Picture, if you will, E.B. White whistling, walking down a hospital hallway, stark naked except for his shoes and socks; Arthur Miller accepting an award in memory of a famous critic whose name he can't remember; Lucille Ball auditioning on her knees before David O. Selznick for the part of Scarlett O'Hara; Beverly Sills lamenting her absence at Aunt Hazel's funeral, saying, "If only you'd given me a few weeks' notice." "Pardon Me, But You're Eating My Doily!" is a hilarious compendium of embarrassing moments in the lives of the world's most celebrated figures.

What made Ronald Reagan turn beet red? (Hint: It wasn't the New Federalism.) To whom did Andre Previn serve his less-than-scrumptious specialty of hamster food and milk? What yacht-side swan dive stripped away Rudolph Nureyev's panache? And where in the world did Steve Allen leave that overripe persimmon? We have all had memorable moments we wish we could forget, and now Robert Morley, famed British actor, writer, and raconteur, has compiled these richly funny, archly amusing anecdotes from personalities such as Jimmy Carter, David Niven, Yehudi Menuhin, Herman Wouk, Mel Brooks, B. F. Skinner, Ann Landers, George Bush, and dozens more. Even those rare ones among us who claim never to have committed a faux pas will find themselves helplessly snickering at "Pardon Me, But You're Eating My Doily!"