The Three Stooges: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Most Popular Comedy Team of All Time

Book Description

Did Stooge favorites Curly, Shemp and Larry suffer cerebral hemorrhages as a result of being repeatedly hit on the head? What role did the Stooges' creator Ted Healy play in the mysterious death of comedienne Thelma Todd? Was Healy himself fatally beaten by a group of tough guys (including actor Wallace Beery and gangster Pat DiCicco) during a nightclub brawl on Hollywood's Sunset Strip? What did Beery's boss, MGM president Louis B. Mayer, do to cover up the incident? And what was the connection between the New York Mafia, Columbia Pictures rajah Harry Cohn, and the Stooges themselves? These and many other fascinating questions are addressed in this definitive look at the Most Popular Comedy Team of All Time.

Customer Reviews:

This Is The Best Stooge History Ever Written - And I Should Know!.......2006-04-01

The Three Stooges: The Triumphs and Tragedies of The Most Popular Comedy Team of All Time by Jeff and Tom Forrester is the most accurate (and therefore the best) biography of The Three Stooges ever written - I should know, because not only am I a lifelong fan of The Three Stooges, but I also had the pleasure of working at Columbia for just over nine years, and was lucky enough to become personal friends with not only Shemp Howard, Larry Fine and Joe Besser, but also Emil Sitka, Jules White and Edward Bernds, as well as a variety of other film industry professionals who also knew and worked with the Stooges during their lengthy career in short-subjects. I feel that because today I am one of the remaining few who had the pleasure of working with the boys, I have some rare insight into the life and times of this most underrated comedy team, and so I was very excited to read a book which finally addresses both the triumphs and tragedies of their illustrious career.

Yes, believe it or not, the Stooges were never given the respect or remuneration they undeniably deserved (from their studio - or their public) until long after their deaths, when they had already become a very popular, money-making mainstay for Columbia and Screen Gems on syndicated television. This book does an amiable job in accurately reporting many of the negatives the Stooges had to overcome throughout their unprecedented career at Columbia, and factually represents how, and more importantly why, the Stooges continued to even bother with their struggle to keep working from decade to decade, right up until their deaths. Great homage is also paid to the Stooges and their unyielding dedication to their individual families as well as their own comedic success throughout each and every page of this very captivating and image-packed testament to the team.

What your average Stooge fan does not already know about the Stooges could fill a book, and that's exactly what we have here thanks to the authors. In the past I have read every Stooge book available, and always felt slighted when it came to a comprehensive overview of the team's lengthy history which began back east on the vaudeville and Broadway stage. I was also very interested to learn more about how the team began in the roaring `20s while under the wing of their creator, Ted Healy (who incidentally was the highest paid entertainer in the history of vaudeville). This book is a goldmine of information about Healy, perhaps the most misunderstood comedian of the last century. Most other books about the Stooges have given Healy the undeserved short-shrift over the years, and have never given this great showman the respect he deserves for his solo work on stage and in film and radio, not to mention his uncanny forethought and comedic instincts in single handedly assembling the most popular American comedy trio of all time - The Three Stooges (at that time known as Ted Healy's Three Stooges).

Unfortunately, other books like Moe Howard's own Moe Howard and the 3 Stooges: The Pictorial Biography of the Wildest Trio in the History of American Entertainment have purposely given Ted Healy a decidedly bad name throughout the years due in part to the fact that Moe never finished (or for that matter ever really started) this book - it was his inept cartoonist of a son-in-law Norman Mauer who simply assembled some of Moe's original hand-written notes and filled in the rest of the team's whole story as he inaccurately saw fit, actually writing Moe's autobiography for him after Moe's death in the mid-1970s! This is where I feel a majority of the Healy-bashing began some 40 years after his untimely death (or murder?) in 1937 and continues, unfairly, to breed in popular Stooge culture even today.

The Three Stooges: The Triumphs and Tragedies of The Most Popular Comedy Team of All Time does a fantastic job in digging up the past with documented accounts of the final demise of Stooge boss Ted Healy. From first-hand witness accounts of Healy's fatal beating in the back alley of Hollywood's swanky Trocadero Night Club at the hands of MGM superstar Wallace Beery, gangster Pat DiCicco and his shifty young punk of a cousin Cubby Broccoli (long before his cousin Pat helped muscle him into Tinsel Town where he eventually made a name for himself as producer of the James Bond film series), this book finally puts forth the truth about Healy's death - which has only been whispered about on Hollywood backlots by industry insiders and other people in-the-know for the past seven decades (a story which was originally told to me in the early 1960s by one of Healy's biggest fans, comedian Milton Berle).

The authors also examine the subsequent cover-up of Healy's death by everyone from the Los Angeles press and police department, to the only man powerful enough to make it all go away for his own studio's sake - Louis B. Mayer of MGM. This book, therefore, represents final journalistic justice for the very cold case of Ted Healy's murder - or at least manslaughter - which may help to bring a sense of closure to the remaining family members of one of the most important, and until now historically underrated, comedians ever to grace the American vaudeville stage and silver screen.

The same might even be said for the family of Ted Healy's former girlfriend, the lovely and talented comedienne Thelma Todd, who, for the very first time, this book reports may have also died at the hands of her one-time jealous husband and the same ruthless mobster also connected to Healy's death, Pat DiCicco - just another mobbed-up murder cover-up (this time a staged carbon monoxide suicide) and another of Hollywood's most celebrated unsolved mysteries brought into a better light by this captivating book about none other than The Three Stooges.

It was also heartbreaking to find out that several of the Stooges may have died due to complications arising from the fact that they were punched, slapped and struck in the head on a daily basis for most of their career on stage and in film. It seems an unlikely coincidence that Curly Howard, Shemp Howard, and Larry Fine (whom received the brunt of both Ted Healy and Moe Howard's physical punishment throughout the decades) were the only ones to suffer debilitating strokes at very young ages, eventually dying of complications arising from cerebral hemorrhages. These great comedians, not unlike punch-drunk prize fighters, were also in effect comic gladiators who unknowingly may have died from work-sustained injuries, all in a very successful effort to make people laugh. It is now difficult for me to watch some of these men's later work in short-subjects since the enlightened viewer can actually see each of their comedic pacing change and their performance energy decrease due to their unchecked failing health. Readers of this book will continually be reminded that slapstick comedy always was, and still is, a very serious business, hence, it is no wonder that nobody (except for the likes of Jim Carrey) is really doing slapstick comedy in film today.

