her magic: listen to her Carnegie Hall album in the dark for that.
Apr. 2000 ISBN:
A corker of a biography that reveals Judy Garland as a peerless artist careening wildly through a life that could have ended even sooner than it did. Biographer Clarke (Capote, 1988) notes Frances Ethel ("Baby") Gumm's early rise, moving steadily from a boffo solo on a vaudeville stage at two years old to an MGM contract a decade later. As Judy Garland (a name she, not the studio, chose), she dazzled in her early movies (including The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, and the Andy Hardy series) and became "Metro's prime asset" by the late 1940s. As a female vocalist, her inimitable blend of vulnerability and longing ("like a woman carrying a torch for Valentino," said George Jessel) culminated in history-making performances at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. By her 20s, though, she was already dependent on pills, had attempted suicide, was treated for mental exhaustion, and had searched for the right man through affairs with Tyrone Power, Joseph Mankiewicz, Orson Welles, and Yul Brynner—among others. Her husbands also abounded: Billy Rose (whose baby Judy reluctantly aborted), Vincente Minnelli (discovered in a homosexual embrace at their home), Sid Luft, and Mickey Deans. Mother Ethel makes an appearance, too, grooming her daughter for stardom yet denying her love. By portraying Garland as a multifaceted individual rather than MGM pawn or sad pill popper, Clarke separates Judy the person from Judy the icon. But while the meticulous reporting impresses (and will likely result in a deeper appreciation of Garland’s career), its immediate effect is to deaden the shock of her death by drug overdose in 1969. Clarke’s closing image, outside the funeral home, does not evoke unity with the bystanders there so much as a disconnection from Garland and her messy life. An unstoppable read that demystifies Garland yet still details her international appeal. Don’t, however, expect it to convey
her magic: listen to her Carnegie Hall album in the dark for that. (photos, not seen) (Author tour)Pub Date: April 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-375-50378-1
Page Count: 608
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
