Mike and I both mention this autobiography on the latest podcast episode. It does have info about the production of Rhoda, of course, but it has so much more. It's an easy read, conversational and accessible, and I mean that in a positive way. Valerie Harper comes across as an engaging storyteller in this simple but entertaining memoir.
I was interested to read about her early stage career. Her background as a dancer, her life in New York City, her appearing with Jackie Gleason and Lucille Ball--all of it's new to me. The sections on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda offer some good stories, but you will need to supplement them with other books to get satisfaction if those are your primary interests.
One thing that left me wanting more: Her account of the whole mess with Valerie--where she was kicked off her own show, which NBC continued as The Hogan Family--feels incomplete somehow. Don't get me wrong; she won the court case, and I have no trouble accepting that she was ill treated by Lorimar. Yet she glosses over what led to the wrongful firing by Lorimar, the difficult contract negotiations. I understand why she focuses on what happened after that process--the dismissal and lawsuit--but there is likely a lot of interesting stuff she leaves out about the vision of the series, the creative differences, etc. I don't recall her ever mentioning in the book her holdout after season 1 of Rhoda, which is interesting to consider when looking at this situation.
Her TV movie work gets short shrift, too, but that's not surprising in what is a fairly sparse volume.
She takes a pretty classy route in this book, though, doling out sincere praise to family, co-workers, her ex-husband, and many others. Her account of her health issues is compelling and offers a little more introspection than some of the rest of her life story. Any fan of Valerie Harper will be relieved to discover spending time with her in book form is a pleasant experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment