B.S. I Love You: Sixty Funny Years with the Famous and the Infamous

In this paean to the Friars Club Berle reminisces about his high times at the 80-year-old theatrical hangout and its branch in Beverly Hills, opened during the 1950s. In 1920, Eddie Cantor introduced Berle, a vaudeville tyro aged 12, to the Friars, where he met oldtime greats like Al Jolson, Joe E. Lewis and Fred Allen and later made friends with newcomers Sinatra, Dean Martin and others. There are spicy stories of gangsters who backed plays, night spots and entertainers. Bringing history up to date, Berle announces that the Friars now accept women as members. The book is crammed with boffo one-liners as delivered by genuine wits the comedian has known, very funny material if often salacious. The superabundance of knee-slappers, however, dulls the edges. Perhaps Berle has forgotten that a comic should ""always leave them laughing,'' not overwhelmed. Photos not seen by PW. (November 23)