Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland

In 1988 Gerald Clarke wrote an exhaustively comprehensive biography of Truman Capote. It's a great book that managed to take the sometimes dry emotionless format of the biography, and infuse it with new life. It read like a great fiction novel, making you quickly turning the pages to see what was going to happen to Capote next.Happily, after reading his new Garland bio I can say he hasn't lost his gift for penning an addictive and hard to put down true life tale. Here is the Garland everyone knows; The pudgy faced sweetheart singing alongside Micky Rooney, the Dorothy Gale searching "Over the Rainbow", and the Carnegie Hall showstopper. But as the book progresses the tone grows darker as Garland's addictions to drugs and alcohol combined with her overwhelming insecurities begin to destroy her career and her life.I can't say it's an uplifting read. And to think that she was only forty seven when she died is so tragic. But for people who have an interest in Garland, they'd find this a fascinating, and easy to read book. It would also serve as a great companion piece to the upcoming February ABC miniseries, "Me & My Shadows" starring Judy Davis as Garland.

What an amazing feat. Gerald Clarke has done what other authors of Garland biographies have failed to do: provided a fascinating and well written tale of the Judy Garland that others didn't see. He certainly did make his ten years of research well worth the effort. In response to other reviewers' complaints about Clarke writing mostly about her dark side, what's the point in writing a biography if an author sugar-coats everything? Clarke does write about the many high points of her life, unlike other Garland biographers who focused totally on her bad side. Clark's version of Garland's life is a must-read for all Wizard of Oz fans who only know Judy from the movie.

I'm actually shocked to read some of the other negative reviews here. It's obvious there are a lot of fans who won't settle for anything less than a rosy, idealized portrait of their godess. I, on the other hand, thought it was a fantastic, well-rounded look at an extremely talented and complicated woman. Clarke obviously has great respect for his subject but does not treat Garland or her life with kid gloves. Ultimately, though I thought the book was compelling, full of insight on this woman who is almost mythic now, sympathetic and touching.

Gerald Clarke wrote an excellent bio of Truman Capote and he does it again! You would think after many books there would be nothing new to say about Judy but Clarke finds new information and he writes with intelligence, taste and sensitivity.