Customer Reviews

Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If living well is the best revenge, then it is hard to appreciate why Phyllis Diller spends a good portion of her latest autobiography settling scores with dozens of minor people whose names would have completely faded from history if not for her memoirs.

But then, for a woman who made a comedic career out of catastrophes and disappointments, perhaps this is her way of having the last laugh. Unfortunately, these bitter remembrances just aren't funny and mar an otherwise delightful book. Instead the story is jagged and a little too hard-edged and earns a solid three stars.

Penguin, however, has produced a beautiful book for Ms. Diller with a stunning bright orange cover with raised printing while the book underneath features a three-piece case binding with foil stamping. Even the ivory-colored paper inside is high-quality stuff. And I couldn't find one typo. The presentation reflects Penguin's star-quality regard for Diller giving this book an overall four-star rating.

When Diller focuses on her successes by highlighting colleagues (like Bob Hope) or good timing (like breaking in at a time when no other female comics offered serious competition) or techniques (like ending punch lines with consonants to emphasize the mock hostility), her story really entertains. But the book just isn't worth the hardcover admission price and I would recommend waiting for and buying the paperback version of Diller's story.

What do you think of when you hear the name Phyllis Diller? Funny jokes? Crazy wigs? Her infectious laugh? Well, that ain't the half of it.

Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse is the story of a woman who grabbed onto a dream and refused to let it go. Despite overwhelming odds, heartbreaking misfortune and lifelong personal insecurities, Phyllis Diller did what every one of us dreams of doing; she refused to accept her circumstances, decided exactly what she wanted to become and then became it. And best of all, she did it her way.

If you have ever dreamed of accomplishing something but allowed doubt to stop you from trying, read this book. It will touch your heart. It will make you laugh. But most important, it will help you find the strength you'll need to make your own dreams come true.

Thank you Ms. Diller. While I have admired your comedy for years, I will admire your tenacity forever.

It is so interesting to read about a multi talented person who is supremely successful where they reveal the downside parts of their life and wonder why they did what they did...but they did it. Like Phyllis Diller, I read a most wonderful book "The Magic of Believing" by Claude Bristol when I was in my early 20's that did change my life, but not to the extent that she transformed herself because of that book. Many miserable things happened to her traveling through her life journey, but she was always optimistic and overcame the adversities. This book has funny parts, however, it is really an autobiography and details the life of the author. A marvelous read and a story that should get more than 5 stars.

All done in a great mood and up-spirited fashion, Diller's autobiography covers a great deal of changes in her own life - but also cultural and historical changes in the world she found herself living and performing in.

Some reviewers have pointed to the fact that Diller never really gets down into the nitty gritty - she never dishes the deepest or possibly most insightful dirt on herself or those in her life (private or public). She gets and occasional dig in - but the book itself seems to stay on the high road. Her tone indicates - she's a grand dame who has survived some bizarre obstacles in life and now in her later years find herself in a very good place.

And I respect her decision to just keep it clean and enjoyable.

It's a smooth read - interspersed with samplings of some of her favorite work over the years.

For example: "What is the difference between and oral and a rectal thermometer?" [A: see review title]

I am passing this on to a friend immediately who could use a smile (and occasional belly laugh).

This is not a bad book, but it's not great, either. After reading this autobiography, I still don't feel like I know who Ms. Diller is. She claims several times that she is an atheist. Yet, we get a number of "thank God"s and "God only knows" during the course of her telling, as well as a prayer that she wrote that she claims "paid dividends." Who was she praying to? Ms. Diller had what most people would think was a horrible life. She was the ugly daughter of elderly parents who had no conception of how to raise a child. Her first marriage was to a terrible man (much worse than Fang, her comedic on-stage name for her husband) who was a drunk, a lay-a-bout, and a parasite that fed off her stardom. Her second husband was no better. Although a hunk and a second-rate entertainer, he was extremely jealous of her success and, as she found out too late, he was gay. He would leave her in the hotel room and have sex with guys on the beach. Her next great love died suddenly while she was entertaining at sea. She had children she was unable to care for and had to ship off to troubled relatives, a daughter who was psychotic, another son and a daughter who died tragically in adulthood. She claims to have loved the son, although they had been incommunicado for years. It's just one bad happening after another. And she tells us about it unflinchingly. But she never really tells us how she feels. We can make assumptions, but based on our feelings, not hers. And through all of this chaos, she perseveres to become a superstar as a TV, stage and film comedienne, a best-selling author, a pianist who performed with over 100 symphony orchestras, and an artist of some renown. The fact that she climbed to such heights from such depths is amazing and a tribute to her fortitude. The book is fast paced and clearly written and is peppered with one-line zingers from her act. But it would have been much more powerful and moving if she had told us what was going on behind that broken nose and under that chopped pixie hair cut.

