Jewison, a seasoned filmmaker known for hits as diverse as In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck, and Fiddler on the Roof, focuses on his work rather than his life outside of it, trying to be "truthful and entertaining . . . serious and sometimes funny," and jumping about in time and place as association leads him in an irresistibly elliptical manner. He grew up working in the family dry-goods store in Toronto during the Depression, when Doc Edmunds performed door-to-door bargain tonsillectomies on kitchen tables for $24.95, and where Jewison perfected the art of the sales pitch that has aided him throughout his career. Via agent Larry Auerbach, he developed his resume directing American variety shows, including a Judy Garland comeback special, in the 1950s. The Thrill of It All! an immensely profitable Doris Day romance, followed, along with The Cincinnati Kid, a project taken over from hard-drinking Sam Peckinpah. The behind-the-scenes drama and comedy of his long career, presented with straightforward candor, should delight film mavens and general readers alike. Whitney Scott
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Review
PRAISE FOR NORMAN JEWISON:
"Making Moonstruck was so easy and so much fun that nobody thought it
would be anything but this sweet little film... except Norman (my little curmudgeon). Just look at the diversity of his work - In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck, Fiddler on the Roof -- only the GREAT directors are able to cross those boundaries." - Cher
"Norman Jewison is the sunniest of men, friendly, approachable, filled with boundless optimism. Those qualities not only warm his brilliant comedies, of which Moonstruck is my favorite, but also give him the fortitude to address grave and controversial issues. He is a 'mainstream' director who courageously follows his conscience into projects far from the mainstream. His career reflects a rare combination of popular and artistic success." - Roger Ebert
"Norman's book is like Norman; smart, warm, interesting, and a delight to spend time with." - Sidney Lumet
"A fiercely human and vastly entertaining memoir by a maker of fiercely human and vastly entertaining films. Norman Jewison is a man with a great heart and generosity of spirit." -- Joe Eszterhas, author of Hollywood Animal
"A terrific book about Hollywood...funny, honest, and tough -- like
Jewison." - William Goldman, screenwriter, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
"If you want to find Norman Jewison, follow the movies. They are not his life. But they are the massive and various evidence that a man of substance and dumbfounding productivity has passed by here. So many genres: social realism, political satire, romance, musicals, issues of race. And so many faces: Steve McQueen, Doris Day, Al Pacino, Sidney Poitier, Sir Michael Caine, Cher, Denzel Washington, Anne Bancroft, Rod Steiger. All these stories and faces and issues and eras of our lives. - Pulitzer Prize-winner John Patrick Shanley, from the Foreword
About the Author
Norman Jewison has been a vibrant force in the motion picture industry for more than forty years. His films have been celebrated at the Academy Awards, having received a total of 46 nominations. He has been personally nominated for three Best Director awards and in 1999 receiving the Irving Thalberg Award for lifetime achievement. He has won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, the Donatello Award from Italy, and numerous international prizes. Norman Jewison currently has two films in development. He lives on a working farm in Ontario, Canada.
