Regular marked price: $15.95Discount Price: $11.96
Cost Savings: $3.99 (25%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 790
EAN num: 9780470225264
ISBN number: 0470225262
Label: Wiley
Manufacturer: Wiley
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: February 26, 2008
Publishing house: Wiley
Sale Popularity Level: 294768
Studio: Wiley
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
This book traces the extraordinary life and career of Mel Brooks, who has ridden a wave of show business sucess perhaps unsurpassed by anyone of his generation. Offering many insights into the wacky world of Brooks and his many collaborators, as well as an intimate look into his successful marriage to the brilliant and beautiful actress Anne Bancroft, It's Good to Be the King might just be the most delightful, engaging, and entertaining biography you'll ever read.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
Mel Brooks has had an incredible career in television, films, and theater. James Robert Parish's book puts it all in perspective. Believe it or not, there have been many setbacks and failures in the life and career of a man most of us think of as hugely successful. Parish, who has written many fine Hollywood biographies, does an excellent job of telling the story of Brooks' life, extensively covering the personal and professional. It's an interesting, entertaining book that also includes a nifty section detailing Brooks' entertainment credits. I particularly enjoyed the behind-the-scenes information about the making of Young Frankenstein as well as the gossip concerning his improbable marriage with Anne Bancroft.
Rated by buyers 
-
The life of Mel Brooks has been a scattered affair with Sid Caesar highs and Robin Hood lows. In between has been a rogues gallery of memorable screen characters from Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) in The Producers to Madeline Kahn's unforgettable Lili von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles with many others along the way including the best film work Dom DeLuise has ever done. This book delves into them all, including Brooks himself, perhaps his best character of all.
It's a page turner and includes an illuminating look at one of Hollywood's strangest marriages, that of Brooks to the incredible Anne Bancroft. (Whe he told his mother he was marrying an Italian Catholic divorcee, he couldn't hear her reply as her head was in the oven.) Brooks comes across as an egomaniacal funnyman who's always wanted to make people laugh on his own terms. There was a time when his name was movie gold and it's still golden if a bit tarnished by his stage musical of his biggest sucess The Producers, a low point in tastelessness even for Mel.
Rated by buyers 
-
While Parish appears to have done some research (a lengthy bibliography is included), he apparently did little more than read books/articles/reviews and listen to DVD commentaries. The result is an OK clip job that could have been much more---for example, why no interviews with Brooks' living colleagues? And hardly any mention is made of Brooks' three children from his very first marriage, although several pages are devoted to his son from his marriage to Anne Bancroft.
The writing is workmanlike at best and at times much less than that (e.g., Sid Caesar is referred to as "powerfully built" on multiple occasions in the space of several pages). And some of the facts are wrong---for instance, Parish writes that the stage version of "The Producers" tried out in Detroit prior to Broadway---the tryout was in Chicago.
Brooks, a major creative force in American humor, deserves better.
Rated by buyers -
He is properly appreciative of Brooks' most wonderful work, but not indifferent to his creative slumps (also known as the eighties). I agree with most of his assertions, but wish he'd credited them more specifically.
Especially since, having no original interviews with his subject, he relies on previously published works. To such an extent I couldn't help but feel a collection of interviews with the hardly press-shy humorist might have served just as well or better for his fans.
Rated by buyers -
Admittedly, Mel Brooks is an acquired taste, because so much of his humour is of the "hit or miss" variety. (Confessed: I'm a Brooks fan - but he can occasionally "miss" even me.) Parish has turned out another one of his excellent books with this biography of funmeister Brooks. Mel's path to fame is an interesting one, and Parish tracks it well. He's one of the rare Hollywood writers - and more experienced ones, too - who doesn't delve into sensationalism in his books. Parish writes "biography" and relates stories, all in an informative, easy to read manner. This is an enoyable read from beginning to end. I was particularly intrigued with the "love story" aspect to Mel's life: namely, the romance and marriage of Brooks and Bancroft. Over the years, aside from their marriage being mentioned in the press, very little has been written about it. Parish does an encellent job of detailing it. Brooks didn't participate in the writing the book, but he should be very pleased with how it turned out. Parish does a superb job with this book on Mel's life. A most enjoyable book about one of the funniest men in the latter half of the twentieth-century.
Find other books like this one:
