Robert Ross - Marty Feldman: The Biography of a Comedy Legend

Every Saturday evening I would watch The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine. Igor in Young Frankenstein was written for Marty. I was thinking of him all the time. No-one else could have played that part.

GENE WILDER

When youre a comedy writer you pray for Marty Feldman. He not only met your material, he lifted it. He gave it that magic touch.

MEL BROOKS

Marty had one of the sharpest comedy brains in anybody I have ever met. He was a lovely man as well. Almost unique.

MICHAEL PALIN

Marty was the perfect comedy script editor. The veteran centre half who steered the new defence.

SIR DAVID FROST

He had a wonderful comedy presence. He is a true cultural icon.

JOHN CLEESE

I love British comedy. I learnt from it. Marty Feldman was a genius. Crossed eyes are funny!

MIKE MYERS

MARTY FELDMAN: THE BIOGRAPHY OF A COMEDY LEGEND

9780857686022

Published by

Titan Books

A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd.

144 Southwark St.

London

SE1 0UP

First edition: September, 2011

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Marty Feldman: The Biography of a Comedy Legend 2011 Robert Ross. All rights reserved.

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Printed and bound in the UK by CPI William Clowes, Beccles, NR34 7TL.

The Biography of a Comedy Legend

ROBERT ROSS

TITAN BOOKS

I have a Holy Trinity, which is Buster Keaton the Father, Stan Laurel the Son and Harpo Marx the Holy Ghost.

For Lauretta and Barry,
Martys other halves.

Just before they made me, they broke the mould.

A salute to the inspirational comedy of Marty Feldman has been a pet project of mine for several years, so firstly many thanks to Adam Newell at Titan Books for sharing my passion for the subject. I am eternally grateful to the late Barry Took. After my first book was published in 1996 I got to know Barry well, meeting up at countless screenings, signings, Broadcasting House assignments and memorial services. These always ended with a pint or two in the nearest public house and, unless otherwise stated, Barrys memories come from those impromptu chats. I am also greatly indebted to Martys friends, and fellow performers and writers Dick Clement OBE, Bernard Cribbins OBE, Barry Cryer OBE, Vera Day, Harry Fowler MBE, Ray Galton OBE, Derek Griffiths, Bill Harman, Terry Jones, Denis King, Ian La Frenais OBE, Warren Mitchell, Bill Oddie OBE, Michael Palin CBE, Alan Simpson OBE, Alan Spencer, Graham Stark, Sheila Steafel, Brian Trenchard-Smith, David Weddle, Ronnie Wolfe, Rose Wolfe and Nicholas Young for insightful memories and encouraging words. A very special thank you goes to Tim Brooke-Taylor OBE, who not only shared his many Marty stories but also made the initial connection with Tony Hobbs. Tonys preservation of the interview tapes conducted by his late father, Jack Hobbs, has proved invaluable. A writer, editor and jazz pianist, Jack Hobbs and Marty were kindred spirits of the Soho jazz spots and drinking clubs. As a result The Marty Tapes are both relaxed and candid; as Marty says, Its all very rambly. Just things that happened. If no source is given, Martys comments come from these. I am hugely indebted to Martys sister Pamela Franklin and his niece Suzannah Galland who provided me with wonderful memories and insights. Telephone conversations with them both have been hilarious, informative and heart-warming. They have also sifted through the family archive and provided some truly unique photographs for the book. Their support has been totally invaluable. I also thank Jeff Walden at the BBC Written Archives and Sarah Currant at the British Film Institute Library who was particularly enthused during many googlyeyed sessions. I gratefully acknowledge the kind permission of General Media Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of FriendFinder Networks, for the quotations from The Penthouse interview Marty Feldman by Richard Kleiner, published in the October, 1980 US Edition of Penthouse magazine. Many thanks to Larry Sutter for arranging this. Thanks to Sharon Gosling for her Battlestar Galactica connections. I thank those stalwart people Alan Coles, Henry Holland, Melanie Clark, Paul Cole, Dick Fiddy, Andrew Pixley and Bob Golding for being supportive. Love and thanks to Abby (Normal) Naylor. And lastly to my Mum, Eileen, who is invariably the first person to read anything I write. Thank you!

Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean, Needs not the painted flourish of your praise: Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye, Not utterd by base sale of chapmens tongues William Shakespeare

It doesnt bother me how they describe me. Im me and thats it. I have to admit my face helps me in my work as a comedian. It used to worry me a bit when I was seventeen or eighteen, when I was trying to pull the birds. But now I dont worry any more.

T oday if you mention the name Marty Feldman to even the most ardent of comedy fans, the chances are you will get one of two responses. Either an affectionate chuckle at those lop-sided eyes of his as he gallantly crusades through psychedelic sixties countryside, usually with a golf club firmly gripped in his hand; or, more likely, an affectionate chuckle at those lop-sided eyes of his as he channels old-school vaudeville within a vintage Universal horror setting, with a cry of What hump?, or one of a dozen or so other deliciously quotable lines from Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein.

For Young Frankenstein remains the most celebrated and accessible example of Martys work: an international, block-busting comedy success that made him a Hollywood favourite at the age of forty.

Marty was saddled with this title of clown, says his friend Bill Oddie.

Marty was painfully conscious that his features shaped his life: I have always been idiosyncratic and something of an aberration, he said. Ive always been treated as a freak anyway, and in a sense I am. Ive always felt like an alien who never belonged anywhere: just a temporary member of the human race.

But for Marty, despite the international success of Young Frankenstein, life didnt begin at forty. Although he had reached fulfilment as a film star and his future in Hollywood looked guaranteed, never again was he as relaxed, creative, popular or just plain likeable on screen. Bitter clashes with studio executives and an endearing refusal to compromise his integrity saw his most personal projects scuppered by corporate politics. Almost as soon as he tasted fame in America he began missing the hungry years in England. But not in that glorious, all-conquering winter of 1974.

Still, he was in Hollywood and that wasnt all bad. It was a long way from the thankless slog around British variety theatres as part of Morris, Marty and Mitch. In 1974 he was more likely to be spotted at the Hollywood Bowl than the Chiswick Empire. His friends and colleagues were the likes of Dean Martin, Orson Welles and Groucho Marx rather than bottom of the bill variety turns.

But Marty retained his affection for his early days. That far-off time when a combined passion for jazz and silent comedy propelled him through a myriad of dead-end jobs and half-realised ambitions. He was most content in his favourite London haunt, Ronnie Scotts jazz club, or as Tim Brooke-Taylor says: Marty would be at his happiest in a Paris caf, smoking and talking about the latest French film or obscure jazz artist.