Equally fascinating in this book is the unprecedented discussion of all 18 men whom played the role of one of the Three Stooges since the team's inception on the beaches of Coney Island and the vaudeville stage way back in the 1920s. Many so-called Stooge fans have been put off by the mere mention of anyone but the six most famous members of the Three Stooges (i.e., Shemp, Moe and Curly Howard, Larry Fine, Joe Besser and Curly-Joe DeRita) throughout the team's career. Many unenlightened Stooge fans feel that since these dozen other men did not make short-subjects at Columbia, and therefore never reached the heights of fame as the other six did, their names should never be mentioned in a discussion of Stooge comedy. But to not mention the other twelve men whom contributed to the rich history of the Stooges is like a sports fan professing that only Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantel were "actual" members of the New York Yankees baseball team throughout that franchise's very long and successful history in American sports. And just as in team sports, the comedy team known as The Three Stooges has had a wide variety of participants throughout the years. Therefore, exactly whom is it that has the right to say which members are worthy of discussion in a comprehensive text of this kind? Thankfully for the reader, the authors agree that each and every participant throughout the history of the Stooges deserves at least a mention in this fact-filled book.

The Three Stooges: The Triumphs and Tragedies of The Most Popular Comedy Team of All Time represents an intelligent and thoughtful look at the entire history of a very complex comedy team, not just the same old chronological re-hash of the short-subject and feature-length film career lists of six men whom happened to all work for Columbia between the 1930s and 1960s - believe me, we've seen that same book-of-lists treatment of the Stooges time and time again. Here the authors have done a remarkable job in helping to recreate the Stooges' complete history by using the entire team roster of Ted Healy's most popular, as well as lesser-known, members of The Three Stooges, including the likes of Mousie Garner (whom wrote the book's introduction, was the first comedian ever to appear on television, and was also a founding member of the Gentlemaniacs), Jack Wolf (whom was father of New York sports caster Warner Wolf, was the second comedian ever to appear on television, and was also Mousie Garner's cousin), Dick Hakins (popular comedian, songwriter, musician and member of the Gentlemaniacs), Jimmy Brewster (originally a sidekick to Charlie Foy), Red Pearson (another Charlie Foy sidekick and Ted Healy impersonator), Freddie Sanborn (a sidekick to Healy, also known as Stooge to the Stooges or The Fourth Stooge), Dave Chasen (of Hollywood's own Chasen's Night Club fame), Frank Mitchell (a Columbia and Universal bit-player and talented comedic acrobat), Bobby Pinkus (a popular comedian and song-and-dance man who also worked with Spike Jones and his City Slickers), Lou Warren (a longtime Healy sidekick, comedian and acrobat), Kenny Lackey (Healy's onetime personal valet, comedian and acrobat), and Sammy Wolfe (another Healy Stooge and member of the Gentlemaniacs). The amount of newly uncovered Stooge trivia and entertainment history related to these twelve men is staggering!

Comedy fans in general will be glad to learn that woven throughout this book is also a very interesting who's who of legendary comedians whom were friends with (and sometimes even directly influenced by the comedy of) Ted Healy and/or The Stooges throughout the years, including the likes of Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers, The Ritz Brothers, W.C. Fields, Abbott & Costello, Martin & Lewis, The Bowery Boys, Jackie Gleason, Danny Kaye, Red Skelton, Buddy Hackett and many more. Stooge fans in particular will also be glad to find a complete filmography including all of the Stooges' short-subject and feature-length releases, as well as a complete, never-before-published listing of their short-subject and feature-length re-releases.

Unfortunately, this book is not for kids, and may be written far above the heads of many less-educated (and more juvenile) trivia-hacks and so-called Stooge fans - like the kind who would rather spend their time re-examining a list of how many times Curly gets slapped in "Cookoo Cavaliers," how many pies were thrown in "Half Wits Holiday," or looking at the same old photos of Stooge bubblegum cards, comic books and hand puppets. These fans may some day be able to handle a book of this magnitude when they grow up, but in the meantime, they may want to ease into this newer material by first viewing a copy of the authors' "Ted Healy And His Stooges" DVD Documentary which is a marvelous encapsulation of much of their latest book, including extremely rare footage of Ted Healy and the Stooges actually developing their now-classic material on stage and screen - the documentary even includes a special supplemental section introducing the viewer to all 18 of Healy's Stooges.

Fortunately, The Three Stooges: The Triumphs and Tragedies of The Most Popular Comedy Team of All Time represents the very best and most accurate reference book available when it comes to The Three Stooges and their comedy - I should know, because I was right there at Columbia in the very beginning of my career, paying very close attention to everything around me as it happened between the years of 1949 and 1958. Now that I'm retired, I especially love this book because it gives me the opportunity to re-examine the very long and often times difficult career of my favorite comedy team, and to reflect on and re-visit with my very funny friends, The Three Stooges - including all of their triumphs - and their tragedies.

Awesome book about the Stooges.......2006-04-01

I bought this book to find out the true story of the Three Stooges and I was not disappointed. Other books on the market may talk about their films only or about one stooge in particular but they did not satisfy my curiosity. I was looking for the book that would explain the entire history of these men, who they were, where they came from and how did they do it. This is the whole story of the life and times of the Stooges who brought so much laughter to a worldwide audience and continue to do so long after they have all passed away. I have read many books, biographies of many Hollywood stars and this is my all time favorite.

