The Liz Smith Column | 05/18/2009 11:00 pm
Liz Smith: Will Helen Mirren Strip off Again for 'Calendar Girls 2'?
And more dish from Our Gossip Girl: Telling tales about the National
Enquirer! … How we ate when times were tough … Famed
Judy/Liza historian dies.
Helen Mirren © AP
Our sympathies to the family and many friends of archivist/author/historian Scott Schechter, who died suddenly of a heart attack over the weekend.
Schechter was a major force in chronicling – and putting into perspective – the lives and careers of Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli. He conceived any number of Garland/Minnelli recordings, including Liza’s Capitol Records Collection and the release of the complete version of Garland’s legendary Carnegie Hall album. He was the author of Judy Garland: The Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Legend and The Liza Minnelli Scrapbook, focusing strictly on Minnelli’s career achievements. (A fact that pleased the press-bruised Liza to no end.)
Scott co-produced the massive four-CD box set, “Judy,” in 1998, and was instrumental in getting “The Judy Garland Show” out on DVD – all 26 episodes. This latter effort helped launch a revisionist view of that TV series.
Liza Minnelli handpicked Scott to run her own official website and he was always involved with Liza’s ongoing career. He was thrilled over Liza’s Tony nomination for her run at the Palace Theater. I’m afraid this is a terrible personal shock to Liza, too.
Scott Schechter was 46 years old.
Schechter was a major force in chronicling – and putting into perspective – the lives and careers of Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli. He conceived any number of Garland/Minnelli recordings, including Liza’s Capitol Records Collection and the release of the complete version of Garland’s legendary Carnegie Hall album. He was the author of Judy Garland: The Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Legend and The Liza Minnelli Scrapbook, focusing strictly on Minnelli’s career achievements. (A fact that pleased the press-bruised Liza to no end.)
Scott co-produced the massive four-CD box set, “Judy,” in 1998, and was instrumental in getting “The Judy Garland Show” out on DVD – all 26 episodes. This latter effort helped launch a revisionist view of that TV series.
Liza Minnelli handpicked Scott to run her own official website and he was always involved with Liza’s ongoing career. He was thrilled over Liza’s Tony nomination for her run at the Palace Theater. I’m afraid this is a terrible personal shock to Liza, too.
Scott Schechter was 46 years old.
Scott Schechter with Liza Minnelli/Image: OfficialLizaMinnelli.com
Read more about: Barbara Kaster, Books, Brooke Shields, Celebrities, Cooking, Dining, Eudora Welty, Film, Gene Pope, Generoso Pope, Gossip, Helen Mirren, Judy Garland, Liz Smith, Liza Minnelli, Lyle Stuart, Maine, Mark Kurlansky, National Enquirer, News, Paul David Pope, Penelope Wilton, Scott Schechter, Teri Shields, The Liz Smith Column
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Reader Voices
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Dear Margo: When Dad/Gramps Just Ain't Interested
24 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
First how dare someone take anyones mother from a facility for a story. That is not a reporter.
I love Helen Mirren. She is an amazing actress. As for Liza she hasn’t done herself any favors with her behaviour. She certainly hasn’t listened to those who love her. That is so sad though about Scott,46 is so young.
In our area we are fortunate that Liza will be christening the re-opening of Guild Hall in East Hampton, and I for one would have loved the opportunity to see this icon perform. Even after all these years and all the difficulties she has endured - she is still one my (and my 20-something daughters) favorite live performers. I’m genuinly thrilled to see a woman her age STILL beating the difficulties and able to find a way to get back on stage - face down her demons - and put on a classic performance.
I wish I had her talent and energy now, at my age - not to mention willpower & strength - in my 40’s, let alone in my 60s. I’ve always admired her overcoming the difficulties - I do not expect perfection from any other human being (after all there is no way I can achieve such a thing myself) - but what I do expect, and admire, is the ability to get back up and move on - always trying to improve. How can we honestly ask any more of that from anyone - celebrity or not.
but I do sort of wish Liza would speak up about her Dad once in a while, even if it’s just to say she can’t vouch for when she wasn’t around but when she was she knew him as (whatever)
Emanuel Levy’s book about him is a disgrace - largely lifted from other sources without attribution and introducing yet more fictions (certainly undocumented). No critic or columnist has yet shown the nerve to take Levy to task, allowing him to steal hay while the sun shines.
Why would anyone want to make a sequel of Calendar Girls? It’s a perfectly lovely film that shouldn’t be followed by anything. By this time all those sisters are mighty glad they have the coverage they do––a little mystery is a glorious thing.
My mother used to make one of those depression cakes only she called it a mud cake––looked exactly like a mound of dark chocolate. My brother and I loved that cake. I made it myself many years ago––it was awful, but my kids thought it was yummy. Strange––a cake for the young at heart.
Generally speaking, I think we tend to be a bit lawsuit happy. But, in this case, I would say Brooke Shields should definitely sue. Taking a woman suffering from dementia from a nursing facility for the sake of a story is scraping the bottom of the barrel. Some journalists have no scruples at all.
And perhaps an investigation on security standards at the assisted living facility from which the mother was taken. I would move my mother immediately.
I’ve recently read ‘The Importance of Being Famous’ by Maureen Orth, widow of Tim Russert and writer for ‘Vanity Fair’. The subtitle is Behind the Scenes of the Celebrity- Industrial Complex. Among other revelations about familiar names and their fame or infamy, the author states, ‘In this increasingly frenzied and downscale news era, the weekly tabloids—which were once considered beneath contempt by the establishment press—are must reading for everyone in the media.’ Her conclusion follows covering the Lacy Peterson case and witnessing that most of the breaking news came from ‘The National Enquirer’. What often separates ‘Enquirer’ from mainstream is press is the money put out there for stories and/or information. The employees for the establishment where Shield’s mother resides should definely be questioned………I can help with this because I have watched almost all episodes of ‘Law and Order’. We have to get a forensic accountant and, of course, subpeona the LUDS (record of phone calls.), so have them give me a call at 555-555-5555.
Liza Minelli would be a most effective commencement speaker, I would think. All the better if she broke out in song.
Peace and grace