Carson: The Unauthorized Biography

Former TV Guide columnist Corkery here produces a superficial biography of television's most popular talk-show host. He chronicles Carson's happy boyhood in the Midwest, his early career as a magician, his struggles to succeed in radio and TV, his triumph as successor to Jack Paar on the Tonight show. There are also interviews with the three ex-wives and much speculation about why each of the marriages failed. But, apart from revelations that Carson admires Jack Benny and Fred Allen, and does not enjoy socializing, there is nothing here that hasn't appeared in gossip columns. Photos. 75,000 first printing; first serial to Good Housekeeping; author tour. (September)