|
Rating:  -
I'm not much of a reader, but I always loved the "Odd Couple"
movie & TV series.
When I heard about this book written by Jack Klugman about his
special & most dear friend Tony Randall, I just had to read this
book!
I finished just short of (2) days, & found it hard to put down.
It made me feel really glad to know how truly unique & special
their friendship meant to each other.
I was literally crying towards the end of the book. I can totally
relate this remarkable story with my own life, and my very
close & endearing friendships (that I can count on one hand).
I truly hope & pray, that Tony's mission comes true, & his
National Actor's Theatre will endure & eventually bear his name!
Thanks again,
Steven R. Gettman
srgett@earthlink.net
Rating: -
After reading the other 19 reviews, I don't have much to add.
This book is totally wonderful. Being from Oklahoma, I already knew a lot about Tony Randall's life, but not much as to how it related to his friendship with Jack Klugman.
This book is wonderful and healing for anybody who lost a close friend, as well as fans of these two wonderful men and actors!
Most of the money of the books' sales goes to the National Actors Theater, which Tony founded and Jack has helped financially through the years. America is the only modernized (can't remember the actual wording) country in the world that did not have a national theater, so Tony devoted his later years to this cause.
Basically, this is a touching book whose writer had no ulterior motives except to memorialize his friend and help keep his friend's dream alive!
Rating:  -
"This is funny guys, but where is the love scene?" That's a question Jack Klugman used to ask the writers on The Odd Couple, having discerned on first seeing Walter Matthau do the role on Broadway that the key to the Felix and Oscar relationship was not the bickering between them but the mutual love. This short and punchy memoir, though filled with anecdotes and almost a primer for aspiring actors, is then very much a love story. It's about how Jack Klugman came to love Tony Randall, to trust him completely. At the heart of the tale is one deeply affecting, and for Mr. Klugman life-changing, moment, when Tony Randall coaxed him into a benefit performance of original play The Odd Couple, despite his struggles to restore his voice after a bout with throat cancer. By the end of the performance, when the two came out for a prolonged and tear-jerking curtain call, Randall had given him his acting life back and taught him just how profoundly one man could support another. It's a truly beautiful vignette in an always charming book.
Rating: -
If you are a fan of the 1970's sitcom, The Odd Couple, "Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship" is a must buy book - whether you read it or not. I never missed one episode of The Odd Couple - I, like many other fans have seen them a thousands times. Jack Klugman's book is the story of friendship, poignantly written and all too human; it is worth reading.
In this book, Jack Klugman shows the reader that he's not the tough guy he has portrayed in many of his gangster roles, but a thoughtful and reminiscent individual who is secure enough in himself to write a warm-hearted tribute to his long-time chum, Tony Randall.
In watching Tony Randall (Felix Unger) and Jack Klugman (Oscar Madison) in the hilarious TV show, "The Odd Couple", I would ask myself, are these guys for real? Are they really like this in life? Well, Jack Klugman sets the record straight in his book while disclosing other interesting tidbits of trivia and stories, but he makes it perfectly clear that his is not a kiss and tell book, just a short brief, honest, no-holds-barred biography and tribute. Jack Klugman writes of his difficult childhood and how acting became the key to his escape from danger and poverty. He describes how he and Tony Randall met and how they both overcame the bumpy roads along the road to their friendship. Klugman illustrates how he and Tony Randall were so perfectly matched in the roles of sportswriter (Oscar) and photographer (Felix), how he (Jack Klugman) struggled with, accepted and triumphed over his cancer. It's just like Oscar Madison to make a simple yet direct statement concerning smoking. "Don't smoke!!".
Jack Klugman writes that he and Tony Randall were from different worlds; Klugman grew up in a rough and dangerous neighborhood, in Philadelphia while Tony Randall was raised in a safe one in Oklahoma, but Klugman illustrates how these and many other differences did not set them apart, but cemented their long-time friendship.
"Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship" by Jack Klugman is a short and very readable book, but it conveys wonderful feelings of honesty, love and friendship in the life of Jack Klugman and his friend Tony Randall. In the end, we, along with Jack Klugman were "gypped". All fans of The Odd Couple should buy this book.
Rating: -
The Odd Couple was one of the funniest TV programs of its time. I remember watching it as a kid growing up in CA. To see these two performing together again in their later years was uplifting and evident that they enjoyed working together. I was surprised that the book wasn't thicker, but it did get across Mr. Klugman's point of how much Tony Randall meant to him as a friend and working partner. They never forgot each other even after the Odd Couple was off the air. TR showed compassion for JR's throat cancer diagnosis and stood by his longtime friend after the surgery. What a testimony of true friendship! I can only hope that I have a true friend like that in my lifetime.
Television Show
Collectibles
Movie Searches
|
|
|
Search for posters,
art prints, photos, collectables, merchandise, toys, t-shirts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Join the Nielsen//NetRatings Research Panel and you could win a new car, a dream vacation, a dream home makeover or $50,000 Cash!
TV Guide
Program listings, celebrity profiles, industry
gossip, movie reviews, puzzle.
More
Entertainment
& TV Magazines
This site is
Hosted
by Bluehost
Read
my Bluehost Review
Original Superhero & other designs for t-shirts, bumper
stickers, prints, mugs, and other cool merchandise. |
|
