Overweight Sensation: The Life and Comedy of Allan Sherman (Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life)
In this entertaining biography of song parodist and comedian Allan Sherman, who wrote and sang the iconic hit “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah!,” Cohen shows that Sherman was the Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, and Weird Al Yankovic of 1963. The account details Sherman’s childhood, his comedy breakthrough, his struggle to adjust to fame, and his decline and untimely death at 48 in 1973. The opening section, covering Sherman’s family and childhood, is slow going, but Cohen hits his stride when he tackles Sherman’s comedy career, offering insightful and witty analysis of the song lyrics and explaining how his subject’s comedy impacted all strata of American society (it didn’t hurt, Cohen notes, that JFK was a fan). Finally, Cohen sees Sherman’s life as a case study of how immigrants chose between assimilating or maintaining tradition (or struggling to do both) and an example of how postwar American Jews broke into the mainstream, bringing with them a richness of wit and language. In bringing context to the life of a now largely forgotten one-hit wonder, Cohen adds a valuable chapter to the history of American popular culture. Song lyrics are appended, along with hints on how to find Sherman’s vinyl albums on CD. --John Rowen