trend of victim-blaming and shaming--especially when the victim is a woman--it's impossible not to see how much Garland contributed to her own suffering. Yes, her mother and MGM caused irreparable damage to her psyche and health early on, but drug addicts DO get help and manage to live productive, happy lives. When Garland goes to therapy and gleefully admits that she lies through every session, it's obvious she isn't helping herself.

Believing that women should "let a man lead" and entrusting men to take care of her and her finances, only to be ripped off again and again, eventually dying destitute with unpaid bills and taxes, Garland's inability to learn from past mistakes was frustrating. When I read of her atrocious behaviour to her staff, husbands, children, and the people who worked at her performances, it was hard to maintain any sympathy for her. (One of the worst was how she used a wastebasket in her London dressing room as a toilet because she was enraged that she didn't get a private bathroom. The staff had to decide among them who would get the unfortunate job of emptying her "chamber pot." That, to me, is just disgusting and a horrible way to treat people.)

Since I haven't watched The Wizard of Oz, and wasn't a Garland fan before or after reading this--merely curious--I'm wearing no rose-colored glasses that have me thinking, "Oh, well, she ruined that guy's career and health, but that's okay because her voice was so amazing." Whether her mother and the studio made her this way or not, whether it was the drug addiction or her untreated mental illness, I can only conclude that Garland wasn't a very good person, and that those who knew her usually suffered for it. At the end, when hardly anyone attends her last wedding or is there for her on her birthday, we're supposed to feel sorry for her. But by then, she'd used and abused all of her family, friends, acquaintances, and professional connections. She'd made her own bed and had to lie in it.

If you want a gritty biography that's so intensive the paper copy could easily be used as a doorstop, this one's for you. Aside from some purple prose, it was quite well written. Meticulously researched.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually a pretty good read. Not just because I’m currently in a trashy memoir/biography phase, but because Judy lived a hell of a life and is THE original train wreck. Amy Winehouse? Whitney Houston? Lilo? Whatever. Judy was the real deal. And if it’s sordid details you want out of a biography, then this will not disappoint.

The narrative reads like your guiltiest pleasure trashy fiction. It’s no wonder that Jacqueline Susann modeled her character Neely O’Hara after Judy (yes, I’ve read Valley of the Dolls. Shut up). There is a wonderful character arc as well; it follows the pattern that many would expect out of the life of an addict.

You begin reading feeling terribly sorry for Judy. Her closeted gay father gets them booted out of at least three homes for chasing teenage boys. From a young age, her mother feeds her pills both for energy and then to get to sleep. Diet pills soon followed. She was under an enormous amount of stress to look a certain way, and told by many she was fat and homely. One can’t blame her for ending up the drug-addicted emotional cripple she turned out to be.

As the story goes on, however, the pity party begins to wane and the narrative gains some balance. The full picture of her life makes clear all of the opportunities and squandered chances at redemption she was given. Ultimately, it seems the blame for her early demise lies with Judy herself. It is still heartbreaking, though, the way it is when anyone of enormous talent wastes it and dies young.

So check it out. Seriously, you won’t be disappointed. Now I’m off to do something more butch…

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judy Garland never fails to break my heart. Lots of reviews have stated that this book is nothing but rumors...but if that's all it is, then they're true rumors. Judy's life was tragic - that's a fact that can't be denied. This books seems to successfully capture all that she went through...and perhaps those who are upset by such truths to the point that they say they're false are just fooling themselves. Stars with charmed lives were boring - Judy's wasn't even close. God, she was incredible. This book captures that, as well as her downfall.

The only thing I can say it's missing is a little more detail at the end. We heard a lot of detail up until her last days and then suddenly she is no more, and the book ends. I would've liked to know how she lived, in those last few days. Or even hours! She just breaks my heart. I've just read this for the third time, and I'll always tear up when I finish this, even though I of course know that Judy will die - it's the same when I hear her songs or watch Oz - she was just so, so tragic.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As trashy celebrity biographies go, this is one of the best. Clarke manages to bring Judy Garland's world to life without just creating a laundry list of appearances or affairs or overdoses. He nicely balances all three. He also explores the hot mess that she became in her later years without making the reader completely lose sympathy for her or turning her into a saint.

But, I really toyed with stopping reading after her first comeback at the Palladium. I told myself to stop and to fabricate a new ending. One where Judy got off the pills, found the right man, and discovered herself. A world where no one ever made an "Over the Rainbow" allusion again. Let's face it, Judy was pretty much certifiable for the entirety of the 60's. Having drank the Blue Nun, I can see why, but it was horrible to read.

