Speedbumps: Flooring it Through Hollywood [Hardcover]

Teri Garr (Author), Henriette Mantel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 2005

At once laugh-out-loud funny and remarkably down-to-earth, the popular Oscar- nominated actress muses about movies, men, motherhood, and MS in a book that is both Hollywood hilarious and personally moving

From Speedbumps:
I was originally up for the principal female role in Young Frankenstein. Mel Brooks was directing. He had just finished Blazing Saddles, and was at the top of the comedy world.

Mel had picked me out of five hundred girls, but admitted that he was still trying to convince Madeline Kahn to take the lead role. After I auditioned three times, Madeline finally did decide to take the part of the fiancée.

I was crushed. I’d never come so close to getting a major part in a major movie. But then Mel told me that if I came back the next day with a German accent I could read for the part of Inga, Gene Wilder’s buxom lab assistant.

A German accent in twenty-four hours? Luckily, I was still on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, and, as fate would have it, Cher’s wig stylist was German. So, I sat in on Cher’s hairstyling session (that gave me hours of study!) and emerged with a perfect German accent when saying, “Mein Gott, zis vig veighs forty pounds.” That would translate to the script!

There was one last thing I needed for Inga. Or two, actually. I realized Inga’s part was really all about the boobs, so the next day I went in to the audition wearing a bra stuffed with socks. People pay over five thousand dollars for a boob job today. Mine cost under five dollars at Woolworth’s, and got me the part, my biggest to date.

I was thrilled. I’d been chosen by one of the best. My career was finally in motion.

I got to thinking that I should have stuffed my bra with socks for every audition.

In The New Yorker, the late, great film critic Pauline Kael called Garr, "the funniest neurotic dizzy dame

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As Garr describes growing up on the fringes of 1950s and '60s Hollywood in a "gypsy showbiz family," studying ballet, ignoring school and sneaking into auditions pretending to be older than she was, readers will realize hers is a pretty familiar Hollywood story. She didn't sleep with Elvis or one of the Beatles like Peggy Lipton did, but she was next door when her girlfriend went to bed with Elvis, and she sat in the recording studio during the making of Yellow Submarine. Garr worked her way from smaller parts (dancer in Viva Las Vegas and other Elvis movies) to bigger ones (Tootsie; Mr. Mom) until her career was finally on track. Alas, this is when she discovered she had no life—no husband, no baby—and started scrambling. She'd also developed a limp and some intermittent neurological tics. In 1983, a specialist diagnosed multiple sclerosis and prescribed the medication Garr has become a spokesperson for: Rebif, a form of interferon. When she's not crisscrossing the country talking about MS, Garr's taking life pretty slowly, enjoying time with her young daughter. As she says, one "of the only things we can control about any affliction—and life in general—is our attitude toward dealing with it." Readers who liked Lipton's or Hawn's memoirs should enjoy Garr's, too. (Nov.)
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Review

"Read this book, it's a lesson in courage."
- Mel Brooks --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hudson Street Press; 1ST edition (November 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594630070
• ISBN-13: 978-1594630071
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Multiple Sclerosis

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laughter is the best medicine., December 15, 2005

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Speedbumps: Flooring it Through Hollywood (Hardcover)

Teri Garr's "Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood" is a breezy, self-deprecating, and extremely entertaining look at the life of an actress who has to overcome more than her share of obstacles. Her father, Eddie Garr, was an itinerant and alcoholic vaudevillian who liked to gamble, and Teri's mother was always moving the kids from one part of the country to another in an attempt to keep the family together.

As a youngster, Garr took ballet lessons and had her heart set on becoming a prima ballerina. Although dance was her entrée into performing, she eventually progressed to acting in movies, television commercials, and sitcoms. Work didn't always come easily, but Garr inherited her mother's persistence and stubbornness. She aggressively lobbied for roles and, over the years, appeared in films directed by such luminaries as Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Pollack, Mel Brooks, and Martin Scorsese.

