Up Late with Joe Franklin: Stories of the Greats, the Near Greats, the Ingrates, the Has-Beens, and the Never Weres

There are many interesting anecdotes about the greats and the near greats (whatever that is?) I think it means when they mention your name, they have to explain who you are. "Greats, near greats and ingrates" is a Damon Runyon line. Mr. Franklin is even somewhat kind and forgiving to the ingrates...As to what is Joe Franklin really like? There are plenty of stories about his youth, his rise in show business, his marriage and his son. If you like sexy tidbits about the stars and about Joe also, there are plenty. If you don"t like that stuff, or you think it's overdone, skip over it...The funniest pages in the book, at least to this reviewer, are about three "never-weres" who had a "fixation" on Joe Franklin. Busted out laughing reading that stuff. But some of the stories are very sad. This isn't all light reading. Some are mysterious (you wonder how that happened)...The book (copyrighted 1995) seems to celebrate the "retirement of Joe Franklin." If that was true, he seems to be making a big comeback. He's as active as ever and has a great restaurant near Times Square, and it's a great New York book. It happened in New York.