Married to Laughter: A Love Story Featuring Anne Meara

Rating:
Summary: Self absorbed,self centered minus insight or introspection
Review: Jerry Stiller has lived a long interesting life which one might think would lead to some internal truths or insights. Instead he reveals himself to be a self-absorbed, self-centered individual from his earliest years. He admits he never "gets" his wife's playwriting - and after almost 50 years of marriage, he wonders if they'll have anything in common if both of their careers come to an end. Even humorous anecdotes are few and far between...the anecdotes about other performers are brief and superficial (Robin Williams and Walter Matthau receive some praise, but only because they were generous performers - generous to Jerry, of course). There are more than a few biggoted and stereotypical remarks about his wife's Irish-American family and background, which would not be tolerated if they were reversed and directed toward *his* ethnic background (Stiller quite matter-of-factly mentions Henny Youngman's reference to Nantucket Island as Goy-ville...) I wish Ann Meara would write her version of their lives.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing effort from an otherwise funny guy
Review: Read MARRIED TO LAUGHTER; A LOVE STORY FEATURING
ANNE MEARA by Jerry Stiller . . . had looked forward to this book
as I've always enjoyed Stiller's work (even before he was
"rediscovered" on SEINFELD) . . . however, it just didn't
do very much for me . . . most of the emphasis is on his work
in the theater . . . there's very little about his work on television . . . and if you're expecting anything about Ben Stiller, you won't find it here--except for one photograph when he was younger.

Not quite sure why I did not like this book . . . but couldn't even find that many memorable passages to share with you . . . that is usually a tip-off to me; i.e., if I'm "into" a book, I'll be making all sorts of notes about it . . . on this one, all I could come up with was the following:

As the curtain rose I realized in that split second that Hank was
right. I had never really spoken to anyone onstage; worse yet, I had never listened. I was always Acting, with a capital A. Had my success in college been a gigantic hoax?

[on his love for cooking and his special recipe for Chicken Gai Yung]I decided I could sell the delicious chicken legs door to door. I told Anne my idea. I'd marinate the legs overnight, broil then in the morning,and then hit every apartment building on the West Side. A dollar a leg. I figured it was an idea whose time had come, and it took me away from the pain of rejection. We'd become rich and possibly franchise the idea. You're sitting at home, watching TV. A knock on the door, "I'm selling
Chicken Gai Yung. It's only a buck." Who could resist?

[explaining jazz to Anne, who never understood it] "Because you're orderly. Jazz can be chaotic. It's like some storm that suddenly erupts spontaneously in a musician's soul. It's somebody else's sunset--someone else's terror. Who wants to hear the musical version of someone else's problems? A lot of dissonance. Just when you're ready to say, 'I've had enough,' you hear the
thread of a melody. It falls easily on the ears. The storm has subsided. You're suddenly caught up and now you're listening to Bill Evan's inner voice. He's taken us on a trip we've all been on ourselves at one time or another. Now he's out of his wilderness. The search for life's' golden path is over." I was
starting to sound like a poet.

Rating:
Summary: Life, love and laughter...
Review: Really liked this book. Jerry Stiller takes us on a trip through his life, and it's funny, sad, and always interesting. I found out so many things about him that I didn't know--such as: he was a stage actor, in Shakespeare, no less! And, his courtship of, and eventual marriage to, Anne Meara, is related--sometimes humorously, sometimes seriously, but always with honesty. Jerry and Anne discover that their career aspirations aren't really the same, and each builds their own career, but never forgetting each other. The road is sometimes bumpy, but they don't lose sight of one another, and their love for each other is deep and true. A fine book, Mr. Stiller!