Young Liza Minnelli Discusses Judy Garland and Her Showbiz Journey

Liza Minnelli’s Hollywood journey began at birth. In an interview, the 24-year-old talks about her lineage—being the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli—and her own path. She mentions her upcoming role as Sally Bowles in the Broadway hit “Cabaret” on July 6, 1970. Garland passed away on June 22, 1969, at the age of 47.

Below is a reproduction of WWD’s 1970 interview with Minnelli.

LOS ANGELES — Liza Minnelli isn’t just another pretty face.

Nor is she willingly the vulnerable waif or the logical heiress to the Judy Garland cult. If you’re fixated on that happy ending somewhere over the rainbow, that’s your problem. Liza has other plans.

“Mama and I went after something different,” she says. “She had more of a needing quality. With mama, it was, ‘Help me. Give me.’ She’d get on stage and open her arms, and I’d be part of the audience, reacting emotionally. But I have more defiance in me. If I say, ‘Please help me,’ I’ll always add, ‘if you’ve got the time.’ I’d rather present a first-rate version of myself than a second-rate version of mama.”

As she prepares for another significant performance at Las Vegas’ Riviera Hotel on July 15, following her success at the Waldorf in New York and the Ambassador in Los Angeles, Liza brings her own special charm. Her voice may remind you of her mother, and her mobile face brings her father to mind, but she is her own woman.

Liza curls up on an ottoman in the presidential suite of the Ambassador, modestly draping a scarf over her white Halston pantsuit.

These are the happiest times for Liza, as she enjoys late afternoons with someone running through a song on a piano. “I’ve always liked rehearsing. Making it work comes slowly, but I like to be well-prepared. I had a terrific time doing my television special, but TV drove me crazy. I was given a song and told to do it in four minutes. They live by that in television—the sheer panic—but it doesn’t thrill me.”

Liza is used to hard work. “You know, I never could sing at all. My sister Lorna, who’s 16, has a natural voice and the power. But I had to learn how to sing to be on Broadway. I could act and dance, so I worked at it. It was a triumph when I finally was on key.”

Reflecting on her career, she says, “The saddest time is when you’ve gone through something you know you’ll never go through again. This is when I’m awakening to other things. To pain too.”

When her voice begins to sound eerily like her mother’s, Liza changes the mood with gee-whiz inflections. She then talks about Fred Ebb, with whom she has been partnered since “Flora the Red Menace,” which won her a Tony Award. “He wrote my act. We’ve chosen the maternal together.”

While she’s reluctant to talk about future film projects with Ebb, she’s eager to discuss her roles, including the upcoming Sally Bowles in “Cabaret” with Joel Grey from the original Broadway cast.

“The best thing about my roles is that they’re always interesting people, such rich characters.” All have had a tragedy in their lives—Pookie Adams’ loneliness, June Moon’s facial disfigurement, Sally Bowles’ drifting.

“‘Junie Moon’ is a strange picture. Most people seem to like it. If they don’t like the picture, they seem to like my performance. When I put on the makeup, people started pointing at me. Junie got defiant, and that’s what kept her going. She hides her vulnerability, unlike Pookie in ‘Sterile Cuckoo.’”

“Sally Bowles is a complete departure. The script captures that whole permissive time. We’ll be filming it next year at the Munich studios.”

Speaking of her roles, she says, “Everyone has known a Pookie Adams or been through that stage. Everyone has been an outcast like Junie Moon.”

“And a lot of people want to be like Sally Bowles, who doesn’t worry about tomorrow.”

“As for films, I prefer romantic subjects to political subjects. My roles have been timeless. What impresses me is when a person buys a book and sees it through to the end.”

Liza may soon work with her director-father, though she says it’s premature to speak of it. “Papa and I constantly talk about doing a film together. He has a great feeling for detail. If he does a film on the 1920s, he’ll capture the era’s elegance.”

“You know, I don’t mind the fact there are no longer any $1 million salaries. I’m lucky I can always go to Las Vegas and earn good money. But I just want to be an actress and I don’t need to earn a lot.”

“I’m glad I’m not stuck with a studio contract. If Dustin Hoffman had the protection of a studio, he wouldn’t have taken the risk of doing ‘Midnight Cowboy.’ Junie Moon was like that for me.”

Liza sees herself in the same category as Hoffman. “I’m not a glamour girl.” With this, she tugs at the heartstrings, reminiscent of her mother.

Then she giggles and turns her attention to Ocho, the mutt she adopted from Puerto Rico, now fat with her attention.