Yay! I Finshed Another Book - The Importance of Being Ernie by Barry Livingston

Here's one on the express track from the "I Can't Believe You Read This, Len" department.

Yes, I read Barry Livingston's recently published memoirs.  And I'm happy to report it's one of the more entertaining books in this genre.  After being thoroughly bored to crocodile tears by that exhaustive gasbag James Garner's take on his own life, who knew that the goofy kid who played bespectacled Ernie Douglas on "My Three Sons" could provide such a captivating and even funny tale? 

Now, I'm intrigued before I even hit page one.  Let's face it, "My Three Sons" was one of my favorite shows as a kid.  It was the Saturday night program that I used as major leverage to get my own portable TV for my bedroom, thereby saving me from "The Lawrence Welk Show" which was being seen on not one, but both television consoles in my house. 

"If you get me my own TV, I can stop sqawking about missing 'My Three Sons'"

Yep, that did the trick.

Of course, I loved the Douglas clan, mainly because there were great siblings to play with when I had none.  I wanted to be part of that family and I bet that no one in that house forced Robby, Chip, and Ernie to watch the Lennon Sisters sing ad nauseum every Saturday night.

Cracking the spine of Livingston's book, I'm also interested in the lives of TV child stars.  From my days in the basement acting out my own sitcom amongst Grandma's girdle hanging on the clothesline, I wanted to be pals with Opie Taylor and Ritchie Petrie and Ernie Douglas.  Heck, I wanted to do even more that with Angela Cartwright from "Make Room for Daddy," but that's a saga for another blog entry. 

For all these reasons, I dove head first into Barry Livingston's book.  And came out on the other side with a smile on my face.

Because, indeed, Barry Livingston wound up...well, normal.  And, even better, he's still toiling at his craft because he wants to be an actor to this day.  

There's a little bit of a misconception when it comes to TV child stars.  Most think that they wind up strung out on cocaine in a West Hollywood gutter, in jail for punching out their girlfriend in the Century City mall, or holding up a liquor store in Encino.  Truth be told, those are really the exceptions and not the rule.   While most don't manage to stick around the business, a lot more than you think continue to be solid citizens living in that craftsman cottage out in West Hills.

I've actually connected twice in my life to former child actors.  When I was putting together a church production several years ago, I had need to get some information from Paul Petersen, formerly of "The Donna Reed Show" and now a staunch advocate for the rights of children in show business.  Paul was very gracious in an extended e-mail exchange and went over and beyond to help me get what I needed.

And, of course, my financial advisor here in Los Angeles happens to have been a co-star on a long-running sitcom of the 80s and 90s.  Another good and grounded guy who manages my portfolio and I actually trust him with my social security number.  I always tell him that, if he ever steals a dime, my first call will be to People Magazine.

So, in short, you don't need to have a laundry list of DUIs to your name to have an interesting tale to relate about being a TV child star and Barry Livingston does just that.  Sure, he has had some hard times and did dabble a bit in the drug culture.  But, overall, he comes off as sensible and somebody you'd like to have as your next door neighbor.

Barry is honest and clever, as he unspools amusing yarns about Fred MacMurray, William Frawley, Lucille Ball, Ozzie Nelson, and William Demarest.  I was surprised to know that, during his acting career, there were also moments he could share with such luminaries as Elizabeth Ashley, John Cassavetes, and even Myrna Loy.  While entertaining, Barry's memories of these folks are never mean, titillating, or the slightest bit gossipy.  He simply tells us what he experienced.

What impressed me particularly about Barry's book is his crisp, concise, and funny writing style.  In a totally selfish comparison, his work here reminds me a good deal of my own Sunday Memory Drawer on this blog, especially when he tells stories about his parents and growing up in Hollywood.  Even though he was working in television at the age of five, his experiences from that era are very much like mine.  Even though he was being viewed weekly by millions of people, Barry still managed to be as normal as you can get.

As mentioned earlier, Barry Livingston is still out there.  Auditioning for roles.  Nailing some and being disappointed by others.  But he continues to press on as a professional actor and, heck, I'm tempted myself to contact him with an idea.  In the meantime, he adds "book author" to his resume and the result is a captivating look at how one can survive it all in Tinseltown.

Dinner last night:  Meat ravioli at Maria's Italian Kitchen.