It's Good to Be the King: The Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks
Parish, author of many books includingKatharine Hepburn: The Untold StoryandFiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic  Flaps), here traces the life and career of mirthmaker Mel Brooks  from the Borscht Belt to Broadway. Born Melvin Kaminsky, he grew up as a  Brooklyn classroom clown, honing his stage skills in the Catskills before  arriving in WWII France as an army combat engineer. The bombastic Brooks clawed  his way into early television as a writer for Sid Caesar: "I was aggressive. I  was a terrier, a pit bull terrier. I was unstoppable. I would keep going until  my joke or my sketch was in the show." Caesar's shows were a launchpad,  catapulting Brooks into a multifaceted comedy career that embraced theater  (Shinbone Alley) and sitcoms (Get Smart), recordings (the 2000 Year Old Man series)  and acting (Mad About You). He began  directing in 1968 withThe Producers,  followed by the equally hilariousBlazing  SaddlesandYoung Frankenstein.  Along the way, he picked up Emmys, Tonys, a Grammy, an Oscar and Anne Bancroft,  whom he married in 1964. Brooks's probing self-insights and clever quotes  abound. While his sense of timing, delivery and charming goofiness may not  always translate to the written page, readers will be satisfied with the  details unearthed by Parish's exhaustive research. 16 b&w photos.(Mar.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.