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filmcanman's review against another edition
2.0
My favorite part of Mel Brooks' life story is when he and a buddy hung outside their Brooklyn neighbor, Don Appell's stoop, to wait for him to come home to ask him advice on showbiz, which then lead to Appell giving Brooks his first big break by bringing him up into the Borscht Belt in the Catskills to work and later perform. His entire career can be traced back to asking his neighbor for advice. I don't even know my neighbors and actively avoid one of them who always lingers outside and smokes.
lfellin83's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
pcro99's review against another edition
4.0
A thoroughly entertaining tour through the life of this comedic legend. A nice overview of all of his films and his life leading up to his becoming a successful director. Worth the read.
bargainsleuth's review against another edition
5.0
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I’m not sure how I was first introduced to Mel Brooks and his comedic genius, but once I was, I was hooked. From Blazing Saddles to Young Frankenstein to Spaceballs, his humor has kept me laughing for over 40 years. All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business is just that: recollections of Brooks’ life and the many projects he’s had throughout his 95-year long life. I’m happy to say that Brooks shares his early life and provides background as a foundation to his future work. He served admirably in WWII, and as a lover of classic television, he talked about his life working on Sid Caesar’s show and meeting Carl Reiner, another comedy genius.
Brooks goes into great detail about each of his projects throughout his career, including the 1960’s television comedy Get Smart with Don Adams, to making his first movie, The Producers (1968), to the year 1974, when he opened the year with one movie, Blazing Saddles, and ended the year with Young Frankenstein. What a year!
I was happy to hear that Brooks has Alfred Hitchcock’s blessing to make High Anxiety, which was an homage to Hitchcock films. It took me years to find this film because our library didn’t have it, and wasn’t in any of the rental stores (remember those? Renting a physical movie from a store? Yes, I’m aging myself quite a bit, aren’t I?) His interactions with Hitch were sweet and funny, just as many found the Master of Suspense to be when he wasn’t making a film.
Brooks talks about his wife, Anne Bancroft from time to time, but also makes a point of saying he didn’t want to talk too much about his personal life and concentrate on his work in his memoir. He only mentions in passing the fact that he had a first wife and three kids and that with Bancroft he had two kids. Usually when I read or listen to a memoir, I want to hear more personal stories to humanize the person featured, but I didn’t feel neglected with Brooks because he has so many great work stories.
I was eager to hear about Brooks and his work on The Producers: The Musical, because I love Broadway musicals and have played the soundtrack countless times. That and I’ve been a big fan of Matthew Broderick since WarGames (that was pre-Ferris Bueller, for those of you that don’t know). Then, something that only could happen to Mel Brooks: a movie adaptation of a musical that was based upon his original movie!
This book is great for anyone who has a love of film comedy or Broadway musicals. And trust me, get the audio version because Brooks really knows how to perform!
I’m not sure how I was first introduced to Mel Brooks and his comedic genius, but once I was, I was hooked. From Blazing Saddles to Young Frankenstein to Spaceballs, his humor has kept me laughing for over 40 years. All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business is just that: recollections of Brooks’ life and the many projects he’s had throughout his 95-year long life. I’m happy to say that Brooks shares his early life and provides background as a foundation to his future work. He served admirably in WWII, and as a lover of classic television, he talked about his life working on Sid Caesar’s show and meeting Carl Reiner, another comedy genius.
Brooks goes into great detail about each of his projects throughout his career, including the 1960’s television comedy Get Smart with Don Adams, to making his first movie, The Producers (1968), to the year 1974, when he opened the year with one movie, Blazing Saddles, and ended the year with Young Frankenstein. What a year!
I was happy to hear that Brooks has Alfred Hitchcock’s blessing to make High Anxiety, which was an homage to Hitchcock films. It took me years to find this film because our library didn’t have it, and wasn’t in any of the rental stores (remember those? Renting a physical movie from a store? Yes, I’m aging myself quite a bit, aren’t I?) His interactions with Hitch were sweet and funny, just as many found the Master of Suspense to be when he wasn’t making a film.
Brooks talks about his wife, Anne Bancroft from time to time, but also makes a point of saying he didn’t want to talk too much about his personal life and concentrate on his work in his memoir. He only mentions in passing the fact that he had a first wife and three kids and that with Bancroft he had two kids. Usually when I read or listen to a memoir, I want to hear more personal stories to humanize the person featured, but I didn’t feel neglected with Brooks because he has so many great work stories.
I was eager to hear about Brooks and his work on The Producers: The Musical, because I love Broadway musicals and have played the soundtrack countless times. That and I’ve been a big fan of Matthew Broderick since WarGames (that was pre-Ferris Bueller, for those of you that don’t know). Then, something that only could happen to Mel Brooks: a movie adaptation of a musical that was based upon his original movie!
This book is great for anyone who has a love of film comedy or Broadway musicals. And trust me, get the audio version because Brooks really knows how to perform!
multilingual_s's review against another edition
I really wish I could have finished this because it was great fun to read, but my library loan expired
madmooney's review against another edition
5.0
"I think it’s important to fail, especially between the ages of twenty and thirty. Success is like sugar. It’s too good. It’s too sweet. It’s too wonderful and it burns up very quickly. Failure is like corned beef hash. It takes a while to eat. It takes a while to digest. But it stays with you. Failure may not feel good when it happens, but it will always sharpen your mind. You’ll always ask yourself, “Where did I go wrong? Why didn’t this joke or this sketch work?” And there will always be reasons. You can’t just say, “Well, it’s not funny.” You have to ask yourself, “Why is it not funny?”"
