Description

Published by Wayne State University Press

Author(s)

Sonny Eliot is a radio and television broadcaster and beloved Detroit personality. Some of the many awards and citations that Eliot has received include an Emmy for Best Weathercaster, 50-year Screen Actors Guild Award, Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of TV Arts and Sciences, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame.

Draper Hill is a noted political cartoonist who has enjoyed a thirty-five-year career at newspapers in Arkansas, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and most notably at the Detroit News, where he produced an average of six drawings each week for more than twenty years. Hill graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, where he was the art editor of the Harvard Lampoon. He is a Fulbright scholar, has authored a number of books and articles on James Gillray and Thomas Nast, and been called “the leading authority and historian of the English-language cartoon.”

Stanley D. Williams, Ph.D., is an award-winning writer, author, speaker, producer, and director for video, television, stage, and film. He is also the owner of a small media distribution company, Nineveh’s Crossing.

Reviews

“Enhanced with the inclusion of an accompanying audio CD, Sonny Sez!: Legends, Yarns & Downright Truths is an engaging and entertaining collection of 100 one-minute stories taken from the syndicated radio show hosted by popular broadcaster and Detroit personality Sonny Eliot.  Truly a ‘must’ for Sonny’s legions of fans, Sonny Sez! will aptly serve to introduce a whole new generation of readers to the wit and talents of a truly gifted and genuinely entertaining storyteller.”

— Midwest Book Review

“When I was a young boy, the greatest early influence on my life was a Detroit weatherman named Sonny Eliot. If it wasn’t for Sonny Eliot, I would be in prison. God bless you, Sonny Eliot. I hope someone buys this book.”

— Dave Letterman

“I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun reading a book. It’s vintage Sonny Eliot and thoroughly enjoyable.”

— Neal Shine, former editor and publisher of the Detroit Free Press and author of Life with Mae: A Detroit Family Memoir

“It’s as close to a ‘Hat-Trick’ as Sonny Eliot can get. He has a flair for comedy, an ear for the obscure, and his similes are perfect. He even beat me on a ‘one on one’ play. Having the talented Draper Hill as his defenseman to illustrate this interesting little slice of wonders and blunders is a ‘heads up move’—the cartoons are marvelous. They both skate up ice and really score!”

— Gorgie Howe, “Mr. Hockey”

“Sonny Eliot and Draper Hill—a double play combination that’d make Abner Doubleday smile. A treasure trove of trivia, humorously illustrated, satisfying, and ideal for small talk or large cocktail parties. It's the kind of book that you'd buy to give someone you like, then change your mind and keep it yourself. All hits, no errors.”

— Ernie Harwell, Hall of Fame baseball announcer and author of Tuned to Baseball and other books

“I assumed Sonny Eliot’s book would be funny; it’s also informative and I liked it a lot. You know Sonny’s funny. Well, he’s also an entertaining writer. Wait till you read his explanations of how popular references and sayings came about—things like ‘son of a gun,’ ‘pie in the sky,’ ‘the whole nine yards.’ The book is fascinating.”

— Elmore Leonard, author of Out of Sight and Get Shorty