Jack Lemmon by Michael Freedland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Michael Freedland does what so many authors do that create a series with a similar theme. Much like a snow ball gets larger as it rolls down a mountain, as Freedland interviews the various celebrities for the various biographies he produces he picks up other stories and quotes involving other celebrities. He obviously stores the snippets of others lives. Then when he feels he has enough to construct another biography, he flings open the filing cabinets, digs out the gathered information and constructs a book.

There’s nothing wrong with what he does. Most all authors do this when creating a series. However, most work to take earlier research notes, string it together and fill in the gaps to create the whole story in whatever the subject is.

Freedland leaves wide gaps in Lemmon’s story. The book at times leaps from one point in Lemmon’s life to another. The inconsistency is a bit irritating. For instance very little is written about Jack Lemmon’s filming of ‘Some Like It Hot’ but plenty is filled out about ‘Save the Tiger’. There is also the lacking hindsight issue. Freedland expands the Lemmon story as it reaches his book’s publication date. The earlier history is far less complete.

Despite all this criticism, I like the end result because, though there is much lacking, what is there is well written, presented and obviously celebrity stories and quotes would be lost to time if Freedland hadn’t bothered to gather them over time and present them in this volume.

So, if you want a thorough Jack Lemmon biography, this isn’t it. If you want an over view packed with nifty stories of Lemmon’s life, track this now out of print book down.

Bottom line: I recommend it.

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