Book Review: "Still Fooling' 'Em" by Billy Crystal

"Still Fooling' 'Em" was one of those books that popped up as an Amazon buck ninety-nine special in my email a few weeks back.  I figured, hey, it's Billy Crystal, it's gotta be good.  And it was.  If you like Billy Crystal, and I don't know anyone who doesn't, you should seek out and read this book.

It's not a new book.  It was published in 2013 to coincide with Crystal's 65th birthday.  While it is autobiographical - separate lengthy chapters cover Crystal's career in his 20's, 30's, 40's, and 50's - it is interspersed with some classic Crystal riffs on growing old.  It is also filled with anecdotes about so many people that have played such important roles in his life, from a contemporary New York City high school basketball player named Lew Alcindor to Mickey Mantle to Muhammed Ali and show biz folk like Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese, Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Jack Palance, and dozens of others, this book is a real neat ride into the fabulous, or should I say mahvelous, career and life of Billy Crystal.

On more serious notes, Crystal writes of his father's death when Billy was fifteen years old, and the effect that had and continues to have on him to this day.  He also writes that his mother, no matter where Billy was on the given day, would always call him precisely at 7:36 AM, the time that he was born, to wish him Happy Birthday and tell him to be sure and "do something special" on the day.  Years after her death, Crystal still looks at the clock at 7:36 on the morning of his birthday and thinks of his mother's calls.  And on the final two pages of the book, Billy Crystal gives absolutely the best definition of Heaven and the Afterlife that I have ever read, better than anything I ever heard in twelve years of Catholic education, in fact.

And in  perfect note of symmetry, the book also ends with Crystal telling us of the birth of his fourth grandchild, a boy, who was born on March 14, 2013, which was Billy Crystal's 65th birthday!

"Still Fooling' 'Em" gets Four Stars from The Grandstander.

Book Review - "I'll Have What She's Having" by Erin Carlson (2017)

 

The sub-title of this book says it all: "How Nora Ephron's Three Iconic Films Saved The Romantic Comedy."

If you are fan of the three movies in question, When Harry Met Sally (written by Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner), Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail (both written and directed by Ephron), this is a book that you should read.  It is also one that you should read if you are interested in knowing all the details into how films get made.  The book really tells you how the sausage gets made.  It's never an easy process, and there is never a guarantee that the movie that hundreds of people are pouring their hearts and souls into will be accepted by the movie-going public.

It is also the story of Nora Ephron as the early chapters give a brief biography of the famed reporter and essayist who turned to screenwriting and directing, about how a oft-times cynical New York twice divorced, thrice married journalist turned out to be a complete sucker for love and romance, as evidenced by these three movies.

Lots of great gossip and stories about the people involved in the making of these movies - Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal, Tom Hanks, Rob Reiner especially and all of the many other actors, writers, producers, and "production weenies" (Hanks' term) involved in making these three great movies.  If you like inside Hollywood stuff, this is for you.  The story of a nervous and embarrassed  Reiner directing his mother, who played the lady in the deli, in the now classic "I'll have what she's having" scene is alone worth reading book.

I won't begin to detail any of the good stuff herein except for this: Tom Hanks REALLY is the Good Guy that everyone perceives him to be, although his liberal use of, shall we say, salty language in his conversations with the author might unnerve you a bit.  Here's an example.  After the post-premier party for cast and crew at an elegant New York City venue, Hanks was leaving the party with his entourage when he made it a point walk up to one of the lowly production people, who brought his mother as his date to the party, to thank him for all his help, especially to him, Tom Hanks!, in the course of the making of the movie.  "He did it because he knew that my mother would hear it" the production guy said.  That really is a nice guy.

Three Stars from The Grandstander.