[David Cerda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally got around to reading this and it was fascinating but so sad to see a person of her enormous gifts waste her life. Not sure if all of the facts were correct as Patty Duke gives quite a different account of the director of Valley of the Dolls.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this biography on Judy Garland. From her showbiz childhood to her fame, music, movies, husbands, and accidental death by overdose, this book covers it all. For fans of Judy Garland, this is a must-read!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, fascinating, occasionally tawdry, and downright devastating.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an amazing surprise to me. I have been reading books about Judy Garland since Gerald Frank's 650 page book published in 1975. I have read many biographies and stories of parts of her life, so many that I stopped buying Judy Garland books and I'm not sure why I ordered this one except it sounded interesting. That's putting it mildly. I thought that by now I pretty much knew most of her life, so what a shock to discover that probably 80% of this 500+ page book was new to me! The entire first half, for example, was an exhaustive (but fascinating) story of her years at MGM, and before, when her mother got her started on pills at 4 so she could perform with her sisters. up and down towns in So. California. Anyway, for any Garland fanatic, even if you've read all the other books, good and bad, this is a must read.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Judy, Judy, Judy. What a chaotic life the MGM darling lived. Dramatic, verbose, pill-popping, sex-crazed, bipolar, a life nearly too large to dwell inside such a small frame. Gerald Clarke’s biography on the legendary woman with the legendary voice drags tediously at times for a star whose life was constantly plagued with misery and mishaps (information about Judy’s grandparents did nothing to shed light on the actress’s life). Abused by the system at a young age, the woman who will forever be searching for meaning “over the rainbow” was a tragic figure plagued by doubt, addiction, failed marriages, bankruptcy, and a never ending desire to be loved. A helluva a life. There’s no mistaking that voice. That talent. Ever. But what a dark and grieved existence.

[ABM · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love her so much it hurts.

[Michael]

She was a very, very disturbed individual. The more you read, the less sympathy you have for her. By the end of the book her demise is almost a relief.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only gave this four stars because I wanted to really like Judy at the end of it. I guess maybe I should have given it five stars because of just that. A good biographer should present an objective picture of the subject of his writing and Gerald Clarke definitely did that.

He painted a picture of a girl whose childhood went completely wrong. Consequently, her emotional development was completely wack and it all came back to bite her in the butt in the end.

She had an extraordinary life--a life spent on the screen, on the stage and in the gossip pages of the paper. Something I knew; other details shocked me. She mounted comeback after comeback, only to have a drug-ravaged body or an extremely fragile emotional psyche bring it all crashing down.

She must have been an amazing performer--leaving it ALL on the stage, in the studio EVERY time she performed. On the other hand, I lost track of the documented suicide attempts.

Obviously, there was something she needed in her life that she never got--from anyone.

At the end, she must have been completely nuts. Bi-polar, manic depressive, even schizophrenic. Such talent. So sad.

[Nancy Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Judy was kinda crazy. Not her fault, she had a pretty rough child hood. But she was self involved, impetuous, immature, notoriously difficult to work with, alcoholic, drug addicted and incapable of having a healthy relationship with anyone. She was also very talented so people put up with her. But I have to say I liked/respected her a lot less after I read this. Like a lot of old Hollywood biographies the author spent a lot of time talking about this or that movie and who directed it and producted it and what it was about and how this or that musical number went and what the studio people said, etc. It all dried out an already depressing story. Sadly, I don't know that I will ever watch Wizard of Oz or Meet Me in St. Louis the same way again.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like an overly verbose diary; detailing every excruciating event in Garland's tragic life. For a book titled "Get Happy," there is not a lot of happy in this story. Used by her mother, the studio and finally her men, Judy endured a roller coaster life. She was blessed with a remarkable talent and cursed with demons that would rule her life. Just when she seemed to be "getting it together," everything would unravel yet again. I'm sure there are better biographies out there. One day, I may look for one as this one was just too dreadfully long in the tooth. Do yourself a favor and skip this book.

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book was terribly written. i love judy garland, but the book didn't really explore either her powerful celebrity or who she might have actually been. It was packed with innuendos (i.e. Judy "may" have slept with a lot of people in the book...using sex as a way to avoid real content) and flowery prose that bored me.

[Tricia Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm curious if her children read this book, and if they did read it, I wonder what they thought of it. There were a few parts that were cringey, and I am just a fan of hers, which makes me curious about her families thoughts.