BY the age of 12 Lorna Luft was looking after her fragile mother, giving her medication and trying to stop her from another suicide attempt.

And because her mother was Hollywood darling Judy Garland, it was a drama that was hard to keep quiet.

As the daughter of Judy, with third husband Sidney Luft, and the half sister of Liza Minnelli, Lorna grew up in the glare of flashbulbs. And to her it was perfectly normal for the likes of Frank Sinatra, who is her godfather, to come round for dinner.

If reality TV had been around back then, would Judy have invited the cameras into her family home, Kardashian-style?

"Absolutely not," insists Lorna. "As a child I was protected against the Press. When we went out as a family it was a 'production' - my mother was very aware of her fame and how much people loved her, and of her obligations as a public figure. But at home our life was private.

MORE STAGE HEADLINES

"There's no privacy or mystery anymore; people lay their lives bare in reality shows. There's no enigma. I don't get it."

Lorna, 62, is paying tribute to her mother in The Songbook of Judy Garland, which opened in Bradford last night. The song and dance show, also starring Ray Quinn and Louise Dearman, weaves through Judy's stage and screen career, against a backdrop of film and interview highlights. The score includes Get Happy, The Trolley Song and Over the Rainbow.

"It's very personal to me, but this is the Judy that everyone loved and these are wonderful songs that everyone grew up with," says Lorna. "It's my thank you letter to this wonderful person, this extraordinary entertainer whose legacy lives on. We all want to say thank you to our parents in one way or another."

The show is a slice of Hollywood history. "I want people to remember my mother as part of the history of showbusiness," says Lorna. "I find it sad that young people wanting to be performers don't seem to have an education of the industry. It goes back a long way - it didn't just start with Wicked!

"I say 'Go and do some homework. Find out why these shows and songs were written and who wrote them'. When you sing great songs, you must understand the lyrics, it must be part of the performance.

"I did a Follies concert at the Royal Albert Hall recently, alongside singers such as Betty Buckley, Christine Baranski, Stefanie Powers and Anita Dobson; we talked about these terrific Sondheim songs which each tell a story. You can't just stand there and open your mouth, you have to feel it. When I sang Broadway Baby it was real - because I am a Broadway Baby!

"I guess some of it comes with age - a 15-year-old singing the blues is ridiculous - but when I see kids on talent shows just mimicking other singers, going through the motions without feeling the lyrics, it makes me sad."

Lorna is painfully aware of the after-shocks of early fame. Her mother was a child star who became an addict, and Lorna "became the mother". She wrote about the effects on her own childhood in her best-selling memoir, Me and My Shadows, made into an acclaimed TV drama.

"For a long time the legacy was too overwhelming but eventually I became more comfortable with it," says Lorna. "Endless books have been written about my mother but none of the authors came to our home, they didn't know her."

Judy had already made more than 20 films before 1939 movie classic The Wizard of Oz catapulted her to fame, aged 16. She became an international star, but behind the scenes battled demons that had plagued her as a child when she was called fat and was put on energy-boosting pills. Judy had attempted suicide several times before her death from an overdose, aged 47.

Lorna made her TV debut aged 11 and as a teenager she was appearing with her mother on Broadway. She has enjoyed a 50-year career on stage, film and TV, but she knows about the reality of fame.

"I saw first-hand what this business can do when you're too young to handle it," says Lorna. "My mother was exploited.

"Young people go on talent shows and their record company drops them a year later. Anyone going into this industry should take a course in business - it's called show business after all. And they need a thick skin, because it's a business of rejection. You may have the talent, but in many cases if your face doesn't fit you're out.

"A strong family bond is one of the most important things in life. Family should keep you grounded.

"I've seen more child stars than you can imagine and I can tell you that it's what their mothers want. I've seen six-year-old kids working so hard on TV shows and their parents say: 'It's what they want.' How do they know? Do they have a choice?

"When children have all that so young, without the freedom to enjoy being a child, is it surprising they eventually go a little crazy? I've seen this movie - I know how it ends."

The Songbook of Judy Garland is at the Alhambra tonight. For tickets ring (01274) 432000.