My dad use to watch M*A*S*H when I was a kid but I would usually leave the room or pick up a book to block it out, war stuff scared me and was never my thing. Those little snippets were all I knew about Alan Alda but the title of this one called my name.This isn’t one of those gossipy tell-alls and the book barely touches on Alda’s time on M*A*S*H. It’s a memoir about his entire life and I found it fascinating and quietly funny. Alda grew up surrounded by performers and parents who were merely children in grown up bodies. His mother was mentally unstable and grew increasingly worse as she aged. His dad was a somewhat famous, handsome actor but he was never paid well so Alda grew up on the edge of broke and remains pretty humble even when he gains his own fame. He marries young and miraculously STAYS married to the same woman throughout all of the ups and downs of his career.
His childhood was very unconventional and learning about it was the best part of the book. He was bounced around from town to town while his father followed work wherever it led them. Because of this Alda developed some ticks that made him the prime target of bullies in the private school where he is later enrolled. He just wanted to make people laugh, that’s all he knew, but the other kids thought he was off his nut. He struggled for quite some time trying to make it as an actor, taking on any oddball job he could get to help support his young family. His wife must have been incredibly supportive and I’m glad they managed to hold it together. You don’t hear these sorts of stories often and I’m glad I took the time to listen to this one.
