This Laugh is on me: The Phil Silvers story, (Hardcover)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: Prentice-Hall; 1st Edition. edition (1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0139191003
• ISBN-13: 978-0139191008
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,090,921 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Poignant Biography By Comedy Great Phil Silvers!', December 12, 2005

By	Ralph Schiller (Winfield, IL, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

'This Laugh Is On Me' By Phil Silvers, as told to Robert Saffron is a fascinating and completely absorbing autobiograpy by the great film and television comedian. From his birth in New York as Phillip Silver in 1911, until the book's publication in 1973, we are taken along for an incredible journey through the last days of vaudeville, the heyday of burlesque, and the golden days of Broadway and Hollywood. This comic with the trademark bald head, horn-rim glasses, and the quick comeback line socialized with movie legends, as well as Presidents, Kings, Queens, and great men of the cloth, simply because he had the God given gift to make people laugh.

Phil Silvers comes across as a sincere, but soft-spoken and very thoughtful author as he looks over the highs and lows of his lifetime. The highs include starring on Broadway in 'High Button Shoes','Top Banana', motion-pictures,and of course 'The Phil Silvers Show' (1955 - 1959), fondly remembered by everyone as 'Sgt. Bilko',which finally gave him the stardom he that he had sought his entire life at the age of 44.

After 'Bilko', the great comedian's career would ebb and flow, with flops and hits mixed together in films, stage and television. Phil Silvers goes through two unsuccessful marriages to beauty queens,while at the same time raising five beautiful daughters.

Phil Silvers endures a seven year period of severe depression, that finally passes with a chance to star in the Broadway revival of 'A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum' (1971). This play was written originally as a vehicle for Phil Silvers back in the early 1960's,but Zero Mostel would snare the plum star role of the conniving slave. The great Mostel would successfully repeat his role in the 1966 film version,with a weaker part given to Silvers as a sop.

In 1971, 'A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum' opened on Broadway with Phil Silvers starring in the part he was born to play, and became a stunning smash hit! Phil Silvers would crown his comeback by winning the prestigious 1972 Antoinette Perry 'Tony' Award for 'Best Starring Actor In A Musical Play'!

Phil Silvers published this book in 1973, but left us too soon with his passing in 1985, and unfortunately the closing chapters of his life and career are not covered here.

'This Laugh Is On Me' is at times an hilarious, deeply moving, and often heart-breaking story, as we follow the footsteps of one of the greatest, funniest, most brilliant comedians to have ever lived, Phil Silvers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Autobiography!, September 10, 2003

By A Customer

This is a superb autobiography of the reknowned comedian-entertainer Phil Silvers(Sargeant Bilko).It's good reading!!

5.0 out of 5 stars This Laugh is on Me, October 19, 2009

By	H. Cason - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Excellent book, and the actual item arrived in a timely manner and was exactly as described.