Steve Martin Writes Children's Book

The trend seems as plain as the nose on your child's face, or an arrow through your head. There's Madonna, Billy Crystal and Jamie Lee Curtis. And Jerry Seinfeld. And John Lithgow. And Katie Couric.

All celebrities. All parents. All authors of children's books.

Now Steve Martin has written one.

But he doesn't have any children.

"I'm not sure why I did this. I don't know why an alphabet book popped into my head," Martin says of "The Alphabet From A to Y, With Bonus Letter Z," a collaboration with New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast. "My idea was to write these rhyming couplets with the craziest images I could possibly think up, and then have Roz illustrate them."

The 62-year-old Martin, famous for his "wild and crazy" standup act in the 1970s, has turned increasingly to the page in recent years, writing plays, novels and humor pieces in The New Yorker, home to such literary wits (and children's authors) as E.B. White and James Thurber. A memoir comes out in November.

"From A to Y" is a nonsense ride across time and rhyme, with highlights including "H" ("Henrietta the hare wore a habit in heaven/Her hairdo hid hunchbacks: one hundred and seven") and "N" ("Needle-nosed Nigel won nine kinds of knockwurst/By winning a contest to see who could knock wurst").

Martin is a bookish man, but he wasn't thinking of any authors when writing "From A to Y." Not Thurber, White or Edward Lear. Not Dr. Seuss, whom he didn't read until his 20s. Maybe Ogden Nash.

"I did grow up on Ogden Nash," he says in a recent telephone interview, "but I'm not sure if that fits here."

Martin began working on "From A to Y" a couple of years ago. Like a good boy eating his vegetables first, he took on the hard letters, like "X" (if "Ambidextrous Alex was actually axed" counts as "X"), before digging in to such treats as "A" and "E."

Asked to name his favorite letter (an improvement over being asked his favorite color), Martin pauses.

"Gee."

"Gee," as in "giraffe"?

No, "Gee," as in "Gee, whiz."

"I always liked `Q.' ... It has that funny little do-dad at the bottom," he says, before remembering, a theme developing here, that his play "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" includes a soliloquy by Albert Einstein on the alphabet, as it relates to pie.

"Einstein compared the letter "O" to a pie, and said that the letter "Q" was like an "O" with a comma and that comma-shaped pie looks like a croissant," Martin explains.

Flying Dolphin Press, an imprint of Random House, Inc., is releasing "From A to Y" with a first printing of 150,000, encouraging feedback from booksellers and a favorable review from Publishers Weekly, which predicted that "Adults (will) see two well-known artists at work, creating mind-bending tableaux, while children get a taste of original tongue-twisters."

Martin and Chast will make a few promotional appearances, including an interview on the "Today" show, but so far Martin hasn't tested out the book on any children. (Chast has a 20-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter, both a bit too old, or young.)

"I'm afraid," says the man who has wowed millions hosting "Saturday Night Live." He then notes that his current project, a sequel to the 2006 "Pink Panther" remake in which he reprises his role as Inspector Clouseau, has some children in it.

His big chance.

Or maybe not.

"I think one of them only speaks French."

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Billy Crystal Wins Twain Humor Prize

Carl Reiner, Steve Martin and Whoopi Goldberg have all won it. Now, to borrow a famous movie line he wrote, Billy Crystal is having what they're having.

The comedian, actor, Broadway star and Yankees fan's many talents and passions were celebrated Thursday night at the Kennedy Center as he accepted the 10th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

"Does this mean I have to retire now?" Crystal asked as he cradled the award, a bust of Twain. "Usually when someone is given an evening like this, they're way too dead to say thank you."

Rob Reiner, who directed the Crystal movie "When Harry Met Sally," credited him with the lasting success of the famous restaurant scene in which Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm. Afterward, a woman cracks, "I'll have what she's having."

"Billy Crystal wrote that line," said Reiner, thanking his friend for granting cinematic immortality to his mother, Estelle Reiner, who delivered it.

The director was among the parade of Hollywood glitterati who reminisced about working with Crystal, though the honoree appeared particularly moved when New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, looking dapper and relaxed in a gray suit, took the stage.

"Honestly, you and I had pretty good years," said Torre, whose job status is uncertain after the Yankees were eliminated in the first round of baseball's postseason. "Yours is finishing up a little bit better than mine."

Thursday's ceremony was taped for broadcast Nov. 12 on PBS.

Crystal, 59, came to prominence as Jodie Dallas on the comedy series "Soap," as the first openly gay character on network television. He starred on "Saturday Night Live" in the 1984-85 season, when he was best known for his caricature of "Latin lover" Fernando Lamas ("You look mahvelous"). He also impersonated Howard Cosell and Sammy Davis Jr., among many others.

"He's got a great ear and a great eye for people," Robin Williams said.

Success in movies followed, peaking in the late '80s and early '90s with "Sally" and "City Slickers." Later, Crystal helped bring out the lighter side of Robert De Niro in the mob comedies "Analyze This" and "Analyze That."

"He was so generous," De Niro said. "Not many people get Billy Crystal as a straight man."

Williams said Crystal, whose recent successes include the Tony-winning one-man show "700 Sundays," keeps improving with age.

"He's gotten better and better, kind of like a good cheese," Williams said. "Or a Cabernet. But since I've gotten out of rehab, I'll go with cheese."

Crystal's humor rarely shocks or offends one reason he's been so successful as host of the Oscars. But his friends say he has a darker side.

"He can be edgy," Williams said. "If he wanted to be, he could be really nasty. But he chooses to be kinder, because it's more him. And he loves people."

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com