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"There's Mel, There's Woody, and There's You": My Life in the Slow Lane

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"There's Mel, there's Woody, and there's you," is what the then head of Paramount Studios said to a young Bruce Kimmel after he delivered THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL. Kimmel seemed at the start of a successful career as an actor-director. What happened next is boldly and humorously related in this memoir.

Kimmel writes that he had wanted to be a movie actor since he was a small boy. Even a short jaunt to New York City right after college and marriage didn't dim that desire. When he and his wife returned to his home town of Los Angeles, he found himself with an agent and began working on some of the most popular television series of the 1970's.

His interactions with the famous and not-so-famous are told here with precise humanity and intriguing detail. One thing always leads to another in show business. Kimmel's conversational writing style makes the book an easy and enjoyable read.

And truth is indeed stranger than fiction. Elsa Lanchester, Groucho Marx, William Holden - all have their Kimmel moments. Merv Griffin and Chip Hand - it's all there, between the lines. You see Hollywood as it was then, and how it will never be again - one of the reasons Kimmel wrote the book.

Not just a series of vignettes, but a true kaleidoscope of a time and a place, this memoir will take you on a little trip down memory lane - Kimmel's memories, that is. They are funny, personal, revealing, and....well...memorable.

With a section of photographs and lyric quotations from many of Kimmel's songs, this is one of those rare books that you realize was written with one voice, one point of view, and a great deal of heart. Kimmel spares no one - least of all himself when discussing mistakes and missteps.

Bruce Kimmel is now best known as a producer of CD's and an author of several works of fiction. His cult film THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL is available on DVD. If you haven't seen it, you might as well order it when you order this book. The chapters on its making and subsequent fate are as fine a treatise on low-budget film-making and front office shenanigans as has been put on paper.

Though he claims to have lived life in the "slow lane" - nothing could be farther from the truth. The rest of the world is still trying to catch up to him.

This is one of the best books about the stark realities of show business I've ever read.

Like William Goldman's classic ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE, it is a "must read" for anybody who is even thinking about becoming an actor, director, screenwriter or entering any other field of the dramatic arts.

Bruce Kimmel was a professional actor, director and screenwriter for well over 25 years. He had a fair amount of success in movies, TV and theatre, including a film (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL) that has become a cult classic, but there were also failures and major career mistakes made along the way. In his very readable memoir, he is brutally honest about his life, both professional and personal. Yet. in the end, though a bit battered, bruised but definitely wiser, he emerges as a "winner".

I can't recommend this book too highly.




© Michael B. Druxman

I first became aware of Bruce Kimmel in 1976 when I saw the film, The First Nudie Musical, which he directed, starred in, and wrote both the screenplay and music. The movie was, and is, great fun, with riotous comedy and infectious musical numbers, and is now considered a cult classic. I was eager to read this new autobiography to learn more about the making of that film and the creative artist behind it. As Kimmel is an accomplished writer of novels and screenplays, I wasn't particularly surprised at how effectively his narrative was presented, but I was fascinated by his telling of the ups and downs of a career in stage and screen show business. The book covers the time from his days at Los Angeles City College through his current life as a CD producer, with many stage shows, TV programs, film projects, and commercials in between, liberally sprinkled with amusing tales of working with the famous and semi-famous of Hollywood.

The title quotes a statement once made to Kimmel by a top studio executive, but the book isn't an "ego trip"; he is sometimes brutally candid about mistakes and disappointments in his career and personal life, but his passion for creating and performing comes through clearly.

Any fan of 70s television and film will enjoy this autobiography of actor/director Bruce Kimmel. Kimmel, who has written a number of novels, including the semi-autobiographical Benjamin Kritzer books, gives readers a look at what it was like to start out as an actor in the late 1960s, and the ups and downs of his career through the next few decades. He talks about working on shows like THE DONNIE AND MARIE SHOW, LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, HAPPY DAYS, MASH, ANGIE, and many others, and how he moved toward producing and directing his first theatrical film (THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL),his struggle to find work in the 1980s and his eventual switch to record producing in the 90s (something that he is still quite successful at today). An extremely entertaining read by an extrememly entertaining performer, this is a book you will enjoy even if you have never heard of the name Bruce Kimmel (although it you watched TV in the 1970s you will certainly recognize his face).

If you haven't read Bruce Kimmel's Benjamin Kritzer novels, and you should, this new book, "There's Mel, There's Woody, and There's You": My Life In The Slow Lane, picks up where the Kritzer fiction ends and the Kimmel reality of making a living and surviving away from your parents begins. When Mr Kimmel announced that he was working on this book, I honestly thought it was going to be a guide for young actors, augmented with tips from his many personal experiences as an actor, director, and record producer.

