on the daily production call sheet—in classics such as Roxanne (1987), Parenthood (1989), Father of the Bride (1991) and 2003’s Bringing Down the House. (FYI, the book stops well ahead of his experiences playing an amateur sleuth on his hit Hulu com- edy series with Martin Short and Selena Gomez, Only Murders in the Building.) But unlike his insightful 2007 bestselling memoir, Born Standing Up,


Martin chose to illustrate his cinematic legacy in the most literal way pos- sible: Every story is brought to life courtesy of Te New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss. “I thought this was an ideal format because my film career didn’t really have


an arc—there was nothing to tell but mild amusements,” says Martin, who also collaborated with Bliss on the 2020 book A Wealth of Pigeons. “With Harry, I didn’t even have to set the scene in the writing because it’s all right there in the comic panels.” Exhibit A: the funny in-the-car banter between Martin and his Father of the Bride wife Diane Keaton after attending a party together. Because he never kept a journal on set and doesn’t revisit his films, he pulled


from memory. Bliss, however, did intense visual research to ensure that the images looked authentic. “My fear was that I was going to do caricatures instead of portraits,” he says. So after Martin relayed a poignant scene from, say, 1987’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Bliss queued it up and took photos of co-star John Candy to properly convey the right expression. Adds Bliss, “I wanted to do the actors justice.” And while acclaim and golden awards are indeed


nice, Martin says he devised the book purely for fun. “I think these stories are worth telling and people might want to hear them,” he says. “I’ve actually got another 30 in me, but that would be a huge effort on Harry’s part!” Martin, who resides in New York City’s Upper West


Side with his wife of 15 years, writer Anne Stringfield, and their daughter, Mary, fills in some of the blanks and more with Parade.


How long did the writing process take? It’s not like you sit and write from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day and you’re done. It takes several years remembering what happened and making a note of it. Ten you go back and see if it will develop into a longer story.


How did you determine which movies to include? You know, I tried to put in the more popular movies, like Planes, Trains and Automobiles. But there also had to be a story or an anecdote with a punchline in the end. And one memory jogs the memory of another. I did have something written for [the 1991 comedy] L.A. Story, but by the time I remembered it, it was too late to include it. I also couldn’t include a story from [Dirty Rotten Scoundrels co-star] Michael Caine. But that’s because it was a joke at someone else’s expense.


You grew up in Inglewood, California, which is not far from Hollywood. Which movies or actors specifically influenced you? “Influenced” is the wrong word—it means you listen to Merle Travis and want to


continued on page 19


A PARADE OF STEVES


NOVEMBER 9, 1980 STEVE’S DREAM The year was 1980 and Steve Martin was a 34-year-old sensation, thanks to hilarious stints on The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live, in The Jerk and on his popular comedy albums (the single “King Tut” sold a million copies). Writer


Ben Fong-Torres caught up with Martin as he Ì>«-`>nVi` >VÀoÃà > ÃÌÕ`io yooÀ in Ài` ÃhoiÃ] white socks and blue shorts, learning some moÛià voÀ hià niÝÌ wlm] Pennies From Heaven. (He co-starred with his then-girlfriend Bernadette Peters.) How, Fong-Torres wondered, did Martin get so weird? “College,” was Martin’s answer. “I majored in philosophy,” he said. “I studied logic, and you start to realize there is no logic, there is no anything! Then it gets real easy to write this stuff, because all you have to do is twist the punchline . . . and it’s so easy . . . it’s thrilling.” He’d already been doing a magic act and play- ing banjo, but he began writing comedy essays and was invited to be a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour—and the rest is history.


APRIL 28, 1991 WHY HE’S A FOOL FOR LOVE At 45, Martin had been in the funny business for two decades, and inside that man who used to wear a trick arrow through his head was a true romantic waiting to come out, writer Gail Buchalter said in Parade. He’d


had success with Roxanne, which he wrote and starred in, and at press time was working on L.A. Story with his wife Victoria Tennant. “The trick is to make something sentimental without crossing the line into dopiness,” he says. His idea of the «iÀviVÌ wlm\ ºCasablanca is a transcendent love ÃÌoÀÞ]» hi Ã>Þð ̽à Ìhi kin` ov wlm hi½` liki Ìo


NOVEMBER 13, 2022 | 15 © PARADE Publications 2022. All rights reserved.


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