Number One Is Walking

 

By Steve Martin, drawings by Harry Bliss

A look back at his career in cinema by actor/writer/comedian Steve Martin. Steve provided the prose and Harry Bliss did the illustrations. 

I first saw Steve Martin on Saturday Night Live when he sang "King Tut" dressed like Egyptian royalty. It was funny and weird and introduced the world to an extraordinary performer who went on to have a very successful career in entertainment. Still going strong as far as I know. More power to him!

On the other hand, I had never heard of Harry Bliss so I looked him up on Wikipedia: "Harry Bliss ... is an American cartoonist and illustrator. He has illustrated many books and produced thousands of cartoons including 25 covers for The New Yorker. He has a syndicated single-panel comic titled 'Bliss'. 'Bliss' is syndicated through Tribune Content Agency and appears in over 80 newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Japan."

I enjoyed what Steve has to say and I really enjoyed the drawings Bliss contributed. They add so much to the story. Here are a few examples of his drawings from the book:

Here is an example the style in which the story is told. And also has an explanation of the book title:

Born Standing Up

By Steve MartItin

The story of how Steve Martin got his start in comedy, beginning with his childhood days of working at Disneyland and continuing on through his studies and the development of his ultimate comedy act drawing huge crowds at gigantic stadiums. At which point he lost his taste for stand up and switched to doing mainly movies and other endeavors in the entertainment industry.
Starting as a young stand up with a what I would call a goof-ball act, Martin enjoyed that connection with the audience that playing before a small group gives the performer. He felt he lost that connection, that personal relationship when he became massively famous. It was that loss that led him to step away from doing stand up.
It's a wise person who knows when to call it quits.

This was a fairly amusing story and I found out I knew nothing about Steve Martin's rise from unknown to famous. Or rather everything I thought I knew turned out to be wrong.
It's really interesting to read about that transition from obscurity to fame. Made me wonder how come it happens for  some and not for others. As Martin points out, a lot of his act was derived from that of earlier comics and magicians. So even though there was a lot that wasn't all that original, I guess his particular genius was putting it together and putting his own spin on it. Plus being there at the right time and simple luck must have something to do with it, I imagine.
He does touch on his personal life, speaking of his unhappy relationship with his angry father and of some of the women who passed through his life. He does not go into any detail about his personal life, his current wife, lovers, children at the time the book was written.
Some of the funniest lines in the book are found towards the end where he talks about his mother and quotes her accidentally funny put-downs:

"In an interview she said, 'He writes his own material, I'm always telling him he needs a new writer.'"

"She once told me, 'Oh, my friends went to the movies last weekend, and they couldn't get in anywhere so they went to see yours, and they loved it!'"

"We were driving through Beverly Hills and she said, 'Get out and walk down the street so I can watch people look at you.'"

Review by Slate.com.