Danny thomas biography book
Make Room For Danny
July 11, 2019
I originally read this book in 2009, giving it a 4-star review. I reread it in 2019 and it isn't as good as I recall. It is a fascinating story of Danny Thomas's life--it's filled with unusual stories and details, though it falls just short of being a great autobiography. It starts with a chapter that is kind of an overview of his life, then it goes chapter-by-chapter through the years of his upbringing and career.
Danny's childhood was almost hard to believe--he had gone under four different first names, was born to a woman who had married at 15 and had five kids by age 23, was allowed to live with an aunt who was his father's first love (living away from home from age 3 to 15!), dirt poor but Catholic educated he switched to public high school and then spent his days at the movie theatre instead of school (eventually dropping out and never finishing high school).
His professional life seems to be made more out of good timing than talent. He was a storyteller who didn't fit the traditional comedian model so no one knew what to do with him. He had some success in clubs but it was connections, not his talent, that gave him the TV job that made him a star.
The big failure of the book is that he spends too much time retelling stories from his nightclub act and too little details about his family. It feels like half the book is made up of the story-jokes he would tell from the stage. There's very little about his personal life and on the second read there are huge gaps. He likes to play up that everyone thinks he's a religious saint, but it seems like he may be hiding something because he never has any faults beyond a rare moment of anger (though he had a reputation as a hot head). His devotion to St. Jude is kind of explained but seems out of place compared to the relatively minor times he prays to the saint. Again, more questions raised than answers provided.
He has a short chapter on Marlo and it's evident that she rebelled against her mother's smothering, but it doesn't really explain Danny's impact on Marlo. He doesn't seem as emotionally excited about his daughters as he is with his famous producer son, yet even there we don't get a lot of detail. He also refuses to tell the date of his wedding, claiming his wife doesn't want people to know her age but leaving open the possibility that there may be another reason. He either doesn't have many family stories to tell (because he was traveling most of the year) or he is too private to share them.
He also could explain more about his production company, that made some of the greatest shows in TV history. There isn't a lot about that either--instead it's mostly the upbeat humor from his nightclub act and references to his childhood or ethnic relatives. It's an entertaining book for a fan of the star but makes me want an outside biographer to write the real story of this man who used his life to do so much good for people through the St. Jude Hospital.
Danny's childhood was almost hard to believe--he had gone under four different first names, was born to a woman who had married at 15 and had five kids by age 23, was allowed to live with an aunt who was his father's first love (living away from home from age 3 to 15!), dirt poor but Catholic educated he switched to public high school and then spent his days at the movie theatre instead of school (eventually dropping out and never finishing high school).
His professional life seems to be made more out of good timing than talent. He was a storyteller who didn't fit the traditional comedian model so no one knew what to do with him. He had some success in clubs but it was connections, not his talent, that gave him the TV job that made him a star.
The big failure of the book is that he spends too much time retelling stories from his nightclub act and too little details about his family. It feels like half the book is made up of the story-jokes he would tell from the stage. There's very little about his personal life and on the second read there are huge gaps. He likes to play up that everyone thinks he's a religious saint, but it seems like he may be hiding something because he never has any faults beyond a rare moment of anger (though he had a reputation as a hot head). His devotion to St. Jude is kind of explained but seems out of place compared to the relatively minor times he prays to the saint. Again, more questions raised than answers provided.
He has a short chapter on Marlo and it's evident that she rebelled against her mother's smothering, but it doesn't really explain Danny's impact on Marlo. He doesn't seem as emotionally excited about his daughters as he is with his famous producer son, yet even there we don't get a lot of detail. He also refuses to tell the date of his wedding, claiming his wife doesn't want people to know her age but leaving open the possibility that there may be another reason. He either doesn't have many family stories to tell (because he was traveling most of the year) or he is too private to share them.
He also could explain more about his production company, that made some of the greatest shows in TV history. There isn't a lot about that either--instead it's mostly the upbeat humor from his nightclub act and references to his childhood or ethnic relatives. It's an entertaining book for a fan of the star but makes me want an outside biographer to write the real story of this man who used his life to do so much good for people through the St. Jude Hospital.
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