REVIEW OF HIS BOOK
'ONLY MAKE BELIEVE.'
It was my birthday, and I was in the army. It was 1955 and I was stationed at Kneller Hall, the military School of Music in Twickenham, just outside London. My plans to celebrate my birthday had suddenly fallen through. At about 6 pm I found myself alone and very down in the mouth. I walked into Twickenham and decided to go to the pictures. The posters outside said something about 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' and right away I thought, what a dopey title. Someone named Howard Keel starred along with Jane Powell and a bunch of 'flummoxy backwoodsmen.' I went in. What the heck I thought, I can always fall asleep. A few hours later I came out and from that day on I have never forgotten that movie. I have seen it countless times. I have my own copy on tape, and I can whisper the lines along with the actors in almost every scene. It's part of my life, as a good book is, a good friend, a good song, and a special memory.
Howard Keel died on November 7th 2004 aged 85. He died of colon cancer. His book about his life was just finished; with the help of writer Joyce Spizer, and is now available.* It's entitled 'Only Make Believe,' something Howard Keel felt about life itself. The book is gritty, often crude, and tells the story of a man who saw his Dad commit suicide in front of him when he was only eleven years old. That, combined with the grinding poverty his family experienced in his growing up years in Gillespie, Illinois, set Howard Keel on a course of self preservation and hard-headed determination that made him a great success, and a pain in the arse to a great many people in show business, and in the media. Even today you can't get the Biography TV channel to even reply to you when you ask why they will not do a biography on this great American singer and actor. Howard Keel had a reputation far beyond his musicals, and beyond his eleven year role on TV's 'Dallas,' where even there, on that popular show he was considered an 'outsider.'
In the summer of 1985 I met Howard Keel backstage at the Brighton Theatre in West Sussex. We talked about 'Seven Brides' and I asked him if that was his favourite musical of the many he'd done. He agreed that 'Seven Brides' was his best musical experience. It took 34 days to make, entirely on the back lot at MGM, and Jane Powell his co-star was a sweetheart. In his book he remarks on the other 'brothers' and their singing and dancing abilities, and the fact that none of them were gay! He was paid just $8,500 for that picture, and today it is still the most watched, most TV played movie musical of them all. There's a great deal more in his book, about his love for England, the musicals he did there, and the people he met. I'll not tell you everything about him, or what's in the book, other than it's not your usual autobiography. Howard Keel was not your 'usual' Hollywood star. All he cared about was singing, those he loved, playing golf, and perhaps his own survival. And in the end he knew, like most of us know, life is all, 'Only Make Believe.'
Review by: Kenneth Seymour. Editor/Publisher Brits Abroad & Club Saint George.
* Order 'ONLY MAKE BELIEVE' from www.amazon.com and other book outlets.
Publisher: Barricade Books, Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA. www.barricadebooks.com
