The star of stage and screen on his boyhood dreams, falling in love, grocery shopping with Tom Hanks, and his keys to living well.
The star of stage and screen on her favorite roles, maple tree poetry, and Lady Parts.
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Overview
Whether lighting up the small screen, stealing scenes on the big screen or starring on the stage, Andrea Martin has long entertained Canadians with her hilarious characterizations and heartwarming performances. An important player in SCTV, the funniest show ever to come out of Canada, Martin helped change the face of television by introducing us to a host of characters, including the indomitable Edith Prickley. Martin has worked stages, sets and even trapezes across North America, playing to houses packed with adoring fans, all of whom instantly recognize the star who has entertained us for nearly forty years.
In Lady Parts, Martin, for the first time, shares her fondest remembrances of a life in show business, motherhood, relationships, no relationships, family, chimps in tutus, squirrels, and why she flies to Atlanta to get her hair cut. Martin opens up her heart in a series of eclectic, human, always entertaining and often moving essays. Lady Parts will make you giggle and may make you cry--a powerful collection of stories by a woman with a truly storied life.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781443443920 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Canada |
| Publication date: | 09/23/2014 |
| Sold by: | HARPERCOLLINS |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 288 |
| File size: | 6 MB |
About the Author
Andrea Martin was cast in the 1970 American touring company production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, in which she played Lucy. During the tour, she visited Toronto, fell in love with the city and moved there. Soon after, she was cast in the legendary Toronto production of Godspell, with fellow performers Victor Garber, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Gilda Radner, Jayne Eastwood and Paul Shaffer, the musical director. Martin has appeared in numerous theater and television productions around the world, including Toronto's Second City stage show, which led to the critically acclaimed SCTV. She has also been recognized with many awards, especially prized among them her two Emmys, two Tonys and from Canada, her two Geminis and four ACTRAs. After winning the 2013 Tony for creating the role of Berthe in the revival of Pippin, she returned to the stage in April of this year in Act One, for which she won the Outer Critics Circle award. This fall finds her once again on Broadway for 24 special performances of Pippin before packing her trapeze and taking the show to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Her next film, Night at the Museum 3, opens December 19.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part 1
Perky Tits 5
It's My Roots, Johnny 10
Armenia 21
My One-Year Diary, 1958 33
Afterbirth 44
Birthdays 50
Dating #1 54
Dating #2 58
My Mustang Convertible 67
Why I Fly to Atlanta to Get My Hair Cut 73
Mommy 94
Secrets 107
Part 2
My Writing Process 119
Here Are Some Other Things I'd Rather Do Than Write 123
Someday My Prince Will Come 125
Television vs. Books 131
Chimps in Tutus a 136
My Gynecologist 145
You Are So Beautiful 151
My Astrologer 156
Astrology Follow-Up 167
Part 3
Old Lady Parts #1 173
Crazy 183
Some Things I Think About but Don't Say Out Loud 189
Why So Angry, Ms. Martin? 191
The Graphologist 201
Wherever You Go, There You Are 204
Part 4
Parapharyngeal Abscess 213
Emergency 221
Multi-Tasking 225
Squirrels 235
My Pine Tree 242
The Train 249
My Lost Youth 251
Part 5
My First Head Shots, Circa 1970 265
Yes! 266
Old Lady Parts #2 272
SCTV, or "What Do You Think of This?" 293
Everything Must Go 343
Epilogue 347
Acknowledgements 349
Credits 351
Interviews
Barnes & Noble Review Interview with Andrea Martin
In Lady Parts, , actress and comedian Andrea Martin looks back on a career that has stretched from SCTV to Broadway.
What is your earliest memory of writing a story?
I was eleven. I wrote a story for my English class that won an award. I still remember how it began: "Once upon a time, in the land of many more, lived a maple family by the name of Douglas Door. And this Mr. Douglas Door was just as happy as could be, because he had been chosen from the tallest maple tree."
When and where do you write? What does your workspace look like?
I write at my desk, both in New York and Toronto. My desk is neat, the room bright. There is no music playing, no distractions, except for the incessant chatter in my own head!
Your new book, Lady Parts, is dedicated to Canada: "My marriage. My children. My career. Justin Bieber." You write that you fell in love with Toronto in 1970, on the first day you visited the city. What drew you so strongly to Canada as a newcomer to the country?
Directly after finishing college, I left for New York, the city every aspiring musical comedy performer flocks to. New York frightened me. I was ambitious but not as fearless as I thought I needed to be in the Big Apple. Toronto had a flourishing entertainment industry, and was more manageable for a young girl who had spent her childhood in provincial Portland, Maine. Toronto afforded me a safe and welcoming place to perfect my craft and had endless opportunities for an actress starting her career.
You had a unique experience as a writer-performer on SCTV, writing comedy by committee: how does writing comedy with a group differ from writing strictly for yourself?
It's less lonely.
What was the last great book you read?
The last entertaining book I read, I bought at Indigo in Toronto. . . . I think it was one of "Heather's Picks" (Who is Heather, by the way?). It was called Mary Coin, by Marisa Silver. It is a novel based loosely and inventively on the life of Dorothea Lange and her female subject in the famous photo she took of the migrant mother in the Depression.
While writing a book is in many ways a solo performance, you've been a member of some superb casts and companies. What makes for a great ensemble? What is needed for actors to work well together?
Generosity. Playfulness. Dedication. Discipline. Curiosity. Commitment.
You're an incredible impressionist, and on SCTV you had some highly unique impressions in your arsenal: Alice B. Toklas, Indira Gandhi, Brenda Vaccaro, Pauline Kael, Patti Smith. Where does an impression begin for you? A physical trait, a voice, a mannerism?
It's different all the time. Indira Gandhi came about because I wanted to do a parody of Evita. Brenda Vaccaro came about because her Tampax commercial that ran in the '80s made me chuckle. Oftentimes I have chosen a person to impersonate, because frankly, I'm able to physically resemble them. But all the women I have impersonated, I have had great affection for. It has never been my desire or ridicule them. I think impersonating someone is the highest form of compliment.
In addition to your work in film and TV, you're a highly accomplished stage actress. What are some of your favorite plays and playwrights, either to perform or to read on the page?
I adored playing Serafina Delle Rose in The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams. I love playing the part of Berthe presently in Pippin. Frau Blucher — following in the footsteps of Cloris Leachman — and working side-by-side with Mel Brooks in Young Frankenstein on Broadway, was a dream for this comedic actress.
What do you do to relax? I ride my bike. I meditate. I watch reality television.
What is the best career advice you've received?
Take nothing personally. It's a business.
— October 13, 2014
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