THE NINE LIVES OF BILLY ROSE

by Polly Rose Gottlieb ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 9, 1968

An Intimate Biography"" by sister Polly who claims to have been Billy's closest confidante and ""spent virtually every waking minute of the last seven years of Billy's life with him."" Expectedly, it's a much more sympathetic portrait than Ead Conrad's Billy Rose (p. 1445) which displayed the Broad-way entrepreneur as a hustler, Grade A, no. 1 American fink, a vulcanized idea man with as much humanity. Here we have the Rose with a rubber stamp sensibility: ""My ragtag life has been one trick ending after another,"" as Mrs. Gottlieb recalls conversations, confrontations, the childhood, rough personal history and the dynamic business deals that netted an eventual fortune. You get a better idea of Billy, the man, no angel but no ruthless robot either. Perhaps Mr. Conrad has the judgmental perspective but Mrs. Gottlieb one-ups him on anecdotes, not to mention photographs (75!) although the lengthy self-justifying post-mortem dealing with her battle with the estate executors will not be that interesting to most. Still, better showmanship.

Pub Date: Feb. 9, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION