Judy Garland: Beyond the Rainbow

By Sheridan Morley, Ruth Leon, Ruth Morley, Sheridan; Leon

Book Overview

Thirty years after her death, Judy Garland's artistic legacy remains unsurpassed, with triumphs in film, on stage, and in the recording studio. She starred in a string of hit movies (including the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1559704918
• ISBN13: 9781559704915
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 0.8" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

Biography Offers No New Insights, And Throws Judy Garland "Under The Bus"...Again.

I was expecting a classy, if not classier, biography of Judy Garland for a change. The book certainly looks classy. It really is a nice picture book, with many Black and White photos throughout-- and a color section in the middle. It's a nicely presented book, but not much of a biography. Sheridan Morley and Ruth Leon offer no new insights into Judy Garland; except a perspective on what makes "The Wizard Of Oz" so special to the LGBTQ+ community. That was interesting and illuminating. The authors speculate that many of Garland's well-publicized problems stemmed from undiagnosed bipolar disorder. That makes perfect sense. The authors even acknowledge that Garland was the first star that Hollywood completely "threw under the bus." The book wants to celebrate her, but it trashes her in equal measure. This book also throws Garland "under the bus." What else should I have expected from a Garland biography after all these years? Since Judy Garland was the most human of beloved 20th Century entertainers, I would like a more compassionate view of her. For more thoughtful and compassionate insights, I recommend "The World's Greatest Entertainer" by John Fricke, "Judy Garland: Voice Of MGM" by Scott Brogan, and "Always For Judy" by Joan Beck Coulson.

A person is not a human-doing.

I didn't have a problem with this book; in fact, I enjoyed it. It was a little deflated because it was not filled with all the normal tripe you read about Judy Garland's personal life. It's not easy to syphon-off the personal from the professional in Judy's life. This book made that attempt, and I'm okay with it. Sometimes the lite-touch is sufficient. We don't need to know about how many times Judy dunked her head in a toilet. I think, if Judy had lived to talk about her days in rehab, or what have you, she would have preferred to be remembered as someone who gave her everything to the fans. And she would have told the tripe-writers to buzz-off. I think Judy would choose this book to represent herself, uh-huh! At the end of her life, she was fed-up with hype. I think this book offers a simple, uncomplicated profile of an extremely intense life in the eye of the public. By the end of her life, when she was putting in phone calls to President Kennedy for validation and approval, it must have occurred to her that the personal is political. She experienced this downfall with her TV show, and was somber. This collection is more focused on her long-time career, with excellent, clear photos, outlining the years of her performances, movies and concert projects. So from that angle, it could be anti-climatic. But I found it to be a light, entertaining read that left no heaviness. Something you could sit and drink your coffee with. It's a fun book for the serious collector.