Reviews

With no vocal training, teenaged Eddie Fisher jumped from poverty to fame in the 1950s. As a leading pop vocalist, he said, "I was bigger than the Beatles, bigger than Elvis, hotter than Sinatra." While Fisher lacks sound bites, his still available CD hits are powerful and accomplished. Been There, Done That expands on his early career and media-blitz marriages to Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor. He praises Reynolds for her career drive but otherwise demeans her. Passionate Taylor fares better, except for her excesses with pills and booze. For 20 years Fisher's energy for nightclub gigs depended on shots of amphetamines or cocaine. After losing his big voice, health, and money, he recovered at the Betty Ford Center. Fisher's clear reading is lax at drama and better at ironic humor. These stories are good for "golden oldie" fans who enjoy gossip.--Gordon Blackwell, Eastchester, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Sounding every bit like an old man in an armchair, singer Eddie Fisher dishes out his kiss-and-tell life story haltingly, at times stumbling over the details. He comes across affable, honest, direct as he lays out his "maelstrom of passion and betrayal" as plain narrative. First comes the standard celebrity bio: poor Philadelphia Jewish kid has incredible voice, becomes an instant sensation. But the story's real meat is Fisher's love life. He tells of being seduced by Marlene Dietrich in her Park Avenue love nest. He relates how he was wowed by Debbie Reynolds, wooed her and won herÄonly to find her "a phony." Most people will get the tape just to hear the dish on Elizabeth Taylor, with whom Fisher had a hot affair, then wed. He delivers gamely, telling how Liz mourned husband Mike Todd's plane-crash death in a pill-induced stupor. He soon became her full-time nurse, as she bounced from movie sets to hospital rooms. Fisher is tawdry and tender at once, bringing a sweetness to his account of the often ugly scenes inside the high life. Based on the 1999 St. Martin's hardcover. (Dec.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.