Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 24

JWO THE DETROIT NEWS SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1994 BOOKS Stars' wars Slightly suspect 'Babble On is a gold mine of gossip The murderers at the mall The Edge of Sleep, by David Wiltse (Berkley, Serial killers just go on and on in fiction as well as in real life. In this novel, however, David Wiltse varies the terms a bit. Instead of a lone, warped male, there are two villains: Ash, a semi-retarded man who is under the sway of Dee, a clever, icy woman. Together they snatch young boys from shopping malls and murder them when they won't accept the woman as their furrogate mother. The detective on the case is John Becker, a former FBI agent and a returnee from two previous novels by the same author.

The Day Elvis Met Nixon, by Egil "Bud" Krogh (Pejama Press, 18.95). So it seems that one December day in 1970, long before Nixon aide Egil Krogh would go to jail in the Watergate scandal, a fateful letter was 1 Hollywood Babble On By Boze Hadleigh Birch Lane Press, $19.95 278 pages "Timlin YT Iff, A si delivered to the White House. "Dear Mr. President," it began. "First, I would like to introduce myself.

I am Elvis Presley." The surprising thing is that the writer actually was Elvis Presley. "I have done an in-depth study of drug abuse," Elvis wrote (alas a truer word was never spoken), and, he said, he would like to volunteer his services as a soldier in the war on drugs. That same morning they ushered the King into President Nixon's office. Nixon was conservatively dressed, as the now-famous photographs by Ollie Atkins can Elvis Presley: G-man. By Robert Osborne Hollywood Reporter Hollywood Babble On is as addictive as popcorn, even when you don't want it to be.

Why does it hook you? Because it's filled with quotes from celebs yakking on about other celebs, as when Kris Kristofferson talks about Barbra Streisand: "Working with her is pretty stressful it's like sitting down to a picnic in the middle of a freeway." Or Sophia Loren, when asked about Gina Lollobri-gida: "I never criticize my or Sandra Bern-hard on Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford: "He's elastic and she's plastic." It gets more lethal from there, a gossip addict's paradise. But, truth is, for all the fun of hearing what Winona Ryder has said about Johnny Depp or Cher about Jane Fonda, one has to proceed with caution. Simple reason: There's no proof any of these things were actually uttered by the people credited. Boze Hadleigh, the book's writer-compiler, has done a dandy job in filling a book full of sharp, sometimes acidy comments, but, alas, there's neither an appendix nor footnotes giving validation, nor in case the quotes are absolutely accurate any indication as to the circumstances under which the remarks were uttered. It's entirely possible that Bette Davis might have said, "Joan Crawford I wouldn't sit on her toilet," or that Totie Fields might have given an opinion that "Goldie Hawn is as bright as a dim bulb," or that Lucille Ball once called Desi "a loser." But who's to know? Nothing here is verified, and that's a big minus, especially when you're quoting people in an industry where misquotes are as common as designer water and where other people (known as publicists) get paid big bucks to make their famous clients seem more colorful and quotable.

In a preface, Hadleigh says the quotes "were uttered in print or on TV, in newspapers, magazines, interviews, memoirs, that's as specific as it gets before going for the jugular. Some of the quotes are already etched in Holly- attest. Elvis, Krogh recalls, was wearing "tight-fitting dark velvet pants, a high-collared white silky shirt open to below his chest, a dark purple velvet cape, a gold medallion and heavy silver-plated, amber-tinted designer sunglasses with "EP" built into the nose bridge." The two leaders in their fields discussed the nation's drug problem. "I'm just a poor boy from Tennessee And I'd like to do something to repay for what I've gotten," said the King. From News wire services wood lore, as when Ava Gardner supposedly gave her reaction to ex-hubby Frank Sinatra marrying Mia Farrow by saying, "I always knew he'd end up in bed with a boy," or Tony Curtis' comment on Marilyn Monroe, "Kissing (her) was like kissing Hitler." But most of the quotes chosen are fresh, spunky, pithy.

Also ladled with enough acid to start several star wars. According to the book, Sandy Dennis once said of Whitney Houston, "(She) reminds me of that plasticky cheese that's had all the soul pasteurized out of her Katharine Hepburn on Sharon Stone: "It's a new low for actresses when you have to wonder what's between her ears instead of her legs." James Mason on Alfred Hitchcock: "He was like a eunuch. He was fat and squishy and the most asexual man I've ever known." Judith Anderson on Michael Caine: "He is the McDonald's of moviemaking. Now he goes for sheer quantity." And so it goes. All highly amusing, if suspect.

Paging all readers You can hear excerpts from great books past and present through our News Now telephone information service. Dial the Custom Connect number for your neighborhood, then choose one of the extensions below. The information's free and it's a local call: North Oakland, 333-8333; Detroit, 252-2200; North Woodward area, 433-4800; East area, 795-2200; Downriver, 246-8400; West-Northwest, 458-1444; Ann Arbor, 994-4469. 0968: Contemporary (recently published) books. 0969: Classics of world literature.

0970: Editors' choice: Books worth rediscovering. I I $17) is another outstanding story set in New Orleans and starring the thoughtful and resourceful detective Dave Robicheaux. Brilliantly drawn characters spice this story that pits neo-Nazis and fake nuns against the good and pure. Perfectly meshing with Burke's intelligent renderings is Patton, perhaps the best interpreter of this school of modern, slightly supernatural, hard-boiled and piquant Southern drama. Twelve Red Herrings by Jeffrey Archer, read by Alec McCowen (Harper Audio, four cassettes, six hours, $22.50) is a delicious collection of short tales in the spirit of O.

Henry. It's- huge fun as Archer mixes wit and thrills and object lessons in these dozen brisk stories. In one, a businessman is suckered into being a murder suspect. In another, a woman is pursued on the highway by a demon. McCowen is a delightful reader who puts exactly the right tone on each story.

A gentle but bumpy 'Gump' By Jon W. Sparks There's plenty of winning entertainment out there in books on audiotape: Forrest Gump by Winston Groom, read by the author (Simon Schuster, two cassettes, three hours, $17) is the audio of the book that spawned one of the summer's hottest movies. It is possible to be delighted and charmed by this generally gentle fable. It's also possible to be highly annoyed at the smug preciousness of it all. It's overlong and predictable, but just enough fun to make it worthwhile.

Dixie City Jam by James Lee Burke, read by Will Jon Sparks is arts and entertainment editor at the Patton (Simon Schuster, two cassettes, three hour3, Commercial Appeal in Memphis..