Liza Minnelli‘s forthcoming memoir

Cover by AI? It’s horrible.

Cover? The whole books gonna be written by AI.

I wonder if she will compare the penis sizes of her faggot husbands.

Mark Gero, who was straight had the biggest penis of them all.

[quote]It was only after a “series of unfortunate events,” including “a sabotaged appearance at the Oscars,” "a film with twisted half-truths " and "a recent miniseries that just didn’t get it right ... All made by people who didn’t know my family, and don’t really know me" that she decided to collaborate on the book with Tony winner and longtime friend Michael Feinstein.

Why does everything with her go through Feinstein? This doesn't even sound like something she would say. Liza wouldn't even reveal that Studio 54 had drugs! And what miniseries are they referring to?

Sorry, but this looks low rent, from the title to the cover. She deserves better.

Who are these "kids"?

I"m looking forward to it.

[quote] I"m looking forward to it.

It'll be terif!

I love the cover. She really resembles Judy there, but with her own distinct 70s twist. The camera has loved them both equally.

The font is fun and bold. It grabs attention, and the face holds it.

Let’s all buy this, for Dame Liza. In paper, to tote around resorts and cruises.

There's a reason they're not releasing this now - for the Christmas season - and waiting until 'early 2026' when there's hardly any competition. I think that reason is the publisher is not convinced it will be a best-seller through the season.

R5 As for the 'mini series' she refers to, can it be the series they did on Fosse / Verdon ? Wasn't there a sub-story on working with her, which didn't put her in the best spotlight ?

The release is to coincide with her 80th birthday.

One of the last showbiz legends who must have truly seen, done and survived it all.

[quote]The release is to coincide with her 80th birthday.

That's what they're saying is the delay to release part 2 of Cher's memoir - from November to the end of May. I haven't heard that about Liza. So they will release this in mid-March ?

If there isn't a chapter titled LORNA WAS MOLESTED I have zero interest.

Of course you love the book cover, Miss Feinstein/R9. No amount of pushing us to buy it is going to work.

How long will you keep pimping out Liza with these new “projects” to pay for your rentboys?

Will Feinstein read the audiobook ?

[quote] [R5] As for the 'mini series' she refers to, can it be the series they did on Fosse / Verdon ?

It's almost certainly the "Halston" miniseries, where she appears as an important character.

The book is coming out on March 10 and her birthday is on March 12. Nice timing.

It's pretty amazing Liza has survived to 80, (at least I hope she does!).

I remember during the last decade, many of us were so certain she was heading in the direction of her mother and would be dead of an OD before hitting 45!

[quote] The book is coming out on March 10 and her birthday is on March 12. Nice timing.

Sherendipitoush!!

...as told BY

I never thought Liza would flame out. Liza seemed to have much more of a grit and determination than Judy. She was also more stable.

Even at her worst, you always knew that she would pull through.

[quote]I remember during the last decade, many of us were so certain she was heading in the direction of her mother and would be dead of an OD before hitting 45!

Math is not your strong suit.

If she's turning 80 in this decade (2020s), then in the last decade (2010s) she wasn't turning 45.

She has a tendency to tell all of these old Hollywood anecdotes about who came over and the parties and dinners. It's interesting fluff - but it just feels like name-dropping and there's never any tea spilled.

I hope it's not a book full of that - but I predict that it will be.

Liza is known for never saying anything bad about anyone, so I'm not quite sure what she will divulge in her memoir. Still, she lived a full life with ups and downs, so it could be very interesting.

It will be 103 pages, and that includes the index.

"As told to."

It'll be a real thrill!

She has overcome so much diversity!

Will there be never before seen photographs?

Will we hear any updates on the "beau" whom Judy said Liza was off ice-skating with at the beginning of Judy's Christmas episode of her CBS series?

I didn't know she had "chronic anxiety."

Google Tracy Everitt's name, R30, and you can see the studio in NJ where he still teaches ballroom, and his LinkedIn too.

So she was not happy with the documentary?

Thanks, Geraldo at R32.

Will the chapter on Peter Shellersh be dishy?

Will there be unflattering pictures of Lorna?

She said bad things about David guest.

[quote] Will there be unflattering pictures of Lorna?

Are there flattering pictures of Lorna?

Lorna will publish her own "as told to Michael Feinstein" book next year. Then, finally, it's Joey's turn to tell all.

Thank you, R9, aka Liza. I didn’t think you were lucid snout to post such a promo.

