The creator of three of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history, Jerry Herman is a theatrical institution. His rise from anonymity as a youth in Jersey City to become one of the most successful composer-lyricists ever is candidly recounted here in his own words. When Herman was seventeen, his mother set up, via "the mother Mafia," a meeting with the legendary composer of Guys and Dolls, Frank Loesser, who happened to be the brother of a friend of a friend of her hairdresser. Instead of the agreed-upon ten minutes, Loesser spent an entire afternoon with young Herman, encouraging him to take a shot at songwriting: "It's a tough life, but I see talent here," he said. Jerry Herman's first creation was a downtown cabaret show that soon had crowds of tuxedo-and-mink-wearing sophisticates lined up outside. (Mistaking them for patrons of the restaurant next-door, he politely asked them to move.) From there he was engaged to work on the musical that would become Milk and Honey, earning him a Tony nomination alongside Noel Coward and Richard Rodgers. Smash hits like Hello Dolly!, Mack and Mabel, La Cage aux Folles, and Mame were to follow. Herman's memoir goes beyond the creation of his legendary hits, including hitherto unrevealed, behind-the-scenes encounters with such luminaries as Angela Lansbury, Carol Channing, Barbra Streisand, Ethel Merman, Judy Garland, and the notoriously volatile Broadway producer David Merrick, whose office was an intimidating bright red, top to bottom, matching his choleric temperament. Wonderfully recreating the golden age of the Broadway musical, Jerry Herman's revealing memoir is at once frank and uplifting, a characteristic of his songs as well as a personal quality that has sustained him through a long career marked by its share of tragedy as well as triumph. This memoir is by the man who created the Broadway hits "Hello Dolly!," "Mame," and "La Cage Aux Folles." The self-described "Mr. Show Business, the razzmatazz musical comedy writer, a cheerful man whose life is dedicated to making people smile and feel good and leave the theater humming a show tune," Jerry Herman takes readers on a sentimental journey, retracing his steps toward big-time success and occasional disappointment. Though Herman relates losing his lover to AIDS, and tells of his own HIV status, of plagiarism disputes, and of in-fighting with Broadway producers, his tone remains conversational and cheerfully upbeat. Bright and bubbly as the overture to a 1950s Broadway musical, this autobiography of lyricist-composer Herman is entertaining but lightweight. Best known for the songs and music from Hello, Dolly; Mame; and La Cage aux Folles, among others, Herman details his lifelong love of music and musical theater. He talks about the leading ladies in his shows and their various styles of performing his music, as well as the different artistic conceptions of the directors, producers, designers, et al. The most fascinating sections are about how the individual elements can come together to make an artistically and financially successful musical production. Although he does reflect on his friendships and family relationships, this amounts to merely a surface treatment of his life. For large popular biography and theater collections.?J. Sara Paulk, Coastal Plain Regional Lib., Tifton, Ga. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Prepare to start humming along as soon as you turn to chapter 1. Herman is the lyricist-composer of such beloved Broadway musicals as Hello, Dolly , Mame , and La Cage Aux Folles . He is also a pretty good raconteur, and let's face it, he's working with an all-star cast here. There are anecdotes about the difficult David Merrick, the charming Carol Channing, and the awfully talented Angela Lansbury (Lucille Ball, who took Lansbury's role in the film version of Mame , however, was just awful). Some of the stories are quite unexpected, such as the time Judy Garland wanted to step into the Mame role, and some are personal, like Herman's long-term relationship with a young man who died of AIDS. Herman is forthright about his own HIV-positive status, but even as he discusses his lowest moments, there is a love of life that permeates everything in the book, just as it flows through his music. Broadway aficionados will adore this one. Ilene Cooper Notwithstanding frank discussion of his homosexuality and HIV- positive status, the composer-lyricist of Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles delivers a memoir as old-fashioned as his shows: exuberant, stagestruck, over-gushy at times, and unabashedly self- infatuated. The opening chapters are best, as 17-year-old Jerry, untrained but gifted, encouraged by his doting mother (who died before he made it to Broadway) and family acquaintance Frank Loesser, heads out from Jersey City to devote his life to showtunes: theater studies at the University of Miami; playing piano at supper clubs (listening hard to Mabel Mercer); scoring with lit