Casual notes on show-biz books, memoirs and studies, dust gatherers, and hot off the presses.
Book Review by Samuel L. Leiter . . .
Julian Schlossberg. My First Book—Part 2: A Producer’s Life Continues (n.p.: n.p., n.d.) 303pp.
27th Edition.
Last week’s column examined Julian Schlossberg’s 2023 memoir, Try Not to Hold it Against Me, which tells of how, after growing up in the Bronx as a show-biz savvy boychik, he became a very successful film distributor and exhibitor, as well as a notable, prolific film and stage producer. In a career spent shuttling back and forth between New York and Los Angeles, his best friends came to include the likes of Elaine May (who wrote the foreword) and Marlo Thomas. He provides enough personal information to give us a picture of who he is and what he’s achieved, but the book’s essential raison d’être is its numerous anecdotes involving major stars of stage and screen, as well as others in that celestial firmament.
Feeling he had lots more anecdotal fuel in his tank, Schlossberg, now 82, immediately crafted a sequel, the inelegantly titled My First Book—Part 2: A Producer’s Life Continues. His first book at least had the imprimatur of an independent, if barely-known publisher, but this one lacks even a place of publication, a publisher’s name, or a date! The books, available in paperback and Kindle editions only, closely resemble one another as self-published works. (I confess to once having been down that road myself.) Moreover, not only do their covers both show an isolated director’s chair with the name JULIAN imprinted on the canvas back support, but May—now 92—returns to write what’s called “Another Foreword.” It doesn’t fill a single page, but manages to capture her snappy wit.
Further, while what we might call “Part 1” has a professional appearance, including photos and an index, “Part 2,” with neither index nor illustrations, looks decidedly amateurish. Following front matter containing a full list of Schlossberg’s impressive producing credits (43 plays, five movies, 14 TV shows), we encounter a double-spaced text (when’s the last time you saw a double-spaced book?), an awkward layout, and, among the usual minor textual mishaps, technical glitches that suggest the editor was asleep at the computer. Given Schlossberg’s reputation as a man of taste, perception, and, apparently, resources, it’s puzzling he didn’t take a stronger hand in the book’s layout and design.
Nevertheless, Schlossberg’s excellent press reps have helped make the book’s publication something of an event, with public appearances featuring both the author and the famously publicity-shy May, and even a substantial article in the New York Times. Obviously, the many household names associated with Schlossberg’s career have a potent, interest-stirring magnetism.
As in Schlossberg’s first book, the content is mildly interesting enough, mainly because so many recognizable names are dropped, sometimes with a memorable follow-up, but too often they’re mentioned only in passing or in connection with a mere paragraph or two. Several individuals, like the formidable Broadway producer Roy Furman and the great actor F. Murray Abraham (the book’s only two individuals I’ve known personally), are discussed not so much because they participated in amusing stories but because Schlossberg wishes to honor them as human beings, professional supporters, and vital contributors to the American theater. Abraham, in fact, is credited with urging him to write this book. A bit uncomfortably, space is taken up with three ego-boosting paeans devoted to Schlossberg himself: two are by May and Renée Taylor, in whose lives the author played a big role.
Still, as in the first book, too many items seem present more because of who was involved than for any noteworthy reason, historical or hysterical. There are 17 chapters, each divided into two or more subsections. The material is quilted together in numerous bits and pieces separated by asterisks (***). Now and then stuff harking back to “Part 1” creeps in. And, since Schlossberg now offers additional memories of his youth (there’s a lot about his school days, including at college), with occasional sidebars on personal concerns, it’s perhaps one-third into the book before he begins to get to the luminaries about whom most readers are curious.
Names familiar from the first book, like George C. Scott, Mike Nichols, Peter Falk, Charles Grodin, Elia Kazan, Barbra Streisand, Eli Wallach, Elaine May, Marlo Thomas, and Joseph E. Levine, remain prominent. Among the fresh arrivals given a measure of attention are Raul Julia, Charlton Heston, Bea Arthur, Raquel Welch, Dory Previn, Steve Guttenberg, Zero Mostel, Judith Ivey, Danny Aiello, Betty Buckley, Stanley Donen, Steve Ross, Matthew Broderick, Dame Edna, and Elliot Kastner.
We get background on projects Schlossberg worked on, including some that failed or never got off the ground. His memories of shows and people can be compelling (like a sadly intimate segment on an aging Elia Kazan), or amusing, like when he discovers who owns the luxurious residence he’s been staying at in Rome. But too many are trivial and less funny than they purport to be; they often feel more like shadow than substance. Additionally, a few anecdotes are not even Schlossberg’s, but ones he picked up from others. As in his earlier book, he can’t resist listing life advice at the end, especially for parents and educators, like the putative value of raising kids to be ambidextrous.
Julian Schlossberg seems to be a fine, unpretentious fellow, one with sound opinions, values, and friendships, someone who enjoys the work he’s been doing and the extraordinary people he’s known over the past six decades. He’s said to be a charming raconteur, and is probably someone whose company I’d enjoy.
This second of his memoirs, however, is essentially a loose collection of memories, thoughts on this and that, and notes on the folks Schlossberg’s worked with (especially those whose positives outweigh their negatives). Despite his book’s weaknesses, the world that he’s inhabited for so long has given him enough fodder to keep even a grumpy critic fitfully entertained. For a book whose celebrity anecdotes come with a more consistent comic kick, see next week’s edition of Leiter Looks at Books.
Coming up: Martin Short. I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend.
Leiter Looks at Books welcomes inquiries from publishers and authors interested in having their theater/show business-related books reviewed.
Photos (unless otherwise indicated) courtesy of www.julianschlossbergproducer.com
