This Time, This Place

Valenti's story is quintessentially American. Born into a poor immigrant family, he scraped earnings together to pay for night college and flew B-52s in WWII. His determination and intelligence earned him success in two fields: national politics and moviemaking. Arthur Morey's smooth narration allows Valenti's vivid storytelling to shine. With precise yet graceful articulation, Morey portrays Valenti's inside stories of President Lyndon Johnson and various Hollywood stars. Valenti was present when LBJ was sworn into office at the side of Mrs. Kennedy on Air Force One, and his account is memorable. Morey provides a straight reading of most of the book, yielding in places to subtle impersonations of some iconic voices, ranging from JFK to Marlon Brando. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

April 30, 2007
Valenti, an "obscure owner of an advertising and political consulting agency in Houston," came under the national spotlight when, with little fanfare, he became a special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson. Valenti opens with Kennedy's assassination, right after which Johnson told Valenti, without warning, "I want you on my staff." After his arrival in Washington, Valenti jumps back in time, cruising through his Houston childhood, experience as WWII B-25 pilot and subsequent Harvard education. The dramatic arc works well, setting up nicely the book's weightiest portion, an insider's view of the Johnson White House, featuring a fascinating discussion of Robert McNamara's summer 1965 plan to increase U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. The last third chronicles Valenti's 38 years as chair and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, an organization with close ties to Washington politics; Valenti shares enlightening details of developing and implementing the MPAA's voluntary movie rating system, still in place today, as well as his relationship with numerous "icons of the silver screen" (Kirk Douglas gets the most space). Valenti's informal prose occasionally runs purple, but his life story, populated with Washington power-brokers and Hollywood royalty, is an absorbing one. 15 b/w photos.