Writer Says Mum’s Word on Carson Book

Laurence Leamer’s latest celebrity biography, the sensational “King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson,” is a top 10 best-selling book across America.

And yet, Leamer told his audience at the Round Table West luncheon at the Balboa Bay Club on Tuesday, “in the Los Angeles area you wouldn’t know it.”

He said “AM Los Angeles” booked him as a guest, but “they canceled.” He said “Entertainment Tonight” “won’t touch the book.” He said the CNN “entertainment reporter won’t deal with it.”

And, he said, no major Los Angeles newspaper has run a story on it.

“No one wants to deal with it,” maintained Leamer, whose previous bios dug into the lives of Ingrid Bergman and Nancy and Ronald Reagan.

“In a way, Los Angeles is a company town, and Johnny Carson is the most powerful person in Los Angeles,” he said. “So I’m doubly thankful to be here today to talk about what I think is indeed as much a tribute as a revelation about Johnny Carson. . . . It does not mean to destroy his reputation.”

That said, the former Newsweek associate editor who spent 2 1/2 years interviewing more than 700 people for his unauthorized biography of America’s No. 1 talk show host went on to provide sensational details on Carson’s three failed marriages and his alleged marital indiscretions. (In its review of “King of the Night,” the New York Times called Leamer’s book, which contains tales of alleged wife-beating, womanizing, drinking and child neglect, “relentlessly mean-spirited,” occasionally rising “to the level of a supermarket tabloid.”)

On the positive side, Leamer said he sees the “Tonight Show” host as “an extraordinary entertainer, an incomparable performer.” But despite Carson’s phenomenal show business success, Leamer said he also sees him as a lonely man--one with few close friends, one who, when the television cameras are not on, is uncomfortable around other people, and one who is unable to find personal happiness.

Leamer said some of the closest people in Carson’s life who cooperated--anonymously--with him on the biography did so “with the hope that (Carson) could read this book about himself, about his triumph as an entertainer, about his personal unhappiness, the tragedy in his life, and maybe in the last years of his life he can find something that was missing in the rest of his life.”

Travel book: The second revised and updated edition of “Away for the Weekend: Southern California” (Potter, $12.95) by Laguna Beach travel writers Michelle and Tom Grimm is now available in bookstores. The book includes 52 weekend itineraries divided into four sections: north coastal, backcountry and mountains, high desert and low desert. Each region is detailed with an area map and lists of restaurants and accommodations. The Grimms write the Trip of the Week column for the Los Angeles Times. They are also columnists for Travel-Holiday magazine and travel editors of Orange Coast Magazine.

Book signings: Orange County authors Elizabeth George (“Payment in Blood”) and Jean Femling (“Hush Money”) will sign their new mysteries from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Book Carnival, 870 N. Tustin Ave., Orange. . . . Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.S. Merwin will sign copies of his books from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday at Fahrenheit 451 Book Store, 509 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach.

Writing class: Newport Beach writer Douglas Muir, author of “The Midnight Admirals” and three other suspense novels, will teach a creative-writing class Monday afternoons at the Irvine Senior Center beginning Monday Aug. 28. The class is part of Irvine Valley College’s Emeritus Program. For more information, call (714) 559-3284.

Muir was recently a dinner and tour guest aboard the battleship Missouri, where he was made an honorary crewman while doing research for a new book.

Los Escribientes: Pat Hendry and Sherrie Brown recently were named dual recipients of the Writer of the Year Award presented by Los Escribientes, a South County professional writers group. Hendry was honored for her numerous travel articles, and Brown for her short stories.

The Nora Collins Award of Excellence was given to Marcella Lange, a founder of the group, for her continuing support. Los Escribientes meets at 7:30 p.m. twice a month, on the second and fourth Tuesdays, at Glendale Federal Savings & Loan in San Clemente. Visitors are welcome.

Poetry readings: Laguna Poets will sponsor a reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.S. Merwin at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Moulton Theatre, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. $10. A reception will follow. For more information, call Marta Mitrovich at (714) 494-8375.

Laguna Poets also will sponsor a reading by poet Robert Peters, a UC Irvine professor of English, at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Laguna Beach Public Library, 363 Glenneyre St. The cost is $5 at the door, or a ticket stub from the Merwin reading.

Singer-guitarist Alex Stelzner will play soft rock and jazz on an acoustic guitar before an open poetry reading at 8 p.m. Saturday at Fullerton Museum Center, 301 N. Pomona Ave. $2. The program is sponsored by Poets Reading Inc., a nonprofit corporation that presents public readings twice a month and provides scholarships to college and university creative-writing students. For more information, call Michael Logue at (714) 441-1820.

By George: Huntington Beach mystery writer Elizabeth George (“Payment in Blood”) will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Laguna Beach Public Library, 363 Glenneyre St. George, whose mysteries are set in England, will sign books after her talk. Free.

Great books: The Great Books Reading and Discussion Group, sponsored by Family Services of Irvine, will begin holding monthly meetings at 7:15 p.m. on Sept. 12 at University High School, 4771 Campus Drive, Irvine. The registration fee for the group, which will meet through May 22, is $10. Works of literature, philosophy and political science will be discussed in seminar settings. Each participant will purchase a set of books for $20 from the Great Books Foundation. For more information, call David Anderson at (714) 724-6643.

Story times: A story time and craft project for children is offered Tuesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Quinby’s for the Curious Child, 3800 Barranca Parkway, Suite M, Irvine. Cost: a materials fee for associated craft.

Quinby’s also offers “Reading in the Round” from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays. Participants will read aloud from folklore, myths, legends, science and nature, and other children’s books. To sign up, call (714) 559-0423.