This book is a great read for all those interested in Bing Crosby. It states a truthful but fair opinion of the crooners life, works, personality, and his family life. It is also easy to read and enjoyable too. The pictures in it are also great and soom I have never seen before. I t is truly a great buy!

In the early eighties, this book was an agreeable addition to the more complete but older Lemmon biographies by Don Widener and Will Holtzman. It was entertaining, informative and filled the gaps between the mid-seventies (where the other biographies ended) and the early eighties when Lemmon had added films like "The China Syndrome" and "Missing" to his name. I could recommand this volume if it weren't for the fact, that Michael Freedland updated it this year ("Some like it cool"). It took this author twenty years to write a small, not very incisive chapter about the chemistry of Lemmon & Matthau and a few sentences about Lemmons alcohol problems, his face lift and his death. Don't expect any more details from his book. I have read very detailed and intimate star biographies lately, like Clark Gables biography by Warren G. Harris, or Burt Lancasters by Cate Buford. Those authors took their time. They interviewed friends and family. They looked over old newspaper articles and other sources. They did thorough research about the stars they wrote about. In short, thy did all the things that Michael Freedland should have done - but didn't.

I've read many Sinatra biographies and this is by far the least interesting and most pretentious. Michael Freedland's self-imporatnce oozes from within the lines; his claim that some of the stories are told here for the first time have no interesting payoff whatsoever for Sinatra fans. This is more like reading a book by Robin Leach and the "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous." I think we need to ask the Brits to stick to their side of the Atlantic if they can't do any better than this.

Though this book highlights some enlightening details about Frank Sinatra's life, much of it is shoddy hackwork. The reader learns the true story of how Sinatra freed himself from the talons of Tommy Dorsey. The reader learns of the strong influence of Sinatra's mother, Dolly, on his life. Dolly's own life as a Hoboken ward leader and her barely mentioned extraciricular activity as town abortionist fascinates. The friendship of Dolly and Ava Gardner, both foul-mouthed and proud of it, also fascinates. Ditto, the true story of how Sinatra resurrected his failing career by landing his role in "From Here to Eternity". Yet much is left out in this biography. The author seems to have gathered as much material as he could be bothered with and just slapped it together at breakneck speed in a book. It seems to be a specialty of Mr. Freedland's. More time is spent on Sinatra and Joe DiMaggio's "raid" on an apartment Marilyn Monroe was allegedly staying than Sinatra's relationships with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.. The Rat Pack is glossed over; more time is spent on detailing Lauren Bacall's role in the original Bogart Rat Pack than in Martin and Davis's roles in the Rat Pack that most Americans are familiar with today. Much time is wasted on Sinatra's philosophical views on life, some of which seem to probably have been press releases written by his publicist. The author often doesn't put two and two together. Though Sinatra had great talent as an actor and played some fine roles, his career fizzled by the mid-sixties. Mr. Freedland mentions that Sinatra refused to do second takes but fails to understand that few directors would go out of their way to hire actors who refused to do second takes. Sinatra undercut his own film career. The bio is also very flighty. For instance, the author mentions a benefit concert Sinatra gave in New York which was attended by Jackie Kennedy Onassis at which she wore some sort of head band. Mr. Freedland informs us that the sort of head band used by Mrs. Onassis at the concert was sold out of New York stores within 24 hours as if that was pertinant information. The Jackie Onassis tidbit is indicative of Mr. Freedland's writing style. All in all, All the Way is useful in its way yet disappointing and borderline awful.

Michael Freedland's British background is too apparent for American readers. His English spellings are bothersome and frequent grammatic uses of "were" instead of "was" get in the way of what otherwise would be a facinating story of one of American music's top performers. The editors failed to catch misspellings of Tiajuana, Mexico. Freedland bashes Sinatra's parents unnecessarily and takes too much credit for "publishing for the first time" anncedotes that may be moderately interesting. This book comes across as an episode of "Lives of the Rich and Famous" with an English accent. Freedland collected notes over a period of years and the book often reads like a collection of them.

In this book, we learn that, among other things, Bing's partner in the Rhythm Boys was named Harry "Berris"...... That Bing made "4000 different recordings"....... That Bing's famous singing rivalry known as the "Battle Of The Baritones" was with Rudy Vallee..... That another popular singer of the early days was Russ "Colombo"..... That Bing's mother was born in Canada..... That Bing's lung operation in 1974 was due to cancer..... That Bing's appearances on the "Hollywood Palace" TV show consisted of hosting "once a month, between 1968 and 1970 ...., sharing the role with George Burns, Martha Raye, and Judy Garland"........ That in 1962, Bing recorded "Let's Not Be Sensible" for a film soundtrack, "...but for reasons no one could adequately explain, the last word of the song, 'love', was mangled on tape...." and that Bing refused to re-record it because he was a "star", so .."Michael Holliday, a Crosby sound-alike, was brought in to finish the line for him......" This book further reveals that all of Al Jolson's legendary 1940s radio appearances with Bing were on Bing's series, "The Kraft Music Hall", and that Bing's very first TV appearance was "...as the guest of Jack Benny's first special in 1953...." WHEW!!!! What a bunch of junk! Folks, every single fact I've just related comes randomely from the pages of this half-baked un-researched hatchet-job, and is totally wrong!! What's more, These are just errors I picked at the last minute, thumbing through the book as I was composing this review: there are so many more! I've read hundreds of entertainment bios in my life (including others by Freedland), and NEVER have I encountered such a lame work with so many blatant errors of fact, chronology, and spelling (the spelling errors listed above for "Berris" and "Colombo", are not random typos, but are mis-spelled every time the names appear in the text!) How did this get published? Of course, the piece is also a hatchet-job, featuring alusions and conclusions re: Crosby's behavior that have absolutely no basis in fact. You want Crosby? Order Gary Giddins' new masterpiece "Bing Crosby- A Pocketful Of Dreams - The Early Years", and you'll get the REAL Bing, in a scholarly, analytical epic that makes this howler look like the misbegotten little essay that it is.

