Judy & Liza & Robert & Freddie & David & Sue & Me...
A Memoir
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4.1 • 24 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
No star burned more ferociously than Judy Garland. And nobody witnessed Garland's fierce talent at closer range than Stevie Phillips. During the Mad Men era, Stevie Philips was a young woman muscling her way into the manscape of Manhattan's glittering office towers. After a stint as a secretary, she began working for Freddie Fields and David Begelman at Music Corporation of America (MCA) under the glare of legendary über-agent Lew Wasserman.
When MCA blew apart, Fields and Begelman created Creative Management Associates (CMA), and Stevie went along. Fields convinced Garland to come on board, and Stevie became, as she puts it, "Garland's shadow," putting out fires-figurative and literal-in order to get her to the next concert in the next down-and-out town. Philips paints a portrait of Garland at the bitter end and although it was at times a nightmare, Philips says, "She became my teacher," showing her "how to" and "how not to" live.
Stevie also represented Garland's fiercely talented daughter, Liza Minnelli, as well as Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, George Roy Hill, Bob Fosse, Cat Stevens, and David Bowie. She produced both films and Broadway shows and counted her colleague, the legendary agent Sue Mengers, among her closest confidantes. Now Stevie Phillips reveals all in Judy & Liza & Robert & Freddie & David & Sue & Me..., a tough-talking memoir by a woman who worked with some of the biggest names in show business. It's a helluva ride.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This tiresome, self-involved semi-tell-all and memoir of one of the first women to break into the boys' club of theater and film talent management inadvertently reveals too much when Phillips, in one of many wheezy asides, observes that "an agent is someone who believes his or her own bullshit and can convince others of its value." This compendium of gossip from a half-century ago begins with Judy Garland's early 1960s comeback concert tour, with Phillips dishing the fading star's devastating addictions, episodes of self-mutilation, and violent rages. What Phillips doesn't offer is any great insight into Garland, though she unconvincingly asserts that the star was her greatest influence. Phillips's lack of personal appeal comes through to the reader in the value she places on lengthy episodes of dated name-dropping. There are glimmers of self-awareness, such as her own self-critical assessment while holed up with Garland in a Las Vegas hotel as the star recovered from a pill-doused accident, or Phillips's own brush with the women's movement "as the world of show business grew smaller to me." However, this ramble through the Baby Boom decades of the entertainment world will only appeal to true devotees of the period.
Customer Reviews
A regrettable read
This work is personal and salacious psychotherapy rather than credible biography. I’m sorry to have given it my attention.
Poorly written bragging
The author’s life might have been interesting, but the book is not. Poorly written. First time I’ve ever regretted a book purchase.