Popular American comedian acted George Burns, originally Nathan Birnbaum from 1922 teamed with Gracie Allen, his wife, to 1958; after her death, he in dramatic roles won an Academy Award for The Sunshine Boys (1975).
Career of this writer spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television. His familiar arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation lasted for more than three quarters of a century. He enjoyed a career resurrection that began in the 1975 and continued through his death.
They should have titled this book "An Evening with George." It reads exactly the way he talks, which is the whole reason why this book is so wonderful! It's a quick read - you'll laugh a lot (his rambles are a hoot!), so if you come across this book definitely take the time to read it.
Even though he wrote this book in 1983 when he was 87 years old, George Burns actually did live to be 100. He obviously has some expertise in this area. However, because of the categorization as humor, and the author's reputation, I expected this book to be a rhapsodic ode to martinis and cigars, which it does contain, but also featured are a weeks' worth of menus for relatively healthy meals. The exercise chapter was also filled with effective exercises, with actual pictures of George (and some lovely young ladies) performing the activities. It might be helpful for the reader to have at least a passing acquaintance with George's contemporaries, such as Phyllis Diller, Dean Martin, and Jack Benny in order to fully appreciate all the jokes. Burns died when I was 15 years old, and I had to look up on Wikipedia a couple of the folks he mentioned in order to find out whether they were famous or just friends of his. (They were all famous. He's quite the name-dropper.) I did find the book amusing and was able to whip through it pretty quick because of all the pictures. I would recommend it, but probably only to people who are at least as old as I am or fans of vaudeville and vintage Hollywood.
Short book, it was a 2 night read, and that was short, but it was hard to put down. Laughed out loud several times. "I may have given the impression that I like to go out with young ladies. That's not true. I like to stay home with them better."
A birthday present on my 74th birthday from my 3-year-old grandson, who hopes I'll make it to 100. He and his mom found it at a yard sale, having originally been bought in 1983 for a guy who ended up living to 93. George Burns was 87 when he wrote the book and did indeed make it to 100 himself, so there might be something to it. Written in the style that those of us who remember his stand up comedy knew, it is an entertaining light read.
I thoroughly enjoyed third volume. It was light reading and filled with George Burns humor throughout. Maybe what made it so enjoyable is that I'm approaching the time of my life George was talking about.