This book is loaded with mistakes! Some are not even close to being accurate! Has some nice photos though, but not worth the money!

I was looking forward to an accurate biography of my favorite singer, Bing Crosby, and, as the title promises, this was supposed to be full of illustrations too. Sadly, I was disappointed on both accounts.

Upon reading Michael Freeland's version of Bing's life and career, I couldn't help but feel that Mr. Freeland gave The Old Groaner several digs along the way. I guess you don't have to be a fan of your subject to write a biography. There were several blatant errors in the text. Among these was a captioned picture of Gary Cooper presenting Bing with his Oscar while, on the same page, Mr. Freeland writes that Bing received that little statue from Bob Hope. Also, for some reason, the print is very large. Even though the book boasts 127 or so pages, it would have only been about 75 pages with regular print. I don't known if this was done because the author thought that older folks (with deteriorating eyesight?) would have more of an interest in this book. I am in my 30's so maybe I don't fit into the Mr. Freeland's concept of a typical Bing fan.

As for the illustrations, they were slightly spartan considering the title of the book. I was anxiously anticipated pages and pages of both color and black & white pictures depicting Bing in all stages of his life and career. Although there weren't enough pictures to suit me, I do have to say that the pictures included were of good quality ( althought none in color other than the one on the back cover) and many were ones that I had never seen before.

All in all, I did gleen some additional information concerning Mr. Bing Crosby but I would certainly take much of what was written here with a grain of salt. The 40+ black & white pictures will be a continual source of enjoyment for me.

This book is by a well-intentioned but underinformed fan? Supposedly the Brits are huge fans of Doris--this one didn't do his homework. One of the photos (of a lady standing up in a car on the MGM lot) is attributed to be Doris but is a photo of June Allyson!!! That kind of schlock-ily written and edited book does a disservice to the lovely actress/singer.

THE ONLY REASON I GAVE THIS BOOK ONE STAR IS FOR THE PHOTOS, ALTHOUGH ONE PHOTO, SUPPOSEDLY OF DORIS, IN ACTUALITY IS JUNE ALLYSON! UNFORGIVABLE! THE AUTHOR OBVIOUSLY DID NOT DO HIS HOMEWORK. HE PAINTS A TOTALLY MISLEADING PORTRAYAL OF DORIS DAY. IF YOU WANT TO READ A GOOD, DEPENDABLE BIO OF DORIS, CHECK OUT HER 1975 BIOGRAPHY, ENTITLED "DORIS DAY, HER OWN STORY," BY A. E. HOTCHNER ("PAPA HEMINGWAY"). THIS IS A GREAT BOOK, HONEST (SOMETIMES BRUTALLY SO!) WITH GREAT COMMENTS FROM DD'S CO-STARS AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATES. TRY TO GET A COPY ON E-BAY...IT'S A GREAT READ!

I expected thin - the book is thin - but emaciated? The author himself says the book was proposed as a picture book and yet the book is thin on illustrations and thin on biographical info, and flat writing for such a iconic woman. What accompanying "biographical" info there is, is really only cursory and focuses more on her singing than her acting. (one more mention of che sera sera and I'll go nuts -- and isn't it spelled "que sera sera"??). "Illustrated biography" is hardly a fitting title. The book would have been more aptly marketed as a book superficially chronicling Doris Day's singing credits. The only insightful editorializing the authors puts forth are quotes from Doris's autobiography.

When one reads "The Two Lives of Errol Flynn," one gets the sensation that it was written in a very great hurry. Indeed, the writing is stilted and, in a number of instances, grammatically incorrect; the chapter titles -- all taken from Flynn's films -- seem forced; and an overwhelming portion of the text seems lifted straight from the pages of Flynn's pseudo-autobiography, "My Wicked, Wicked Ways" (Flynn did not write the book -- ghost writer Earl Conrad did). It is unfortunate that Freedland, who apparently interviewed a number of the people in Errol Flynn's life, could not have pieced together a better written and more comprehensive look at this legendary screen swashbuckler.

In my opinion, this book was terrible. Freedland does not give a clear picture of Connery's life or ideas. He pictures his life to be free of hardship and very glamorous, but anyone might be able to tell you of the horrors that come with fame. The author skips around so much that the reader is at a loss as to what he is trying to portray. The details are too precise and B-O-R-I-N-G! If you want to get in a good nap, please feel free to view this work, but if you are busy and don't have time to be bored with details, stay away.

For a much better book get Inherited Risk by Jeffrey Meyers. Freedland's book is not worth the time to read it and the only redeeming qualities are the pictures. This should be under fiction, rather than autobiography.