Loving Dad
After the divorce of her parents, young Liza spent six months with her mother and the rest with her father. Vincente took each opportunity he could to dote on his little girl. Emmanuel Levy, his biographer, said that the director even commissioned outfits for her each year. He did not cut costs at all when his daughter was concerned. He also hired stage and film artist Tony Duquette to make a big playhouse on the property. Minnelli had been living large, but he had no idea that his luck would not stick forever.
Loving Dad
Its Heyday
As Liza was growing up in the Beverly Hills mansion, the home became a hotspot for her peers. Actress Candice Bergen said this about the house: “I remember always asking to go to Liza’s to play dress-up…Liza’s father had had the most famous leading women’s costumes from MGM movies copied by the designers themselves — all scaled down to perfect six-year-old sizes.” However, Liza did not stay young forever nor did Minnelli’s directorial standing. By the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Liza moved out and Minnelli found himself in financial trouble. The house was the first one to feel the impact of this.
Its Heyday
