cover image Let Me Entertain You: Quick Cuts and Slow Fades from a Life Among the Stars

Let Me Entertain You: Quick Cuts and Slow Fades from a Life Among the Stars

David Brown. William Morrow & Company, $19.95 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-688-08048-8

In this collection of anecdotes, mostly self-congratulatory, Brown recounts stories of his partnership with Darryl Zanuck's son, Richard, in making the hugely successful films Jaws, The Sting and The Verdict , and details the team's relationships with Paul Newman and other stars. Harking back to 1937, he tells about his debut in journalism on Women's Wear Daily , followed by a career that brought him in contact with memorable public figures such as mobster boss Frank Costello and the Mafia menace Estes Kefauver; Khrushchev, Howard Hughes et al. At his pseudo-modest heights, Brown describes how Helen Gurley, after persuading him to take a third wife, became Helen Gurley Brown, author ( Sex and the Single Girl ) and formidable editor of Cosmopolitan. Notwithstanding the posturing throughout, the book's ``quick cuts and slow fades'' deliver the entertainment the title promises. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour. (Apr.)