Johnny Carson [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

Bushkin, Henry

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / Eamon Dolan, Boston, Massachusetts, 2013

About this Item

As new condition light silver gray boards with a grayish black spine and gold spine lettering contained in an as new condition non price-clipped photographic dust jacket. Includes Acknowledgments and Index. Illustrated with a section of black-and-white photographic plates. "A revealing and incisive account of the King of Late Night at the height of his fame and power, by his lawyer, wingman, fixer, and closest confidant. From 1962 until 1992, Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show and permeated the American consciousness. In the '70s and '80s he was the country's highest-paid entertainer and its most enigmatic. He was notoriously inscrutable, as mercurial (and sometimes cruel) off-camera as he was charming and hilarious on-stage. During the apex of his reign, Carson's longtime lawyer and best friend was Henry Bushkin, who now shows us Johnny Carson with a breathtaking clarity and depth that nobody else could. From the moment in1970 when Carson hired Bushkin (who was just twenty-seven) until the moment eighteen years later when they parted ways, the author witnessed and often took part in a string of escapades that still retain their power to surprise and fascinate us. One of Bushkin's first assignments was helping Carson break into a posh Manhattan apartment to gather evidence of his wife's infidelity. More than once, Bushkin helped his client avoid entanglements with the mob. Of course, Carson's adventures weren't all so sordid. He hosted Ronald Reagan's inaugural concert as a favor to the new president, and he prevented a drunken Dean Martin from appearing on-stage that evening. Carson socialized with Frank Sinatra, Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart, Kirk Douglas, and dozens of other boldface names who populate this atmospheric and propulsive chronicle of the King of Late Night and his world. But this memoir isn't just dishy. It is a tautly rendered and remarkably nuanced portrait of Carson, revealing not only how he truly was, by why. Bushkin explains why Carson, a voracious (and very talented) womanizer, felt he always had to be married; why he loathed small talk even as he excelled at it; why he couldn't visit his son in the hospital and wouldn't attend his mother's funeral; and much more. Bushkin's account is by turns shocking, poignant, and uproarious - written with a novelist's eye for detail, a screenwriter's ear for dialogue, and a knack for comic timing that Carson himself would relish. Johnny Carson unveils not only the hidden Carson, but also the raucous, starstudded world he ruled." - from the inner front and rear jacket flaps.

Seller Inventory # 006542

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Johnny Carson [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / Eamon Dolan, Boston, Massachusetts
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New