Format: Hardcover; Release Date: 1994; List Price: $24.00; ISBN: 9780671864941; Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Length: 352 pages; Other: Illustrated. Condition: Very Good. From private collection, NOT a former library copy. Inside of front jacket flap is clipped in corner. Otherwise jacket and cover are both still in overall great shape, binding is strong, and pages are unmarked. Same cover design as that shown here.

Synopsis:
Brooklyn-born in 1913 as David Daniel Kaminski, this kinetic comedian with the crooked smile got his start in summer vaudeville. Beginning at age 16, he learned the hard way and learned well. He could mesmerize a nightclub audience, reduce it to tears of laughter and then get everyone to dance the conga. His rags-to-riches career took him to Hollywood, Broadway, and the London Palladium (where he performed a triple act with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh and drank champagne with Princess Margaret). Through all this he was coached by his wife, Sylvia Fine, who wrote the songs and devised the comic business that launched his career. The couple stayed together for 47 years (Kaye died in 1987). However, Gottfried (author of All His Jazz: The Life and Death of Bob Fosse) isn't telling a fairy tale here. Despite worldwide acclaim, good works with UNICEF and a mega-movie hit with Hans Christian Andersen, there was a cold and dark side to Kaye. No one quoted in this detailed biography felt close to him; even Sylvia played more the role of mother and manager than wife or lover. Convincingly discredited as well are recent assertions that Kay and Olivier were once lovers. "Perhaps he could not be intimate with any individual", Gottfried writes, "but he certainly could be with an audience". And audiences everywhere indeed loved him and felt loved by him. Perhaps that is the way to remember him: the redheaded singing elf who spread happiness.

Priority Mail shipping for this item costs $8.00 at the request of a buyer. Otherwise the shipping rate given here applies to orders shipped via Media Mail within the U.S. only. Orders consisting of multiple purchases packaged together ship by any of these delivery methods at a discounted rate, usually for only $1.00 per additional item plus the shipping fee for the first item (determined to be the one with the highest delivery charge). International buyers: please contact us with your destination country for applicable base shipping rates. Multiple purchases that are packaged together save shipping costs for you, too!

Payment is expected within two weeks of placing your order for the first item within a shipment. Paypal is preferred, but money orders and checks (either personal or cashier's) are also accepted. Orders typically ship within 48 hours of PROCESSED payment, excluding weekends and holidays.

Inquiries from all shoppers are responded to promptly and courteously. Buyers are encouraged to ask questions prior to placing orders, as all sales are final unless the product you receive differs significantly from that which was advertised here in terms of either the product itself or its promised condition. In other words, "buyer's remorse" does not qualify for a refund. Exceptions are made only in the event that a buyer is willing to return at his or her own expense an unopened, BRAND NEW item for a refund of the original purchase price only. No original shipping costs will be refunded, unless we are at fault for sending you the wrong item or misrepresenting the product and/or its condition. This hasn't happened yet, but if it does: you are guaranteed a refund of the purchase price, the original shipping fee, PLUS the cost to ship the item back to us. In addition, we promise that no retaliatory feedback will be left for negative comments received on such transactions. We stand behind our service, and accept responsibility for any mistakes made.

Thank you for looking!