Grandiose Embellishments, Bad Writing, Bad Editing. .......2006-02-02

Cheap homage is paid to the Three Stooges in this book, attention to accuracy and detail are not. This book contains multitudes of errors and desperately requires a competent editor with some integrity. From Page One the authors take grandiose liberties with detail, spreading embellishments thickly like a spicey (and spoiled) condiment. For instance, the book opens describing the day the Three Stooges were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It begins: "It was one of the hottest days in recorded history of Hollywood..." In reality the National Weather Service lists the temperature in Hollywood that day of August 30, 1983 as reaching a high of 93 fahrenheit. There is no record there, not even close. The text is insulting to anyone knowledgeable in the career of the comedians, and anyone labeling it "definitive" or "best" needs to actually read the book rather than just skim through its pictures and mouth off. For gosh sakes, one of the Stooges' names is misspelled throughout the entire book. In another of many fantastic exaggerations within the book, the authors describe the U.S. Government approaching the Three Stooges with an offer to appear in a promotional film in the 1960's for Savings Bonds. The government didn't approach them, the team's producer Mr. Norman Maurer (Moe Howard's son-in-law) hired them because he was making the film. There was nothing official or governmental about that. There is no reliable research to support the claim here that the Stooges landed on Adolph Hitler's "death list." To purport the actors died from Moe's slaps is laughable. Unfortunately, such is emblematic of the overall unscrupulous high school reporting in this book. As far as an attempt at being historically accurate, this book painfully stumbles and wildly exaggerates, sometimes manufacturing details for effect. Film titles go unfinished and misspelled throughout (see "You Nazty Spy!", "The Outlaws IS Coming!", "4 for Texas" as examples). The ancillary photography in this book proceeds beyond mere perspective purposes and enters the territory of absolute confusion and waste of space, or just filler. What are Jackie Gleason, Danny Kaye, Red Skelton, Charlie Chaplin, Louis Armstrong, Laurel and Hardy, The Ritz Brothers, Wally Vernon, Thelma Todd (laying dead in a car accident), and Harold Lloyd doing pictured in this book? While there are some worthwile photographs present, the book's overall design is like a maddening labyrinth. I could continue but where would I stop?

Good, but needs another rewrite........2005-12-02

Parts of this book will be familiar to readers of the Forresters' early-1980s book "The Stooge Chronicles" - call it "stock verbiage" if you will. However, there's plenty of new material. The Forresters again remain in the thrall of the late Mousie Garner, a vaudeville comedian who hung with the Three Stooges and obviously desperately wanted to say he'd been in the troupe, though he never really was. A genial man, he remained alive and sentient far longer than any of the actual Three Stooges (passing away only last year at 95), giving him plenty of time to reminisce with anyone who'd listen. In "The Stooge Chronicles," the authors were a bit taken in by Garner's tendency to embellish his involvement with the Stooges. This time, they're more even-handed, but are still sympathetic to him, giving his side of the story as to why he and two other obscure comedians would think it justified to tour as "3 Stooges" in the late 1930s when Curly, Moe and Larry were already household names.

Sometimes the authors lose sight of the narrative as they get caught up in the comings and goings of these peripheral characters. They also occasionally give short shrift to the actual content of the Stooges' work, and skim over context that would contrast vaudeville and early Hollywood's gag-writing methods with today's. Perhaps with their vast knowledge of their subject, the authors overestimate what the typical reader knows? However, one has to applaud all the research they've done - perhaps they could use it for a book on vaudeville in general. (Free idea.) In fact, their arduous fact-finding leads to something of a three-degrees of separation connection between the Stooges and Gloria Vanderbilt (aka Anderson Cooper's mom). There's a remarkable early-1940s picture of Ms. Vanderbilt - what's amazing about it is that, unlike just about everyone else from the FDR era whom you see pictures of, she could have walked down the street with the same hairdo and outfit probably as recently as the early 1980s and looked completely up-to-date.

While Gloria Vanderbilt has nothing to do with the Three Stooges, she makes a cameo in the book anyway, which is indicative of the authors' alternately interesting and annoying way of sometimes going down rabbit trails.

Some other annoying traits of this book are the use of captions rather than narrative to tell important pieces of the story; photos blown up so large that they're grainy, and generic chapter names ("1" "2" "3"...) better suited to novels. Remember, the authors have had over 20 years to polish their work, so there's no excuse for this amateurism.

Perhaps the worst example is an internal contradiction, in which they uncritically report (quoting Shemp's wife) that Shemp was paid the same as Moe or Larry (p. 123), and then (in one of those captions) saying his salary was double that of Moe's or Larry's (p. 131)!

Still, this book is packed with good pictures and provides a solid, fact-filled overview of the Stooges. But in another 10 years or so, the authors should really try tackling their subject again, and making their work even better.

A Terrific Three Stooges Book.......2005-06-27

This was the book that re-introduced me to the marvelous Stooges. It is filled with interesting facts, interviews, and pictures. I just started to get into the Three Stooges andthis book really made me a fan. You just have to read it!

The Abbott & Costello Story: Sixty Years of "Who's on First?"

Average customer rating:

Who's on first?
THE BOOK to read and own on Abbott & Costello!!!
This Abbott and Costello story is a rerun
This book is on First!
Hey Abbott [and Costello Fans] !

The Abbott & Costello Story: Sixty Years of "Who's on First?"
Stephen Cox , and John Lofflin
Manufacturer: Cumberland House Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Actors & Actresses | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Entertainers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Lou's on First: The Tragic Life of Hollywood's Greatest Clown Warmly Recounted by his Youngest Child
The Best of Abbott & Costello, Vol. 4 (Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde / Abbott & Costello Meet the Keystone Cops / Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy / Abbott & Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld / Abbott & Costello Meet the Monsters / The World of Abbott & Costello)
The Abbott & Costello Show: 100th Anniversary Collection Season 1
Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy
The Noose Hangs High

ASIN: 188895261X

Customer Reviews:

Who's on first?.......2006-10-27

First published in 1990 as THE OFFICIAL ABBOTT & COSTELLO SCRAPBOOK, this 1997 release of THE ABBOTT & COSTELLO STORY by Stephen Cox and John Lofflin is an affectionate and nostalgic journey through the career of these two comedians. It's everything the Abbott and Costello fan would want to know, and then some.

A majority of the book's thirteen chapters comprise a narrative history of the team's progression through burlesque, radio, film, television, and animation. Additionally, there's one chapter summarizing each of their 36 films (production facts, cast members, plot, and sidelights), plus the one film that Costello did solo, from 1940 to 1959, and one chapter summarizing each of the 52 installments (cast and plot) of their TV show , which aired in 1952-53. Finally, and perhaps over the top for the reader satisfied with less rather than more, there's a chapter of one-paragraph program synopses for the 156 Abbott & Costello cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in the late 60s, by which time Lou was dead, though Bud, by then in declining health, managed to provide the voice for his character.

THE ABBOTT & COSTELLO STORY includes lots of sidebar stories, the most significant of which is perhaps daughter Chris Costello's defense of her father as he was depicted in the 1978 NBC-TV docudrama "Bud and Lou", a production she loathes to this day.

