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Memoirs of an Amnesiac | 
 enlarge | Author: Oscar Levant
Publisher: Samuel French
Category: Book
Buy New: $24.95
New (3) Used (8) from $14.63
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 278274
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st Samuel French Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0573606986
Dewey Decimal Number: 780.92
EAN: 9780573606984
ASIN: 0573606986
Publication Date: August 1989
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: NO CALIFORNIA SALES, PLEASE. Paperback is new. The cover has light surface and handling wear. The inside is clean, bright and tight with moderate handling wear. It is unread. Your satisfaction guaranteed with quick shipment. NOTE: I will ship this item via MEDIA MAIL. All domestic orders ship with Delivery Conformation (Usually the same day.) NO CALIFORNIA SALES, PLEASE.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
What happened after Marilyn Monroe became Kosher? October 12, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
My son had to explain (to my wife) the joke behind the title. An amnesiac can't remember and a memoir is a written record of memories. Hence, a contradiction, but still a great title and an emblematic preview of what's to come when you read this book. And you do want to read this book because Oscar Levant is unique, funny, honest, interesting, and weird. He is the kind of person that you want to read about because he seemed to know everyone who was anyone in American music or in American film and of course he has the inside scoop on those people including Harpo Marx, Louis Mayer, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Aaron Copland, Arnold Schoenberg, Dorothy Parker, Paul Whiteman, Judy Garland, Arturo Toscanini, and Harry Truman. Oscar Levant, as SN Behrman said, is the kind of person that if he had not existed, could not be imagined. Yes, he's that bad. Because he is brutally honest about his life, his loves, his obsessions and compulsions, his drug addictions and his music and friends, we have here a real-life true quill biography that takes no prisoners and lacks the usual apology or gloss or pastiche so common these days. Brutal honesty - that's the ticket. Oscar has to tap eight times to get water from the faucet. He has to tap eight times to shut the water off. He needs to name each street his limo passes and if he misses the name, his driver has to circle back to get the name. He will throw away a pack of cigarettes if someone talks while he is opening the pack. His wife, June, (her title should be Saint June) who picked up the pieces after each nervous breakdown, still must have a separate waste paper pail in each room so that she doesn't contaminate the waste paper in his pail. When Oscar had his heart attack, he had to go through all his night time rituals before he could get into bed for the doctor to check him. In short - a real nut case. And yet, and yet, a world-class pianist, composer, television and film personality who led a life well lived. You wouldn't want him in your home for dinner unless, of course, he kept his mouth shut and just played his marvelous interpretations of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which, incidentally, I am listening to right now. Ah, genius, - it has its problems and it has its pleasures.
 Name Dropping and One-Liners November 5, 2005
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book was a disappointment although it covers the scope of Oscar Levant's life from Tin Pan Alley to Carnegie Hall to Hollywood to mental hospitals.
A major problem with the writing is that it consists of endless name dropping without context. If you aren't familiar with the names (which I wasn't for the most part) then a good deal of the story is lost.
Another feature of the writing is a constant stream of one-liners from Oscar and others. These were undoubtably funny when they were first said, but in the book they seem forced. For example, "I once said cynically of a politician, "He'll double-cross that bridge when he comes to it."" If you enjoy one-liners then this book showcases them throughout.
As a fan of Oscar Levant from movies like Rhythm on the River and An American In Paris, I was pleased that he was up front about many aspects of his life. However, the famous line, "Beneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character" had a lot more truth to it than I had assumed. Oscar really does exhibit rude behavior, selfishness, cheating and drug addiction. And of course neurosis. He is honest to his faults.
A better (but far briefer) description of Oscar Levant is in Harpo Marx's book "Harpo Speaks". That book also has a lot of name dropping, but the literary style is rich so that it's fascinating even if you are not familiar with the Algonquin Round Table.
With Oscar's book, I was satisfied about the scope of the writing, but disappointed in the terse style although it's an easy read.
More than just a nut case July 4, 2002
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
In this book, the hypochondriac genius of movies, radio, television, and the concert stage delivers all the neurotic humor expected. But the author, a talented writer as well as one of the great pianists of the 20th century, also succeeds at conveying the ambience of the artistic world of the 1920s through 1950s. His insights about his contemporaries, including celebrated conductors, musicians, composers, and actors, are fascinating.
Laughing All The Way To The Nuthouse... June 26, 2002
54 out of 54 found this review helpful
This has always been one of my favorite books. I recall reading it for the first time as a pre-teen, and chuckling at his OUTRAGEOUS stories. I'm probably among the last generation that remembers this brilliant man, which is a shame. In the days of the great "talk shows", like Jack Paar, etc.., Oscar Levant was always one of the most coveted, and controversial, guests. I remember seeing him on t.v., as a kid, & being fascinated by this odd looking man who, though I quite honestly didn't get 90% of what he was saying, was obviously someone truly unique. This book has all his irreverent humor, the humor even evident in his telling of his long battle with mental illness, and his extreme, then un-named "obsessive-compulsive" disorder. His brutal honesty about his ordeal was unheard of at that time, and was long before the trend of todays celebrities, who do everything but hawk their x-rays on informercials. There's many names in this book that you will recognize, and his telling of his encounters with various celebrities is not always in their favor, and will have you rolling on the floor. He was literally thrown off the air in the 1950's, for a remark he made on a live talk show, pertaining to Marilyn Monroe and her conversion to Judaism, which is recounted in this book, but can't be repeated here. But at the time, the staid 1950's, it must have had the audience awestruck in utter shock at his outrageous (and incredibly humorous) statement. This is just a fabulous book about one of the greatest wits of this century, the man who started out as an incredibly accomplished and respected pianist, he was most known for his rendition of good friend Gershwins "Rhapsody In Blue", and became something more than just a clown. Totally touching, hysterical, and honest, this book will have you falling in love with dear, lost, brilliant Oscar. In todays, for the most part, [dissapointing] "celebrity" climate, we sure could use the likes of him again.
a must re-read November 25, 2000
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Luckily found this among my mother's books, the title caught my eye. When asked about it, my mother laughed softly. I thought, if it can make her laugh it must be funny; well it's the best humor, and I turned to a page and busted out laughing. It's more than that. I read the one I bought from time to time, and there is always a point of feeling I'm in the belly of a beast. Such integrity I'd never known, and never felt I could fit in this world 'til reading "Memoirs of an Amnesiac".
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