Judy Garland on Judy Garland Interviews and encounters

Judy Garland intended to write her autobiography, but her death at 47 came before she put her story down on paper. This very interesting book assembles transcripts of interviews with Garland, articles about her, and some pieces written by the star herself, to create a picture of her life. The oldest piece is a radio interview with a 13-year-old Garland, when she was an up-and-coming young actress and singer (before The Wizard of Oz); the most recent is an interview she gave to Radio Denmark in March 1969, about three months before her death. Even though the book features a number of articles written by other people, it's mostly a story told in Garland's own words, through the interviews and magazine pieces she wrote herself. And, unlike most autobiographies, these words are unfiltered by memory and time. Garland is often seen, nowadays, as a sort of tragic figure, a superstar who achieved great heights and crippling lows, but here we see her perhaps as she would want to be remembered: a eager, supremely talented woman who never stopped dreaming of a brighter future for herself.--Pitt, David Copyright 2014 Booklist

Although Judy Garland never wrote her long talked-of autobiography, her tumultuous life was the object of endless fascination. From her musical debut in 1935 up to her early death at 47 in 1969, her words-and those of MGM studio publicists-were avidly recorded. Music teacher Schmidt (Little Girl Blue), gathers many of these articles and interview transcripts chronologically, and provides a little context. When Garland was a successful MGM star, most articles were puff pieces written for movie magazines in which she expressed great happiness with her career and family. The tone changed after MGM fired her in 1950; more of the supposedly "true" Garland emerged. She talked more freely-and often bitterly-of failed relationships, career lows, and struggles with addictions. The problem is that even when seeming to be candid she was an inveterate teller of tales, many of which were repeated so often she seems to have believed them herself. The final piece, from just three months before she died, is an interview for Danish radio after she had married for the last time. VERDICT Any addition to the Garland canon is welcome, especially when it uncovers obscure material, but this does little to separate fact from fiction, and will likely be skimmed more than read in its entirety. Movie buffs, especially Garland fans, may find parts of it entertaining.-Roy Liebman, formerly with California State Univ., Los Angeles (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.