My Mother Was Nuts

Most people know Penny Marshall as the director of Big and A League of Their Own. What they don’t know is her trailblazing career was a happy accident. In this funny and intimate memoir, Penny takes us from the stage of The Jackie Gleason Show in 1955 to Hollywood’s star-studded sets, offering up some hilarious detours along the way. My Mother Was Nuts is an intimate backstage pass to Penny’s personal life, her breakout role on The Odd Couple, her exploits with Cindy Williams and John Belushi, and her travels across Europe with Art Garfunkel on the back of a motorcycle. We see Penny get married. And divorced. And married again (the second time to Rob Reiner). We meet a young Carrie Fisher, whose close friendship with Penny has spanned decades. And we see Penny at work with Tom Hanks, Mark Wahlberg, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert De Niro, and Whitney Houston. Throughout it all, from her childhood spent tap dancing in the Bronx, to her rise as the star of Laverne & Shirley, Penny lived by simple rules: “try hard, help your friends, don’t get too crazy, and have fun.” With humor and heart, My Mother Was Nuts reveals there’s no one else quite like Penny Marshall. MY THOUGHTS: As I journeyed with Penny Marshall in My Mother Was Nuts, I was captivated by her anecdotal style of story telling. I hadn’t realized how many friends and connections she had, but it wasn’t surprising. From her childhood in the Bronx and her quirky mother to her love relationships, we are drawn into her world seamlessly. 5 stars!

I loved Laverne & Shirley. When my friend Heather and I would play that we were Laverne and Shirley, we fought over who would play what. Of course, Shirley was the coveted role at the time - she was all girlie and chaste and prim. But I would have to say that Laverne is much more my style now. Penny Marshall writes in a very easy-to-read, conversational style. I enjoyed that she shared a good deal of her childhood, especially the difficulties in her parents' marriage, her mother's lack of interest in her, and her relationship with her elder siblings. I was surprised to learn that Penny had done drugs. I understand that it was a huge part of the culture in which she came to Hollywood, and I don't think people quite understood the damage that LSD and other drugs could do at that time. I never knew that she was involved with Art Garfunkel until this book. I also didn't know that she was married to anyone but Rob Reiner - and I thought her child was his, not her first husband's. I was disappointed that there was not more behind-the-scenes stories and information on Laverne & Shirley. That was a large part of her life and she really doesn't go into as much as I'd hoped. I did think that she gave a great background to the movies she has directed, including her relationships with the stars of those movies. Overall, it's a bit fluffy and not quite as deep as I'd hoped, but it was entertaining and funny. Recommend if you're a fan.

Well I almost didn't buy this Memoir and I'm so glad that I did. If Penny Marshall's mother was nuts than more people should have nutty mothers like her given the way that she turned out to be such an extraordinary person. Don't miss reading this book it is more exciting than her role as Laverne and more exciting than the majority of most people's lives and just an amazing being in terms of how she stays grounded and practical funny and satirical and handles all the situations that come up with complete honesty and she is so refreshing. Writer Mark Matousek says: tell the truth and your life will change, and Penny tells the truth and as a result our lives do change by her sharing it with us and it's a real gift. I read her friend Carrie Fisher's books and Carrie was funny in a different way. I think Penny brings the East Coast sarcasm and practical Spirit into her book. It is a powerful life and a powerful book and Penny is a real pioneer for women in terms of what she's achieved in the entertainment and film industry. What's next?, Penny asks at the end and I would say Penny Marshall for President!! Our lives would be a whole lot better with someone like her leading the way as she did in her directorial efforts. One thing Penny tells us her mom taught her was the pleasure of being able to entertain people and she surely accomplishes this in her humble inspiring funny Memoir and thank you Penny for letting us into your personal fabulous life. It's a book and a life I didn't want to stop reading about LOL. For someone who is well connected with celebrities and her brother being Garry Marshall, she never loses her down to earth practical way of being. Definitely a must-read wonderfully written memoir...absolutely amazing life thank you Penny!!!

This book starts out really well....Penny Marshall gives one a feeling for her early life in the Bronx and being a Brooklyn woman myself, I get it since we grew up around the same time. (NYC LAMF!!) But then as she starts getting closer to the woman she is now, she becomes more and more distant. I don't know what her life was really like during Laverne. I don't know what her first marriage was about or her marriage to Rob Reiner either. Once she grows up, the story stops and the name dropping commences. When she talks about making movies, she becomes interesting. But her personal life, while somewhat detailed in a name dropping sort of cataloging way, is vague and filled with massive holes and not much introspection. Except to list what drugs she was taking during that period, which - okay - I get that too. Only I'd like to know what effect they had on her, how they changed her or her life. There's a lot more to this she just doesn't talk about. I'm sorry to write about her book this way because in the beginning of it, she was great.., very conversational and even a lot of fun. I got a sense of her as a human being. But I think writing about a life while you're living it isn't so easy. Talking about people who are still alive is not so good when you have to face them after your book publishes, so there's that. Talking about the dead, who have people still living and mourning, is also not so easy. The Hollywood community is kind of like a family, at least that's what they're always saying. And for whatever reason, it's not going to smile on you when you tell everyone the whole inside story and hang out the dirty laundry for the neighborhood to see. So she doesn't. And because she doesn't, the book falls very flat midway and while picking up here and there particularly when she talks about making a film which I thought was very fascinating, still, it's a dud. The rest of it was who she was with but not much about who she is, or who she was. She even glosses over her ill health, so I have no idea how she's come through that, if in fact she has. Maybe she's damaged...I don't know. And reading this, I'm not going to know. Penny Marshall is a natural writer, she just never delivers so I don't know who this woman is or about her creative process. She's so damned fixated on celebrity. I think I could like her, and I appreciate knowing a little because she's a wonderful talent. So there's that.

