Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Part I 1942-69 7
1 Childhood 9
2 A Shoeshine and a Smile: Bernie Wolfson 12
3 The Manumit School (1948-53) 14
4 Life with Stepfather: Hiller Kahn (1949-58) 17
5 Hofetra (1960-64) 25
6 The Graduate: Green Mansions (1964) and Upstairs at the Downstairs (1965-66) 32
7 Pink-Slipped: How Now, Dow Jones (1967) 41
8 We've Never Seen You: New Faces of 1968 43
9 Cigars and Lavaliers: De Düva and Candide (1968) 47
10 Only Make-Believe: Promenade and Show Boat (1969) 54
Part II The 1970s 59
11 "Educated Shrieks": LaBohème (1970) 61
12 The City Slickers' Goodtime Hour: Comedy Tonight (1970) 64
13 The Man Who Came to Dinner: Two by Two (1970-71) 66
14 The Eunice Burns: What's Up, Doc? (1972) 73
15 Bon Voyage: Missing Candide (1971) 79
16 Honky-Tonk Parade: Paper Moon (1973) 83
17 Gooch's Lament: Mame and Other Curiosities (1972-73) 90
18 It's Twue: Blazing Saddles (1973-74) 95
19 The Half-Vision of What I Might Be: Boom Boom Room (1973) 99
20 Sweet Mystery: Young Frankenstein (1974) 103
21 Down in the Dumps in the Hollywood Hills: At Long Last Love (1975) 109
22 If You Loved as I Do: The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975) 119
23 What a Dog: Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) 124
24 Live from New York: Saturday Night Live (1976) 128
25 So Glad We Had This Time Together: The Carol Burnett Show (1976) 131
26 Prelude to a Train Wreck: Marco Polo Sings a Solo and She Loves Me (1977) 135
27 The Drug Rumor 140
28 Dames in Distress, Pigs in Space: High Anxiety, The Cheap Detective, and the Muppets (1977-78) 143
29 Train Wreck: On the Twentieth Century (1978) 150
Part III The 1980s 173
30 Annus Horribilis: Simon; Happy Birthday, Gemini; Wholly Moses!; and First Family (1980) 175
31 It's Good to Be Somebody's Mother: A Little Off-Broadway and History of the World, Part I (1980-81) 181
32 Slipshod: Slapstick (Of Another Kind) (1982-84) 185
33 The Safe Place: Santa Fe (1982-83) 189
34 Madness and Mourning: Yellowbeard (1983) 195
35 Breaking into Television: Scrambled Feet (1983) 197
36 A Banana Boat to Nicaragua: Oh Madeline (1983-84) 202
37 Aftermath: City Heat, Ludlam, and Beyond (1984-85) 214
38 The Black Widow: Clue (1985) 219
39 You'd Be Surprised: Chameleon (1986), "Wanted: The Perfect Guy" (1987), and Mr. President (1987-88) 224
40 Back to Broadway: Born Yesterday (1988-89) 233
41 At First Glance: John Hansbury 241
Part IV The 1990s 243
42 The Trouble with Auteurs: Betsy's Wedding (1990) and Shadows and Fog (1992) 245
43 An International Guest Star: Avonlea (1991), For Richer, for Poorer and Lucky Luke (1992), and Monkey House (1993) 249
44 Calling on Dolly: Hello, Dolly! (1992) 253
45 Simply Gorgeous: The Sisters Rosensweig (1992-93) 259
46 The Mother of All Lawsuits (1993) 270
47 Mixed Bags: Mixed Nuts (1994) and Anyone Can Whistle (1995) 272
48 Idle Tongues: New York News, Saturday Night Live, For Love Alone, and London Suite (1995-96) 275
49 Do You Love Me, Pauline?: Cosby (1996-99) 281
50 Enlightenment in the Dark: Judy Berlin (1999) 289
51 Loving Madeline 297
Epilogue 303
Acknowledgments 308
Notes 311
Stage, Screen, and Television Roles and Recordings 324
Index 329