Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime (Especially Himself); The Story of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

New York, N.Y.: Hawthorn Books, Inc, 1974. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Bruce Stark (Jacket drawing). vii, [1], 288 pages. Inscribed by the author on the front free end paper. Inscription reads: To Bill, With Best Wishes, Arthur Marx, Aug 19, 1988. DJ is in a plastic sleeve. Includes Acknowledgments, Introduction, Selected Bibliography, and Index. Chapters include By the Sea, By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea; I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire; The Marriage of Figaro; My Buddy; Hitch Your Wagon; Stairway to the Stars; We're in the Money; Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder--of Somebody Else; Hurray for Hollywood; Everything I Have Is Yours; People; Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?; I've Got the World on a String; Pennies from Heaven; Ain't We Got Fun; Mr. Wonderful; If Ever I would Leave You; The Man Who Got Away; All God's Chillun Got Rhythm; Who's the Greatest Star? (I am by Far); With a Little Bit of Luck; By Myself; Nice and Easy Does It Every Time; and Laugh Clown, Laugh. This was a Movie Book Club main selection. This book explores graphically and frankly the early lives of Martin and Lewis--how they got their starts in the entertainment world, how they came together as a team, and the inside story of their separation. Experts predicted that Martin working alone was doomed to oblivion as a saloon crooner, while Lewis would scale new heights. The reverse actually happened, but how that happened is one of the fascinating stories of show business, which Arthur Marx tells in scrupulous detail, with both humor and insight. Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime (Especially Himself) was adapted into the 2002 made-for-television movie Martin and Lewis. Arthur Julius Marx (July 21, 1921 - April 14, 2011) was an American author, a nationally ranked amateur tennis player, and son of entertainer Groucho Marx and his first wife, Ruth Johnson. He was named after Groucho's brother Arthur "Harpo" Marx. Marx spent his early years accompanying his father around vaudeville circuits in the United States and abroad. When he was 10, the family moved to Southern California, where the Marx Brothers continued their film careers. He worked as a radio gag man for Milton Berle, and a writer of Hollywood movies (including four for Bob Hope), Broadway plays and TV scripts for such hit shows as My Three Sons, All in the Family, and Alice. He and his collaborator, Robert Fisher, were head writers for Alice and wrote 40 episodes of that show. They also wrote for the short-lived situation comedy The Good Guys and four episodes of the ill-fated Life with Lucy. Marx was also co-creator of the TV series Mickey starring Mickey Rooney. Marx wrote both fiction (often humorous) and non-fiction (often show-biz related) pieces for magazines throughout his career. Derived from a Kirkus review: The comedy duo of Martin and Lewis was riding high in the '40's and '50's until the split in 1957, the result, apparently, of ballooning egos finding one stage too crowded. Within the parallel biographies of Dino, a barber's son from Ohio, and Lewis, a borscht circuit orphan, Marx details the formation of the partnership; the money conflicts during the climb up the ladder; Lewis' happy marriage; Dino's holding actions as absentee husband and father through two marriages; and sample slapstick performances featuring seltzer water and severed neckties. Marx follows Martin's growing competence in films, dramatic roles, records and TV, but Lewis, it seems, shot his bolt a decade ago. This is fan fare and will intrigue fans and the general public alike.