Penny Marshall wrote a fascinating book. I could not put it down. She wrote it as though we had eaten lunch together and she was telling me her life story. I feel like we are friends now. It's not a carefully crafted novel with plots and subplots. She does not explain the "why" of everything such as the reason she and Art Garfunkel broke up or the names of all of her lovers. She *does* talk about how she met Art and the good times they had. It shows the kind of life she led, which some reviewers here resent. This does not reflect on the book. It's just the world a from a celebrity point of view. She works hard as a director and produced great shows. She was honest about her drug use. As with every human on the planet, memories can be a bit glossed over. I get the impression that she wanted a few things explained and some stories stated, to have them "on the record" before she died. She was not trying to moralize everything she did. It definitely does not deserve the criticism it is getting from some people. This is a memoir not an autobiography. Readers should not expect a Pulitzer Prize novel here. She talks about many people she worked with including John Belushi, Steven Spielberg and more. I loved her stories and feel like I understand her better. I smiled and laughed through it - and cried at the end.

3.5 stars I didn't realize just how much I liked Penny Marshall until she passed away. The show that made her famous, Laverne and Shirley, aired mainly before I was born so that's not the reason I was bummed to hear the news she had died. I think the reason I was sad is because I feel like she had so much more to share with the world in terms of making movies and honestly just being a strong, female role model for many people. After reading this book, I'm not sure if I would necessarily call Penny's mother nuts, but I can definitely say she seemed unusual and lacked a filter when talking to people. Their mother-daughter relationship made for some interesting reading as at first you get the sense that Penny hated her mom but as the book progresses you can also see also leaned on her for support such as when her daughter, Tracy, was born. My only real criticism of the book is I feel Penny was pretty vague when it came to Tracy being raised primarily by her ex-husband and his family during her early years. I also didn't entirely understand why Rob Reiner adopted Tracy when it appears Penny got along well with Tracy's father. Maybe she felt that was more Tracy's story to tell and that's why she didn't really get into it in the book. Not really sure though. It's pretty well-known Penny's older brother, Garry, was a famous director and writer, and pretty much helped Penny get her start in Hollywood. And Penny freely admitted in the book nepotism gave her some opportunities that others with no family connections might not have had. Her talent though is the reason for her long and successful career in my opinion. Playing Laverne was obviously her breakout role and Penny talks about her time working on the show. There were always rumors of her feuding with her co-star Cindy Williams and while they certainly disagreed about some things, I think Penny is more than fair in regards to discussing Cindy, and you can tell she did value their friendship. I loved hearing about her work as a director and found it fascinating that so much of it was just on the job learning. I really respect the fact she just wanted to make movies that made people feel good. I teared up when she mentioned how important it was to her to make sure the actual female ballplayers the movie A League of Their Own was based on were included in the movie. She realized this wasn't her movie, it was their story and she wanted to honor that. It made me sad that part of the reason she didn't do much movie directing in the last 15 years or so of her life was because studios just didn't care much about that type of storytelling anymore. I think the film industry underestimated her talent at bringing stories to the screen that audiences really connect with. Overall, definitely a good read and I recommend especially if you enjoy celebrity memoirs.

I've always enjoyed Penny Marshall and her natural ability to entertain and make us laugh. Reading her life story was in many ways a look into my own childhood. I almost think that if I had grown up in New York, or she in my Chicago neighborhood we could have been friends. There are many parts of this book to which I can relate, but one line that truly hits home for me is "...my friends are my most valued possessions..." Mine, too. I admire Penny's nonchalant attitude about awards. It's the love of the work; the giving back; the putting oneself in another's shoes because you never know what's in store ahead; that really matters. Loving and enjoying life so much that you always want "just five more minutes" to make it last. I was that kid. I still am. I hate endings (except for bad relationships, but even then, I hung on longer than I should have). Penny was a part of my childhood, watching her on the Odd Couple, and of course during my adolescence on Laverne and Shirley. Seeing her expand her horizons into directing has been an inspiration to many women like me, who tend to short change themselves. I'm grateful to women like her who broke glass ceilings without realizing at the time that that's what they were doing. I have always admired her humbleness, and that of her brother, Garry. No matter how famous they became, they remained true to themselves and their families, and always remembered their modest beginnings. Their contributions to the world go beyond jokes, funny sitcoms and feel good movies. They leave behind a lesson to us all, to be the best versions of ourselves in the present, and in the moment when it matters most.

And I’m not talking literally (though she does worry about her weight throughout her life). I’m only a casual fan (I watched Laverne and Shirley as a kid, and I’ve seem some of the movies she directed) so I learned a lot. She is someone who turned a lucky break into a lifelong career, but she’s no slouch. She put everything she had into acting and directing and I was impressed by the individual stories about all the people she worked with. She never goes beyond the time period she’s tackling though – for instance, she worked with Robin Williams and Brittany Murphy, but doesn’t mention that they both later died untimely deaths. I thought her memories of being married to Rob Reiner and also being in a long term relationship with Art Garfunkel were especially interesting. Her stories about her “nuts” mom were fun, too, but I think the book is mistitled… I almost didn’t pick up the book because of that. There’s so much more to Penny’s book. (RIP, Penny, who passed in 2018)