Judy & Liza & Robert & Freddie & David & Sue & Me...

August 10, 2015
This tiresome, self-involved semi-tell-all and memoir of one of the first women to break into the boys' club of theater and film talent management inadvertently reveals too much when Phillips, in one of many wheezy asides, observes that "an agent is someone who believes his or her own bullshit and can convince others of its value." This compendium of gossip from a half-century ago begins with Judy Garland's early 1960s comeback concert tour, with Phillips dishing the fading star's devastating addictions, episodes of self-mutilation, and violent rages. What Phillips doesn't offer is any great insight into Garland, though she unconvincingly asserts that the star was her greatest influence. Phillips's lack of personal appeal comes through to the reader in the value she places on lengthy episodes of dated name-dropping. There are glimmers of self-awareness, such as her own self-critical assessment while holed up with Garland in a Las Vegas hotel as the star recovered from a pill-doused accident, or Phillips's own brush with the women's movement "as the world of show business grew smaller to me." However, this ramble through the Baby Boom decades of the entertainment world will only appeal to true devotees of the period.

April 15, 2015
Adventures among the stars. Agent and producer Phillips begins her candid debut memoir by recounting three miserable years as assistant to Judy Garland, "a demented, demanding, supremely talented drug addict," a self-destructive drunk who lived on a cocktail of pills downed with limitless bottles of liebfraumilch. Enraptured with Garland from childhood, Phillips quickly became disillusioned with the woman she was charged to travel with, minister to, dress, feed, and, most of all, manage to get on stage. Despite feeling exploited and angry, Phillips admits that Garland served as "the lens through which I have seen, lived, and dealt with my life" and gave her "the armor to face the world." As this sometimes-venomous and often very funny memoir shows, there were many deep chinks in that armor. After leaving Garland, the author became an agent at Creative Management Agency; her first client was 16-year-old Liza Minnelli, Garland's "brilliant and lovely" daughter. Phillips took her under her wing, starting her on a dazzling career. After seeing her perform on TV variety shows, producers and directors clamored to hire her, and Phillips saw her own reputation rise. Along the way, she signed Robert Redford ("an actor who has both good looks and real ability"), Peter Sellers, David Bowie, and Barbra Streisand, among others. Planning to represent Liza exclusively, she resigned from CMA, where she had worked for 15 years. But Liza suddenly, and without explanation, dumped her, leaving her stunned, depressed, and unemployed. When friends invited her to see a musical production at the Actors' Studio, she reluctantly dragged herself out of the house. That evening changed her life, and she decided to reinvent herself as a producer, starting with The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. An unsparing look at the dark side of show business.

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June 1, 2015
At just 24 and fairly innocent of show business, Phillips was tasked with stage-managing Judy Garland on her 1961 U.S. comeback tour, working for new agents Freddie Fields and David Begelmanand she was determined not to fail. Never mind that her college degree in literature hadn't prepared her for handling every aspect of Garland's cross-country concerts. Phillips learned fast (in part, about alcoholism, drug addiction, and eyes-averted enablers). Even so, as for her being a part of show business, she says it was all in the stars. Readers may be as unprepared as Phillips was for Garland's pills, self-mutilation, fits, and more, prompting Phillips to finally leave Judy in Sid Luft's capable hands and move on to being an agent herself. Phillips' voice is tough and smart, just as she was, and post-Judy, she worked with Liza Minnelli, Robert Redford, David Bowie, and many others, learning through failures and successes much about herself, all of which she openly shares, resulting in quite an inspirational turnaround. Readers might need nerves of steel for parts of this memoir, but the hopeful, smart ending teaches much about humans, stars or not.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

June 1, 2015

Agent and producer Phillips's memoir is a very entertaining and easy-to-read story of her life thus far. She shattered gender roles and rose from a secretary to an agent in a time when no woman had done that and later became a producer of hit Broadway shows such as Doonesbury, Loose Ends, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Along the way, she had a complicated working relationship with Judy Garland. Garland was emotionally fragile and Phillips thoroughly details the heartbreak of working for her, saying that the actress remains the lens through which she has seen, lived, and dealt with her own life. Phillips also was agent to superstars Robert Redford, Al Pacino, and Liza Minnelli, and was extremely close with Minnelli, helping her obtain many of her famous film roles, including Sally Bowles in Cabaret. The author is a great storyteller, and her descriptions of interactions with her colleagues, stars such as her clients, and also Peter Sellers, David Bowie, and Burt Reynolds are fascinating. VERDICT Recommended for people who love autobiographies and stories about the entertainment industry. [See Prepub Alert, 12/15/14.]--Sally Bryant, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2015

Phillips launched her career traveling with Judy Garland, held Liza Minnelli's wedding to Peter Allen in her living room, and eventually became head of the theater and the motion picture departments of CMA (now ICM) in New York. Will she have stories to tell!

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.