CONFESSIONS OF A HAPPY MAN

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Art Linkletter was a familiar household word -- via Houseparty and People are Funny long before Kids Say the Darndest Things and The Secret World of Kids became best sellers. But lest there be any doubt about the maximum penetration of his ""image"" he modestly reveals that a poll taken two years ago demonstrated that he was more familiar to mid-western farmers than either Senator Knowland or Senator Kennedy. His autobiography is one more addition to the Bernard Geis-success-formula of what Time magazine has labeled ""non-books"". Basically a from-rags-to-riches story involving the usual set backs and strokes of good fortune, Linkletter's career has been unusual in at least one aspect: he was almost imprisoned at one time for pretending to be an American citizen and illegally voting. But this bit of folly didn't seem to have the disastrous effect he expected and the success spiral moved ever upward. He relates his desertion by his real parents in Canada, his adoption by an itinerant pair who settled in California where his father became a preacher and the numerous odd jobs during and after college which led him into radio, a carnival type of life and then two network shows. He describes various encounters he has had with Hollywood celebrities, embarrassments he's suffered -- and laughed at, the little old ladies who have stolen the show from him, etc., etc. For the fans it's a feast of pleasant, easygoing, optimistic, confident tidbits, seasoned with the proper amounts of adversity and prepared by experts.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House-Bernard Geis

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1960

Categories: NONFICTION