The Nine Lives of Billy Rose [*SIGNED*]

New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.. Near Fine in Very Good dj. (c.1968). First Edition. Hardcover. [spine slightly turned, light foxing to top of text block; the jacket shows a little wear at the edges and extremities, with a small ragged tear at the upper rear hinge]. (B&W photographs INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the front endpaper: "April 7, 1968 / Dearest Lily and Eddie - / Billy lived it - / I wrote it - Alex edited / it. Let's hope the combo / is as successful as Tinkers [sic] - to Everts [sic] to Chance - / With much love, / Polly." (Nice try on the baseball reference.) An "intimate biography," by his sister, of one of the great showmen of the twentieth century -- but apparently not one of its better husbands. As the jacket blurb explains: "His wives were Fanny Brice, Eleanor Holm, Joyce Mathews (twice), and Doris Warner Vidor. All his marriages ended in divorce. A great success in his nine careers, he was, in the main, a failure at marriage." The author, "who was close to him all the years of his life, tells his story with intimate knowledge, warm affection, complete honesty and unqualified frankness. She reveals his sins and faults, his persistence and aggressiveness, as well as his courage, brilliance, and the special qualities of his genius." ("Alex," in the inscription, is a reference to her husband, producer-writer Alex Gottlieb; the inscribees are unknown to me. Signed by Author .