eYE Marty: The newly discovered autobiography of a comic genius

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Feldman subsequently became an anti-gun advocate in the US, even wearing an anti-gun t-shirt and hat pin during his appearance on the late night TV show Fridays. But there is still much candour in Feldman's original material, which was rescued from his widow's attic and transcribed by Mark Flanagan, nightclub owner and family friend. I'm not sure just why that is; the author was sympathetic to Marty and certainly included plenty of information, but somehow the timing was off for me.

It was a face that David Frost, one of his bosses, characterised as 'too grotesque' for television - see what Feldman has to say about Frost, and Francis Bacon, and John Lennon. Like another genius before him Buster Keaton he was chewed up by a medium that didn’t know what to do with him. My mind is an attic full of crazy dreams that never quit or disappoint me, and I have been blessed with these eyEs to see things differently and have people see me in a different way. Anyone more familiar with British television of the 50's and 60's would not skim, but for me there were too many names dropped that meant nothing, and too much focus on contract negotiations and other aspects of the business side of Marty's world at that point.

Marty Feldman was one of the most essential creative forces in British comedy embodied also by his close friends and creative partners from Beyond the Fringe (especially Peter Cook and Dudley Moore) and Monty Python (especially John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Eric Idle). Other reviewers said this biography fawned over Feldman; that is not the impression I got because it did thoroughly cover his many addictions and acts of misbehavior which undoubtedly killed him. He did not know that he would die there, although he certainly felt he might die soon, and was haunted by the notion. As with all good books, I found myself both wanting to read all night, and also wanting to delay finishing it. Feldman's performances on American television included The Dean Martin Show and Marty Feldman's Comedy Machine.

Le cose migliorano quando si arriva al 1973 e alle riprese di Frankenstein Junior perché almeno si comincia ad avere una corrispondenza diretta tra quello che si legge e ciò che si è potuto vedere di persona. The BBC Two sketch show It’s Marty ran for just 12 episodes between 1968 and 1969, yet, without its trail-blazing, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, a year later, might have proved too much for the national sensibility.

The book is exactly as Feldman wrote it, his great friend Mark Flanagan, had it transcribed, with even the photos inserted where Feldman had noted where they should go. Feldman suffered from thyroid disease and developed Graves' ophthalmopathy, causing his eyes to protrude and become misaligned. There was less about his personal life but that is fine; there was enough to get a flavor of his life and the challenges he encountered. Marty Feldman's autobiographical magnum opus of his life in London's East End, explores many of comedy's most notable twentieth century conspirators, and meditations on the creativity that fueled it all.