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cmw119's review against another edition
5.0
I read this in an evening.
I watched the entire series of "The Odd Couple" over the pandemic. It was nice to laugh, and watch something (almost) brand new to me in the middle of all the chaos. Once again, a Garry Marshall production that I throughly enjoyed, but it wouldn't have been as good without the two lead actors. And, as I always do when I get entrenched in a show, I wanted to find out as much as possible about the actors' lives. Enter this book.
I think what made this book work was that, yes it was a memoir of a time in Jack Klugman's life, but it was framed in the context of his friendship with Tony Randall. There was just enough backstory about Klugman's life growing up and how it got into acting that it wasn't outside the scope of the story, and nothing took a hard left turn or went off on a tangent. Everything tied together and everything mentioned was necessary to the story.
I think, too, what makes this work well is that sometimes celebrity memoirs can get a bit naval gazing, or be dramatic, as celebrities can be, but the way this one is framed, learning about Jack through his friendship with Tony, and then learning about Tony subsequently as well, removes any potential for that element.
I haven't watched the DVD of outtakes yet, but I'm excited to do so.
I watched the entire series of "The Odd Couple" over the pandemic. It was nice to laugh, and watch something (almost) brand new to me in the middle of all the chaos. Once again, a Garry Marshall production that I throughly enjoyed, but it wouldn't have been as good without the two lead actors. And, as I always do when I get entrenched in a show, I wanted to find out as much as possible about the actors' lives. Enter this book.
I think what made this book work was that, yes it was a memoir of a time in Jack Klugman's life, but it was framed in the context of his friendship with Tony Randall. There was just enough backstory about Klugman's life growing up and how it got into acting that it wasn't outside the scope of the story, and nothing took a hard left turn or went off on a tangent. Everything tied together and everything mentioned was necessary to the story.
I think, too, what makes this work well is that sometimes celebrity memoirs can get a bit naval gazing, or be dramatic, as celebrities can be, but the way this one is framed, learning about Jack through his friendship with Tony, and then learning about Tony subsequently as well, removes any potential for that element.
I haven't watched the DVD of outtakes yet, but I'm excited to do so.
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