Tra!

[quote]She really resembles Judy there, but with her own distinct 70s twist. The camera has loved them both equally.

A 70s style Judy. Can you imagine Judy on Love Boat?

The cover photo is lifted from an A&M album Liza did called Come Saturday Morning, which was the theme song from The Sterile Cuckoo, 1969. Guess there’s no copyright on the pic. Actually, I’m not sure many people will recognize 1969s Liza.

Bitch stole my Oscar.

And David gest.

The cover art is ghastly.

She really ushered in and helped shape the 70s.

Liza is extraordinarily talented.

She is a national treasure.

Liza is extraordinarily talented.

Meh.

Oh come on…. Written by AI and signed off on by Michael Feinstein. Nothing new to see here. If you really want to read about early Liza, Judy and the horrors and thrills of show bidness - read Stevie Phillip’s memoir. “Liza and Judy…” followed by a number of other names. Your hair will curl. That’s the real deal. A perfect vacation book!

I hope it's a direct transliteration

I don't understand As Told To. Why does she need an interpreter?

Is she the one from Arrested Development?

The Sky is so Blue Every Day: The Life and Times of Joey Luft

Will Liza talk about how she survived Judy Garland's uterus? A fetid swanp of Nembutal, Seconal, Dexedrine, vodka and menthol cigarettes.

Amazing anyone could be pulled out of that chemical hellhole and survive.

And being jostled around when Judy danced to Who?

Sounds like a fanzine.

What sabotaged Oscar appearance? Does anyone know who, what and when?

Oscars = excuse for being too high to read or know where she was. No “sabotage.”

Was that when Ellen was hosting and said the Liza was a male impersonator?

Are you trying to be funny, R59? It was the Oscars with Lady Gaga with Liza in the wheelchair.

What r24 says. Liza is kind and flattering. A true Hollywood product. This seems like Feinstein settling his own grievances and imagined ones for Liza. With only Liza's half cogent awareness. It threatens to be very abusive of who Liza is. I hope it's not.

She said David Gest was after her money.

r54, you must be thrilled to bits by the new fetal personhood laws.

R46: I think she was more of a symptom than a cause.

Shouldn't it be Wait *Til* You Hear This?

'Til, with one L, is an informal and poetic shortening of until.

'Till, with an additional L, is rarely used today, and should be avoided

Will Liza Minnelli call into DL's Let's be Larry King's Liza Memorial Show to share her own memories of Liza?

How many chapters on her clay work?

Clay feet?

The book cover photo as it originally appeared - on this 1968 album. You can get it on eBay for $4

I shtarted working with clay...

It’s the best, most honest and revealing memoir since Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk!

“There were no drugs at Studio 54!”

I’ll give you the shortened version:

Joel Grey was fabulous

Chita was fabulous

Andy was fabulous

The End.

The real question is: will Victor/Victoria on Broadway be mentioned?

r6, The "kids" are Us, all the little homosexual boys far and wide. Come on, "kids", Mama's made us egg salad sandwiches and stocked the icebox full of soda pop, and I'll tell ya how it all went down!

Did Liza and Lorna ever do a duet of "If Mama Was Married," from "Gypsy"?

[quote]Come Saturday Morning, which was the theme song from The Sterile Cuckoo

The Sandpipers had a hit record with that song.

Was Liza’s character sterile? Did they cut that part out in the movie? I couldn’t stand the homophobia in the screenplay.

I wonder if she will discuss sitting outside at Halston's place waiting for Skylab to fall.

[quote]Did Liza and Lorna ever do a duet of "If Mama Was Married," from "Gypsy"?

Yes, they have.

Do you have that Google thing over there by you?

I'll only buy the audio version if she reads it. If Barbra's was 29 hours, this should be 60. And that just gets us to "Lucky Lady. "

I would prefer an elegant coffee table book with photos from throughout her life and career. C'mon Rizzoli!

[quote] Did Liza and Lorna ever do a duet of "If Mama Was Married," from "Gypsy"?

No, but Joey once performed "Am I Blue?"

[quote]Did Liza and Lorna ever do a duet of "If Mama Was Married," from "Gypsy"?

No, but Mama made the three of us perform "You Gotta Have a Gimmick." She'd take Joey behind the couch and beat on him when he screwed up, "Bump it with a trumpet." Every time.

We want dirt, Liza. Don't be shy.

Is the big reveal that Liza molested Lorna?

