New York Times bestselling author and daughter of Judy Garland
tells the story of A Star Is Born -- at once the crowning achievement
and greatest disappointment in her mother's legendary career. This is a
vivid account of a film classic's production, loss, and reclamation.
A Star Is Born -- the classic Hollywood tale about a young talent
rising to superstardom, and the downfall of her mentor/lover along the
way -- has never gone out of style. It has seen five film adaptations,
but none compares to the 1954 version starring Judy Garland in her
greatest role. But while it was the crowning performance of the
legendary entertainer's career, the production turned into one of the
most talked about in movie history.
The story, which depicts the dark side of fame, addiction, loss, and
suicide, paralleled Garland's own tumultuous life in many ways. While
hitting alarmingly close to home for the fragile star, it ultimately led
to a superlative performance -- one that was nominated for an Academy
Award, but lost in one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history. Running
far too long for the studio's tastes, Warner Bros. notoriously slashed
extensive amounts of footage from the finished print, leaving A Star is
Born in tatters and breaking the heart of both the film's star and
director George Cukor.
Today, with a director's cut reconstructed from previously lost scenes
and audio, the 1954 A Star is Born has taken its deserved place among
the most critically acclaimed movies of all time, and continues to
inspire each new generation that discovers it. Now, Lorna Luft, daughter
of Judy Garland and the film's producer, Sid Luft, tells the story of
the production, and of her mother's fight to save her career, as only
she could. Teaming with film historian Jeffrey Vance, A Star Is Born
is a vivid and refreshingly candid account of the crafting, loss, and
restoration of a movie classic, complemented by a trove of images from
the family collection taken both on and off the set. The book also
includes essays on the other screen adaptations of A Star Is Born, to
round out a complete history of a story that has remained a Hollywood
favorite for close to a century.
