Customer Reviews

I Remember It Well

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In the introduction to his autobiography, Vincente Minnelli apologises. He has an insecurity about writing of his life since he believes he has "tip-toed" through it, and he isn't interested in serving up gossip about the people he has encountered. He says he would rather be remembered for his knowledge of rococco furbelows than for anything else. This soon clues you into what kind of book you are getting, one written by a man whose notions of taste and discretion are going to provide an anaemic experience. After a painfully hyperbolic forward by Alan Jay Lerner, and a scripted conversation between his daughter Liza and himself in preparation for the production of A Matter Of Time (the book was written in 1974), Minnelli goes through his past. His transition from window dresser to costume designer to theatre then Hollywood is catalogued, but requires one to have seen the end result to appreciate the detail. And his damnable "discretion" gives it all a reserved and waxed tone. Also those looking for any evidence of his reknowned bisexuality will be disappointed, not surprisingly. Minnelli's reluctance to settle in Hollywood is based on his belief that American films up to that time had no style - the camera rarely moving. This argument is clearly coloured by his initial unsuccessful venture in Hollywood, and is as spurious as the idea that Lerner proposes that it takes a true artist to create something really bad. Minnelli provides an interesting prefiguring of his soon to be wife Judy Garland and her drug addiction when he mentions he was given amphetamines and sedatives to get through the long working hours, but the trial so exhausted him that he soon disposed of this method of endurance. One might then consider Garland's choice, and he makes it clear that she made a choice to continue with the drugs after the years when she began at MGM and she was required to put in 14 hour days, as either foolhardy or admirable in a perverse sort of way ie she was more of a man than he could be. He mentions her pathological desire for approval and the negative influence of her mother who he quips must have been the inspiration for Mama Rose in Gypsy, who was incapable of giving Judy the loving words she so desperately needed to hear. Minnelli may attribute himself with helping Garland's evolution from child-star to woman in her films, and giving her an appreciation of "beautiful things" but ultimately he feels he failed her. "I thought I had a bottomless reservoir of love to offer, but Judy found me lacking". He adds though that any man would, because of the deep-rooted and open wounds of her childhood, and her depressive notion that self-destruction would "pay them back", a revenge on those at the studio who had wronged her. It is ironic in their A Star is Born relationship that after a brief shared success, his stock would rise and hers would fall, leading to her departure from MGM and his greatest triumphs. More interesting though is the perceived failures - Brigadoon which he blames on Gene Kelly's lack of enthusiasm, and Kismet, his own reluctant commitment. He lost the chance to direct the film of My Fair Lady because he wanted a percentage, and had planned to direct Marilyn Monroe in Goodbye Charlie before she died. I also liked the mention of projects abandoned - the life of Bessie Smith with Tina Turner, and Liza as Zelda Fitzgerald!

I have to admit that i bought this book because i wanted to know more about Judy Garland. She is my favorite entertainer and world's greatest and I knew i was going to find out many anecdotes and stories of her in this book. But there is more to it in this book. Vincente Minnelli raised one of the greatest stars Liza Minnelli and he is also one of my favorite directors of the old movies from the 40's to the late 50's. in this book not only you find very detaile what his life was with Judy Garland and Liza but also how he created those fantastical movies. HE SPEAKS wonderfully of Judy which I liked because I knew her life couldnt have been as tragic as everyone wants to put it. He does mentions her downs too but he gives her justice. Thank You Vincente. Great book, interesting and very entertaining.

If you're the voyeuristic type of star bio reader, you'll probably want to look elsewhere for the juicy details on Judy Garland's ups and downs. We learn only the bare outlines of Minnelli's life with Judy Garland and little about any other romantic interests. His attitude toward Judy was one of sympathy, but he really didn't know how to cope with her. She was a difficult person to live with. You can tell Minnelli really dotes on daughter Liza, and he even lets her voice into this book, quoting a lengthy interview he and she gave to a reporter. Liza sings well, but I've never enjoyed listening to her talk. I've never heard her say anything interesting about herself or her life.

Minnelli, on the other hand, has many interesting things to say about his life and career. He begins with his boyhood and tracks his career to the present. His approach is much like that of star biographer Gary Fishgall. Every job, every Broadway production, every film, and his role in completing each is described in satisfying but modest detail. He includes his failures as well as his successes. I find this much more interesting than who slept with whom.

This is a well written and interesting biography. He manages to talk of his marriage to Judy Garland respectfully and thankfully does not sink to pulling punches [although you would've thought that he'd attend her funeral, if just for Liza]. There are some really good rare pictures of Garland and him on their honeymoon as well as many of Liza as a child.

Minnelli provides accurate detailed accounts of his varied and exciting career but unfortunately fails to do so on his private life. He gets many facts wrong [e.g. he claims that Liza couldn't walk until she was 2, however there are many pictures in many different books to prove otherwise] although this is understandable as memories become cloudy with the passing of time. My only other complaint is that he focuses way too much dteail on his work, the brith of his second child is glossed over compared to the lengthy description of his next movie.

I also liked the lack of bragging in his book which appears in so many autobiographies, it makes the book much easier to enjoy. I wondered why he doesn't mention when he was born but later found out that it was because he would take ten years off his age for his whole life.