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Amos Lassen wrote on 04/11/2011:

"Merv Griffin: A Life in the Closet" is the only serious study of Merv Griffin. We know Griffin as a man who changed television and this is a shocking history of show business with lots of gossip. We see what went on behind the scenes at television studios and we meet a different Merv Griffin than we had known before.
The best word to describe Griffin is "schmoozer" and he was a regular on many of our TV sets He was a friendly and congenial person who represented to many the kind of person that had it all. He gave us escapist television and we love his game shows.
The book is about more than Griffin--it is in fact a look at television of the 195o's and there were many things going on behind the small screen. Darwin Porter and Griffin were friends and Porter uses that friendship to give us an inside look at Griffin, We see him at eccentric and promiscuous and he rewrote the rules of television broadcasting. He was a strong advocate of his two favorite pastimes--television and politics. When he died in 2007 he was a self-made billionaire after having come from a family of poor Irish Americans. His sexuality was not really ever discussed publicly but there were rumors. Porter lets us know about his promiscuity and who he bedded. The fact that Griffin remained in the closet for all of his life shows the pressure of television and the narrow-mindedness of America in terms of sexuality. Publicly his main goal was to create television that entertained and was escapist for the entire family. We, as I said, get a different picture of Griffin than the one we are familiar with and whether that is a good thing is left up to the reader. Griffin appears here as raunchy.
Griffin married once and allegedly had affairs with both Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe but aside from that, he had no affairs with women. According to Porter, young Griffin seduced Errol Flynn who was his uncle's best friend and from there went on to other Hollywood involvements with many men--the list reads like a casting call for a major studio.
When Griffin got older he aligned himself with his best friend Eva Gabor but privately he cavorted with another "best" friend, Liberace and they were abode to win over some of the most seductive men, sometimes for a fee. Merv had another life as well when he hung out with the rich and the famous--he was friendly with the Kennedys and with Mae West and Richard Nixon and they "talked" among themselves. He was also close to Nancy Reagan who he comforted during her husband's waning years.
The book reads like tabloid fodder and I have no idea how factual it is. If you like dish and rumors this is the book for you. It's a quick read that requires no thought except perhaps for remembering someone's name.3 stars for readbility.
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