Books I've read: Up With the Sun

 

If you know me, you know I have a thing about classic movies, Broadway shows and old-time celebrity gossip.  So when I saw this book that's a fictionalised account of the life (and death) of a decidedly C-list celebrity, I knew I had to read it.  Especially when I realised the celebrity in question was gay and hiding it like so many celebrities of his era.

Dick Kallman, the celebrity in question, is not the nicest character - something that is very likely the reason he didn't have the success he dreamed of.  Luckily, out POV character through the book is not Dick (who was murdered in 1980), but his friend Matt, a pianist whose life is actually more showbiz than Dick's, if less flashy.

Spanning a period from the 1950s through to the 1980s, the book offers a snapshot of the way gay culture and attitudes to homosexuality changed over the 30 years through the eyes of someone living that reality and disliking himself for it.  There are delightful little cameos from real life stars from the barely known to the top of the Hollywood food chain, and enough gossip to sink a ship.

The central mystery - how Dick Kallman was killed and why - is not the most interesting part of the book, but is a great premise to hang the rest of the story on and gives Matt license to dig into Dick's past through a scrapbook Dick kept of his showbiz career that Matt pilfers from the crime scene. It also gives Matt a romance of his own with a street-hustler turned police informant who quickly becomes central to his life.

Part true-crime, part social history and part celebrity dish, I enjoyed this one.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

A look back at the life of a little-known, C-list celebrity striver who met a bad end in New York City in the 1980s.

Dick Kallman was an up-and-coming actor—until he wasn’t. From co-starring in Broadway shows, to becoming part of Lucille Ball’s historic Desilu workshop, and then finally landing his own short-lived primetime TV series, Dick’s star was clearly on the rise. But his roles began to dry up and he faded from the spotlight - until his sensational murder in 1980. Told from the perspective of Matt Liannetto, Dick’s occasional pianist and longtime acquaintance, we see the full story of Dick’s life and death. Liannetto is a talented journeyman pianist, often on the fringes of Broadway history’s most important moments. He’s also a gay man who grew up in an era when that sort of information was closely held, and he struggles with accepting the rapid changes happening in the world around him.

Up With The Sun takes readers on a journey that spans more than thirty years, from the studio lots and rehearsal sets of the 1950s to the seedy streets of 1970s Manhattan. It is a busy, bustling world, peopled by a captivating cast of characters all clamoring for a sliver of the limelight. Readers will bump elbows with Sophie Tucker and gossip about Rock Hudson during intermission at Judy Garland’s comeback show. Newsweek has called Mallon a "master of the historical novel," and here he proves himself a veteran of the genre, doing what he does best: conjuring figures from history who feel real enough to walk right off the page. This is a crime story, a showbiz story, a love story, and a deeply moving story about a series of pivotal moments in the history of gay life in the post-war era.