When I'm Dead All This Will Be Yours: Joe Teller -- A Portrait by His Kid

I liked this book and I'll tell you why. Although fans of Penn and Teller may pause before buying since its not a 'trick' book nor does it serve as a peek behind the curtains/drapes of Teller.What it does provide however is an emotive trip down memory lane and gives a personal perspective of the time in which the Tellers' lived. The best I can description I can give is it's a book version of when kids used to bring grandparents to school to talk about the war. It's touched with humour and Tellers obvious affection for his parents.

This is a good 'feel good' book. It's not without good humor, storytelling and charm, done in a entertaining and non-campy way. While the plight of Teller's parents is not unique among Americans who's formative years were spent around the time of the Great Depression, Teller's way of telling the story is. He interweaves his father's original cartoons and letters with his own insights to provide a sum maybe equal to something greater than the parts alone-a nice collaboration.All the Tellers seem very genuine. Reading this book makes me want to know them more. You get a real sense of Teller's parents and their personalities, I almost feel like I've spent a weekend in their home. They sure seem like good people.

I can't imagine anyone not being completely charmed by this book, and the wonderful people who inspired it. An extra bonus is the incredible art: cartoons, drawings, paintings and even a glimpse of sculpture on the dust jacket. But most of all, I loved the intimate, real glimpse into a time in history from the viewpoint of an ordinary "Joe".

According to Webster's New World College Dictionary a raconteur is "a person skilled at telling stories or anecdotes". Stories and anecdotes are usually transmitted verbally but this new book by writer and magician, Teller, brings the art of the raconteur to life through the written word. Much more than a biography of his father, Joe (Pad), and mother, Irene (Mam), this book opens a door to the past and gives us a remarkable glimpse into the lives of two very talented and intelligent people who raised a remarkable son.In true raconteur style, Joe Teller shares stories and letters he wrote while "riding the rails" during the great Depression, why he eloped with Irene, and tales from World War II. The letters are often written in a very pleasing style and contain such pearls of wisdom as "Harder the work, so the lesser the pay. Thus philosophically, hard work is play." Not only are we privy to the inner workings of the mind of Joe, but his kid has also given us a visual treat with the reproductions of over 70 original cartoons, paintings and photographs which help to make this book even more delightful.Though the book is subtitled "Joe Teller - a portrait by his kid, Teller", I must give mom, Irene credit for her own contributions through stories and artwork. In my mind I see Joe and Irene as loving, equal partners in their journey through life, and it is obvious that they have enriched the life of their son, the greatest gift a parent can give. I too feel that my own life has been enriched by learning just a little about these two wonderful people even if it is only through this loving tribute. No matter what your reading preference is, history, art, humor, stories, poetry and more you will find it in "When I'm Dead All This Will Be Yours". Thank you so much Joe, Irene and Teller for sharing with all of us.

Besides being the smaller, quieter half of Penn and Teller, Teller does other things as well, and one of the things is write. He has written book and theater reviews, and such journals as _The New Yorker_ have published his essays on topics ranging from Jeffrey Dahmer, to his visit to Fallingwater or his reflections on performing his magic routine with Penn. And with Penn, he has written such funny books as _How to Play with Your Food_. But until I read _When I'm Dead, All _This_ Will Be Yours_, there was something I didn't know about bad-boy, anti-religious, and iconoclastic Teller. He visits his parents for a few days every month, and he calls them every evening. He loves his parents.And, given his parents, he ought to; they seem pretty darned lovable. Teller's father ("Pad"), now eighty-seven, is the focus of this book. The title comes from what he said to Teller when they were excavating in the cellar for a flathead screw to fix the oven, among the collection of ball bearings, matchbooks, and old batteries. To Teller's surprise, on one visit, his dad asked if he had ever seen his cartoons. Teller knew his dad drew, painted in oils, and sculpted, but he didn't know his dad had ever drawn cartoons. They retrieved a bundle of cartoons from the attic, drawn in the pre-Teller days of 1939. It was Teller's first introduction to how his parents had lived before he had come along, and it sparked reminiscences that turned into the prose of this delightful little book. The illustrations are Joe Teller's cartoons, often directly related to the stories, and also color reproductions of his paintings.Not only come the cartoons from the attic, but also emerges the Hobo Shoebox, ten pounds of letters and postcards which "Sonny" had sent his family as he tramped around depression-era America, riding the rails to every one of the forty-eight states. And the memorabilia from World War Two. Teller has a lot to learn.Teller's parents met in art school, and painting has been essential to their lives together. When Teller came along, they bought the row house they still inhabit in Philadelphia, and although Pad had to take a job in commercial art, he always kept an oil painting on the easel. These days, he and Teller's mom, "Mam," trot up to the attic studio every day to work on their paintings, Mam at her easel and Pad at his. They have never tried to sell any, but the paintings reproduced in the book are quite good. The pair are devoted to painting, and clearly to each other, and just as clearly to their talented son, of whom they are proud.This is a charming book, a loving tribute from a son to his parents, especially his dad. Delightful.