Richard A. Lertzman has 2 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4★ across 2 ratings. The most-rated is The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney.
Dr. Feelgood
Summary
An historical exposé of the mysterious doctor who changed the course of the 20th century, with interviews by George Clooney, Yogi Berra, and others. Doctor Max Jacobson, whom the Secret Service under President John F. Kennedy code-named “Dr. Feelgood,” developed a unique “energy formula” that altered the paths of some of the 20th century’s most iconic figures, including President and Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis. JFK received his first injection (a special mix of “vitamins and hormones,” according to Jacobson) just before his first debate with Vice President Richard Nixon. The shot into JFK’s throat not only cured his laryngitis, but also diminished the pain in his back, allowed him to stand up straighter, and invigorated the tired candidate. Kennedy demolished Nixon in that first debate and turned a tide of skepticism about Kennedy into an audience that appreciated his energy and crispness. What JFK didn’t know then was that the injections were actually powerful doses of a combination of highly addictive liquid methamphetamine and steroids. Author and researcher Rick Lertzman and New York Times best-selling author Bill Birnes reveal heretofore unpublished material about the mysterious Dr. Feelgood. Through well-researched prose and interviews with celebrities including George Clooney, Jerry Lewis, Yogi Berra, and Sid Caesar, the authors reveal Jacobson’s vast influence on events such as the assassination of JFK, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Kennedy-Khrushchev Vienna Summit, the murder of Marilyn Monroe, the filming of the C. B. DeMille classic The Ten Commandments, and the work of many of the great artists of that era. Jacobson destroyed the lives of several famous patients in the entertainment industry and accidentally killed his own wife, Nina, with an overdose of his formula.
©2013 Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney
Summary
Mickey Rooney began his career almost a century ago as a one-year-old performer in burlesque and stamped his mark in vaudeville, silent and talking films, Broadway, and television. He acted in his final motion picture just weeks before he died at age 93. He was an iconic presence in movies and the poster boy for American youth. Yet by World War II, Mickey Rooney had become frozen in time. His child-star status haunted him as the gilded safety net of Hollywood fell away, and he was forced to find support anywhere he could, including multiple marriages, affairs, alcohol, and drugs. This Old Hollywood biography presents Mickey Rooney from every angle, revealing the man Laurence Olivier once dubbed the best there has ever been.
©2015 Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes (P)2016 Dreamscape Media, LLC