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Funny man : Mel Brooks / by Patrick McGilligan.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Thorndike Press large print biographies and memoirsPublisher: Waterville, Maine : Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage company, 2019Copyright date: ©2019Edition: Large print editionDescription: 905 pages (large print), 14 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781432866778
  • 143286677X
Other title:
  • Mel Brooks
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
1926 : Little World -- 1944 : Big world -- 1949 : Funny is money -- 1952 : Dreams and nightmares -- 1955 : Club Caesar -- 1957 : The genius awakes -- 1962 : The warm and fuzzy Mel -- 1965 : Springtime for Mel -- 1967 : Auteur, auteur! -- 1971 : Blazing Mel -- 1974 : Tops in taps -- 1975 : Club Brooks -- 1980 : Uneasy lies the head -- 1983 : Why so angry? -- 1986 : Frolics and detours -- 1995 : He who laughs last -- 2001 : Unstoppable.
Summary: "The fourth and last child of Max and Kitty Kaminsky, Mel Brooks was born on his family's kitchen table in Brooklyn, New York, in 1926, and was not quite three-years-old when his father died of tuberculosis. Growing up in a household too poor to own a radio, Mel was short and homely, a mischievous child whose birth role was to make the family laugh. Beyond boyhood, after transforming himself into Mel Brooks, the laughs that came easily inside the Kaminsky family proved more elusive. His lifelong crusade to transform himself into a brand name of popular humor is at the center of master biographer Patrick McGilligan's Funny Man. In this exhaustively researched and wonderfully novelistic look at Brooks' personal and professional life, McGilligan lays bare the strengths and drawbacks that shaped Brooks' psychology, his willpower, his persona, and his comedy. McGilligan insightfully navigates the epic ride that has been the famous funnyman's life story, from Brooks's childhood in Williamsburg tenements and breakthrough in early television--working alongside Sid Caesar and Carl Reiner--to Hollywood and Broadway peaks (and valleys). His book offers a meditation on the Jewish immigrant culture that influenced Brooks, snapshots of the golden age of comedy, behind the scenes revelations about the celebrated shows and films, and a telling look at the four-decade romantic partnership with actress Anne Bancroft that superseded Brooks' troubled first marriage. Engrossing, nuanced and ultimately poignant, Funny Man delivers a great man's unforgettable life story and an anatomy of the American dream of success"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Large Print Book Large Print Book Main Library Large Print NonFiction Brooks, M. M145 Available 33111009692365
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Oscar, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy award-winner Mel Brooks was behind (and sometimes in front of the camera, too) some of the most influential comedy hits of our time, including The 2,000 Year Old Man, Get Smart, The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein. But before this actor, writer, director, comedian, and composer entertained the world, his first audience was his family.The fourth and last child of Max and Kitty Kaminsky, Mel Brooks was born on his family's kitchen table in Brooklyn, New York, in 1926, and was not quite three years old when his father died of tuberculosis. Growing up in a household too poor to own a radio, Mel was short and homely, a mischievous child whose birth role was to make the family laugh.Beyond boyhood, after transforming himself into Mel Brooks, the laughs that came easily inside the Kaminsky family proved more elusive. His lifelong crusade to transform himself into a brand name of popular humor is at the center of master biographer Patrick McGilligan's Funny Man. In this exhaustively researched and wonderfully novelistic look at Brooks' personal and professional life, McGilligan lays bare the strengths and drawbacks that shaped Brooks' psychology, his willpower, his persona, and his comedy.McGilligan insightfully navigates the epic ride that has been the famous funnyman's life story, from Brooks's childhood in Williamsburg tenements and breakthrough in early television -- working alongside Sid Caesar and Carl Reiner -- to Hollywood and Broadway peaks (and valleys). His audiobook offers a meditation on the Jewish immigrant culture that influenced Brooks, snapshots of the golden age of comedy, behind-the-scenes revelations about the celebrated shows and films, and a telling look at the four-decade romantic partnership with actress Anne Bancroft that superseded Brooks' troubled first marriage.

"The fourth and last child of Max and Kitty Kaminsky, Mel Brooks was born on his family's kitchen table in Brooklyn, New York, in 1926, and was not quite three-years-old when his father died of tuberculosis. Growing up in a household too poor to own a radio, Mel was short and homely, a mischievous child whose birth role was to make the family laugh. Beyond boyhood, after transforming himself into Mel Brooks, the laughs that came easily inside the Kaminsky family proved more elusive. His lifelong crusade to transform himself into a brand name of popular humor is at the center of master biographer Patrick McGilligan's Funny Man. In this exhaustively researched and wonderfully novelistic look at Brooks' personal and professional life, McGilligan lays bare the strengths and drawbacks that shaped Brooks' psychology, his willpower, his persona, and his comedy. McGilligan insightfully navigates the epic ride that has been the famous funnyman's life story, from Brooks's childhood in Williamsburg tenements and breakthrough in early television--working alongside Sid Caesar and Carl Reiner--to Hollywood and Broadway peaks (and valleys). His book offers a meditation on the Jewish immigrant culture that influenced Brooks, snapshots of the golden age of comedy, behind the scenes revelations about the celebrated shows and films, and a telling look at the four-decade romantic partnership with actress Anne Bancroft that superseded Brooks' troubled first marriage. Engrossing, nuanced and ultimately poignant, Funny Man delivers a great man's unforgettable life story and an anatomy of the American dream of success"-- Provided by publisher.

1926 : Little World -- 1944 : Big world -- 1949 : Funny is money -- 1952 : Dreams and nightmares -- 1955 : Club Caesar -- 1957 : The genius awakes -- 1962 : The warm and fuzzy Mel -- 1965 : Springtime for Mel -- 1967 : Auteur, auteur! -- 1971 : Blazing Mel -- 1974 : Tops in taps -- 1975 : Club Brooks -- 1980 : Uneasy lies the head -- 1983 : Why so angry? -- 1986 : Frolics and detours -- 1995 : He who laughs last -- 2001 : Unstoppable.

Includes bibliographical references and filmography.

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