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Judy and Liza
Illustrated with more than one hundred rare photographs, this dual biography traces the careers of the mother-and-daughter superstars and illuminates the love, devotion, and jealousy that marked their relationship
- GenresNonfictionMusicBiography
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
About the author
James Spada
46 books29 followersJames Spada (23 January 1950 - 18 May 2017) was a American photographer and celebrity biographer.
As a thirteen-year-old kid in Staten Island, James Spada started the first Marilyn Monroe Memorial Fan Club. He produced four bulletins and one yearbook a year for four years, when he had to disband the club due to lack of money.
In college he founded EMK: The Edward M. Kennedy Quarterly, and worked as an intern in Senator Kennedy’s Boston office in 1970.
At 23 his first book, Barbra: The First Decade (The Films and Career of Barbra Streisand), was published. He followed that up with the authorized book The Films of Robert Redford. He went on to write illustrated coffee-table books about Streisand, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Midler, Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty, and Jane Fonda.
In 1987 his first non-pictorial biography, Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess, became a major international bestseller. He followed that up with intimate biographies of Peter Lawford, Bette Davis, Barbra Streisand, and Julia Roberts.
His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, People, Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, The New York Times Book Review, McCall’s, the Los Angeles Times, the London Sunday Express, and many other publications.
In 2010 his first work of fiction, Days When My Heart was Volcanic—A Novel of Edgar Allan Poe, was published.
In recent years he has become equally renowned as a photographer of the male nude. His first collection, Black & White Men, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award as the Best Visual Arts Book of 2000.
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From "Black & White Men" published in 2000:
Over the past several years, Jim has also become known for his evocative black-and-white studies of the male nude. He has had three one-man exhibitions, most recently in January 2000 at the prestigious Gallery One at the New England School of Photography in Boston. "I've been taking pictures since I was a teenager," Jim says, "but it took a back seat to my celebrity books. Now I d like to be known as a hyphenate, a writer-photographer. Photographing people is very much like writing about them, except that I'm creating the portrait with light rather than words. Light is as much a subject for me as the model."
As a thirteen-year-old kid in Staten Island, James Spada started the first Marilyn Monroe Memorial Fan Club. He produced four bulletins and one yearbook a year for four years, when he had to disband the club due to lack of money.
In college he founded EMK: The Edward M. Kennedy Quarterly, and worked as an intern in Senator Kennedy’s Boston office in 1970.
At 23 his first book, Barbra: The First Decade (The Films and Career of Barbra Streisand), was published. He followed that up with the authorized book The Films of Robert Redford. He went on to write illustrated coffee-table books about Streisand, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Midler, Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty, and Jane Fonda.
In 1987 his first non-pictorial biography, Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess, became a major international bestseller. He followed that up with intimate biographies of Peter Lawford, Bette Davis, Barbra Streisand, and Julia Roberts.
His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, People, Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, The New York Times Book Review, McCall’s, the Los Angeles Times, the London Sunday Express, and many other publications.
In 2010 his first work of fiction, Days When My Heart was Volcanic—A Novel of Edgar Allan Poe, was published.
In recent years he has become equally renowned as a photographer of the male nude. His first collection, Black & White Men, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award as the Best Visual Arts Book of 2000.
-----------------------------
From "Black & White Men" published in 2000:
Over the past several years, Jim has also become known for his evocative black-and-white studies of the male nude. He has had three one-man exhibitions, most recently in January 2000 at the prestigious Gallery One at the New England School of Photography in Boston. "I've been taking pictures since I was a teenager," Jim says, "but it took a back seat to my celebrity books. Now I d like to be known as a hyphenate, a writer-photographer. Photographing people is very much like writing about them, except that I'm creating the portrait with light rather than words. Light is as much a subject for me as the model."
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 15, 2017
An old book of my mum's, found while I was staying with her. I skimmed through her Marilyn Monroe collection, but in one sitting - during dinner no less - I managed to complete 'Judy and Liza'. It is a short but entirely satisfactory biography on the life of one of Hollywood's most talented, beautiful and tragic starlets, Judy Garland, and is subsequently about her daughter, Liza Minnelli.
'Judy and Liza' explores and explains the history between mother and daughter, their lives and beyond - from Garland (Frances Gumm)'s birth up to Liza's career in the eighties. There was the love, the complexities, the trials, the anxieties, the comebacks, the antithesis between fame and family, and the depression. But with the rises and falls and all the bleakness, both ladies were hugely talented (great singers especially) and intelligent (they'd have to be to survive the way they lived). Towards the end, at the point of catharsis, 'Judy and Liza' tells of Liza's rise to fame on her own. It talks about how she takes being compared to her mother as both a blessing and a hinderance - professionally and personally - long after Garland's tragic death.
A great, eye-opening read of a classic. A star-studded bio sure to remind everyone that no one is perfect; we're all human, we've always had problems. The rich and famous likely have much bigger ones.
Final Score: 5/5
'Judy and Liza' explores and explains the history between mother and daughter, their lives and beyond - from Garland (Frances Gumm)'s birth up to Liza's career in the eighties. There was the love, the complexities, the trials, the anxieties, the comebacks, the antithesis between fame and family, and the depression. But with the rises and falls and all the bleakness, both ladies were hugely talented (great singers especially) and intelligent (they'd have to be to survive the way they lived). Towards the end, at the point of catharsis, 'Judy and Liza' tells of Liza's rise to fame on her own. It talks about how she takes being compared to her mother as both a blessing and a hinderance - professionally and personally - long after Garland's tragic death.
A great, eye-opening read of a classic. A star-studded bio sure to remind everyone that no one is perfect; we're all human, we've always had problems. The rich and famous likely have much bigger ones.
Final Score: 5/5
February 17, 2019
A trash re-hash of the legends behind the relationship of mother and daughter. The most notable fault is the retelling of the Judy and Liza concert at the London Palladium. Spada claims that Judy was jealous of her daughter, angry and dismissive and that she berated her daughter on stage. Audiences claimed no knowledge of this. Visitors backstage saw nothing but Judy's encouragement of her daughter and Liza has denied that her mother treated her in such a horrible way.
July 22, 2017
Very good book of 2 amazing lives....
February 21, 2013
My dark vice is showing here - I love Hollywood bios - the trashier the better - and this is a delightfully trashy read about two extraordinary women. If less than half of it is true, they are still amazingly complex stories of such driven and talented women.
A very quick read with lots of lovely photos.
A very quick read with lots of lovely photos.
July 28, 2012
I never realized that Judy Garland was such a fruitcake!! Wow! What an entertaining read! And to keep reminding as you went further and further into the depts of her craziness... this was this woman's REAL LIFE. Amazing...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews