num_pages: 809
description: Why is this book more engrossing than Goldman's biographies about Elvis &amp; John Lennon? Mainly because both of them had been done thoroughly during their lifetimes. When the books came out, most who cared to read them already knew most of the contents. Not so with this book on comic Lenny Bruce. He died in 1966, his personal life unknown to most, mainly because his act was considered unfit for decent audiences &amp; was ignored by the media.Goldman gets much of his material from reporter Lawrence Schiller (the cover says, "by Albert Goldman from the journalism of Lawrence Schiller"). The book explores Bruce's youth as Leonard Alfred Schneider, his showbiz-oriented mother, quietly serious father &amp; strange relationship with his stripper wife Honey. Goldman &amp; Schiller analyze Bruce's comedy &amp; whence it came, believing this the key to understanding Bruce himself. The book progresses thru Bruce's difficult 1st years in Manhattan nightclubs, then moves to LA &amp;, finally, San Francisco, where Bruce became a star. It also deals with the comic's insatiable appetite for IV drugs, his fall from a San Francisco hotel room &amp; the legal battles which haunted him till his death.
language: English
title: Ladies and Gentlemen: Lenny Bruce!!
titlecomplete: Ladies and Gentlemen: Lenny Bruce!!
genres: Cultural, Biography, Comedy, Nonfiction, Humor, Biography Memoir
ratings_count: 338
publisher: Ballantine Books