It's Good to Be the King - by James Robert Parish (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This book traces the extraordinary life and career of Mel Brooks, who has ridden a wave of show business success 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.

From the Back Cover

"I always learn something fr5om every juicy, well-researched, and information-packed volume of Parish's studies of Holly wood." - Rex Reed, columinst the New York Observer

"Brooks's probing self-insights and clever quotes abound... Readers will be satisfied with the details unearthed by Parish's exhaustive research." - Publishers Weekly

Fresh, funny, and insightful, It's Good to Be the King traces the extraordinary life and wide-ranging career of Mel Brooks, who has ridden a wave of show business success perhaps unsurpassed by anyone of his generation. From the Golden Age of Television to dazzling film comedy classics such as Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein to the Broadway triumph of The Producer, s Brooks's unique brand of slapstick, satire, and just plain silliness has withstood the test of time.

Offering many stories from the wacky world of Brooks and his colorful collaborators, a s well as an intimate look into Mel's seemingly improbable, yet highly 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.

Review Quotes

Parish, author of many books including "Katharine Hepburn: The Untold Story" and "Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flaps"), here traces the life and career of mirthmaker Mel Brooks from the Borscht Belt to Broadway. Born Melvin Kaminsky, he grew up as a Brooklyn classroom clown, honing his stage skills in the Catskills before arriving in WWII France as an army combat engineer. The bombastic Brooks clawed his way into early television as a writer for Sid Caesar: "I was aggressive. I was a terrier, a pit bull terrier. I was unstoppable. I would keep going until my joke or my sketch was in the show." Caesar's shows were a launchpad, catapulting Brooks into a multifaceted comedy career that embraced theater ("Shinbone Alley") and sitcoms ("Get Smart"), recordings (the 2000 Year Old Man series) and acting ("Mad About You"). He began directing in 1968 with "The Producers," followed by the equally hilarious "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein," Along the way, he picked up Emmys, Tonys, a Grammy, an Oscar and Anne Bancroft, whom he married in 1964. Brooks's probing self-insights and clever quotes abound. While his sense of timing, delivery and charming goofiness may not always translate to the written page, readers will be satisfied with the details unearthed by Parish's exhaustive research. 16 b& w photos. "(Mar.)" ("Publishers Weekly," January 1, 2007)

About the Author

James Robert Parish, a former entertainment reporter, is the author of numerous books on the entertainment industry, including Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops, the Hollywood book of Breakups, and the Hollywood Book of Extravagance: The totally Infamous, Mostly Disastrous, and Always Compelling Excesses of American's Film and TV Idols.