Items related to Fun While It Lasted: My Rise and Fall in the Land of...
Synopsis
"Fun While It Lasted is the whirlwind story of Bruce McNall's life as a player in a seemingly endless number of high-stakes games. McNall started in the ancient coin business, becoming one of the youngest and most successful dealers of antiquities in the country. Soon, he branched out into horse racing, movies (The Fabulous Baker Boys), and major league sports as owner of the L.A. Kings hockey team. McNall was the toast of Los Angeles, partaking of glamorous Hollywood and sports world parties, and living the life of a celebrity. Eventually, however, he had to borrow huge amounts to keep his various businesses going, and ultimately his empire collapsed amid charges of fraud and deception. He was sent to prison for admittedly bilking banks out of more than $200 million." "Here is the tale of McNall's relationship with Wayne Gretsky and how he convinced "The Great One" to leave the Edmonton Oilers to play for his Kings; how he helped Merrill Lynch start a coin fund that eventually lost millions of dollars; how he and film legend David Begelman played fast and loose in Hollywood." McNall's memoir is a compelling, fascinating book about life at the top - what it's like to have one's most carefully laid schemes come crashing down, and how hard and fast one can fall.
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Review
Creativity is highly prized in the business world but once that creativity extends to bookkeeping, things can get a bit sticky. Bruce McNall's creative career afforded him celebrity status, millions of dollars, an opulent lifestyle, and, in the end, a five-year prison term. His memoir, Fun While It Lasted, which shares the same breeziness hinted at in its title, is both entertaining and a bit depressing. McNall parlayed a boyhood interest in rare coins into a profitable livelihood even before entering college. Within a few years, he was traveling the world, buying up coins from shady dealers and reselling them to Hollywood's elite. McNall played fast and loose with his prices and accounting and profited handsomely off a market that he helped create. From coins, he branched out, trading in thoroughbred racehorses, and buying the L.A. Kings hockey team. Ultimately, the FBI caught up with him and McNall was jailed for fraud. In reflecting on his life and crimes, McNall heartily endorses the assessment made by a Los Angeles Daily News reporter: "In the end, Bruce McNall wanted too much to be liked." And while that explanation is awfully sweet, if one judges by his choices and lifestyle it seems like his problem was plain old greed. Despite his financial success and stunning talent as a salesman, McNall always seemed to crave more money and power and was willing to break laws and lie to achieve them. Because it details a life more dramatic than most, and because its compelling central character ultimately gets his comeuppance, Fun While It Lasted, co-written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael D'Antonio, manages to be both a fun adventure and a cautionary moral tale. --John Moe
About the Author
Movie-maker, sportsman, and raconteur, Bruce McNall was one of the most famous coin collectors of all time. He was released from prison in 2001 and currently lives in Los Angeles.
Michael D'Antonio is the author of ten books, including Tin Cup Dreams, Tour '72, and Mosquito. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, he lives in New York.
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