Cox and Lofflin manage not to be too slavish in their admiration of the pair. The authors don't hesitate to remind the reader of A&C's addiction to gambling, in which they lost vast sums at cards, Bud's alcoholism and cavalier attention to U.S. tax law, and Lou's borderline sadistic sense of humor when it came to playing on-set pranks on an old pal, Bobby Barber, whom Costello apparently hired for just that purpose. The most amusing negative aside is one noted as coming from character actress Mary Wickes, who appeared in two A&C films ("Who Done It?" and "Dance with Me, Henry"), and who said:

"I didn't care for them. But that's alright. They just had no taste. They were coarse."

THE ABBOTT & COSTELLO STORY is loaded with photos, which might make it a coffee-table book except that, in its paperback format, it wouldn't likely serve as such in a Martha Stewart home. On the other hand, because of its awkward size - 10" x 8" x 3/4" - it doesn't fit easily on a bookshelf nor is it amenable for inclusion in carry-on luggage for reading on a plane. Perhaps the best way to approach it is to leave it at the bedside, enjoy it immensely at your leisure, then pass it on to a friend when finished.

THE BOOK to read and own on Abbott & Costello!!!.......2001-11-26

I've read a lot of (good, medium and bad) books on Abbottt and Costello -- and this is the BEST e-v-e-r.

If you're just discovering Abbott and Costello (and a major movie is reportedly in the works so you will hear more about them) you'll discover in these lively, profusely illustrated pages why the team greatly inspired Jerry Seinfeld and others. If you're into comedy and want to learn about their techniques and routines, you'll get plenty of helpful analysis plus some superb transcripts of some of their most famous, classic routines. If you're a Baby Boomer and want to read THE ULTIMATE book to take you down a nostalgic path to your beloved childhood stars, this is all you need. Why? A few reasons:

1. It's filled with tons of bio material about their careers, long lively quotes, a complete listing of their movies, tv and other appearances.

2. It is not a fanzine book. It looks at the two, warts and all, dispells a few of the myths that grew up due to bad reporting and, in one case, apparently, a highly inaccurate Hollywood movie about them done nearly 30 years ago.

3. It traces their whole careers, their triumphs, the sad loss of Costello's drowned son (how he went on the radio nonetheless with his show), their split up, Costello going solo, his tragic untimetly death, Abbott's attempt to stay in show biz, Abbott's tax problems and final years.

4. It has the BEST interviews from people who worked with them and knew them.

5. It has the BEST photos, illustrations - even a full color section that is not available in any other book on them. We don't usually think about this team in color, even though they made two color flicks.

6. Its the BEST COLLECTION of info and the most UP TO DATE. This is basically a comprehensive rewrite (LOTS of new stuff) and expansion of an earlier book on them under a different title. I have both books now and will not part with either.

The biggest compliment of a show biz bio book is that you read it and you immediately want to re-examine the artists' work. You truly won't want to put this book down if you're a comedy fan, just discovering this team, or remember them. Save your money on the other books -- get, read and/or gift this. I'm an entertainer and I collect show biz bios...NO OTHER BOOK ON THIS COMEDY TEAM COMES CLOSE.

This Abbott and Costello story is a rerun.......2000-05-26

Abbott and Costello fans be warned: this book shamelessly recylces and abridges material from earlier books, including Jim Mulholland's "Abbott and Costello Book" (1975) and Furmanek and Palumbo's "Abbott and Costello in Hollywood" (1991) in an offhand attempt to cover all of Bud and Lou's work. As a result, it covers nothing well. Other detriments: no index; numerous errors; the corny "theme of baseball" approach; a gushy, juvenile writing style suitable for nine-year-olds. Pick up either of the other books, which are vastly superior.

This book is on First!.......2000-05-12

Any true fan of Bud and Lou will be delight and even overwhelmed by the amount of great things found within these pages. There is no other book on the market which features such great pictures, interviews, and rare tidbits on Abbott and Costello. This is the difinitive book about the comedy team and the only book you'll have to search for if you enjoy old comedy teams from the vintage era. The FULL COLOR photography inside the book is worth the price of the book itself, not to mention the superb photo reproduction and page quality. The design is bright and easy to access, although I wish it had an index. A few typos in the book. The coauthors did a marvelous job putting Bud and Lou's career into perspective and paying tribute to their unique blend of comedy which traveled the spectrum of stage, film, radio, tv, cartoons, you name it. This is THE book to have. Don't pass it up!

Hey Abbott [and Costello Fans] !.......1999-11-26

The Abbott and Costello Story is a must for Abbott and Costello fans. It is not only entertaining and informative, but it is also moving and emotion provoking. For Baby Boomers, it takes us back to to our innocent youth, and gives us a chance to relive those days of deriving pure joy from watching the Boys on TV. This book is a perfect compadium for those of us who have the TV shows [all 52 of them!] and movies of Abbott and Costello on videotape. Let us bring some of that innonence and wholesome family value with us as we head into the 21st Century. Thank You God for Abbott and Costello. This book helps us feel good about their comedy, ourselves, and our country.

Average customer rating:

Monty Python from the inside out.
Monty Python Speaks
Python at a Glance
great book
The Best Monty Python Book on the Market

Monty Python Speaks
David Morgan
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Entertainers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Comedy | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Pythons: Autobiography
The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus : All the Words, Volume 2
The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus; All the Words Volume One
The First 20 Years of Monty Python
Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (Popular Culture and Philosophy)

ASIN: 0380804794
Release Date: 1999-06-08

Amazon.com

Sensibly eschewing any attempt to emulate the inspired lunacy of Monty Python's Flying Circus, this excellent oral history offers instead a straightforward but fascinating peek behind the scenes. Extensive interviews with the team of madmen who created the legendary British television series and four feature films (except Graham Chapman, who died in 1989) give a vivid sense of the dynamic interplay of personalities that revolutionized contemporary comedy, disdaining punch lines and blackout skits in favor of something much weirder and more free-form. The writing duo of Cambridge grads Chapman and John Cleese favored confrontational, deliberately shocking pieces like the infamous Undertaker sketch ("I think we've got an eater!"). Oxford alums Terry Jones and Michael Palin took a more surreal approach to writing ("Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition"). And Eric Idle, who preferred to write alone, was the cheeky one ("nudge, nudge") as well as a respected sounding board for others' ideas. Terry Gilliam, the sole American, provided the wacky animation that gave the show its visual style. It was, as Gilliam remarks, "this amazing chemical balance... I don't think you could invent a group that would work better." All the Pythons are frank about personal and creative differences, making this a thoughtful assessment rather than a hagiography. --Wendy Smith

Book Description

Monty Python, the genius comedy troupe from Britain, single-handedly revolutionized sketch comedy and paved the way for everything from Saturday Night Live to Austin Powers. Now, in their official oral history, founding members John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin take readers behind the scenes in this no-holds-barred look at their lives and unforgettable comic works like "The Spanish Inquisition," "Dead Parrot," Monty Python's Life of Brian, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Spamalot), and many, many more, with never-before-seen photos and rare interviews from friends and collaborators.

