All My Best Friends

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In the spirit of Gracie: A Love Story and Burns's other books, this memoir is funny and touching. Now in his 90s, the veteran comic, writing with freelancer Fisher, describes life in show business from the 1900s onward, recalling how he and his young friends broke into vaudeville and made it to stardom on radio, in films and on TV. The master raconteur invigorates his story with anecdotes about Eddie Cantor, Sophie Tucker, Jolson, Fannie Brice, Jack Benny, the Marx Brothers et al., fellow performers living today only in memory. ``Most of what I said is true, the rest is show business,'' Burns disarmingly admits. In any case, this is a singularly entertaining, personal history. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)