Love everything about her. She’s always in unfailingly good cheer and seems to be in on the joke! Her appearances on Arrested Development sealed her legacy for me. I suspect Feinstein will do a decent job pulling some gems out of her.

R77–they did! Here ya go

[quote]Did Liza and Lorna ever do a duet of "If Mama Was Married," from "Gypsy"?

A bit of it on the Tony Awards.

[quote]What sabotaged Oscar appearance? Does anyone know who, what and when?

I think she's referring to a few years ago, when she came out in a wheelchair pushed by Lady GaGa. It was right after Will Smith slapped Jamie Foxx across the face on stage. They were presenting the next award, and quite frankly, everyone's eyes were still on Smith and no one cared about Liza making her grand return to the Oscars - in a wheelchar, no less! - on stage. Her 'big moment' was sabotaged by Smith's stunt.

[quote]“She only agreed to appear at the Oscars if she would be in a director’s chair, because she’s been having back trouble,”

[quote]‘I don’t want people to see me limping out there.’ She said, ‘You know, I want to look good. I don’t want people to worry about me.

[quote]Minnelli and Gaga’s presentation of the best picture prize to Coda provided a relatively calm close to a show overshadowed by events an hour or so earlier, when Will Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock on stage.

[quote]This disruption had “shaken up” the organisers, claimed Feinstein, leading them to abruptly change the plan for Minnelli. According to Feinstein, a stage manager informed her just minutes before her appearance that she’d be seated in a wheelchair rather than a director’s chair.

[quote]It is not known whether Minnelli was originally supposed to be wheeled on to stage and then transferred to the chair during an ad break or whether she was intended to walk with aid to the chair.

[quote]t was right after Will Smith slapped Jamie Foxx across the face on stage.

r91 is one of those "They all look alike to me" people.

Thosh were the daysh!

[quote]I'll only buy the audio version if she reads it. If Barbra's was 29 hours, this should be 60. And that just gets us to "Lucky Lady. "

NO. It will be TWO HOURS. Her prep will be 60 hours because she'll have to memorize all 150 pages. Liza's reading skills are second grade level.

[quote]Will it be a scandalous tell-all?

I think the chances of that are less than zero.

[quote]I would prefer an elegant coffee table book

That would be an oxymoron.

Will a complimentary coke spoon be given away at select locations?

In hindsight, the thing about Victor/Victoria that sticks out is that Liza was only 50 then. In terms of today's Broadway "leading ladies" (not a patch on Liza for starpower, for age comparison only): Kelli O'Hara is 49, Sutton Foster is 50, Kristin Chenoweth is 57, Idina Menzel is 54, Sheri Rene Scott is 58 and there's no doubt all of them could get through an eight show week of Victor/Victoria with the keys tailored to their voices.

Victor/Victoria was built for Julie Andrews, then 60, to be able to get through it eight times a week with the voice and energy she had at the time. And they did some cuts and changes for Liza. I wish Liza had done "Louis Says."

Though the character sings "If I Were a Man" and her half of "Trust Me", "You and Me", and "Almost a Love Song", plus a line or two in the finale title song, none of these are vocally taxing. The big singing for the leading lady is limited to just three songs per performance.

In Act One: a few choruses of "Le Jazz Hot" and then the ballad ("Who Can I Tell?" for Liza, replacing Julie's "Crazy World"). In Act Two her only big sing is "Living in the Shadows."

Similarly, the only real dancing for the leading lady confines itself to the break in "Le Jazz Hot" and the Tango.

A Broadway and concert vet like Liza knew what she was getting into when she said yes. While her having a few slips on lines, steps, notes would make sense for even an old pro during the first week or so, given the short rehearsal process, it's hard to believe that she didn't have it down cold by around the middle of week two. There are so many wildly divergent accounts of the level of her performance, but I've only seen/heard one recording where she was clearly ill, and that's the valiant final performance.

At the performance I saw, she had one or two line gaffes which she immediately recovered from, and she sang the living daylights out of everything. More than that, (Mary!) for the first time I knew I was experiencing what it must have been like to see Happy Hunting, or Redhead, or some other shiny but substandard piece of Broadway goods that was made memorable by the starpower, presence, talent, and simple force of will of its leading lady. Julie is adult and sangfroid, Liza is all childlike wide-eyed warmth and need. I cared more about what happened to her Victoria because she played it with her emotions on the surface.

