Tom Mankiewicz -- what a life, what a book!(News)

"IT'S GOT a great start and a great finish but it kind of falls apart in the middle. Most important, the lyric's a f--king lie. People who need people are not the luckiest people in the world. People who love people are. People who are loved. But people who need people are unhappy people, trust me.''

That was Frank Sinatra on why he'd never sing Barbra Streisand's classic song, "People.''

This vignette is one of hundreds from Tom Mankiewicz's memoir, "My Life as a Mankiewicz.'' I read this three years ago. Now it is out in trade paperback from the University of Kentucky. I'd forgotten just how jam-packed "My Life...'' was, with delicious, trenchant tales of the famous and fabled.

Tom, who died in 2010, was the son of Hollywood's great director Joe Mankiewicz. Here are some of Mr. Mankiewicz's reminiscences of an era when stars were stars and gossip was fun.

Cary Grant: The eternal love object. And not just to his audience, to himself as well! When Tom presented Cary with a premise for a film, the great star interrupted. "No, no, Tom. I'm sure you mean she kisses me! ... The woman always kisses me first. Even when it seems like a mutual idea, she actually kisses me.''

Merle Oberon: Tom sent the "Wuthering Heights'' beauty a copy of George Bernard Shaw's "Candida'' with the idea of adapting it as a movie for Miss O. The next day, Merle herself, still a stunner, appeared at his door, came in, sat and...