I am in my early sixties so I can remember when Phyllis Diller was appearing on all the variety shows. She was hysterical. But as this book shows she is also a hardworking, warm BRAVE woman with great spirit. She had 6 kids!!!! Who knew? She tells a great story for women and is so funny. Enjoyable.

I have always like Phillis and her antics. I saw the book while searching for an autographed picture or her and purchased it. When it arrived (very quickly I might add) I put down the book I was currently reading and picked it up. Well, 2 days later I was finished with it. I spent a whole rainy weekend enjoying it. I knew her life wasn't all jokes and laughs but had no idea she had such a bumpy ride for a good many years. I highly recommend the book. It's a good read for a winter weekend. I found it hard to put down. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Phyllis Diller is one of the gems that we have forgotten today. Before there was Roseanne, before women even had jobs besides being the wife and mother, before women had as many choices, there was Phyllis Diller.

Many have accused this book of sounding bitter and hostile, but if you look at the lives of many comics (Richard Pryor, John Belushi, Roseanne, etc.), many of them came from sad circumstances. Rather than becoming bitter and another addition to their sad surroundings, they are able to laugh. Because sometimes all you can do is laugh otherwise you're going to blow your head off. Phyllis was one of those, born to elderly parents and living in poverty in Ohio. At age 20 she married her first husband while pregnant with her first child, because in those days that's what you did. Her first husband and the antics of their doomed marriage would later become material for her original routine, and he would be immortalized as Fang.

Phyllis overcame her bad marriage, and had the courage to start her comedy career at age 40 having no experience besides being a housewife and mother. Not a glamorous job by any means, but that was what she knew. As the first woman comic, her peers had an easier time rising to stardom than her, but while she stuggled her efforts set her as a pioneer for women in entertainment. Living well is the best reward. And what God didn't give her, teams of plastic surgeons did later in life. She became the standard for which many future women comics set their standards and material. What a great accomplishment.

Phyllis Diller's autobiography may not be the most profound and enlightening to date but it still makes an entertaining and compelling read. Many of the other reviews on this site complain that she seems bitter (I didn't really notice this - for each person she disses, there are others who were life-long friends) and others seem to not like the fact that she doesn't discuss her relgious life in detail (so what?). Despite an absence of inner revelations, she has led a fascinating life of ups and downs and she clearly shows that her success in show business obviously saved her sanity amid the bleak relationships in her personal life. Her first husband was a good-for-nothing leech and her second husband turned out to be an alcoholic and gay. She had six children, two who died tragically young and another daughter who was a schizophrenic.

Diller writes of her terrible first marriage and the escape routes she found by raising her children as well as singing in churches and local theater. A major discovery in her life was the book "The Magic of Believing" which brought self-esteem to her life in a big way and became a life-long influence. She worked in advertising before achieving success in show business in her 40s. Her popularity soared after she began appearing on stage in San Francisco at the Purple Onion nightclub and movies, television, and Broadway soon followed. Along the way, Diller shares anecdotes involving Barbra Streisand, Bob Hope, Kate Smith, Ed Sullivan, Gypsy Rose Lee and others.

Following a dreadful second marriage, Diller met her true love late in life (lawyer Robert Hastings). Their relationship lasted ten years until Hasting's death in 1996. She talks about the pitfalls of aging and the joy of painting, another successful venture that she began later in life. Amidst the devastation of bad marriages, estranged relations with her oldest son and the loss of loved ones, Diller maintains that love and giving the gift of cheer and laughter has made her life a rewarding one.

I really wanted to like this book - Phyllis Diller was a fascinating person. But about halfway through the book I realized it was largely a list of famous names. While she occasionally gives a bit of depth, that's generally to savage people, not to tell much about their character or her relationship with them. The exceptions are her husbands, two of whom she tears to shreds and the third whom she adores. Which is actually perhaps the weakest point of the book - everyone is either an angel or a devil, with very little in beween.

It would have been better if it had been half as long, and eliminated the sniping. Or said another way, worth checking out from the library, but definitely not worth even the very modest price to buy your own copy.