BOOK REVIEW: eyE Marty by Marty Feldman

Shane | 24 January 2016 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: eyE Marty by Marty Feldman

Hachette Australia
November 2015
Paperback, $32.99
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Entertainment Biography

8.5/10

English comedian Marty Feldman’s long lost autobiography is a joy to read – although tinged, of course, with the sadness that his far-too-young passing dictates.

A wonderfully influential comic who was yet to reach his full potential as a writer, actor and director, Feldman was only XX when he died suddenly whilst shooting the movie Yellowbeard with his Monty Python friends Eric Idle, Michael Palin, John Cleese, et al. Tellingly, Idle contributes a warmly touching and suitably irreverent introduction to the book, affirming the influence Feldman’s early shows had on the Pythons.

Written over a period of a few years and completed not long before his death, Feldman’s story tells of his unhappy childhood struggles, homeless years as he struggled to make it as a performer in post-war Britain, and eventual move to America and the bountiful opportunities available to him in the New World.

Unflaggingly self-deprecating, yet remaining resolutely positive, Feldman tells his story with humour and candour, neither wallowing over unhappy periods, nor gloating about his successes. The most touching passages are reserved for the meeting and wooing of his wife Lauretta, whom he credits with his happiness.

Published exactly as Feldman had left it, there are some passages which seem a tad scatological: perhaps collaborating with an editor would have helped finesse the work in places, but that rawness does lend great emotional gravitas when we reach the end of the book and realise that he had so many exciting projects he was working of when the heart attack took him from us.

All eYE MARTY needs is an accompanying DVD to bring some of his greatest works back in the public eye, and it would be a perfect memoir.