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Holding Details

StatusElectronic
Call NoOverdrive
Title Carson the magnificent [electronic resource]. Bill Zehme.
Author Zehme, Bill.
CollectioneBook
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Catalog Details

Other Classification Number BIO005000 DRA001000 PER004000 bisacsh
Personal Name Zehme, Bill.
Title Statement Carson the magnificent [electronic resource]. Bill Zehme.
Imprint 2024.
Physical Description 1 online resource
Content Type text txt rdacontent
Media Type computer c rdamedia
Carrier Type online resource rdacarrier
Summary, Etc. INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A much-anticipated biography—twenty years in the making—of the entertainer who redefined late-night television and reshaped American culture. In 2002, Bill Zehme landed one of the most coveted assignments for a magazine writer: an interview with Johnny Carson—the only one he'd granted since retiring from hosting The Tonight Show a decade earlier. Zehme was tapped for the Esquire feature story thanks to his years of legendary celebrity profiles, and the resulting piece portrayed Carson as more human being than showbiz legend. Shortly after Carson's death in 2005 and urged on by many of those closest to Carson, Zehme signed a contract to do an expansive biography. He toiled on the book for nearly a decade—interviewing dozens of Carson's colleagues and friends and filling up a storage locker with his voluminous research—before a cancer diagnosis and ongoing treatments halted his progress. When he died in 2023 his obituaries mentioned the Carson book, with New York Times comedy critic Jason Zinoman calling it "one of the great unfinished biographies." Yet the hundreds of pages Zehme managed to complete are astounding both for the caliber of their writing and how they illuminate one of the most inscrutable figures in entertainment history: A man who brought so much joy and laughter to so many millions but was himself exceedingly shy and private. Zehme traces Carson's rise from a magic-obsessed Nebraska boy to a Navy ensign in World War II to a burgeoning radio and TV personality to, eventually, host of The Tonight Show —which he transformed, along with the entirety of American popular culture, over the next three decades. Without Carson, there would be no late-night television as we know it. On a much more intimate level, Zehme also captures the turmoil and anguish that accompanied the success: four marriages, troubles with alcohol, and the devastating loss of a child. In one passage, Zehme notes that when asked by an interviewer in the mid-80s for the secret to his success, Carson replied simply, "Be yourself and tell the truth." Completed with help from journalist and Zehme's former research assistant Mike Thomas, Carson the Magnificent offers just that: an honest assessment of who Johnny Carson really was.
Reproduction Note Electronic reproduction. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2024. Requires the Libby app or a modern web browser.
Subject Added Entry - Topical Term Art. OverDrive
Subject Added Entry - Topical Term Nonfiction. OverDrive
Subject Added Entry - Topical Term Biography & Autobiography. OverDrive
Subject Added Entry - Topical Term Entertainment. OverDrive
Index Term-Genre/Form Electronic books. local
Additional Physical Form Entry Original 9781451645279
Electronic Location and Access http://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=165&titleID=10480363
Electronic Location and Access https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0439-1/%7B0F2B6285-4446-4FB0-9DD3-44EDAC6B552D%7DIMG100.JPG
Electronic Location and Access https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0439-1/%7B0F2B6285-4446-4FB0-9DD3-44EDAC6B552D%7DIMG200.JPG
Electronic Location and Access https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=0f2b6285-4446-4fb0-9dd3-44edac6b552d&.epub-sample.overdrive.com

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