My Mother Was Nuts [Hardcover]

Penny Marshall (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 18, 2012

Most people know Penny Marshall as the director of Big and A League of Their Own. What they don’t know is her trailblazing career was a happy accident. In this funny and intimate memoir, Penny takes us from the stage of The Jackie Gleason Show in 1955 to Hollywood’s star-studded sets, offering up some hilarious detours along the way.

My Mother Was Nuts is an intimate backstage pass to Penny’s personal life, her breakout role on The Odd Couple, her exploits with Cindy Williams and John Belushi, and her travels across Europe with Art Garfunkel on the back of a motorcycle. We see Penny get married. And divorced. And married again (the second time to Rob Reiner). We meet a young Carrie Fisher, whose close friendship with Penny has spanned decades. And we see Penny at work with Tom Hanks, Mark Wahlberg, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert De Niro, and Whitney Houston.

Throughout it all, from her childhood spent tap dancing in the Bronx, to her rise as the star of Laverne & Shirley, Penny lived by simple rules: “try hard, help your friends, don’t get too crazy, and have fun.” With humor and heart, My Mother Was Nuts reveals there’s no one else quite like Penny Marshall.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Penny Marshall's Photo Album

Click on thumbnails for larger images

Penny and Rob Reiner cutting the cake at their 1971 backyard Hollywood wedding.	Penny with her close friend John Belushi in New York in 1976. John passed away in 1982.	Art Garfunkel on a motorcycle trip through France and Italy with Penny.	Penny with her daughter, Tracy; Tracy’s husband, Matt; and their children Spencer, Bella, and Viva in 2011.

Review

“Marshall’s matter-of-fact memoir is a must-read for one reason– it’s hilarious.” –Marie Claire

“Bold and irrepressibly sassy.” –Kirkus Reviews

“There's as much practical, hard-won advice here as there is Hollywood gossip, and Marshall's boundless energy and no-nonsense attitude make for a fun read.” –Publishers Weekly

“According to her revealing new memoir, budding actress Penny Marshall braved the cruelties of a business obsessed with perky, girl-next-door pretty. Of course, that was before Marshall starred in the juggernaut sitcom Laverne & Shirley, then directed movies like A League of Their Own and Big – the first Hollywood film with a woman at the helm to gross over $100 million, vaulting her into the elite ranks of Hollywood power players. Beautiful.” –O Magazine

“Penny Marshall charmed America in Laverne & Shirley and gave her comedic and director’s touch to films such as Big and A League of Their Own. Now she tells all with memoir My Mother Was Nuts. The brutally honest, heartbreaking tale includes her recent struggle with (and victory over) cancer. Above all, the book is funny.” –USA Weekend

“This breezy and charming memoir also has many serious things to say about motherhood, the Hollywood pecking order, taking advantage when luck comes one’s way, growing up with distant and weird parents, and marrying too young.” –Publishers Marketplace

“Penny Marshall’s My Mother Was Nuts is absolutely hilarious and dead serious… it’s Penny’s raspy, punchline packed voice all the way through. You cannot put My Mother Was Nuts down. Just try.” –ShowBiz411.com

“Hollywood aficionados will get a kick out of Marshall’s anecdotes about her circle of friends, including Albert Brooks, John Belushi, and Carrie Fisher, all told in a funny, down-to-earth manner.” –Booklist

“Penny Marshall is a fascinating woman who has lived a life few of us could survive. Did you know she gave me two of the best jobs I’ve ever had? Of course not, because when she talks she is barely comprehensible. Read her memoir and you’ll come to love her as much as I do.” –Tom Hanks

"If I hadn’t known Penny for the past 35 years, reading this book would make me want to. Also, I'm so glad she wrote it because it helps me remember things I forgot, which is a lot.” –Carrie Fisher

“My sister Penny is one of the funniest people I know. I’m not saying that because she’s my sister, although I am partial to nepotism. She made everyone laugh at our family dinner table, and she made everyone laugh on the set of Laverne and Shirley. The fact that she went on to become the first woman director in the history of film, to make not one, but two movies that made over $100 million is no surprise to me. Read this book and you will know why.” –Garry Marshall

“A very funny book by a very funny lady. I wouldn't have a career without her!” –Mark Wahlberg

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: New Harvest; First Edition edition (September 18, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547892624
• ISBN-13: 978-0547892627
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,207 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Penny Marshall is an actress, producer, and director. After playing several small roles for television, she was cast as Laverne DeFazio in the sitcom Laverne and Shirley. A ratings success, the show ran from 1976 until 1983, and Marshall received three Golden Globe award nominations for her performance. She went on to direct films such as Big (1988), the first film directed by a woman to gross in excess of $100 million at the U.S. box office, Awakenings (1990), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and A League of Their Own (1992). In more recent years, she has produced Cinderella Man (2005) and Bewitched (2005), as well as episodes of According to Jim (2009). She most recently directed an episode of the Showtime original series United States of Tara.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#71 in Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs

#71 in Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

198 of 221 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Guess I didn't see the charm in the book September 22, 2012

By Mainecoon

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have read the five star reviews, and sadly, I can't give the same rating.

