eYE Marty: The newly discovered autobiography of a comic genius

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Fun, interesting, even touching — this is a wonderful chance to explore the — sadly — short life or a True Giant. Yes, Marty Feldman was a very funny man, but I’m not convinced that he was the timeless legend this biography makes him out to be. Feldman attempts to tell the tale of his hungry years as a trumpet-playing vagabond until his rise to international celebrity, predicated on his googly eyes (the result of suspect thyroid medication), wiry stature, and an irrepressible bent for the bizarre. In 1976, Feldman ventured into Italian cinema, starring with Dayle Haddon in the sex comedy 40 Gradi All'Ombra del Lenzuolo ( Sex with a Smile).

But the overriding features of his story are twofold; he was happy in his own skin as a clown and he loved his wife Lauretta to bits. A real gem and an essential for any lover of Marty, the Pythons and the surreal comedy of the 50s, 60s and 70s. The autobiography is perhaps better appreciated if read in conjunction with Robert Ross's fine biography of the performer.

In 1974, Dennis Main Wilson produced a short BBC sketch series for Feldman titled Marty Back Together Again—a reference to reports about the star's health—but it never captured the impact of the earlier series. A spokesman said: ‘The book is exactly as Feldman wrote it, his great friend Mark Flanagan, had it transcribed, with even the photos inserted where Feldman had noted where they should go.

Disjointedly, Ross details the well-liked Feldman’s rise to stardom as Eye-Gor in Young Frankenstein, his eventual disillusion with Hollywood, and his death from a heart attack during the filming of Yellowbeard. When I was a kid, I used to think Monty Python, The Goon Show, Marty Feldman and even the Benny Hill Show was funny. Marty Feldman's autobiography eYE Marty offers insight into this underrated brilliant comic, from his Dickensian childhood to finding his way into the arts.He seemed to be a mixture of a gentle soul, anxious for love and attention, and an egotistic artiste. He later appeared in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother and Brooks' Silent Movie, as well as directing and starring in The Last Remake of Beau Geste. Like so many other people who ended up in the performing arts, he was evidently a neurotic all his life. My mind is an attic full of crazy dreams that never quit or disappoint me, and I have been blessed with these eyEs to see things differently and have people see me in a different way. first as a musician, on to his pioneering work writing radio comedy with partner Barry Took, to his foray into television with future Monty Python members up to his Hollywood success.

Later, when he discovered his professional forte, the Bafta-winning Feldman was responsible for some of the nation's favourite comedy: he co-wrote the hugely successful radio series Round the Horne, the follow-up to Beyond Our Ken (written and created by my father, Eric Merriman); and the oft-repeated comedy sketch about class, "I know my place", for the Frost Report; as well as the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch for At Last the 1948 Show, which was for ever linked to Monty Python. Another early Feldman sketch finds Cleese in a railway compartment irritated unto violence by the inane interruptions of his fellow passenger, a wing-collared Marty.Written over a period of a few years and completed not long before his death, Feldman’s story tells of his unhappy childhood struggles, homeless years as he struggled to make it as a performer in post-war Britain, and eventual move to America and the bountiful opportunities available to him in the New World. Don’t praise absolutely everything, don’t try and force your view of Marty’s genius into the reader’s face, and please, please don’t believe every anecdote a comedian repeats on a chat show couch. But there is still much candour in Feldman's original material, which was rescued from his widow's attic and transcribed by Mark Flanagan, nightclub owner and family friend.