Based on talks with people who actually knew her—from the woman who used to babysit the star to the producers and friends who knew Judy's problems as well as her successes—this is the real Judy Garland Stripped bare, without the hype, this is a unique biography of the superstar born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. It reveals how she was shunned by local people when she made her only visit back to her birthplace by people who considered her a Jezebel, how her father was run out of town because he was gay, and how overworked she was while making The Wizard of Oz. The man who established the first Judy Garland fan club tells how he reluctantly walked out of one of her performances because she was so bad.