October 2013 16 Book Review For 25 years, starting in 1985, the man with the glasses and suspenders sitting in front of a backdrop of the world map with a microphone on his desk (it was just a prop, it didn’t actually work!) was a fixture on Americans’ TV screens. Each night on CNN’s Larry King Live — the longest-running show with the same host on the same network in the same timeslot — talk show host Larry King interviewed a famous guest, national or international in scope, covering topics ranging from film to politics to money to medicine and beyond, asking poignant questions of the interviewee and refraining from saying too much himself. The Brooklyn-born King’s career behind the microphone began in 1957 at the age of 24 as a deejay in Miami Beach, Florida. Now that he’s left CNN, he’s written his own book (actually, his 15th), Truth Be Told: Off the Record about Favorite Guests, Memorable Moments, Funniest Jokes, and a Half Century of Asking Questions (Weinstein Books, 225 pages, $25.00), giving King — who’s 79 years old — the chance to do what he didn’t for so many years: to have his say and share his stories (and he’s got a lot of them). Even the winding subtitle sounds like a trip down memory lane, and that, along with careful insight into the man behind the suspenders, is what the reader is served in King’s memoir. Though he shares the origins of his famous suspenders (“It all started as a simple suggestion from an ex-wife of mine after I lost weight following heart surgery”), if you were hoping to hear about the juicy details of his eight marriages to seven women, or the private lives of those he interviewed over the years, you won’t find anything to drool over here. King doesn’t explain how or why any of his marriages ended, nor does he share the details that led him and his current wife, 54-year-oldShawn, to file for divorce around the time his show was coming to a close and then reconcile, just as he didn’t ask actress Angelina Jolie how she felt about breaking up Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s marriage. King simply feels it’s nobody’s business. And he’s right, though, undoubtedly, it’d make for some great gossip and juicy reading. But as the reader learns, King is unlike other talk show hosts in that he didn’t enjoy doing “the tabloid stuff” just to get ratings. In fact, he explains that, “If one of the suits had ever asked me to yell at a guest, I wouldn’t do it.” For King, regardless of the ratings, the “ideal guest would still be someone interesting who walks over and surprises me,” and he saw his job as “the facilitator…To get the guest to open up so he or she can hit a home run.” His guests’ respect for him over the years is a testament to King’s character. In a letter to King Frank Sinatra wrote: “Unlike so many others — [you] were not there to trap or ensnare me or to sensationalize in any way…Be aware, my friend, you are very rare in your line of work, never asking self serving questions or competing with your guests in any way. And you’ll never know how much that means to all of us who have sat opposite you.” This is exactly what King strove for. Still, the reader is treated to countless stories about big stars and gets the sense that King is just as fascinated by the stories, and in many cases the fact that he even had the opportunity to be in the same room with these folks, much less have them as guests onhis cable TV show. The reader has as much fun reading about King’s encounters with celebrities and key figures such as Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando and Vladimir Putin as King did interviewing them, and he shows that ultimately he is just as grateful to have met them as your average Joe would be. It’s obvious that King truly enjoyed what he did because it gave him the opportunity to spend time with people he may otherwise never have met: “The joy of my life is meeting somebody interesting every day.” For King, it’s all about getting to know and understand people. The reader learns to appreciate King on a human level because his writing and stories make him feel human. He is acutely aware of the opportunities his career brought him throughout his life, and he’s thankful for them. For example, he reflects on listening to Paul McCartney play the piano in his living room, saying, “On days like that, I go home and say to myself, Did that really happen?” While showcasing King’s knack for telling stories, the book also gives readers insight into his insatiable curiosity, and what ultimately led him to end his talk show run. King explains his decision to leave the show, saying, “It may have seemed abrupt...But it was a process of evolution on my end.” It was time for King to devote the hours he spent on Larry King Live to being home with his wife and their two young sons, Cannon and Chance. But even after he decided to leave CNN, King couldn’t escape his curious nature, and the questions kept coming to him: He wondered, “What was I going to do with all my questions when I no longer had a show to ask them on?” (Incidentally, he can ask questions again on his new show, Larry King Now). Through his book, King brings the reader inside his experiences with these intriguing people. The reader gets a glimpse into the life of the world’s wealthiest man when he writes about being invited by business magnate andmulti-billionaire Carlos Slim to speak at a scholarship event in Mexico City. King explains that Slim personally drove himon a tour of the city, and that he is aman who is deeply dedicated to his family, painting a picture of Slim that most readers have never seen before. Later, the reader shares King’s frustration when he describes trying to get actress/singer Barbra Streisand to begin a taped interview on time. “She tried on many different dresses, changing over and over for hours, checking how each one looked not only in the mirror, but on camera,” and just as they were about to begin the interview, Streisand interrupted to complain about the color of the flowers on the desk. As he said, “She drove me nuts.” Another interesting story: When Elton John sang “Candle in the Wind” at Princess Diana’s funeral, he was worried that he might accidentally sing the lyrics written for Marilyn Monroe, so he used a teleprompter to remind him. King’s storytelling technique is endearing, and the reader senses his honesty and thoughtfulness. Though at times it feels as though King is namedropping,he’salsogivingus insight intothepeople behind those names. The reader might wish he would offer more details, but maybe that’s what his show was for — a chance for the interviewees themselves to give us more, whatever they were comfortable sharing — while the book is a space for King to reflect on his experiences with them, without overstepping his bounds. Anyone who wants insight into King as a person, as a talk show host and a philanthropist (he established his own Cardiac Foundation to raise money for people who can’t afford heart surgery, and often donates his time to charities), should pick upTruth Be Told. Through the stories King chooses to share, and even those he doesn’t (such as personal details about his relationship with his wives), the reader gets a sense of King’s personality, modesty, intelligence and generosity. “I don’t offer a point of view. I try not to use the word I. And I ask short questions. My motto is: I’ve never learned anything while I was talking.” But this book represents King’s turn to “talk,” to offer his side of the story, and we’re ready to listen. SA Larry King: A Good Listener on TV Talks in Print
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