Customer Reviews:

Monty Python from the inside out........2007-04-07

Everything you ever wanted to know about the phonomenon known as Monty Python is here, told by the ones who lived it. You get inside information only they could know. Everyone gets a chance to comment, or gripe as the case may be. Even though Graham Chapman is still dead he is represented through the people who knew him best. They were co-workers, cohorts, enemies at times and pals. They were (and still are) Monty Python. I love the book!!!

Monty Python Speaks.......2005-12-20

"Monty Python Speaks" is about the influential comedy sextet known as Monty Python. This book consists of intervies with the Monty Python members, excluding Graham Chapman, due to the fact that he's "bleedin' demised! He is no more! This is an ex-[Python]!" There are also interviews with Carol Cleveland, Douglas Adams, Ian McNaughton, and more, compiled similarly to "The Beatles Anthology" book.

I personally enjoyed this book. I particularly liked Terry Jones' story about one particular scene in "Life of Brian." Apparently, Mr. Jones was trying to direct the crowd of Tunisian extras to laugh at Michael Palin's Pontius Pilate's speech impediment, but to no avail. He then told the translator to tell the crowd to do what the director did. Jones then fell on his back and proceeded to laugh hysterically. Fortunately, on the first take, the extras did it perfectly. Unfortunately, they couldn't use that take, for reasons forgotten by me, so they used the second, slightly sub-par, take.

I reccomend this book to Monty Pyhton fans as well as random trivia buffs, of which, I fall into both categories. This has so many facts that you probably couldn't find elsewhere, except from the interviewees themselves. You can discover what happened behind the scenes of somme of the funniest TV shows and movies of the 70s and 80s. Why was the Undertaker sketch nearly cut? Where did the dead parrot come from? Who had to eat mud during the filming of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"? Find out here.

Python at a Glance.......2003-11-10

While this book will not reveal anything earth-shattering to the average Python fan, it is a fun and witty look at one of the most influencial comedy teams ever. As a fan of Python fan, I really enjoyed it.

The five surviving members of Python and the partner of the late Graham Chapman were interviewed on a variety of topics including the origins of Python, writing the shows, making the movies, and the disbanding of the Pythons. David Morgan also catches up with the surviving members of Monty Python at their most recent reunion in 1999. The retorts to the questions are the informative yet witty replies you would expect from these comic legends.

The book gives a solid history of Monty Python in the words of the men themselves. Readers get an excellent idea of what was going on behind the scenes. Everything is discussed including the parrot sketch.

great book.......2003-06-07

I loved this book. It is a great buy for any python fan. It obviously doesn't have any comontary by Graham Chapman, but that was the only bad part.

The Best Monty Python Book on the Market.......2003-03-04

Monty Python Speaks!
To this date, the best Monty Python resource available, it consists of interviews with the five surviving Pythons, along with some interviews with folks close to the Pythons (Graham Chapman’s partner David Sherlock, leading lady Carol Cleveland, Chapman’s friend Douglas Adams). There are interviews for the films, the TV shows, Chapman’s death, and an invaluable section about the future of Python (which looks pretty bleak.)

Laughs, Luck...and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time (with "I LOVE LUCY's Lost Scenes" Audio CD)

Average customer rating:

Great book and cd!!!
Good bargain
COULDNT PUT IT DOWN!
Behind the Scenes of the Best TV Show Ever
A gripping read

Laughs, Luck...and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time (with "I LOVE LUCY's Lost Scenes" Audio CD)
Jess Oppenheimer , and Lucille Ball
Manufacturer: Syracuse University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Entertainers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Comedy | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Meet the Mertzes: The Life Stories of I Love Lucy's Other Couple
Laughing with Lucy: My Life with America's Leading Lady of Comedy
Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
Love, Lucy
I Love Lucy - The Complete Seasons 7-9

ASIN: 0815605846

Amazon.com

Laughs indeed as Jess Oppenheimer charts his rise from radio station gofer to inventor of the sitcom, as he winds up writing--then producing--Lucille Ball's show, first on radio, then on television. Luck, too, as the author recounts the good fortune that has him, within minutes of arrival in Hollywood, sitting down at a lunch counter and getting a tip that secures a job within days and a career for life. Ironic, too, that this inveterate TV writer had to be cajoled for years to set down these Hollywood heyday memoirs. He never finished, and it was left to son Gregg to complete the book. All this, plus a reproduced Lucy script, and a CD-ROM filled with famous sketches!

Book Description

Half a century after its debut, "I Love Lucy" remains the most popular and influential sitcom phenomenon in TV history. Jess Oppenheimer, "the brains" of "I Love Lucy," gives us an insider's view of this groundbreaking show, generously interspersed with actual recordings of classic Lucy performances--including her famous "Vitameatavegamin" routine. Sounding much like an episode of "Lucy" itself, Oppenheimer weaves a wonderfully entertaining tale of the creation of this landmark show. Lucy aficionados will also delight in his personal accounts of stars such as Desi Arnaz, William Frawley, Vivian Vance, and of course, Lucille Ball. Read by three-time "I Love Lucy" veteran Larry Dobkin, and featuring comedy performances by Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Gale Gordon, Hans Conried, Bea Benaderet, Frank Nelson, and more! Published in hard cover as "Laughs, Luck...and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time."

