Lyons Has 1,000 Fascinating 'Stories'

Not every kid gets a call from Marilyn Monroe on his 16th birthday, takes a personal tour of the White House with President Harry S. Truman, learns Spanish from Ernest Hemingway or teaches Richard Burton how to bunt. But Jeffrey Lyons did, thanks to his father, Leonard Lyons.

Leonard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who was the creator of “The Lyons Den” column in the New York Post, wrote more than 12,000 articles during a 40-year span—covering just about every person of note or in the public eye from 1934 to 1974. As a result of his work, Mr. Lyons’s son Jeffrey—and his brothers, George, Warren and Douglas—grew up rubbing elbows with some of the most famous people in the world.

To pay homage to his father’s career and considerable influence, Jeffrey, who hosted a radio show called “The Lyons Den” from 1975 to 1993, wrote the book “Stories My Father Told Me: Notes from ‘The Lyons Den.’” The book is jam-packed with anecdotes and riveting accounts about everyone from houseguests Salvador Dali and Joe DiMaggio, who visited the Lyons’ home at 81st and Central Park West in Manhattan, to “Hemingway, Fred Astaire, [Marlene] Dietrich; none of whom could hit a curve ball,” Mr. Lyons, a big baseball fan, said during a telephone interview last month. On Friday, June 15, Mr. Lyons will be hosted by Books & Books during a reading at the Westhampton Free Library at 7 p.m. The part-time Orient resident, who has also written or co-written books on the subjects of movies and baseball, said that he is excited to see that there is still so much interest in this book about his dad, particularly since he is working on a sequel.

In the next book, Mr. Lyons said that he will cover people such as Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Toots Schor and Robert Mitchum.

“The second book will have people just as famous, just as interesting ... These people just didn’t get on the train fast enough for the first one,” he said. “Any more stories in the first one and it would’ve been too heavy.”

Writing “Stories” about his father’s experiences was important to Mr. Lyons for many reasons, he said, from preserving his legacy to keeping the flame burning for some of the historical figures who might otherwise be forgotten.

“I learned a few things about my dad I didn’t know before. I got to look through 40 scrapbooks and think about me and my dad. He’s the voice I hear,” he said, adding that he wanted to also make the distinction between how his father wrote about the news of the day, which is much different from the celebrity-driven journalism now.

“It was not gossip, it was news. He covered notable people; he never used the word ‘celebrity,’” Mr. Lyons said.

“There are thousands of stories in the book,” he continued. “He mentioned 1,000 people in his column, give or take. He put them all down on index cards. Anybody newsworthy in any way from any walk of life. People who shouldn’t be forgotten. Groucho Marx, Steve McQueen, Marlon Brando, W.C. Fields. I wanted to preserve the legacy of these people.”

During his talk at the library, Mr. Lyons said that he will show a 4-minute DVD that contains short interview clips of Ms. Monroe, Marc Chagall, Lillian Gish, Bert Lahr, Noël Coward, Edna Ferber, Gertrude Stein, Adlai Stevenson, Orson Welles, Mr. Hemingway, Truman Capote, Greer Garson, Jerry Lewis and Ernie Kovacs, among others. After that, he’ll jump right in and start reading anecdotes from the book.

Mr. Lyons is sure to include stories about Mr. Hemingway during his talk Friday.

“Because of Hemingway I speak Spanish. I’ve been to Spain 25 times. He taught me how to fire a gun,” Mr. Lyons said. “Out of all my parents’ friends, he’s the one who influenced me the most.”

And Mr. DiMaggio will also most likely make the cut.

“I was 5 years old and my parents were throwing a party, filled with some of the most famous faces in the world at that time, but I went up to him and told him that he was the best guest there,” Mr. Lyons recalled. “Years later, I ran into him again during a 1991 signing at a baseball convention with my son, Ben. DiMaggio said, ‘Would you still say that? Would you still say I’m the best guest?’”

Another story that he’s likely to tell involves Mr. Welles, William Saroyan and a lost radio script. Or maybe he’ll talk about David Seville, of “Alvin and the Chipmunks” fame, who wrote “Come on-a My House” in 5 minutes and sold it to band leader Mitch Miller, who coaxed Rosemary Clooney to record it, turning her and the song into monster hits.

There are so many stories, who knows what will make it into the short time Mr. Lyons has to talk, he said. But he guaranteed that he would do his best not to disappoint.

“For those who haven’t bought the book yet, there are thousands of stories,” he said. “Oh, I forgot to tell you about Edward G. Robinson ...”

Jeffrey Lyons will read from his book “Stories My Father Told Me: Notes from ‘The Lyons Den’” during a visit to the Westhampton Free Library on Friday, June 15, at 7 p.m. Stop by Books & Books, the program host, beforehand to purchase a copy for Mr. Lyons to sign. For more information call 998-3260, email meg@booksandbookswhb.com or visit booksandbookswhb.com/events.