THE KING by Morton Cooper

Finished Fr 8/30/13

My post at Good Reads-

This is a best seller from 1967 that recounts the life of a character who shares similar characteristics to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin or Tony Bennett. Harry Orlando is a wildly popular American singer/songwriter who is at the top of the national entertainment game, and wishes to trade it all for a career in government service. He was a friend to President Joseph Haywood, but when the president is killed in a plane crash, this seems the end of his hopes to become a respected cultural proponent of the Arts. The novel documents the many loves of Harry, and probably the most important plot-line is his growing relationship with Grant Campbell who is an ex-Hollywood actor turned Republican congressman who has some nefarious billionaire backers.

Morton Cooper's writing style is a bit dated, yet he delivers a compelling story about the nexus of Hollywood, Las Vegas, and National Politics. Harry Orlando is an entertainer who has all the money, sex and popular recognition that any man could want, yet the novel examines his urge to make one big compromise with a questionable politician that could gain him the respect of The Cultured Class, but, in the process, he might lose his soul. It might come across as too melodramatic for some readers, but I found the book to be an enjoyable read.

NOTES-
This is one of my books, and I picked it up because I was tired of reading contemporary novels that skip back and forth in time for no real reason. This novel was written in 1967, and although it's over 400 pages, it goes pretty much for 'A' to 'Z', and employs only 'Flashback's to establish characters or situations from the past. It was a most refreshing change from what I have been reading!

Harry Orlando- Successful singer modeled after Sinatra who has reached the top of the entertainment heap and wishes to go into government service. He had been friends with President of the United States, Joe Haywood but the president was killed in a plane crash before Harry could be nominated to a cultural post.

Bill Temple is a friend of Orlando's and has become an influential Washington Insider and political newspaper columnist. They have a falling out because Harry takes up with a sleazy right-wing politician (modeled after Ronald Reagan). Grant Campbell was a Hollywood actor who played 'Boy Scout' type roles and believes in vacuous slogans that promote The Love of Jesus and The American Constitution. But, he is dangerous because he accepts support from hard-core billionaires who are really racist and jingoistic.

A sub-plot is that when he got out of college, Bill Temple and a friend went to Paris and wrote a kind of satire of pornogragphy under the pen name of C.S. Poole. The book was mysteriously rewritten as hard-core porn, and the state of Alabama has Temple under indictment. He has commitment issues with his wife Mary, and near the end of the novel, he commits suicide by cutting his wrists. At that time, he had sworn that he would do everything possible to stop Orlando from hooking up with Campbell. Campbell's people release the news of Temple's pornography charges. Actually, Patsy, Harry's useless brother who is like a servant to Orlando, gives them the info thinking that he is doing Harry a favor.

Miriam is Harry's first wife. He loved her, but he couldn't stop his wild lifestyle. She knew it, and was never really connected to him. She wanted a stable steady husband, and Harry is anything but that. Even though they have been divorced for decades, he still wants her back, but she has the guts to say 'no'. They have an adult son, Jimmy, who is college educated and wants to be a writer. Harry has a professional writer friend rewrite a few of Jimmy's stories and have them published. Jimmy hates this because he wants to be his own man.

Noreen is the Love of Harry's life, but she is an alcoholic and has serious nymphomaniac tendencies. She was a nobody from Louisiana, and he made her into a somewhat respected actress, but she blew it all, and becomes a restaurant greeter in a sleazy San Francisco dive. She cuts out the hard liquor (although she drinks a river of beer) and only takes one lover at a time. In the end, Harry and her are together.