Woody, Cisco and ME

Attorney and playwright Longhi recalls his three voyages as a merchant marine during World War II in the company of folk music legends Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston. Despite some occasionally stilted dialog, Longhi's fast-paced memoir reads like a novel as the "seamen three" survive rough storms, crooked gamblers, and two torpedo attacks. Of the vivid cast of characters, the irrepressible Guthrie is the most compelling, though he sometimes drifts to the background as Longhi relates his own often hilarious exploits as ship's baker and chairman of the crew's union. (For a solid Guthrie biography, see Joe Klein's Woody Guthrie, LJ 10/15/80, still available in paperback.) Still, Guthrie's folksy persona looms above all others. With Guthrie and Houston long since dead, it is left to Longhi to tell stories that have only been hinted at in previous Guthrie biographies. Highly recommended.?Lloyd Jansen, Stockton- San Joaquin Cty. P.L