Tag Archives: autobiography
Swindell Swindle
In this excerpt from David Brinkley’s autobiography, titled simple David Brinkley: A Memoir, ©1995, he remembers his first job, at the age of twelve, in the 1930s: Mr. Swindell explained to me that the A&P sold butter in two forms– “print” butter in quarter-pound sticks wrapped in paper printed with the dairy’s name, and a …
And I Knew Before I Answered
In this excerpt from Wunnerful, Wunnerful! the Autobiography of Lawrence Welk, © 1971, Welk discusses the grief and disorientation he felt when he lost his mother: It was in Pittsburgh that I got the telegram. “Come home at once. Mother is dying.” I stood holding the telegram in my hands, sick at heart, remembering a …
Vulnerable Human Beings
In this excerpt from Wunnerful, Wunnerful! the Autobiography of Lawrence Welk, © 1971, Welk discusses the lesson he learned when his first band left him to tour on their own: Some of the bewilderment and pain began to lift the moment I returned (home) to Yankton, and a day or so later when I dropped …
Brushed My Hair Back
In this excerpt from Wunnerful, Wunnerful! the Autobiography of Lawrence Welk, © 1971, he talks about how hard it was for him to express his emotions verbally: I had always thought my mother was beautiful, but she looked especially so to me as she held (my newborn daughter) Shirley for the first time. She settled …
Change, Conquer or Exploit
Excerpted from Plain and Simple: A Woman’s Journey to the Amish by Sue Bender, ©1989: “Why is the Amish land so beautiful?” I asked one evening. “What makes it feel special? I’m a city person, Eli, and I didn’t see a cow till I was twelve. I don’t know where the sun sets, or how …
The Things They Hold Precious
Another excerpt from If I Knew Then What I Know Now– So What? by Estelle Getty, ©1988: As a student of human nature, I love to people-watch. It’s also essential to my craft– I’ll pick things up I see on the street and incorporate them into my roles. It was my idea, for instance, for …
Noah’s Ark Syndrome
Excerpted from If I Knew Then What I Know Now– So What? by Estelle Getty, ©1988: I’ve always felt that loneliness, not age, is the real killer. I get a lot of letters from women who tell me how difficult life is– they’re widowed and alone and scared and sick– and the show (The Golden …
Dorothy
In this excerpt from his autobiography Have Tux, Will Tavel, ©1954, Bob Hope is discussing the successful Road To… movie series: When Bing (Crosby) and I are working out our lines for the next take, she (Dorothy Lamour) just stands there and listens. Once in a while she’ll say, “How about a line for me?” …
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Three autobiographies I’ve read that made me intensely dislike the author: Time Enough To Win by Roger Staubach Have Tux, Will Travel by Bob Hope It’s in the Book, Bob by Bob Eubanks
Subtle
From Bob Hope’s autobiography Have Tux, Will Tavel, ©1954: I’d discovered that I was a success if could lead with a joke the audience didn’t grab right away– a good, solid, big joke with a certain amount of subtlety to it, one that would challenge the audience and let them know right away that they …
The Persistence Of
Rod McKuen’s father abandoned his mother before he was born, and in the early 1970s McKuen hired a team of private investigators to find him. The search is documented in the autobiographical Finding My Father: One Man’s Search for Identity, ©1976. One fascinating aspect of the search was how poor people’s memories are. Four women …
A Lesson in Genetics
In this excerpt from Blue Highways © 1982, author William Least Heat Moon recalls a conversation in the Desert Den Bar in Hachita, New Mexico: (Bartender) Mrs. (Virginia) Been turned to me. “He’s a real cowboy. Horse, lasso, branding iron.” “Not many of us left except you count the ones that tells you they’s cowboys. …