My persona is modeled after the small set of uncles who sit on a pantheon which has influenced and informed my adult self. The "FUNcle of Comedy" is the one who introduced me to the Mount Rushmore of comic influences (and when each of these statuesque meet their maker, I find myself truly shaken to the core).
Mel Brooks is one of these Atlases who hold up the sky for me, and it was truly a treat to read this memoir.
All About Me switches between chapters devoted specific phases of his life, and chapters devoted to specific movies (each of the main greats gets covered in here).
One caveat about this read is that it is written by a 94 year old man with a 7 decade career, which means there is a possible chance where stories can stray into embellisment - embellishment which cannot be corroborated by the peers he is citing. Old men like to stretch tales to make themselves look like heroic beings who are better than they actually were. I do not think this is happening here overtly, but it was always in the back of my mind as I read this book. There is a little 'warts and all' in some of the stories he is telling, but I am pretty sure the was also come choice editing.
One example of this possible editing - at a particular stressful time in his life, he mentions his divorce - however he previously had not mentioned ever got married in the first place. In addition, while he mentions his son's many successes as a writer ([b:The Essential Max Brooks: World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide|13135342|The Essential Max Brooks World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide|Max Brooks|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322714713l/13135342._SX50_.jpg|21494818]), there is only a brief mention that he had 3 children prior to Max with this unnamed wife. It is very clear that All About Me is a very selective look into the parts of his life he wants to share.
But for the parts he does share, it is everything that I would have wanted in a Mel Brooks memoir.
Early on (1947) he describes going to an interview for a PA position for a Mr Benjamin Kutcher, finding himself in a 'down-on-their-heels Broadway producer’s office, replete with shabby furniture' with 'underwear and socks from a hastily strung clothesline stretched across his office'.
Any fan of Mel Brooks immediately knows which character this experience will inspire and it is such a treat to see this interaction, even though the fruits of this early discovery will not be realized for another 20 years of Mel's life (when The Producers arrives on the silver screen).
I truly appreciated the in-depth look on his work with Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows (and have found myself hunting for episodes online to experience it directly) as well as the development and running of Brooksfilms - even with full stories of his lemons (like Solarbabies).
I think the only criticism I would have on this (and I have to dig deep for this - as I gave it 5 stars) is that there is not enough balance between him telling about his life. While many chapters focus on the behind the scenes look at his film production (which is sort of a memoir), I wish I could have had a bit more about the man himself.
My persona is modeled after the small set of uncles who sit on a pantheon which has influenced and informed my adult self. The "FUNcle of Comedy" is the one who introduced me to the Mount Rushmore of comic influences (and when each of these statuesque meet their maker, I find myself truly shaken to the core).
Mel Brooks is one of these Atlases who hold up the sky for me, and it was truly a treat to read this memoir.
All About Me switches between chapters devoted specific phases of his life, and chapters devoted to specific movies (each of the main greats gets covered in here).
One caveat about this read is that it is written by a 94 year old man with a 7 decade career, which means there is a possible chance where stories can stray into embellisment - embellishment which cannot be corroborated by the peers he is citing. Old men like to stretch tales to make themselves look like heroic beings who are better than they actually were. I do not think this is happening here overtly, but it was always in the back of my mind as I read this book. There is a little 'warts and all' in some of the stories he is telling, but I am pretty sure the was also come choice editing.
One example of this possible editing - at a particular stressful time in his life, he mentions his divorce - however he previously had not mentioned ever got married in the first place. In addition, while he mentions his son's many successes as a writer ([b:The Essential Max Brooks: World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide|13135342|The Essential Max Brooks World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide|Max Brooks|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322714713l/13135342._SX50_.jpg|21494818]), there is only a brief mention that he had 3 children prior to Max with this unnamed wife. It is very clear that All About Me is a very selective look into the parts of his life he wants to share.
But for the parts he does share, it is everything that I would have wanted in a Mel Brooks memoir.
Early on (1947) he describes going to an interview for a PA position for a Mr Benjamin Kutcher, finding himself in a 'down-on-their-heels Broadway producer’s office, replete with shabby furniture' with 'underwear and socks from a hastily strung clothesline stretched across his office'.
Any fan of Mel Brooks immediately knows which character this experience will inspire and it is such a treat to see this interaction, even though the fruits of this early discovery will not be realized for another 20 years of Mel's life (when The Producers arrives on the silver screen).
I truly appreciated the in-depth look on his work with Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows (and have found myself hunting for episodes online to experience it directly) as well as the development and running of Brooksfilms - even with full stories of his lemons (like Solarbabies).
I think the only criticism I would have on this (and I have to dig deep for this - as I gave it 5 stars) is that there is not enough balance between him telling about his life. While many chapters focus on the behind the scenes look at his film production (which is sort of a memoir), I wish I could have had a bit more about the man himself.