AMERICAN PRINCE

Tony Curtis's early reflections on his life as a poor kid growing up on the streets of the Bronx ring true and are laced with colorful anecdotes and observations, creating a strong sense of time and place. He remembers the Depression—when his parents put him and his younger bother into an orphanage—being bullied and beaten because he was Jewish, and the untimely death of his brother. Don Leslie's voice, a soft yet gravelly rasp, sounds a bit like Curtis's without the New York accent. Leslie reads well, sustaining a tone of sardonic amusement when Curtis confesses to guilty affairs or stoops to name-dropping character assassination. However, despite Leslie's fine narration, once Curtis moves into his movie star years, his remembrances are more surface than substance. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2009]