Judy & Liza & Robert & Freddie & David & Sue & Me... Read Online Free PDF

for me. The girl whose life I fell in love with, my idol, is standing three feet from me, and I am about to be introduced. I may be nothing more than part of the wallpaper to her, but I am giddy with anticipation, delight bubbling up inside me. I imagine I am one big step closer to my childhood dream of walking through the screen and making Judy’s life mine. In that moment on that fateful day, I forget I have heard she can be trouble. I forget she is no longer welcome in Hollywood. I forget that what I loved was Judy’s screen life. My mind wipes out everything but the feel of her hand in mine. There is no way in that electric moment that I can imagine anything but the rainbow. And of course there is no way I can imagine putting out a fire she will set to herself at the Plaza ten months down the road.
    â€œI found Judy in a tiny second-floor walk-up in an uninteresting neighborhood in London,” Freddie has told us. “I confronted a small Buddha unable to earn more than five hundred bucks for any appearance. It looked like she spent most of her time eating.” Judy then tells him she wants to get back into films, and Freddie makes her a promise tied to her weight: The more she loses, the bigger the movie roles will get. Judy takes up the challenge; her diet will start completely on Freddie’s dime. Using plane tickets he has happily paid for, she gets on the plane to New York with her three children, Liza, Lorna, and Joey. Freddie has a limo bring her from Idlewild Airport directly to the office. She takes my hand and flashes her million-dollar smile.
    She has become Freddie’s third client. His wife, Polly, and his best friend, Phil Silvers, have loyally followed him into his new company. These two have given him not only a launching pad, but also a head start in earnings. His dream, however, has been to do something spectacular, something that will attract major attention from the entire industry and kick-start the company on the road to success. Freddie has divined that the answer is Judy Garland. He is determined to arrange a comeback that will restore Judy to her former stardom and glory. This is the miracle he needs to put his new management company, Freddie Fields Associates, on the map.
    My becoming Judy’s shadow (I don’t know what else to call myself here) was totally unplanned. David sent me to her hotel with some papers for her signature. After she signed them, she asked me to sit and talk for a while. She needed company—not wanted, needed. It was clear from the first that she hated being alone. The children could be parked in a room next door (and in fact they were), but they were company only when she wanted to be with them. I was adult company, and I was immensely flattered. Beyond! I had been with the company all of four months at the time and didn’t expect to actually talk to a star other than on the phone when I said, “I’ll put you through now.” I want to remind you that I was nothing more than the office’s all-purpose schlepper, file clerk, typist, stenographer, babysitter, coffeemaker/-getter, and the occasional messenger, which is what brought me to Judy’s door at the Drake.
    And when I walked through that door, I opened a whole new chapter in my life. Only what I thought was going to be a thrilling chapter became instead a whole book, and not the kind of book I would ever have imagined. Entering that room changed my life from ordinary into something else entirely. I walked in a total innocent, perhaps a bit lonely and worn down by family dysfunction, but still just a girl.
    Judy did her impressions of Freddie, and she was not only funny but also a good mimic. I would discover that her imitations were always slightly skewed to the ridiculous and coupled with a soup ç on of nastiness that comes from anger. But all I knew on that particular day was that we laughed and generally had a pleasant time. She was on her best behavior then