Well, the book is and it isn't what I had assumed. It turned out to be so much more. There's much advice, some personal tips, some painful and some very funny anecdotes, but the icing on the cake is that it's a wonderfully honest autobiography from a survivor in Hollywood. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

There's F. Scott Fitzgerald. There's Nathaniel West. Now there's Bruce Kimmel, whose non-fictional Hollywood biography I rank right up there with the best of the fictional Hollywood novels. While THE DAY OF THE LOCUST and THE LAST TYCOON offer up dramatic, ans sometimes frightening, portraits of the powers that were in Hollywood just after the dawn of sound pictures, Kimmel offers up a charming journey through the Hollywood of the 1970s before the dawn of the summer blockbuster.
Bruce Kimmel grew up, as told in his wistful BENJAMIN KRITZER novels, in the shadow of movie-making, in the Los Angeles of the 1950s. This new biography, a breezy read, follows Bruce through the family-oriented world of television in the 1970s and just past the opening of STAR WARS, which would forever change the way movies were made and marketed. Sadly, it was the STAR WARS effect which took Kimmel's film, THE CREATURE WASN'T NICE, away from his artistic control, leading to a compromised film, far from his original intent. Prior to that, Bruce deftly details everything anyone could want to know about his signature film, THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL, from its inception on a napkin to the film achieving cult status. (Personally, I've stated in print - Scarlet Street Magazine; and on the web - my love for THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL, an opinion only strengthened by what Kimmel has to say about, and he has a lot to say in these pages, its cast, its songs, its previews and its cult status.
In between, we get to know Bruce Kimmel, as an in-demand television character actor, a loving father and a friend of Hugh Hefner, and know that Bruce's acting career was definitely cut short by the changing times. Anyone seeing any of Kimmel's guest shots on THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, M*A*S*H, LAVERNE & SHIRLEY, et al can see that Kimmel is a gifted actor, with a rubbery, reactive face, reminiscent of the great clowns of The Jazz Age era.
Kimmel writes honestly and conversationally about experiences "in the slow lane," while subtly presenting a history lesson of a Hollywood on the cusp of a new era. Never didactic nor self-pitying, his book is certain to make one smile, make one laugh and to make one appreciate the arts of acting and movie-making. The book's brilliance lies in Kimmel's ability to present himself, warts and all, as someone who isn't perfect, someone who isn't bitter, but as someone not afraid to take the bull by the horns and live his life. My face was glowing with pleasure with each turn of the page. Like THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL, "THERE'S MEL, THERE'S WOODY, AND THERE'S YOU": MY LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE will find its audience and become another celebrated portion of Bruce Kimmel's already laudatory career.

The multi-talented Bruce Kimmel appeared destined for stardom after college. He had it all - talent, brains, clean-cut good looks, and ambition. Written in his accessible, conversational style, THERE'S MEL, THERE'S WOODY & THERE'S YOU recounts the ups and downs of Kimmel's life and career as he shares his insights about acting, movie-making, and pursuing a career in Hollywood. Fast forward to 2010, now a successful record producer, Bruce Kimmel tells his story with self-effacing honesty and wit. Often hilarious, this is a compelling read for everyone who is interested in show biz, and an absolute must-read for those aspiring to a career in tinsel-town.

I went to school with Bruce Kimmel at Hamilton High in Los Angeles and knew from the start that he was meant for a career in Show Business. In "There's Mel, There's Woody and There's You", Kimmel talks about the realities of Show Business, which can be fun, exciting, and also very painful. From his humble beginnings growing up in L.A., we learn of an early Bruce Kimmel and his love for Show Business. He takes you thru his life from the time he was discovered by Shelley Morrison of "Will and Grace", who helped him get his first agent to the popular film hit "The First Nudie Musical" which he starred and wrote . We go thru a journey of his fascinating career and how he became a successful Grammy nominated music producer. This book will not only make you laugh but stirs ones emotions because of the heartbreak people endure in the entertainment field. I highly recommend "There's Mel, There's Woody, and There's You" not only to those interested in Show Business, but for anyone that has a dream. His determination, quick wit, and sensitivity will inspire you. I know it did me.

Recently, celebrity auto-biography's have been popping up left and right around these parts. But if you have to choose one, choose "There's Me, There's Woody, and There's You: My Life in the Slow Lane" by Bruce Kimmel. Why? Because it's frank, to the point and doesn't pull any punches. Picking up basically where is book "Kriter Time" leaves off, He tells things like it was back when being an actor on TV was hard work, going from audition to audition, Sit-com to sit-com, variety show to variety show. Not to mention writing songs, shorts, and musicals in his spare time. Bruce Kimmel is one of the last hard working people in showbiz. He knows what he wants, and in his book, he explains how he gets there. Pure determination and hard work. He talks about his interactions with the "stars" of the 70's, dishes some dirt, tells some tales, as well as his trials and triumphs and a lot of the time, leaves nothing to the imagination - he even names names! You can tell by reading this book, it's written from the heart without a third party dictating what he should or should not write like other celebrities do.

If you are a product of the 70's sit-com and variety shows or had your ear to the ground when it came to movies like "The First Nudie Musical" or "The Creature Wasn't Nice" (later named "Naked Space") then don't pass this book up. Not only is it a great read, but it's a book about determination and hard work. A model for all generations.

Bruce Kimmel's frankly adorable memoir about his long and varied entertainment industry career avoids the cliched bitchin' and moanin', relying instead on his genuine affection for this crazy business called show. There are close encounters here with the famous and the infamous, anecdotes galore, and plenty of good old-fashioned gossip--and Kimmel rarely pulls his punches, even while dissecting his own decisions; he is honest enough, on occasion, to paint himself as his own worst enemy.

But what's really remarkable in this book are Kimmel's infectious enthusiasm and fondness for his fellow thespians, writers, directors, and other workers in the Hollywood vineyards. You'll come away from this read with a newfound respect for woman of the people Cindy Williams--and admiration for Kimmel, himself, who time after time picks himself up, dusts himself off, and starts all over again.

They say that success is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. Bruce Kimmel's got both, in spades, and in this book, it's the perspiration--Kimmel's positive attitude, endless energy, and unquenchable reinvention of himself--that's truly inspiring.