Customer Reviews:

Great book and cd!!!.......2007-03-15

This is an excellent informative book about the "I Love Lucy" show and a must have for any Lucy fan! The cd that is included is worth the price of the whole set alone. In the cd it includes hours of hilarious episodes from I Love Lucy and My Favorite Husband starring Lucille Ball, you will also receive lost scenes from the shows on the cd. I am not much of a reader but this book you just can't put down because it is so good and of course I love Lucy! The book doesn't look thick on the picture shown on Amazon but it is a nice thick paperback book and includes lots of wonderful pictures of the cast of I Love Lucy and fun information that you may have not of known about I love Lucy and how it became to be produced.

Good bargain.......2005-09-26

Out of print book came quickly and condition was very good, service was quick. I will be back.

COULDNT PUT IT DOWN!.......2005-08-09

I THOUGHT THE BOOK WAS VERY INTERESTING AND INFORMTIVE! IT WAS HILARIOUS AND I JUST COULDNT PUT IT DOWN. IT ONLY TOOK ME THREE DAYS TO READ IT. I THOUGHT IT WAS INTERESTING HOW IT TOLD ABOUT THE LIFE OF JESS OPPENHEIMER AS WELL AS THE LIFE OF LUCILLE BALL AND OTHER CAST MEMBERS FROM THE SHOW I LOVE LUCY. I REALLY LOVE THIS BOOK AND I THINK EVERY I LOVE LUCY FAN SHOULD READ IT!!!

Behind the Scenes of the Best TV Show Ever.......2004-05-03

I'd like to start with a clarification: this book is not a biography of Lucy, it is the creator's (Jess Oppenheimer) memoir. As such, there are many parts of the book that have nothing to do with Lucy, including episodes from Oppenheimer's childhood and young adult life.

However, this is still a GREAT book! It is well-written and full of entertaining annecdotes. "Laughs, Luck, and Lucy" follows Oppenheimer's slow rise to the top in the Hollywood radio industry. He describes Lucille Ball's program, "My Favorite Husband," which became the basis for "I Love Lucy." The book also includes some behind the scenes information about the making of "I Love Lucy."

The included audio cd is fun because it has clips from both "I Love Lucy" and "My Favorite Husband."

If you are only interested in information specifically about Lucille Ball, this might not be the book for you (try her autobiography, "Love, Lucy"). However, if you (like me) are fascinated with everything surrounding "I Love Lucy" and the Hollywood entertainment industry of the 1940s and 1950s, this is a great read!

A gripping read.......2003-10-27

The best "Lucy" book yet. Aside from providing amazing insight into the "I Love Lucy" show and behind the scenes, this book also makes the reader feel as if he has been right along side Jess Oppenheimer throughout all of his fascinating experiences in San Francisco and early Hollywood. By the time I finished the book, I felt like I was saying good-bye to an old friend. Laugh out loud funny and impossible to put down, the book is brilliantly written and feels like a hilarious conversation with a genious.

Eddie Foy: A Biography of the Early Popular Stage Comedian

Average customer rating:

Eddie Foy and 60 years of the Golden Age of the Stage

Eddie Foy: A Biography of the Early Popular Stage Comedian
Armond Fields
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Entertainers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Comedy | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0786407026

Book Description

Just a century ago Eddie Foy was the consummate stage comedian. A versatile performer, Foy contributed to the development of popular theater from the Civil War to the Roaring Twenties, from poverty-inspired Irish two-acts to lavish musical comedies. This first-ever biography of Foy tells the story of his indigent childhood in New York's Bowery and in Chicago, his tough uphill climb as a "variety artist" at Western outposts, his success in vaudeville and Broadway, and his arrival as a national icon with the Seven Little Foys. Foy's career mirrored the growth of popular theater entertainment in America. Exhaustively researched, this work contains many rare personal photographs from the Foy family archives.

Customer Reviews:

Eddie Foy and 60 years of the Golden Age of the Stage.......2000-07-05

Congratulations to author Armond Fields and publisher McFarland & Company for this absorbing, well-written and meticulously researched biography of comedian & eccentric dancer, Eddie Foy. The story, as Fields tells it, leaves nothing to be desired, yet it isn't cluttered with footnotes. It reads easily because it is as defty organized and told as a good stage production. The scene is laid out before us, time and place, before Mr. Foy enters the scene: the Nineteenth Century, the newly arrived Irish immigrants and New York City's Bowery. When Foy's adventures take up the tale, the scene segues to the Civil War, Chicago, Dodge City, Leadville, Denver and San Francisco, and the great and glorious characters who inhabit these places and befriended Foy: Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, Gentlemen Jim Corbett and dozens of theatrical managers and performers. Foy's life and career spanned the Civil War, the Westward migrations, the reach of the railways, the lawlessness of cattle-towns, the small towns and big cities of a growing America. Show Business grew too, from saloons to variety and Opera Houses, to Broadway musical comedies and vaudeville, and Eddie Foy lived and worked until the dawn of the sound films. Mr. Fields traces Foy's influences and growth as a performer and clarifies the record about Foy's personal life with no intent except telling a good story well and true.

High Anxiety: Catastrophe, Scandal, Age & Comedy (Arts and Politics of the Everyday Series)

Average customer rating:

High Anxiety: Catastrophe, Scandal, Age & Comedy (Arts and Politics of the Everyday Series)
Patricia Mellencamp
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0253207355

And Now for Something Completely Digital: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Monty Python Cds And Dvds

Average customer rating:

An excellent guide to collecting all of the Monty Python television and movie comedy routines and performances
Maybe not the Holy Grail, but no ex-parrot either

And Now for Something Completely Digital: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Monty Python Cds And Dvds
Alan Parker , and Mick O'Shea
Manufacturer: Disinformation Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Guides & Reviews | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1932857311

Book Description

This is the story of six men, five English and one from America, who, in the space of forty-five half-hour television shows, transmitted on the UK's BBC 2 (pretty near commercial suicide at the beginning) from the late '60s till the early '70s; four full length feature films; a bunch of albums; the odd single; and some pretty impressive books, transformed everything we know about comedy today. They were translated into German twice (Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus), banned on the big screen (Life of Brian) and played sold out shows at The Hollywood Bowl-yeah, just like The Beatles!

The impact that the members of Monty Python have had around the world is incredible. Now, Python associate Alan Parker has compiled the definitive guide to all "Monty Python" CDs and DVDs.