Michael Feinstein is probably writing this or dictating it to the actual writer while Liza naps. He seems to be her custodian in all things, and probably is doing his best to make sure Lorna and any other relation doesn't get their hands on anything once Liza passes away. I have no doubt their friendship is genuine, but there is something creepy about it, anyway.

Is she even involved in this at all? She doesn’t know what planet she’s on. This is all Michael Feinstein writing a book and using her name to sell it.

RuPaul paid Liza a wonderful tribute earlier this year. The staging is great and very respectful. Liza is as fabulous as ever!

The Oscars fiasco with Gaga is on production. They should’ve come up with a much glitzier way to introduce a legend than wheeling her on and off the stage. She and Gaga could’ve been revealed as already on stage, draped in Hollywood magic. Gaga made the most out of a thankless situation.

[quote]They should’ve come up with a much glitzier way to introduce a legend than wheeling her on and off the stage.

The reunited Mavis Turner Tappers from "Stepping Out"?

I hope she reveals whatever became of Jimmy Thompson. She’s one of the last who might know.

Liza is going to get flack from the wheelchair community if she thinks she was mistreated at the Oscars being in one.

Feinstein told HER she was humiliated. She didn’t know where she was or in a wheelchair or on her living room sofa.

I guess she’ll be making the rounds of the talk shows to promote it. Maybe a book signing tour as well?

Maybe Stephen Colbert will come out to California to interview Liza as he did with me.

I broke my knee!

I hope that with the book tour comes more jewelry!

[quote] I guess she’ll be making the rounds of the talk shows to promote it. Maybe a book signing tour as well?

What good is shitting alone in your room?

[quote]I guess she’ll be making the rounds of the talk shows to promote it. Maybe a book signing tour as well?

I'm guessing she will book a lot of talk shows to promote it and say she's doing a book tour, but will cancel everything once it's all supposed to get going. The last thing she will want on any talk show or any bookstore is people focused more on her being 80 than any incoherent nonsense in her book.

Liza is poorer than Jackie on Assistance!

She sold her Warhols and is living under the Golden Gate Bridge. Michael told her it was the Savoy in London. She keeps asking when Elaine Stritch is going to come up for cocktails.

R112, if she does promotion, it will be REMOTELY. Remotely with a prepared speech and the usual “it was swell” shit. I can’t see anyone other than local daytime shows wanting that. Colbert?. Don’t make me laugh.

Don't forget Feinstein will have to be with her at all times as well R114.

Will she talk about borrowing poppers from Halston at studio 54?

She may not be able to talk at all by 2026, R116 : (

"This book is lovingly dedicated to Georgia, and to all my other mentors like her."

By all accounts, she has a very faulty memory. And the publisher, Hachette, is substandard. Will probably be more dull than fun.

[quote]Sorry, but this looks low rent,

The chapter on "Rent-a-Cop" promises to be quite glamorous.

I betcha Gayle King will score the 'big interview' with the help of Oprah. And then King will live to regret it, trying to get 15-20 minutes of something worth of coherent interest from her.

I will be working on the space station next March and unavailable for celebrity interviews.

"Working with Kermit the Frog in 'The Muppets Take Manhattan' was sensational--a true dream come true---, but I couldn't understand why he wouldn't hang out with me off-set."

--chapter XXIV

R121, they will edit. Four hrs of interviews on seven consecutive days = eight minutes of usable interview.

RuPaul paid Liza a wonderful tribute earlier this year

R102 - Gawd that is really slumming. But then again didn't Barbra use Jim Bailey at one of her concerts?

I hope she reveals whatever became of Jimmy Thompson. She’s one of the last who might know.

R104 - What's that all about?

From an old thread:

[quote]Handsome singer/dancer Jimmy Thompson was said to be a "protégé" of Gene Kelly, and appeared in several Kelly movies, though not much else. He sang "Beautiful Girl" in Singin in the Rain, but his singing was dubbed in Brigadoon. He worked as a dancer with Kay Thompson on her stage shows in the 1950s, but seems to have disappeared after that. His last movie role was in Forbidden Planet in 1956.

Is the movie she complains about "Judy" with Renee Zellweger? She claimed she wouldn't see that.

I don't know why. I thought it was a pretty sympathetic portrayal of Garland.

[quote]I don't know why. I thought it was a pretty sympathetic portrayal of Garland.

But it was a fantasy. There was no actual gay couple. The kids were years older in real life in 1968 than in the film. The costumes were cheap versions of the originals. And while her performance was enjoyable in places, Rene didn't have Garland's doe eyes, so we got a lot of squinting.

