Research Catalog
Funny man : Mel Brooks
- Title
- Funny man : Mel Brooks / Patrick McGilligan.
- Author
- McGilligan, Patrick
- Publication
- New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2019]
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | MWES (Brooks, M.) 19-2693 | Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre |
Details
- Description
- 624 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 24 cm
- Summary
- Oscar, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy award-winner Mel Brooks was behind (and sometimes in front the camera too) of 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 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celebrated shows and films, and a telling look at the four-decade romantic partnership with actress Anne Bancroft that superseded Brooks' troubled first marriage.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.
- Oscar, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy award-winner Mel Brooks was behind (and sometimes in front) of some of the most influential comedy hits of our time. Growing up in a household too poor to own a radio, Melvin Kaminsky was short and homely, a mischievous child whose birth role was to make the family laugh. McGilligan lays bare the strengths and drawbacks that shaped Brooks' psychology, his willpower, his persona, and his comedy. From his breakthrough in early television to Hollywood and Broadway, McGilligan delivers an unforgettable life story and an anatomy of the American dream of success. -- adapted from jacket
- Alternative Title
- Mel Brooks
- Subjects
- Motion picture actors and actresses
- Comedians
- Motion picture producers and directors
- Motion picture actors and actresses > United States > Biography
- Biographies
- Comedians > United States > Biography
- Brooks, Mel, 1926-
- Motion picture producers and directors > United States > Biography
- United States
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment & Performing Arts
- Biography
- Genre/Form
- Biographies.
- Biography.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 555-561), filmography (pages [593]-594) and index.
- 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 laught last -- 2001: Unstoppable.
- Call Number
- MWES (Brooks, M.) 19-2693
- ISBN
- 9780062560995
- 0062560999
- OCLC
- 1032582838
- Author
- McGilligan, Patrick, author.
- Title
- Funny man : Mel Brooks / Patrick McGilligan.
- Publisher
- New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2019]
- Edition
- First edition.
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 555-561), filmography (pages [593]-594) and index.
- Research Call Number
- MWES (Brooks, M.) 19-2693