A must-have for all Python devotees
All Monty Python CDs are being re-mastered and reissued from fall 2005 to spring 2006
Includes previously unavailable material from the brand new Monty Python CD (released April 2006) and will be tied-in with the new CD

Alan Parker is a freelance journalist who contributes to a number of periodicals including Mojo and Record Collector. He is the author of Vicious: Too Fast to Live: The Authorized Biography of Sid Vicious (Creation, 2003), as well as Sex Pistols: Satellite (Abstract Sounds, 2002), John Lennon: The FBI Files (With Phil Strongman) (Sanctuary, 2003), and Stiff Little Fingers Song By Song (With Jake Burns) (Sanctuary, 2003).

Mick O'Shea has two books in print: Zootopia Tree (Abstract Sounds Books)-a story for children, based loosely on the lives of Mick's own cats-and The Early Days of the Sex Pistols (Helter Skelter Publishing), a brand-new take on the old Sex Pistols story. He has contributed to many magazines, including Record Collector, The Zone, and Amped.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent guide to collecting all of the Monty Python television and movie comedy routines and performances .......2006-07-05

Collectively authored by Alan Parker and Mick O'Shea, And Now For Something Completely Digital: The Complete Illustrated Guide To Monty Python CDs And DVDs is a trivia worthy collection of intriguing facts, background information and entertaining insights into the timeless and enduringly popular television, movie, book, and album series by the British comedy troupe known world wide as Monty Python. Deftly compiling a wealth of fun and useless information from the diverse Monty Python productions, And Now For Something Completely Digital immediately captivates readers total attention through the zany wit and improbable wisdom of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. And Now For Something Completely Digital is a "must" for the legions of Monty Python fans and will serve as an excellent guide to collecting all of the Monty Python television and movie comedy routines and performances (including the Flying Circus and chart singles) now available on CD and DVD.

Maybe not the Holy Grail, but no ex-parrot either.......2006-06-16

It's sobering to think that an entire generation has grown up viewing Monty Python from -- let's say -- a cultural/historical perspective; at the time they were still performing together, they were regarded as ""omedy rock stars." That pop-culture fact is pointed out in a delightful new book about the Python troupe.

A man named Alan Parker (who has come into contact with the remaining members of the group by way of updating their record albums to the CD format), with his partner Mick O'Shea, has written "And Now for Something Completely Digital: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Monty Python CDs and DVDs" (The Disinformation Co. Ltd., $17.95). That unwieldly title notwithstanding, the book is a very enjoyable history of the Pythons, from their origins with varied British comedy groups and TV shows right up to the present day, covering Eric Idle's Tony-winning Broadway show "Monty Python's Spamalot" and the aforementioned CDs that are to be issued with bonus Python material this year.

Parker is very much the starry-eyed fan -- he confesses to having a wealth of Python dolls and other memorabilia -- and that perspective serves him perfectly well here. He reverently but breezily covers every aspect of the Pythons' careers and provides what could almost be considered the final word on the availability of their audio and video works. (One startling fact is that their legendary TV series is available in its entirety on DVD -- but only in America. Thus far, Britons have had to make do with a "Best of..." compilation DVD. No doubt the team appreciates the Pythonesque nature of that irony.)

I have but two (admittedly subjective) quibbles with the book. Parker goes into great detail about the Python TV shows and movies but gives very short shrift to their record albums, which in their own way were as groundbreaking as their other work. And when describing the plotlines of Python movies, Parker falls into that terrible trap that entraps far too many Python fans: he does elaborately cutesy Pythonesque non-sequitors in the belief that some of the group's wit will rub off on his work. This is doubly disheartening because the rest of Parker's writing, when he's not trying to come off as "the seventh Python," is nicely done.

But that's hardly enough to discourage any Python buff or newcomer-fan from reading "And Now for Something Completely Digital," a nicely comprehensive round-up of the vast Monty Python canon that's also just plain fun to read.

Because I Tell a Joke or Two: Comedy, Politics and Social Difference

Average customer rating:

Because I Tell a Joke or Two: Comedy, Politics and Social Difference
Stephen Wagg
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Comedy | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Media Studies | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0415129214

Book Description

Because I Tell a Joke or Two explores the complex relationship between comedy and social difference. In provocative essays, the contributors consider issues of class, ethnicity, age, gender, and sexuality and reveal the ways comedy has been used to sustain, to challenge and to change power relationships in society. Spanning a wide range of genres, texts, and performers, from the Marx Brothers to Lea DeLaria, and from Ozzie and Harriet to Friends, Because I Tell a Joke or Two promises to make you think the next time you laugh along with a joke.

Contributors: Maggie Andrews, Frances Gray, Dave Huxley, C.P. Lee, Jane Littlewood, John McCallum, Mike Pickering, Laraine Porter, Mark Simpson, Stephen Small, Stephen Wagg, Paul Wells, and Frances Williams.

Comic Visions: Television Comedy and American Culture (Media and Popular Culture)

Average customer rating:

analytical, insightful and entertaining
A Unique Vision

Comic Visions: Television Comedy and American Culture (Media and Popular Culture)
David Marc
Manufacturer: Unwin Hyman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0044452845

Customer Reviews:

analytical, insightful and entertaining.......2003-03-11

This is an excellent psychological, socio-historical overview and analysis of the behind-the-scenes casting and creation of many famous and not-so-famous sitcoms, that is not overly academic in style, but is in-depth in analysis, i.e., this book is for all levels of comprehension. An added bonus is the funny commentary and musings that the author adds (Bill Bixby is a "low-rent Alan Alda" etc.,A shortcoming though is the little analysis of big sitcoms like the Jeffersons and Seinfeld. The Last chapter especially needed more information on sitcoms of the 1990s. Overall a fantastic read, and David Marc is really nice and answers your email questions promptly.

A Unique Vision.......2002-02-20

Marc has a unique vision of American situation comedy. He sees it through the lens of classical criticism, seeking themes, genres, and other Greek-sounding nouns. He places American sitcoms in historical contexts. He does all of this so brilliantly and in such a readable yet erudite manner that a reader familiar with both "Bewitched" and "Beowulf" will find the book a treasure. I have never found a better book about American comedy in the post World War II era. So much of that comedy was televised that David Marc owns the patent on its intelligent criticism with this book.

