The Other Side of Me [Large Print]

This the best memoir that I have ever read! I had never read a Sydney Sheldon book before, but when he died a few weeks ago, I was reading his obituary and I was shocked at his incredible life! He wrote screenplays for major movies, he wrote broadway plays, he created television shows and he wrote all of those best-selling books! I never knew that the same Sydney Sheldon that created "I Dream of Jeannie" was also the famous author. When I read that he had recently written his memoir, I rushed out to buy it. It is so well written and interesting. I could not put it down. The chapters are short and it reads like a mystery. I couldn't wait to read what happens next. His story is the American dream. He never, ever gives up, even though he suffered from manic depression. He has many setbacks but always bounced back. His story is so inspiring. I highly, highly recommend this fantastic and inspiring book! I just wish it was even longer, because I loved reading it!

I had always seen the name "Sidney Sheldon" but never bothered to read any of his novels. I honestly had thought the books were about a mix of cheap romance and mystery novels because their covers looked that way. It's clear now that I had totally misjudged a book by its cover. Sheldon's autobiography, however, looked dignified as I pushed my cart at our local grocery store, Wegmans. Sheldon's face looks a lot like my grandfather's. So I picked it up and flipped to the first page. The first sentence demanded my attention. So I bought the book. I'm not a fast reader but this book turned out to be an exception. I took one breath and 150 pages flew right into my head, another breath and 200 pages. The last 50 or so pages I wanted to read slowly so it didn't finish. But, alas, it did. Or in a way it's the beginning really. Because I've already loaded up on most of Sheldon's books and the first book I will read is "The Other Side of Midnight". One of the reviewers here laments that Sheldon doesn't go much in detail about novels he has written. But I suspect much of his novels have been influenced by what had transpired in his life. Sheldon didn't start writing novels until he was in his 50s! Yet his books are the most translated works in literature according to the Guinness Book of Records.

I've always been amazed by Sidney Sheldon's writing and how he keeps cranking novels out--even at the age of 89 . . . what I did not know too much about was the rest of his life. I found much about it in listening to THE OTHER SIDE OF ME, his entertaining memoir that traces his life from a suicide attempt at the age of 17 to the writing of his first book in 1969 . . . he went from being an RKO theater usher to a struggling songwriter, then a top-flight Hollywood screenwriter in just a few short years . . . thereafter, Sheldon he wrote and directed films and created several classic TV shows, including I DREAM OF JEANNIE. Along the way, he had to live with constant self-doubt and depression, along with bipolar disorder . . . yet what most impressed me about Sheldon was how he managed to keep going in spite of many setbacks . .. as he notes, "Careers in Hollywood are like elevators, up and down. The trick is not to leave when down." In addition, I liked the gossipy parts in the book--all pesented in a way that was not mean-spirited . . . it was fun to learn more about Cary Grant, Grouch Marx, Kirk Douglas, Judy Garland, Patty Duke, and a whole host of other performers that Sheldon worked with over the years I also liked how Sheldon described these two pieces of advice given to him by Harry Cohen, head of production at Columbia Pictures: * Before I hire a producer, I always look at his golf score. If he has a low score, I don't want him. I want producers who are only interested in producing for me. * Do you know when I hire an expensive director? When he's just had a flop. His price comes down.

Hope I'm still doing as good when I'm 88! This memoir by the author of so many wonderful books and movies (and TV shows) came as quite a surprise. I guess in the back of my head I had always suspected that Sidney Sheldon had a background on Broadway and Hollywood, but this reveals that he knew everybody and he knew them all intimately, the bad and the beautiful, and he relates incidents that occurred sixty years ago with the immediacy of a Quentin Tarantino melodrama. For sheer disaster, Sheldon provides a blow by blow account of the sinking of his ill-fated 1944 musical DREAM WITH MUSIC, in which everything that could possibly go wrong did, and on opening night with the critics all watching. I'd love to see it, that's for sure. There's also portraits of all the stars, some of them more nasty than others. Those of you who disliked Harry Cohn, king creep of Columbis Studios, won't like him any better after hearing what he did to poor Donna Reed in this book, in Sidney's hearing! However Zsa Zsa Gabor, who I never really cared for, comes off as pretty gemutlich in Sidney's version of the way she introduced him to the woman, Jorja Curtright, who would become his wife and the mother of his children. His growing love for Jorja, and the birth of their children, is well told. When one of their daughters has a terrifying childhood illness, the story gains real momentum and you will be in tears by the time it is over and done with. Despite having suffered from debilitating depression all of his life, he has been lucky in many ways. However someone should have offered to buy him the services of a fact checker, for from time to time his memory slips up and he places incidents in the wrong time frames. For example, he details the story of how the one and only Elvis Presley came to the set of one of the movies he wrote (and directed). He has this happening on the set of DREAM WIFE with Cary Grant (1953). I think that's a bit too early for Elvis. Maybe it happened but if so, it was probably later on in Elvis' career.