My Happy Days in Hollywood

February 13, 2012
Film and television producer Marshall expands on his previous memoir, Wake Me When It’s Funny (1997), for another look back at his life and multifaceted career. After a sickly childhood growing up in the Bronx with sisters Ronny and Penny, he studied journalism at Northwestern, where he played drums in a band, wrote comedy skits and “only dated girls with cars because I didn’t have one.” Joining the army, he performed in Korea as a drummer and a comedian. Back in New York, he became a Tonight Show staff writer, heading west in 1961 to do sitcoms. Teaming with Jerry Belson, he churned out scripts for Joey Bishop, Lucille Ball, Dick Van Dyke, and others: “In one year my entire family moved to California and I was the only one working.” At age 36, his big breakout came in 1970 when he and Belson coproduced TV’s The Odd Couple, both a critical and popular success: “One well-respected show, and suddenly I was a player in show business.” After mounting more TV hits (Happy Days; Laverne & Shirley, which starred his sister Penny; Mork & Mindy), he turned to directing movies (Pretty Woman, Beaches) and acting, including a recurring role on Murphy Brown. Marshall draws the reader in with a disarming manner and a casual, easy-to-read writing style, detailing early self-doubts as well as later triumphs. The result is an engaging and entertaining blend of honesty and humor, punctuated throughout with show business insights and anecdotes.

February 15, 2012
Happy days are here again, in the autobiography of a director who "always wanted to be remembered as the Norman Rockwell of television." As the producer, writer and/or director of Happy Days, The Odd Couple and Laverne & Shirley on TV, and the director of hit movies including Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride and The Princess Diaries, Marshall seems like a nice guy for a man who has enjoyed such Hollywood success, and a loving family man (married once, now with six grandchildren) within an industry not generally known for such stability. Unfortunately, for a writer whose previous book was titled Wake Me When It's Funny: How to Break Into Show Business and Stay There (1995) and who got his start writing jokes for comedians, he isn't very funny. Or at least this book isn't. Nor is it serious, mean, scandalous or particularly revelatory. It's just nice. Marshall has gotten along fine with some difficult actors--including his sister, Penny, and the beleaguered Lindsay Lohan--and has apparently remained friends with everyone with whom he has ever worked. He rarely asserts his ego and occasionally takes less credit than he might be due. He knows that Julia Roberts did more for him than he did for her; he writes of Pretty Woman, "If a movie can change a man's life, this would be that movie for me." Marshall also knows that such hits couldn't inoculate him against a series of stiffs, and he gives nearly every project (long-forgotten movies as well as recent bombs such as New Year's Eve) equal space in its own chapter. His philosophy might best be expressed in his remarks on the generally dismissed Raising Helen: "It was never going to be the kind of picture that made big money or took home prizes, but it would turn out to make audiences smile, and I like making audiences smile." Marshall writes that he combats stress with an "ice-cream sandwich or a Fudgsicle." This is a Fudgsicle of a showbiz memoir.

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March 15, 2012

Marshall offers fascinating and funny behind-the-scenes glimpses of the hit TV shows and movies that he produced, wrote, acted in, or directed, including the TV series The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, and Mork and Mindy. He describes the atmosphere on those sets, commenting candidly, for example, on the contrast between the positive experience of working on Happy Days and the vibe on the set of Laverne and Shirley, which, even though it starred his sister, Penny Marshall, was unhappy. After segueing into movies, Marshall directed such hits as Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries, and Valentine's Day, and he tells many great stories featuring stars such as Julia Roberts, Julie Andrews, and Ron Howard. VERDICT Similar in feel to Carol Burnett's This Time Together, Marshall's memoir has an engagingly honest tone and an easy-to-read style. Highly recommended for those who like entertainment and arts autobiographies and anyone interested in 1970s TV shows, directors, and writers.--Sally Bryant, Payson Lib., Pepperdine Univ., CA

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2012
Marshall has worn many hats in Hollywood over the course of his five decades in the business: writer, producer, director, actor. Born in the Bronx, he made his way to Hollywood in 1961 and got his start penning sitcoms for such television luminaries as Lucille Ball and Danny Thomas. The creation of the hit show Happy Days put Marshall on the map, and led to several spin-offs, including Laverne & Shirley, which starred his sister Penny. Marshall turned to the big screen next, and while his first few entries weren't commercially successful, subsequent outings like Nothing in Common, Beaches, and Pretty Woman made him a household name. Contrary to many working in the business, Marshall went out of his way to make each of his sets a happy place, playing pranks on various stars and even ensuring that Julia Roberts ate regular meals after she collapsed during the filming of Pretty Woman. Readers are bound to be as charmed by Marshall himself as they are by the behind-the-scenes anecdotes he shares about his hit television shows and movies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)