Prior to the book, I really liked Penny Marshall. After reading the book, I can't say I feel the same.

First, just looking at the book itself, the writing is okay...she talks like she is having a conversation, rather than writing "literature", and I like that. But, her conversations are somewhat superficial. There is no true insight into Ms Marshall. No great revelations of a "gee, that's really amazing" when it comes to her personal career and those celebrity friends she name drops ad nauseum (? spelling).

As far as what I walked away with? I found her lacking in any warmth, except when she talks about Carrie Fisher. She wasn't a good mother. She makes no bones about it, and no apologies or sincere regrets. She didn't like, respect or appreciate her parents. Her mother wasn't a great, loving mother, I got that. Her father was a blah personality, I got that. But honestly, nothing gave me the impression she tried to be a loving daughter, either, other than she moved them to California and helped support them financially, but that was done more, I got the impression, because she had the money to do so and was expected of her. You did drugs....I got that. Over and over, I got that. She apparently didn't care much for her sister, because I didn't see any overtures of closeness or wanting to be close to her...more pointing out her sister's faults.

I am sure that this is Penny in real life. Her words certainly ring true, and I appreciate the honesty. There was some humor, often sad or black humor. No true insight into her marriage with Rob Reiner or other personal relationships...everything seems to be glossed over....

Save your money, borrow from the library, or share with Kindle people by trading. I appreciate what Ms Marshall did in her career, and I appreciate her talent. I don't think I care for her as a person, and that taints now how I feel about watching her or her films she directed. Read more ›

150 of 172 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and entertaining just like its author!! September 18, 2012

By autumn13

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Penny Marshall is one of my all time favorite actresses and directors! She has made some of the best movies, been on one of my all time favorite tv shows Laverne and Shirley, and now she brings us a very funny book.
She talks about growing up in the Bronx, getting pregnant and married young in New Mexico, her marriage to Rob Reiner and relatioship with Art Garfunkel. She talks about some very serious stuff like abortion and drugs and she goes behind the scenes of all her movies and the set of her famous tv show. She has been through some difficult stuff but she manages to turn all of that into to humor which is what I love about her.
This book is absolutely hilarious and a must read! If you love her movies and Laverne and Shirley you'll love this too. Its what you would expect from this very funny lady.

124 of 143 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars What hypocrite! September 26, 2012

By Robertuccio

Format:Kindle Edition

While I enjoy reading biographies of all types because I find it interesting to learn what motivations people had to get to where they are in life, this book simply made me turn away in disgust. Why?
In brief:
Penny complains non-stop about her mother and what a terrible person she was -probably true- but then she leaves her daughter behind to be raised by others. There are brief mentions of the daughter here and there, but no discernible mother-daughter bond.
Drugs, drugs, drugs, more drugs, John Belushi dies of a drug overdose Penny is horrified and then guess what? More drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs.
There were many names dropped throughout the book but that did not make it any more interesting, it was just a repository of names.
I thought that our age of reality t.v. was the most superficial but after reading this tragedy of a book I see that empty, vapid heads came before the current crop of insipid celebrities with nothing to offer.
There's a silver lining to all this, I did not have to pay to read this book because I got to borrow it for free from the Amazon Kindle library. Whew!

Now I must go read a classic to make up for the pain I inflicted on my intellect with this travesty of a book.

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Changed My Opinion of Penny Marshall for the Negative November 4, 2012

By Isadore Ann VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I really liked Penny Marshall before I read this book. I wanted to read it to find out more about her life. Now? I have absolutely no respect for her. But there's more than that. For a memoir to be interesting it has to have something that interests, amuses, or entertains. This book does none of those things.

This could have been written by anyone because the book also lacks that personal insight that makes a memoir interesting. Penny tells her story as if she was describing a story on the news. In other words, no emotion, no reflection, and certainly no lessons learned.

One of the things that struck me about the book was how little she seemed to learn as she got older. John Belushi died of a drug overdose and yet she talks about her own drug use as blandly as if she was discussing her morning shower. It was just something she did every day. She saw people around her behaving poorly and even dying but it didn't change her own practices. And yet, there's also no reflection here either.

She titled this book about her obvious negativity toward her mother, and yet she was an even worse mother. She dumped her kid off and had zero reflection on that either. What's worse, she continued getting pregnant twice more where she didn't even know who the father was.

She never talks about the consequences of her poor behavior. Perhaps she sincerely believes there wasn't any. The one redeeming quality of this book is that her brother Garry seems like a genuinely nice person.