Bring on the Empty Horses

By David Niven

Niven looks back on his Hollywood days, focusing mainly on the actors and others in the movie business rather than on himself. He details his friendships with famous actors like Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable.
He talks about the writers, the bigwigs, the women. He exposes their affairs, their excesses, their addictions, their disappointments, their unhappy relationships and the efforts to hide it all from the judgmental press of that time.
It's a look back at time when movies were just starting to become a huge international business and the beautiful faces were capturing the audience imagination. It's an enjoyable excursion into a land and people most of us can only dream about.

The Moon's a Balloon

By David Niven

Niven's autobiography, tracing his life from childhood until the late 1960s. Growing up in England, entering the military, gradually settling upon a career in movies that took him to Hollywood where he struggled for a time. Marriage, kids, success, back to England to fight in WW II, then back to Hollywood & more success, then the tragic death of wife #1, then more success, new wife, new kids, more success, an Oscar, a few slightly bawdy stories, lots of encounters with famous people, leaving Hollywood for a more Continental life, more success, more famous people and there you have it.

David Niven certainly knew a lot of famous people, including Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy and scores of show folk like Elizabeth Taylor & Mike Todd, Frank Sinatra, Noël Coward, Greta Garbo, Errol Flynn, Sam Goldwyn, Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall, Peter Ustinov, Lawrence Olivier, Merle Oberon and on and on. So if you want to read about the early days of Hollywood and some of its most famous stars then this is the book for you. However, I found it a little dull at times, especially the WW II section and it took me several weeks to read it.