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Overview
“. . . this one is special.”—USA Today
Growing Up Laughing is a compelling autobiographical journey—hilarious and heartfelt, intimate and inspiring. It is a book that only Marlo Thomas could write.
For as long as Thomas can remember, she’s lived with laughter. Born to comedy royalty—TV and nightclub star Danny Thomas—she grew up among legendary funny men, carved much of her career in comedy and, to this day, surrounds herself with people who love and live to make others laugh. Thomas takes us on a funny and heartwarming adventure, from her Beverly Hills childhood, to her groundbreaking creation of That Girl and Free to Be . . . You and Me, to her marriage to talk-show king Phil Donahue.
Her youth was star-studded—Milton Berle performed magic tricks (badly) at her backyard birthday parties. George Burns, Bob Hope, Sid Caesar, Bob Newhart and other great comics passed countless hours gathered around her family’s dinner table. And behind it all was the rich laughter nurtured by a close and loving family.
Growing Up Laughing is not just the story of an iconic entertainer, but also the story of comedy. In a voice that is curious, generous and often gleeful, Thomas not only opens the doors on the funny in her own life, but in a series of insightful and hilarious interviews also explores the comic roots of today’s most celebrated comedians.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
As the daughter of famed comedian Danny Thomas, Marlo Thomas grew up in an atmosphere where primetime laughs came not just from TV, but also from frequent visits to her home from the likes of Bob Hope and George Burns. In her family, laughter became "the cushion for life," her father insisting that adults should laugh as frequently as children do. Growing Up Laughing is her tribute to her father and the philosophy of good cheer and good works that he instilled in her. This feel-good memoir possesses an activist side too: The former star of That Girl writes candidly about problems that women face in the workplace and elsewhere. A top-seller; now in a paperback and a NOOKbook.