From the Bowery to Broadway: Lew Fields and the Roots of American Popular Theatre

Average customer rating:

An Exhaustive Chronology
Weber & Fields and the Roots of American Popular Theatre

From the Bowery to Broadway: Lew Fields and the Roots of American Popular Theatre
Armond Fields , and L. Marc Fields
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0195053818

Book Description

Before Ziegfield launched his Follies, before the Shubert brothers built their empire, Lew Fields' productions were the toast of Broadway. For the "smart set" in silk hats and evening gowns in the luxury box seats, and the shopkeepers and clerks in the gallery, an evening at the Weber and Fields Music Hall was the hottest ticket in town. The five year old named Moses Schoenfeld who crossed the Atlantic in steerage with his family in 1872 had grown up to become an innovative genius who helped raise the Broadway musical to the pinnacle of show business. Fields' influence was extraordinary: his raucous "Mike and Meyer" knockabout comedy routines with his partner Joe Weber were the prototype for generations of acts to follow, from Abbott and Costello to Gleason and Carney, and the legacy of the dazzling satirical revues performed nightly at the Music Hall lives on in the irreverent topical humor of Saturday Night Live. "He was more than a gifted comedian," the late Helen Hayes wrote in the foreword to From the Bowery to Broadway. "For over a decade, he was Broadway's most inventive, extravagant, and prolific musical producer." Miss Hayes was but one of Fields' many stage "discoveries," along with such major talents as Vernon and Irene Castle, Busby Berkely, Frederic March, Richard Rodgers, and Lorenz Hart. Offering a panoramic view of the early history of Broadway and the American popular theater through the career of this consummate showman, Armond and L. Marc Fields draw on a wealth of new research to bring to life the teeming streets of the Bowery, the grueling vaudeville tours, and dozens of hilarious comedy routines and big budget "Fieldsian" production numbers. In the half-century between his stage debut--a bumbling youngster in a Bowery amateur show--and his farewell appearance on the opening night bill at Radio City Music Hall, Fields was involved in almost every form of popular entertainment, from the dime museum, circus, the minstrel show and vaudeville to some of the first revues and "book musicals," as well as recording, silent films, and talkies. The man who, in his own words, lived to "give the public what it wants" emerges as a surprisingly complex and contradictory figure: a beloved and much-copied comedian who yearned all his life for recognition as a great dramatic actor; an inveterate risk-taker and compulsive gambler who made and lost several fortunes; and a producer who did more than anyone to legitimize the popular stage, but nonetheless used all his influence to try to prevent his talented offspring from pursuing their stagestruck ambitions. Here are the triumphs and disasters of a singular life in show biz, from Fields' first professional appearances with Weber as an unlikely but popular "Irish pair," to his skirmishes with both the Syndicate's theater monopoly and critics who openly resented the stunning successes of a Jewish "East Side ragamuffin," to his spectacular solo career as one of the most innovative producers ever to light up Broadway (his scores of credits include five of the early Rodgers and Hart shows). Brimming with intimate anecdotes and historical insight, this vastly entertaining biography will be savored by anyone who has ever felt the lure of the Great White Way.

Customer Reviews:

An Exhaustive Chronology.......2002-02-05

This book is not for everyone; certainly not the casual reader who wants to know a little about Vaudeville. This is a year-by-year compendium of Lew Fields' career on the stage, from his earliest years in the Bowery, working with Tony Pastor and early variety shows, to his triumphs on Broadway, working with and trying to outwit the Syndicate, and on to his nurturing Rodgers and Hart in six of their first Broadway shows. It is a heady story, with the Shuberts, Keith and Orpheum, trying to take control of the Vaudeville circuit, and Fields usually getting caught between. While the book can be exhausting as well as complete, (it should be read slowly - no one can distinguish between some of the plays, "Twirly-Whirly", Whirl-i-Gig, Fiddle-di-Dee, etc.), it suffers from some bad copy editing, and some facts that aren't correct. But in the main, this is a book that is written lovingly from the viewpoint of two family descendants. It is perfectly revealing of a man trying to make his way in the theater, and being buffeted about by the businessmen who always seemed to take advantage of him. It is inspirational, as he is undaunted and always seems to come up, oftentimes buoyed by revivals of his famous comic routine with his parter, Joe Weber. So much of the American Theatre depended on how Fields characterized his shows, that he really needs to be paid more attention to. Ziegfeld, Billy Rose, Shuberts - none of them really contributed much to the actualy structure of the theatrical form, as they were more interested in how much money they could force through the system. Fields seemed genuinely interested to make a difference, and he did, for the better. It is gratifying to see that Rodgers and Hart's earliest successes were achieved thanks to Fields' name and reputation, as well as his shaping of the actual show. Anyone who is deeply interested in the American musical theatre should read this.

Weber & Fields and the Roots of American Popular Theatre.......2000-07-05

For comedy lovers, the most important thing about Lew Fields and Joe Weber was that they were so funny that their comedy lives on in the performances of later comics: Smith & Sale, Three Stooges, Abbott & Costello, Bing Crosby & Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason & Art Carney. Lew was the taller one, a sharpie who berated and bullied his squat, less bright partner, Joe. Sometimes they were billed as Mike & Meyer. Their style ranged from violent knockabout to musical satire. They were also producers of note. Although there were hundreds of show biz entrepreneurs that participated in the creation of an American style of show, a case can be made that a half dozen great innovators, among them Lew Fields and Joe Weber, adapted and assembled the elements essential to the Broadway musical: farce, burlesque comedy, a chorus line of pretty young women, and a plot that doesn't get in the way of the comedy, music, dancing and singing. The Weber & Fields Music Hall years of 1896-1904 featured all-star casts, the like of which was seldom seen again: Lillian Russell, Fay Templeton, William Collier, De Wolf Hopper, David Warfield and Sam Bernard. Weberfields productions also provided Flo Ziegfeld, Charles Dillingham and John Murray Anderson with the template of musical comedy. After the partnership dissolved Lew Fields became one of the most successful producers in Broadway history. Joe Webber enjoyed success, too, and for the right occasion, Weber & Fields would briefly reunite, and their performances were captured on film, both silent and sound. But Lew Fields started a theatrical dynasty: his children playwright Joseph, librettist Herbert, and lyricist Dorothy continued their careers into the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Armond Fields, the great-nephew of Lew, and L. Marc Fields, son of Armond, have written far more than a family memoir. "From the Bowery to Broadway: Lew Fields and the Roots of American Popular Theatre is a must for every theatre buff and every serious theatre historian. Highly recommended.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books