Been There, Done That

Teen idol Fisher tells the story of his rise from poverty to 1950s crooner stardom and beyond in this alternately self-delighted and repentant new memoir (his second, following Eddie: My Life, My Loves, Harper & Row, 1981). Born in Philadelphia in 1928, Fisher was a star by age 21, launching his own TV show, Coke Time, in 1953, with such hits as ""Outside of Heaven"" and ""Oh, My Papa"": ""I had more consecutive hit records than the Beatles or Elvis Presley,"" Fisher writes. But, he says, with characteristic melodrama, ""the music simply became a means to the drugs and the women."" Despite warnings from friends (and from the Coca-Cola company, which informed Fisher that he was ""married"" to them), he wed movie star Debbie Reynolds, and here one reads of the various conflicts--sexual and otherwise--of the couple who were widely hailed as ""America's Sweethearts."" The death of his friend Mike Todd and Fisher's passion for Elizabeth Taylor created a dilemma: ""I had to figure out how to announce to the world that I was leaving sweet little Debbie for my best friend's widow without destroying Elizabeth's and my careers."" The backlash brought 7000 pieces of hate mail weekly and fans organized an ""Eddie-Liz boycott."" Fisher was ""madly in love"" with Taylor, and the book offers an intimate glimpse into his anguish after her Cleopatra costar, Richard Burton intervened. In the final chapters, Fisher recalls his battle to get off drugs, his numerous affairs with a lengthy parade of beautiful women, his desperate efforts to keep his career afloat, his relationships with his famous children Carrie and Joely Fisher and his 1993 marriage to Betty Linn. The title of this memoir seems to suit the autobiography of a has-been. But Fisher offers his regrets, insights and anecdotes with so much verve, wit and candor that one can see that the crooner of yesteryear is still very much alive. 16 pages of b&w photos unseen by PW. Author tour, excerpt booklets. (Sept.) FYI: Dove's abridged audiobook features Eddie Fisher as the reader.