- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Barricade Legends / Barricade Books Inc. (April 15 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1569802920
- ISBN-13: 978-1569802922
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.6 x 3.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 680 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,277,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Completed shortly before his death last year at age 85, this autobiography traces Keel's journey from Illinois poverty to international stardom as a sort of Clark Gable of movie musicals. His singing could, as he puts it, "peel the paint off the walls." Employed as a WWII Douglas Aircraft supervisor, he took vocal training in Los Angeles, sang concert arias and arrived on Broadway in 1945, wowing audiences as Curly in Oklahoma!. Wider acclaim came with MGM musicals (including 1954's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers), followed by touring productions, a club act, dinner theater and TV's Dallas. Keel has an arsenal of amusing anecdotes, but neither he nor mystery writer Spizer were able to bring verve to his prose. Kathryn Grayson and others Keel was close to are only lightly sketched and rarely spring to life. Why so few paragraphs about his lengthy affair with Marilyn Monroe? Even so, fans will be satisfied with this diary-like chronicle, despite its first-draft feel and narrative gaps. 16-page b&w photo insert not seen by PW. (Sept. 25)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Book Description
This is the deliciously entertaining memoir by the coal miner's son who became an international star of stage, screen, and television. Keel speaks his mind about his many co-stars, including Judy Garland, Betty Hutton, Tammy Grimes and Katherine Greyson, to name a few.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous Memoir,
By Susan Smallwood (Mississippi) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Only Make Believe: My Life in Show Business (Hardcover)
Many times when you have a long wait for an autobiography, the result simply doesn't live up to the anticipation. Not so with Only Make Believe, I'm happy to report.Howard Keel began his life as Harry Clifford Keel, the son of a Gillespie, Ill coal miner, on April 13, 1919. For anyone familiar with Mr. Keel's interviews, you will recognize his distinctive narration as he takes you though ups and downs of his life. And what a life it was. From an auditorium in Pasadena to Broadway and London's West End, the sound stages of MGM, the tent theaters of summer stock and the grassy meadows of Southfork Ranch, Mr. Keel's story will make you laugh, cry and keep you thoroughly entertained from start to finish. There is simply not a dull moment in this book. There are wonderful stories about the people we've all grown up admiring and enjoying: Frank Sinatra, John Raitt, Mario Lanza, Anthony Quinn, John Wayne, Ben Hogan, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Barbara Bel Geddes, Prince Rainier and many, many others. But some of the best stories are of people you've never heard of, great characters both in and out of the show business world. There are also stories about the theater itself, where glamour and glitter step aside for hard work and sheer guts. The closeness and camaraderie of an excellent cast and the pain of leaving them; difficult directors and inconsiderate audiences; working hurt, sick and numb from Novocain; mediocre parts taken just to pay the bills. All of this and more is covered, and through it fluently winds the thread of Mr. Keel's personal life as it goes from trouble and pain to, at last, great happiness. I could spend hours telling you how and why I enjoyed this book. Having read dozens of memoirs in the past few years, I have no doubt that this book is the single best I've read. Simply put, it was a treat.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.6 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews) 25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
It was indeed "Only Make Believe",
By Lelajay - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Only Make Believe: My Life in Show Business (Hardcover)
Because I was a doting fan of Howard Keel when I was in high school I jumped on the chance to get a copy of his autobiography. After reading it, let's just say I was a bit disappointed. I'm glad I read it though. If I was "disappointed" it is because when you admire someone so much and they turn out to be rather "typical" in real life, it kind of tarnishes the unrealistic image you have him. For me it was like reading "One Man Tango" (by Anthony Quinn) all over again.When a man focuses on all of his conquests and drops the names of fancy hotels in which they stayed, makes of cars they bought and then doesn't tie those names in with anything that was happening...well, it becomes a bit superficial. Keel was honest, of course, but didn't elaborate much on the events in his life or give them much depth. I prefer to go back to remember him as that devastatingly handsome leading man from "Kiss Me Kate" and "Show Boat" and listen to his music. I think had he been interviewed by an experienced biographer, his story might have been told in a more cohesive and sensitive manner. Autobio or not...Keel was a great performer and will long remain indelible in Hollywood's musical history. 14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The true story of an actor who saw his rising star fall with the decline in popularity of musicals, only to make it rise again,
By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Only Make Believe: My Life in Show Business (Hardcover)
The autobiography of the late Howard Keel (1919-2004), Only Make Believe: My Life In Show Business was written with the assistance of creative writing instructor and former private investigator Joyce Spizer. Keel was a star during the golden age of Hollywood musicals, yet he is perhaps most renowned to younger generations for his decade-long role of Clayton Farlow on the wildly popular television show "Dallas". From his rough beginnings as the sun of a coal miner who committed suicide when Keel was a young boy, to his first "big break" courtesy of Oscar Hammerstein II when he was cast in the role of Billy Bigelow in the Broadway production of Carousel, to his American film debut and unsteady personal life, affairs with Hollywood's leading ladies, and three marriages. The true story, in his own words, of an actor who saw his rising star fall with the decline in popularity of musicals, only to make it rise again.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Howard Keel was Adam Pontipee,
By Kenneth J. Fisher "Brits Abroad" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Only Make Believe: My Life in Show Business (Hardcover)
Howard Keel died on November 7th 2004 aged 85. He died of colon cancer. His book about his life was just finished; with the help of writer Joyce Spizer. It's entitled 'Only Make Believe,' something Howard Keel felt about life itself. The book is gritty, often crude, and tells the story of a man who saw his father commit suicide in front of him when he was only eleven years old. That, combined with the grinding poverty his family experienced in his growing up years in Gillespie, Illinois, set Howard Keel on a course of self preservation and hard-headed determination that made him a great success, and, a pain in the ass to a great many people in show business and in the media. Even today you can't get the Biography TV channel to even reply to you when you ask why they will not do a biography on this great American singer and actor. Howard Keel had a reputation far beyond his musicals, and beyond his eleven year role on TV's 'Dallas,' where even there, on that popular show he was considered an 'outsider.'In the summer of 1985 I met Howard Keel backstage at the Brighton Theatre in West Sussex (England). We talked about his role as Adam Pontipee in 'Seven Brides' and I asked him if that was his favourite musical of the many he'd done. He agreed that 'Seven Brides' was his best ever musical experience. It took 34 days to make, entirely on the back lot at MGM, and Jane Powell his co-star was a sweetheart. In this book he remarks on the other 'brothers' and their singing and dancing abilities, and the fact that none of them were gay! He was paid just $8,500 for that picture, and today it is still the most watched, most TV played movie musical of all time. There's a great deal more in his book, about his love for America and England, the musicals he did in Britain, and the people he met throughout his life, including a torrid affair with Marylyn Monroe! I'll not reveal all what's in this book, other than it's not your usual autobiography. Howard Keel was not your 'usual' Hollywood star. All he cared about was singing, those he loved, playing golf, and perhaps his own survival. And in the end he knew, like most of us know, life is all, 'Only Make Believe.' |
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