Judy and I

My Life with Judy Garland

By: Sid Luft, Randy L. Schmidt - foreword

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

The third of Judy Garland's five husbands, Sid Luft was the one man in her life who stuck around. He was chiefly responsible for the final act of Judy's meteoric comeback after she was unceremoniously booted off the MGM lot: he produced her iconic, Oscar-nominated vehicle A Star Is Born and expertly shaped her concert career.

Previously unpublished, Sid Luft's intimate autobiography tells his and Judy's story in hard-boiled yet elegant prose. It begins on a fateful night in New York City when the not quite divorced Judy Garland and the not quite divorced Sid Luft meet at Billy Reed's Little Club and fall for each other.

The romance lasted Judy's lifetime, despite the separations, the reconciliations, and the divorce. Under Luft's management, Judy came back bigger than ever, building a singing career that rivaled Sinatra's. However, her drug dependencies and suicidal tendencies put a tremendous strain on the relationship.

Sid did not complete his memoir; it ended in 1960 after Judy hired David Begelman and Freddie Fields to manage her career. But Randy L. Schmidt, acclaimed editor of Judy Garland on Judy Garland and author of Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter, seamlessly pieced together the final section of the book from extensive interviews with Sid, most previously unpublished.

Despite everything, Sid never stopped loving Judy and never forgave himself for not being able to ultimately save her from the demons that drove her to an early death at age 47 in 1969. Sid served as chief conservator of the Garland legacy until his death at the age of 89 in 2005. This is his testament to the love of his life.

©2017 Sid Luft (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

enjoyed it

she should have stayed with Sid. no one will make me change my mind about that. loved listening to this.

Tough life with Judy

Sid stuck by Judy for so long. Living with Judy got to be more and more difficult.
The narrator really makes it makes it seem like you are listening to Sid telling you a story. This is a must for Judy fans !

good listen

this was a good listen. the insight to their lives felt like you are watching it as it was happening. .

Interesting but not great

I liked this book and feel he had an interesting life. I did not know most of the information about Judy he talks about in his book

He really pissed me off as he was just like all the others in Judy's life. They knew that if they pushed her to go back on the road she would start using again and yet they all pushed her over and over to go back on the road with tours even though she would get clean and start to be happy and healthy. If any of these people loved her they would have never have done that to her.

What I did like it that Judy sounded like a great person to know and hang out with and she was a hoot according to his book. It was strange tho how he never really talks about the kids. You would think he never had any with Judy being he only talks about Liza once of two and nothing about Lorna or Michael.

Told perfectly

This is a good read. You can truly feel the love Sid had for Judy.