Customer Reviews

Rickles' Book: A Memoir

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I believe the "mission" of a reviewer is to give the good and the bad in this review of Rickles' book. I am a lifetime Don Rickles fan, all the way back to when I was a kid and my parents let me stay up late to watch him on the Tonite Show. He was hilarious and irreverent then and he still is today. The first thing I want to emphasize in my review, is that I will not use the phrase "chapters" because the "SNIPPETS" are way too short to be confused with a chapter. The Amazon overview you've probably already looked at says this book is 256 pages. My book that is sitting right next to the keyboard as I type is 239 pages. And even the word page is an exaggeration! Between each snippet (i.e.: chapter, oops! I used the word after I said I wouldn't. Last time I promise!) is a blank page, yet the blanks count in the aforementioned 239. Next there are pictures throughout the book, some take full pages, some take ½ pages. So, if you subtract the blank pages, and the picture pages, this book couldn't be 150 pages. Wait! There's more! The print on the pages is large, and there are very large spaces between paragraphs, and last but not least, most of the "writing" are quick little comments like: "Got any spare change? He asked me. (That's a printed line.) "I gave him five bucks." (That's a line.) "Go buy yourself a ranch," I said. (That's a line.) My point Is, I wouldn't spend my money on the hard cover edition, I'd wait for the paperback. To give you an idea of the brevity of this book, if you travel a lot like I do, and you needed to purchase a book to read on a flight from California to New York and back, you better buy two books. You will have this book complete on the going, and if you didn't listen to me, you'd have nothing to read on the coming. One other reason, I was disappointed in the totality of this book. When I heard Rickles was releasing a book, I was so excited, and couldn't wait to get to hear all the inside stories of his amazing life, but I did not get stories I got "snippets". A perfect example: World War II, Rickles is in the Navy; Man! What stories this comic mad man will spin for us! Wrong! Not counting the page with a picture, his whole World War II experience, is told in a short 3-½ pages. In summary, if you realize this isn't really a book, you should buy it, but you should buy the paperback edition. Each snippet is like the little squares of comedy at the bottom of a Readers Digest page. In fact, if you saw him on Larry King last week, in his hour chit-chat with Larry, he actually verbalized the entire book. To the Amazon readers that read my review I hope you appreciate this review for the truth provided, and rate it as helpful.

Very entertaining and easy to read book! Each chapter is only a few pages in length and this book is full of so many interesting stories, that this becomes a real page turner! I laughed out loud many times! I especially enjoyed the stories about Mr. S. (Sinatra), the great Johnny Carson, and Don's friendship with Bob Newhart. I wish this book was longer because it is so enjoyable. I saw Don perform in Las Vegas about five years ago (great show!) and it was good to read and learn about his other side: his wonderful wife Barbara. This book is a real who's who of Hollywood. There just aren't performers like Don Rickles anymore. This is a very enjoyable book and I highly recommend it!

I would guess that if I had read Don's book on a flight from NYC to LA, I would have finished it by the time we flew over the Mississipi. It's a fun book but unfortunately a short one (double-spaced, large print and plenty of wasted "white space"). But I still recommend it for Rickles' fans (I'm one of those) and I would buy it again for my personal show biz collection.

On the plus side, having followed Don's career since his early 30 Rock appearances in the mid-sixties with Johnny, I had a checklist of things I had hoped he would cover and--wouldn't you know it--he covered them all: his life-long obsession and multi-faceted relationship with Frank Sinatra (who nicknamed Don, "Bullethead"), his interactions with three of my all-time favorites--Jack Benny, Bob Hope and Milton Berle--his relationship with Johnny, his long friendships with Don Adams and Bob Newhart, how he met his wife and lastly, how his career surged forward after his success as a night club comic at the Slate Brothers in LA. We learn a little about Don's mother and father (his mother had Sandra Berlinger qualities). I did not know that Don was an only child.

But I just wish the book was three times longer than it was because I would have had three times the enjoyment. Any Don Rickles fan with a laptop could have sat with Don and fleshed out this great material into a deeper read but we should be thankful that he at least wrote what he did. His co-author was successful in capturing Don's voice throughout the entire book.

There are a few things that will surprise even the most dedicated Rickles' fan, one being his relationship with George and Barbara Bush and Barbara's joshful disdain of Don's appearances in the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello "Beach" movies.

