New Release: Nostalgia - Stars of Yesteryear - by Jack Hawn

Find it on Amazon HERE

 How can I not publicly compliment the designers of that front cover, folks? That should attract some attention, especially with Frank Sinatra, and Muhammad Ali flexing his muscles, the Andrews Sisters, Big-Band leader Les Brown, and the framed photo of Dinah Shore and me above my computer. This unique book is a reprint of interviews and articles about famous stars of yesteryear I wrote about for the Los Angeles Times, from which I retired more than thirty-five years ago. All or nearly all are deceased now, which might explain why a 94-year-old would undertake such a project. 

Now in the twilight of my writing career, I decided that a third book following Blind Journey: A Journalist's Memoirs and its sequel, Insomnia: Two Wives, Childhood Memories and Crazy Dreams, would simply be too much work. 

Among the fifty-plus articles in my book, Nostalgia: Stars of Yesteryear, is a feature on the McGuire Sisters, one of my best-loved trios. 

Titled “An Unforgotten Affair—Las Vegas, 1985” the story details my meeting with the ageless trio in their Hilton Hotel room.

I met the McGuire sisters—the "Sugartime” sweethearts—when they returned to the spotlight, appearing at the Las Vegas Hilton after a 17-year hiatus. For Christine, Phyllis, and Dorothy, it was as if time had stood still. Sleek, sexy, and glittering as always, they still harmonized like angels, chattered like giggly teenagers, and drew packed houses wherever they performed. 

When I stepped off the elevator on the 29th floor of the Hilton en-route to interview them, I was escorted to their suite by a gun-packing bodyguard. The sisters were extremely security-conscious then, courtesy of an erstwhile link with the underworld—Phyllis' legendary love affair with Mafia boss Sam Giancana. 

 Phyllis wasn't opposed to providing details of how she had met him and been almost immediately hooked by his charm. It had been an exciting relationship, but she didn't dwell on it. She had loved him. Period. 

 For her sisters Christine and Dorothy to remain silent while the leader of the trio dominated the interview was impossible. After seventeen years of virtual silence following Giancana’s murder in 1975, all three had a lot to update— sometimes all speaking at once. 

 Besides being one of my favorite trios, those beautiful, bubbly, non-stop talking young women were one of my favorite interviews recorded in this book.

New Release: Blind Journey: A Journalist's Memoirs - by Jack Hawn

 

Find it on Amazon HERE

Uncharted and beyond his control for the most part, Jack Hawn's career simply happened. He never studied journalism and never aspired to be a writer. After almost four years assigned to the army's public information offices, he faced civilian life with a wife, infant daughter, wild ambition, bursting optimism, unshakeable confidence-and no job. Eventually, he found work as a copyboy at a Hollywood newspaper, was paid $5 to review plays and nightclub acts, and a year later filled a sports desk vacancy. As years passed, he earned extra income as a television dramatist and wrote TV and radio scripts for sportscasters. When the paper folded in 1970, he was hired at the Los Angeles Times, where he worked in sports and entertainment. During Jack Hawn's amazing 43-year career, he covered Muhammad Ali title fights, boxing at the 1984 Olympics, and wrote about Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., and other celebrities until his retirement in 1991. Whether you're an aspiring or veteran journalist or just want a genuine page turner that details the author's own life and career, it's a work you'll keep pulling from your bookshelf time and again. As one critic summed up his review: "His book is terrific."

Born January 25, 1930, in Kearney, Nebraska, Jack Hawn grew up in Southern California, graduated from San Fernando High School in 1947, and after one year at the University of California, Santa Barbara, enlisted in the U.S. Army. He and his wife Charlene celebrated their sixty-third anniversary June 2, 2014. They produced four children. The numbers began to change nearly two decades later-14 grandchildren, 23 great-grandkids and (last reported) 3 great-greats. The author and his second wife, Mary Beth Myers-Hawn, reside in Sun City West, Arizona.

Jack was born in Kearney, Nebraska, January 25, 1930, raised in the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles. He and his wife of 63 years moved into their Sun City West, Arizona, home on Christmas Eve of 1991. He and his present spouse celebrated their first anniversary July 11, 2021 (lucky seven-eleven). Jack never studied journalism or aspired to be a journalist. It simply happened thanks to an Army lieutenant colonel, the Fort Ord public information officer with whom he shared a midnight Greyhound bus ride when he was an 18-year-old recruit fresh out of basic training. Jack is an active opportunistic optimist with a strong sense of humor, having a "target date" of at least 104 years. That's when his identical 18-year-old triplet great-grandsons will open a time capsule that contains his book among other treasures. Their brother also should be present. He's two years older. Author's Website:

https://authorjackhawn.com/author/