Only Make Believe: My Life in Show Business Book Summary and Study Guide

If country singer Loretta Lynn was the Coal Miner's Daughter, then bass-baritone Howard Keel was the Coal Miner's Son.

Far from the bright color and schmaltz of the MGM musicals that first made him an international star, Howard Keel was born in 1919 in the coal mining town of Gillespie, Illinois to a poor dysfunction-tinged family. A shy, insecure child with a bum arm, Howard eventual rise to a legendary figure of the show business world in nothing short of fascinating. In this deliciously funny and sometimes poignant autobiography, completed shortly before his passing, Howard takes us inside his career highs and lows, two failed marriages, numerous affairs and, finally, lasting happiness with his third wife, a former airline hostess 25 years his junior.

The review of this Book prepared by Susan