"Speedbumps," which Garr wrote with Henriette Mantel, is a delightful look at a life filled with humor. Teri Garr does not take herself seriously, and when she name drops, she does so naturally and without arrogance. She tells a number of witty anecdotes about her friendships with Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Dustin Hoffman, and Francois Truffaut. I find it refreshing that she discusses her flops as well as her successes with equal charm and enthusiasm. Rather than becoming bitter about the "speedbumps" she has encountered, Garr believes that facing adversity has been a source of personal growth.

The most poignant aspect of this book is Garr's description of her long battle with multiple sclerosis. She had alarming symptoms for many years before her disease was diagnosed, and it took her a long time to find a doctor who could help her. Today, Garr speaks to people across the country about MS and she is the national chair of the Multiple Sclerosis Women Against MS program. Her courage and positive attitude have been an inspiration to many other people battling this debilitating condition. It is heartwarming to read that Garr has not given up on life. In fact, she is now even more grateful for her many blessings, including her daughter, her friendships, the work that she does, and the love, pleasure, and laughter that each day brings.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teri, is now on your couch., December 14, 2005

By 

Marc Flanagan "Reading Through Lunch" (Santa Monica, Ca.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Speedbumps: Flooring it Through Hollywood (Hardcover)

I just finished Miss Garr's book, "Speedbumps; Flooring it Through Hollywood", an apt title, for Teri has had the complete Hollywood tour. One of the great comedians of the screen. A fixture on late night TV. Teri always comes across as, 'your sister's friend, who you always had a crush on'. Her book,so very personable, like herself. Funny and wise. An individual who rose up, from dancing in Elvis movies, to working with every famous director in film. Teri's world changed when her body chemistry changed. She relates her experiences with MS, her tribulations with physicians and how it affected her career. A very moving, always charming experience. Just what you would expect from Miss Garr. God bless her.

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teri - Happy at Last!, November 6, 2005

By 

D. A. Sherman (KY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Speedbumps: Flooring it Through Hollywood (Hardcover)

Picked up Teri Garr's semi-autobiography (written with Henriette Mantel - and, hey, let's give these co-writers and ghost-writers a hand as well, as they do a lot of work and rarely get the credit they deserve) last week and breezed through it quickly. That is not to say that it was a fast read, but rather as a demonstration of how much I enjoyed it.

Although I became a big fan of Teri in the 1980s after seeing her several times on the old LATE NIGHT program, I found in reading her book that I had memories of her leading back years before that. From watching her every week on SONNY & CHER to seeing her in my first "adult" movie at the theaters in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, that one episode of STAR TREK and onward, I always enjoyed seeing her light up the screen. Heck, I was even such a fan that I once tried to send her a photo to autograph (although I never got it back ... and hoping now that my teenage-years' gushy, fanboy note with the photo never got to her in the first place).

One element that is sometimes a disappointment to fans reading a bio about their favorite performer is that the stars sometimes forget that an autobiography needs to have a personal almost interactive feel to it. Some believe they have to dismiss topics that the fans are curious to know about their background in life and in their profession, thriving for a superior tone to prove how important their life's work is or was. Ultimately, however an autobiography should engage a reader as if the writer was in the room with them and having a conversation. If the reader finds themselves identifying with the writer and wanting to converse back, then an autobiography is successful. If the reader feels bored or slighted by the content being dispensed, then everyone's time is wasted in the endeavor.

Fortunately, Garr comes across as someone who had never let the cliché of fame and fortune get the better of her and she comes across as someone you would be happy to talk to at a party or get to know on a friendly level. Her many stories are not only funny, but self-reflective, allowing Garr to re-evaluate when her actions were for the best and worst for her in life (in particular with her later physical problems that occurred). Thus, even when stories lead to events that would be traumatic to many, Garr finds the right light touch to show that nothing should keep one from finding the humor in anything, and thus finding the life in ... well, life.

Best of all, as one would hope for anyone such a Garr, the book ends with her finding happiness with those around her and in life itself. That is not giving away the ending, however, as one could only hope for such an ending in any autobiography. Still, I left the book happy for Teri and for those who share her life. I would certainly recommend this book to fans of Garr and to anyone else that may be struggling and wanting to know if perseverance is worth all the hassle. Garr certainly proves it can come true and I am happy for her.

Even if she never did sign that photo I sent. Grumble, grumble.