Isn't it interesting that Don is really the last comedian of his era that is still working night clubs in Las Vegas? What a survivor!

The first time I saw Don Rickles was at the Boulevard nightclub on Queen Boulevard in Queens a hundred or so years ago. I was 15 and was there to celebrate a friend's sweet sixteen party. It was one of the first times I had ever been on a date and the evening was sweet. Then the entertainment started. A very young, balding bullet headed man came on stage and though he looked benign, in a minute he proceeded to rip into and destroy anyone and everyone in sight. The sweet sixteen girl was his main target and everyone in the place roared and no one more than the guest of honor herself. The man was hilarious. I don't recall how long his set was (a half hour? longer?)but I do remember it was so irreverent and hilarious that, when later, I saw him sitting at the bar, I got my courage up, walked up to him, shook his hand and asked if I could buy him a drink. He smiled and let me! My date and I sat with him and a warmer, kinder man you would not want to meet. Thus began my love affair with Don Rickles, a love affair that has not dwindled over the years. I have made special trips to Vegas just to see him and even ventured to the wastelands of Westbury to see him and Joan Rivers in concert. I have seen all of his movies, and even bought his LP...now I have bought his book and I loved it.Don, you are the best. May you go on forever...and if you do, you can be sure that I'll be there slipping the maitre 'd a few bucks to get a ringside seat. A great comedian, a great man and a great book. Thanks for all of it, Don.

I was really looking forward to this book, but was disappointed. Even though the stories were short and sometimes interesting, I agree with another reviewer that the stories seem unfinished and fizzle out. With his tremendous success, I was expecting more.

Don Rickles' career has included standup comedy, TV sitcoms, featured spots on Dean Martin roasts and Johnny Carson, even a few dramatic roles. Now a whole new generation venerates him as Mr Potato Head in the Toy Story movies. Reading this book is like getting to sit with him and hearing stories of everything from meeting royalty to hanging with the Rat Pack. It's not a biography: he never explains how he hooked into using the insult as his modus operandi, there's no detail on getting through the bad times (other than his sadness at the loss of his father and, much later, Frank Sinatra), and precious little about his own children and grandchildren, other than being generous in praise of them all. But leave that to others. Rickles has spent his life entertaining, and here he entertains us with his life. Whether insults are your style or not, the man has stories worth retelling. Thanks, Don.

Don Rickles's book is composed of short two to three page ancedotes. The stories are mostly about people who played a role in his career. Frank Sinatra was a great friend and helped Don Rickles with his career. There's nothing revealing about Don Rickles or the famous people in his life. For the most part , the stories aren't even that funny.

I usually look forward to seeing Don Rickles' appearances on late-night talk shows. He's brilliant at deflating the pretense and hokey conviviality of show-business personalities. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with his memoir, which recounts his childhood in Queens, his training as an actor, and the highlights of a 50-year career, including his disappointing TV series, his role in the Martin Scorsese film "Casino," and his come-back as the voice of Mr. Potato Head in the "Toy Story" movies. Many of the vignettes in this book fall flat, and do not pack the punch or shock value of his biting stage commentary. During one episode with life-long friend Frank Sinatra, Sinatra implores Rickles to run outside a Paris hotel into a rainstorm to tell the paparazzi to stop taking pictures (apparently, Sinatra had mistaken lightning for photographers' flash bulbs). I guess you'd have to have been there....

whether it was a memory issue or just the fear that it would fail if it were too long, too in-depth, I of course do not know.

Funny stories with funnier possibilities.

Stories about the RAT Pack are in demand and without a real insider we only get what E Entertainment or some schlock putz tv show may give us.

WE NEED YOU DON, WE NEED YOU TO GIVE US THAT IN-DEPTH INSIGHT or is this just the warm-up, to see if there is a demand.

Thats my hope.

If you were looking for funny, it is really not. It is just a short, and I mean very short, compilation of events throughtout Rickles life and it really is just his way of celebrating his family and his heritage and how wealthy and famous he became.

I liked his comments about Leno, Letterman, Carson, et al at the end. Mr. Rickles is classy and is still one of my favorites. This book just did not do anything for me accept to help me kill about an hour of time reading it.