There's No Business Like Show Business...Was

There's No Business Like Show Business...Was

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Editorial Reviews

You've heard Wilbur speak about Mr. Ed. Now read what Alan Young has to say about: CHAPTER ONE Radio - the simple life! (Paul Whiteman, Tallulah Bankhead, Zero Mostel, Eddie Cantor, Jo Stafford) CHAPTER TWO HOLLYWOOD The breeding ground of character - and characters. ("Androcles and the Lion", Jim Backus, George Bernard Shaw, Victor Mature) CHAPTER THREE HOLLYWOOD PARTIES (Atwater Kent, Maggie Ettinger, "Margie", Louella Parsons, Jack Benny, Mary Livingston, George Burns, Ozzie & Harriett, Edgar Bergen, Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Red Skelton) CHAPTER FOUR Hollywood Hotchpotch (Extras & Agents) CHAPTER FIVE Watch them - they're teaching you! (Peter Lorre, Clifton Webb, Jane Russell, Gower Champion, Jeannie Mahoney, Audrey Totter) CHAPTER SIX The good old days, or Have I been around that long? (Mickey Rooney, Jane Powell, Elizabeth Taylor, Roddy McDowell, Jeanne Craine, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Fibber McGee. Red Skelton, Sonja Henie, Dinah Shore, Bing Crosby) CHAPTER SEVEN TELEVISION The box they put radio into (Fred Allen, James Gleason, Chester, Chester Clute, Wally Ford) CHAPTER EIGHT ON STAGE PLEASE! (John Charles Thomas, Ben Blue, Joe Besser) CHAPTER NINE THE TIME MACHIINE (George Pal, Tom Thumb, H.G. Welles) EPILOGUE It was easier then

Customer Reviews

Always entertaining

Reviewed by Christy A. Forkenbrock, 2009-08-02

Even though the nostalgia is wonderful, I enjoy Alan's writing no matter what the topic. He is just enjoyable and............funny.

Of Course, of course

Reviewed by Joseph Albanese, 2007-12-12

I actually thought that all Alan Young had ever done as far as show business was concerened was to be a straight man for a horse. Well, I was wrong.

Mr Young wrote a very short, and very good, novel. He does not go into self-praise nor is his tone every smug or preachy. In fact, if you are looking for "gossip" and "dirt on celebrities" this might not be the read for you.

But if you want to get a good feel for what the Good-Old-Days were like, this is one of the best books written upon the subject.

Alan Young has been around for quite a while and he has a lot of funny stories to tell. You know the names (Jack Benny/ Tallulah/ Jimmy Durante) and he has an interesting tale about each of them, and many more.

After the easy read, you will understand why they called it the golden era in entertainment.

An Insider's View of Hollywood Greats

Reviewed by Sandra Grabman, 2007-10-28

Alan Young tells us in this fun book about the golden stars of yore with whom he has worked and relaxed over the years -- such stars as Zero Mostel, Tallulah Bankhead, Eddie Cartor, Peter Lorre, Red Skelton, John Wayne, Stan Laurel, George Burns, and many others. Learn how Eddie Cantor saved Young's show, and see a side of Peter Lorre you didn't know existed. This was an earlier time, a time of gentleness, courtesy, and stars helping each other. A time of "more show and less business." This is both a funny and a serious book, and I know you'll enjoy it, just as I did.

A truly nostalgic treat

Reviewed by Midwest Book Review, 2007-05-12

With a long and active career in radio, movies and television, Alan Young will be best known to most Americans for his highly popular 1950s series `Mr. Ed' where he plaid straight-man to a talking horse. In "There's No Business Like Show Business...Was", Alan anecdotally recounts his associations with such diverse fellow actors and performers as Paul Whiteman, Tallulah Bankhead, Zero Mostel, George Burns, Jack Benny, Peter Lorre, Clifton Webb, Jane Russell, Mickey Rooney, Jane Powell, Roddy McDowall, Red Skelton, Sonja Henie, Dinah Shore, Bing Crosby, and others. Enthusiastically recommended reading and a welcome addition to personal, academic, and community library Theatre/Cinema/Television reference collections, "There's No Business Like Show Business...Was" is a truly nostalgic treat for those old enough to remember radio and the movies in the 1930s and 1940s, and the early years of television in the 1950s. Also very strongly recommended from BearManor Media is Ben Ohmart's "Don Ameche: The Kenosha Comeback Kids" (1593930453, $24.95) showcasing actor Don Ameche whose showbusiness career ranged from the 1930s to the 1990s.