Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland
Encyclopedia
Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland is a biography of entertainer Judy Garland
. Published in 2000, Get Happy is author Gerald Clarke's
follow-up to his 1988 biography of Truman Capote
. Clarke conducted some 500 interviews, including some with subjects who had not previously spoken about Garland, and also drew upon tape recordings that Garland had made in the 1960s for an autobiography. He found Garland's unpublished 68-page manuscript in the Random House archives. Clarke spent ten years on the book, and only made his final decision to write about Garland after reading the extant biographies. "I did not want to write a book about her if the definitive book had already been written....So, I sat down and I read the biographies that had already been written and came up with no real impression of Judy....There was a disconnect between the woman who emerged from the pages and the woman I saw in the movies and heard on the records....I knew that the book had not yet been written."
Dissenting from the majority opinion was Janet Maslin
of The New York Times
. Maslin questions the need for another Garland biography at all, given the number of biographies already available, but cited the previously unavailable autobiographical materials as providing some justification. Disputing other reviewers' comments about pathography, Maslin describes Get Happy as placing Garland "on the kind of pedestal that comes complete with pigeon droppings". She deplores the tone of some of the anecdotes Clarke relates and questions his sourcing, noting that some of the worst anecdotes come from anonymous sources. Clarke, she concludes, " winds up wavering awkwardly between the tut-tut outing of Garland's secrets and the clammy hyperbole of the reverential fan".
Garland's daughter Lorna Luft
, who wrote her own Garland biography
, criticized Clarke's book. "I didn't like that one at all. If you're going to write a biography of somebody, it'd be nice if you'd talk to their family. The man never picked up a phone and talked to me. Then he had the nerve, when I said certain things weren't right in it, to say I wouldn't know. He never spoke to me." Clarke claimed that none of Garland's children cooperated with him.
has optioned Get Happy and will produce a stage show and film based on it. Both are slated to star Anne Hathaway
; to date no other creative personnel have been named.
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
. Published in 2000, Get Happy is author Gerald Clarke's
Gerald Clarke
Gerald B. Clarke was the principal secretary to the Rhodesian Cabinet throughout the existence of the Rhodesian Front Government...
follow-up to his 1988 biography of Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
. Clarke conducted some 500 interviews, including some with subjects who had not previously spoken about Garland, and also drew upon tape recordings that Garland had made in the 1960s for an autobiography. He found Garland's unpublished 68-page manuscript in the Random House archives. Clarke spent ten years on the book, and only made his final decision to write about Garland after reading the extant biographies. "I did not want to write a book about her if the definitive book had already been written....So, I sat down and I read the biographies that had already been written and came up with no real impression of Judy....There was a disconnect between the woman who emerged from the pages and the woman I saw in the movies and heard on the records....I knew that the book had not yet been written."
Critical response
Get Happy met with near-unanimous positive critical response.Dissenting from the majority opinion was Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. Maslin questions the need for another Garland biography at all, given the number of biographies already available, but cited the previously unavailable autobiographical materials as providing some justification. Disputing other reviewers' comments about pathography, Maslin describes Get Happy as placing Garland "on the kind of pedestal that comes complete with pigeon droppings". She deplores the tone of some of the anecdotes Clarke relates and questions his sourcing, noting that some of the worst anecdotes come from anonymous sources. Clarke, she concludes, " winds up wavering awkwardly between the tut-tut outing of Garland's secrets and the clammy hyperbole of the reverential fan".
Garland's daughter Lorna Luft
Lorna Luft
Lorna Luft is an American television, stage, and film actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and Sid Luft, and the half-sister of singer and actress Liza Minnelli.-Biography:...
, who wrote her own Garland biography
Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir
Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir is a memoir written by Lorna Luft recounting her mother Judy Garland's life, Luft's life with mother and dealing with life after her mother's passing...
, criticized Clarke's book. "I didn't like that one at all. If you're going to write a biography of somebody, it'd be nice if you'd talk to their family. The man never picked up a phone and talked to me. Then he had the nerve, when I said certain things weren't right in it, to say I wouldn't know. He never spoke to me." Clarke claimed that none of Garland's children cooperated with him.
Stage and screen adaptation
Harvey WeinsteinHarvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...
has optioned Get Happy and will produce a stage show and film based on it. Both are slated to star Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway (actress)
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries...
; to date no other creative personnel have been named.