By Lee Pfeiffer
Following their acclaimed book "A Wealth of Pigeons", Steve Martin and his friend, New Yorker magazine cartoonist Harry Bliss, have collaborated on another volume of cartoons, "Number One is Walking". The title refers to how the main star on the set of a movie is referred to. "Number One is Walking", is shouted to advise the crew that the main star is en route to the set. Martin advises there is a numeric pecking order that only Hollywood could create. Each actor's status is diminished by how far down the line his or her "number" is. The first half of this book consists of Bliss's cartoon depictions of Martin's experiences on movie sets. Refreshingly, the humor is gentle and self-deprecating towards Martin. Many of the cartoons depict Martin's devotion to his beloved pet dogs. Bliss's work- intentionally or not- calls to mind the creations of Gary Larson , the mad genius behind "The Far Side". Larson went into self-imposed retirement some years ago, so Bliss's clever work helps fill the gap. During the film-related section of the book, Martin recalls amusing anecdotes involving most of the more prominent productions he appeared in. He has nothing but kind words to say about everyone he mentions or depicts in the book, with special praise given to Carl Reiner, with whom he collaborated on several films. The film section of the book is presented in comic book style with multi-panel cartoons and the anecdotes are interesting and funny. Martin explains why he gave up making feature films, writing "I lost interest in movies at exactly the same time movies lost interest in me". He relates that after making 40 feature films, he found the process too taxing and time-consuming. Thus, he re-evaluated his life and career and decided to slow down. He wrote a great deal (books, songs, plays) and teamed with his old pal Martin Short for a stand-up comedy tour that resulted in their hit streaming series "Only Murders in the Building". The second half of the book is a creative free-for-all and features full-panel cartoons unrelated to Martin's film career.
"Number One is Walking" has only one drawback for fans of Martin's movies, namely, the cursory anecdotes might well be his only attempt to provide us with insights into the making of these films. One would hope that a traditional book of memoirs about his movies might someday come to pass. In the interim, this book is amusing and classy, much like Martin and his distinctive brand of timeless humor.
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