"You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again!": The Adventures and Misadventures of a Hollywood Nanny [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Suzanne Hansen (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A Nanny in Tinsel Town . . . is drawing back curtains on the exclusive nurseries." -- Flash News.com

"It’s obvious in her book and in her life that children come first." -- The Oakland Press

"Riotously funny, yet poignant at the same time." -- Susan Beekman, author, Battles, Hassles, Tantrums & Tears: Coping with Conflict and Creating a Peaceful Home

"The writing style is breezy and light . . . their misadventures are downright hilarious. One nanny accidentally vacuums a pile of cocaine." -- E-film Critic

Product Description
What are they like and how do they live? (Not like us). Are the rich and famous ordinary parents? (Of course not). Is Sally Field really that sweet? (She’s sweeter). Are Kurt and Goldie truly nuts for each other? (You bet!). Does the Eisner family really use Mickey Mouse toilet paper on the Disney jet? (Give me an M, give me an I, give me a C!!). What is it like to be a nanny in Hollywood? (Mostly you have to love being treated like a piece of lint found in the folds of the couch, but other than that it can be hilarious). Join Suzanne on her implausible escapades as she shares:

• Why some Moms think they can’t survive a day without a nanny—she discovers there are parents who don’t know their children’s routine well enough to put them to bed, let alone have dinner without the nanny there to help.
• The secret camaraderie she forms with other nannies—listen in on their phone conversations as they compare stories of employers spending $6,000 for a purse and then requiring the nanny to reimburse them 50 cents for a phone call.
• Her painful struggle as she leaves the children she has grown to love—find out the elaborate schemes the household staff orchestrate to sneak children out to see their previous nannies without the parents’ knowledge.
• Encounters with the stars—falling for Braveheart, life with the Urban Cowgirl, Jack Nicholson’s words of wisdom, life with Louie & Carla, pacifying the Sundance Kid and a hug from Bill Murray.
  
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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ruby Sky Publishing; illustrated edition edition (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972761233
• ISBN-13: 978-0972761239
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,036,061 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightfully dishy coming-of-age story, March 5, 2004

By	L Goodman-Malamuth "Leslie Goodman-Malamuth" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Suzanne Hansen's tale of a small-town girl who came to Los Angeles to look after the children of the immensely wealthy families in the entertainment industry is touching, fun, and dishy. She gives the names of employers who were fair and admirable (Debra Winger, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman), and assigns pseudonyms to the rich-yet-clueless (most notably, the "Swartz" family, reportedly Mike Ovitz's brood), people who think nothing of spending $20,000 for a Mediterranean cruise, yet when Dad makes a pricey phone call home, he asks first, "Is my art all right?"

Hansen's most disturbing portrait is of six-year-old "Joshua Swartz," who has already seen several nannies come and go, and who has hardened his heart to newcomers as well as to discipline.

If you like to read about La-La Land, but want to get behind the greasepaint and tinsel of the entertainment industry, this book is for you.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Small Town Girl Goes to the BIG CITY!, July 13, 2003

By	"mariahjohnson" (Palm Springs) - See all my reviews

If you have ever wondered what it is really like to live in a house that is surrounded by gates, this book will answer some of your "how do those people really live" questions. What would it be like to have a staff live in your home? What is it like not to know where supplies are in your own kitchen?
This lifestyle is so different from mine, it would have been hard to relate, except the nanny has some of the same thoughts, feelings and questions I had while reading it. If you order this book, set aside some uninterrupted time, because it is hard to EVER find a stopping point.. I read this book in two days!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Puts the FUN in DysFUNctional, July 10, 2003

By	Bookie (El Monte, CA, United States) - See all my reviews

This principled, young nanny is given an unparalleled education in the service of the rich and famous where priorities are too often askew. It's a crash course in psychology as she learns to deal up-close and personal with neurosis -- alternately ludicrous and heartbreaking. Let us just say that the children do not present the only behavioral management challenges. In truth, there are times when the children and the adults are the patients running the asylum. Excess is a way of life with these power brokers, though hidden penny-pinching sometimes exposes their eccentricities. The players run the gambit from plastic to genuine, from mean-spirited to magnanimous, and from toxic to charismatic.

Using an engaging narrative style that often reads like letters home to family and chums, the author takes you behind the scenes and reveals the unvarnished truth and idiosyncratic personalities of certain film industry titans. Grounded in small-town wisdom and solid family values, she shares many opportunities to compare and contrast childhood for the entitled versus the more mundane upbringing of the "huddled masses." Exactly who is privileged and who is impoverished? That's for you to decide and why. But if you are present and available as "your kids' mom (or dad)," I believe you'll cherish the blessing of such normalcy like never before.

Maybe the appeal of this book is our ongoing fascination with class distinctions/celebrity life which provides the drama and lure in such popular offerings as People Magazine, Upstairs, Downstairs, and of course, The Nanny Diaries. However, unlike Nanny Diaries, this memoir names many names making it an irresistible immersion into a way of life most of us will never know.