[quote] so we got a lot of squinting.

Well it is Renée Zellweger.

Get real, Liza never saw the movie and would never see the movie, even if it was good.

It would be great if Michael gets the tapes mixed up and he includes Mama s angry tape.

Liza is very protective of Judy’s legacy and doesn’t Judy being portrayed as a mentally ill junkie with no self awareness or control.

Will Liza talk about Mel torme's book

[quote] doesn’t Judy being portrayed as a mentally ill junkie with no self awareness or control.

A pill-popping no-talent better off forgotten, not an artist on the level of Sinatra or Picasso or Callas.

Judy told Liza not to sing her songs. Will that be in the book?

[quote]A pill-popping no-talent better off forgotten, not an artist on the level of...Picasso

It's true there's no evidence of Judy mastering Cubism, but then Picasso never played Carnegie Hall to legendary acclaim.

Liza is very protective of Judy’s legacy and doesn’t Judy being portrayed as a mentally ill junkie with no self awareness or control.

R133 - a mentally ill junkie with no self awareness or control sounds like Liza.

I wish all Liza Minnelli ancient queens who infest this board would be shot in their wrinkled fucking faces.

[quote]A pill-popping no-talent better off forgotten, not an artist on the level of Sinatra or Picasso or Callas.

Your ignorance is astounding.

BTW Sinatra, Picasso and Callas all had substance abuse issues.

Picasso was a woman-beating misogynist pig and a nasty prick. Great artist, but horrible person.

R140, see R1 of the below-linked thread. It’s an old DL meme.

I have never heard or read that Callas had substance abuse issues. What substance?

Tapeworms, r143.

I hope it’s absolutely filthy

How about DL fave Miss Streisand? Very little booze, several cigarettes but not a habit, and only pills prescribed temporarily by a medical professional.

Barbra smoked off and on in the 60s and 70s but that was very common back then.

[quote]Picasso was a woman-beating misogynist pig and a nasty prick. Great artist, but horrible person.

He was a sweet and gentle lover with me.

I know she smoked, r147, but in Funny Lady she doesn't inhale.

[quote]I have never heard or read that Callas had substance abuse issues. What substance?

Pasta

She smoked plenty, R149, and DID inhale.

^ between scenes of The Owl and the Pussycat.

I didn't say she didn't, r151, just that she didn't in Funny Lady. It was just something we noticed.

Speaking of Barbra smoking, she smoked in the craptastic video for Left In the Dark again, another craptastic Jim Steinman opus that was coming off the heels of his other craptastic opus, Total Eclipse Of the Heart. TEOH had been such a huge monster hit but LITDA didn't duplicate its success.

When ugly girls don’t get ice cream, they turn to smoking.

[quote]Will Liza talk about Mel torme's book

With everything else she could possibly talk about, why would she even bother to mention that mostly forgotten hatchet job? Torme had an ax to grind. No doubt he had his reasons, but who cares 60 years later?

[quote]Torme had an ax to grind.

He did credit Garland with coming up with the concept for her duet with Streisand.

See, r154, there she blows out the smoke *then* inhales.

Bette Davis didn't really inhale either.

Oh yes she did, r159.

In those videos Barbra used cigarettes as props to look cool. In real life she used cigarettes to feed a habit, and in the 1960s, Elliott Gould also provided second hand smoke 24/7 for her to inhale. Why do people mention this? Because Barbra CLAIMS she gave up smoking as a 9 year old, or something, over and over in her memoir. Either she’s lying or has no memory left.

r160 Bette's "Dead Ringer" wig was one of the ugliest fucking wigs of all time. And she wore that wig in her personal life for some time afterward.

There are candid photos of Barbra with a cig in her hand from the 60s and 7s.

Barbra's preferred brand was unfiltered Pall Mall. Fucking hardcore!

It was no-nonsense and she wasn't a glamour girl, r162.

The Judy stans on this thread are pretty hard to take.

r156: stand down, queen!

How have Judy Garland and Streisand managed to take over this thread about Liza Minnelli?

Maybe because Judy and Barbra have always managed to upstage Liza.

Yet Liza told that anecdote on Donahue when she was performing in a Judy concert where Judy became less and less enthusiastic because she was jealous.

I’ll never believe that Judy was jealous shit. Judy needed a drink and a smoke.

She should have called it “Papa and Mama: The Fag and the Hag.”