How Now, Brown?

In 1951, Twentieth Century Fox titan Darryl Zanuck demanded the best editor in New York to head his story department. He got David Brown, who hit Hollywood as Cinemascope was resuscitating the movies, and made his mark finding stories of "width instead of depth." At seventy-three, Brown, producer of Jaws, The Sting, and Cocoon, is now regarded as the most chivalrous force in show biz.

His memoirs, Let Me Entertain You (Morrow), boast a stellar cast: Crawford, Selznick, Sinatra ("the one I would have liked to know better"), Kissinger (peace-talking with Ali MacGraw and Bob Evans), Colonel Parker ("Just send me a million, never mind the script, Elvis will do the picture"), Monroe (whose unfinished final picture he produced), and Helen Gurley Brown ("in all respects save carnal desire the reincarnation of my mother").