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Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back
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Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back Paperback - 2006

by Robert Klein

This is a funny and evocative coming-of-age memoir by the beloved and award-winning comedian who has entertained audiences for more than four decades.


Summary

For more than forty years Robert Klein has entertained audiences -- on television, on Broadway, and in film. Now, in The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue, his first book, Klein uses his trademark off-the-charts humor to bring us to the heart of his creative coming-of-age.

From the publisher

A funny and evocative coming-of-age memoir by Robert Klein, the beloved and award-winning comedian who has entertained audiences for more than four decades. Best known for his unique brand of observational humor--seen on Broadway and in film and television--Klein details his life from ages nine to twenty-five as seen "through the gauze of time." Klein's theme park of memories alternates dark moments with sunlit humor. Teenage frustrations prompted a visit to a Harlem prostitute, which filled Klein with "shame and triumph and guilt." He encountered individual and institutional anti-Semitism at Alfred University, yet led the frat house fun, moving on to the Yale School of Drama, Chicago's Second City, New York theater and a variety of romances. Along the way, Klein had successes and failures, both in bed and on stage. Probing not only his own psyche but also the evolution of sexual mores during the 1950s and '60s, he unfurls an array of captivating anecdotes, writing with wry wit and honesty.

First line

My grandparents came from the two largest cities in Hungary-Budapest and Debrecen-in 1903.

Details

  • Title Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back
  • Author Robert Klein
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition First Trade
  • Pages 384
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Touchstone Books, USA
  • Date 2006-06-05
  • Features Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780684854892 / 0684854899
  • Weight 0.74 lbs (0.34 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.34 x 6.4 x 0.94 in (21.18 x 16.26 x 2.39 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 1950's
  • Dewey Decimal Code B

Media reviews

"Klein's provocative sense of irony gives his story a crazy twist, like his best stand-up work."

-- The New York Times Book Review

Citations

  • New York Times, 08/27/2006, Page 24

About the author

For more than forty years Robert Klein has entertained audiences. He has had an acclaimed career in comedy, on Broadway, on television, and in film. Born in the Bronx, he was a member of the famed Second City theatrical troupe in Chicago in the 1960s. Twice he was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album of the Year: Child of the Fifties (1973) and Mind Over Matter (1974). He received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor and won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his performance in the hit Neil Simon musical They're Playing Our Song in 1979. In 1993, Klein won an Obie and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig. In 1975, Klein was the first comedian to appear in a live concert on Home Box Office. He has done seven one-man shows for HBO. He was a star of the hit NBC series Sisters and has made more than 100 appearances on The Tonight Show and The Late Show with David Letterman. Notable films include Hooper, The Owl and the Pussycat, Two Weeks Notice, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue

by Klein, Robert

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New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. "A Child of the Fifties Looks Back" Signed and inscribed to Alanna on title page. First Thus (first trade paperback edition) with full numberline 8vo size trade paperback; 359 pages with a few black and white photographs From back cover: "For more than forty years Robert Klein has entertained audiences - on television, on Broadway, and in film. Now (in) his first book, Klein uses his trademark off the charts humor to bring us to the heart of his creative coming of age." Edgewear, front cover is worn and torn at bottom front corner, inside covers are tanned. . Signed by Author. First Thus. Trade Paperback. Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back

by Robert Klein

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780684854892 / 0684854899
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back

by Robert Klein

  • Used
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Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780684854892 / 0684854899
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue : A Child of the Fifties Looks Back
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue : A Child of the Fifties Looks Back

by Klein, Robert

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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue : A Child of the Fifties Looks Back

The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue : A Child of the Fifties Looks Back

by Robert Klein

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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back

by Robert Klein

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back

by Klein, Robert

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back

by Klein, Robert

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back
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The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back

by Robert Klein

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Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780684854892 / 0684854899
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