Moon River and Me: A Memoir
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A remarkable memoir by one of the most popular and beloved entertainers of the twentieth century When in the mid-1950s Andy Williams reached a low point in his career, singing in dives to ever-smaller audiences, the young man from Wall Lake, Iowa, had no inkling of the success he would one day achieve. Before being declared a national treasure by President Ronald Reagan, Williams would chart eighteen gold and three platinum albums, headline at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for more than twenty years, and host an enormously popular weekly television variety show whose Christmas specials still occupy a tender spot in every baby boomer's heart.Williams knew everybody who was anybody during his seven remarkable decades in show business (including Judy Garland, John Huston, Jack Lemmon, John Lennon, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, and Barbra Streisand, among others) and was a close friend of Bobby Kennedy for many years, and he shares memories of them all in Moon River and Me.... Library Journal Pop icon Williams's memoir is an entertaining look at a show-business life that began in Iowa and progressed steadily to a worldwide career. After the Williams Brothers Quartet (Andy Williams and his three brothers) broke up in the early 1950s, Williams went out on his own, at first with little success. Eventually, he was given his own television variety show in 1962 and became one of the best-known pop crooners in the post-World War II era. His book is a treasure trove of anecdotes from the celebrity world. He was acquainted with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Chico Marx, Michael Jackson, Elton John, and Fred MacMurray; Williams was a fast friend of Robert and Ethel Kennedy. The singer's fans will be absorbed by his accounts of his early years in the Midwest and Hollywood, his marriage to Claudine Longet and his role in her trial for manslaughter, and his therapeutic use of LSD. VERDICT An entertaining read for those who love celebrity biographies or autobiographies, especially those who remember the pop scene in the 1950s and 1960s.—Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., Kingsville
