Most comedians are intriguing creatures - almost all of them seem to battle major demons (drugs, depression, etc) despite being brilliantly talented - none more so than Chevy Chase. Shot to national fame during the first series of Saturday Night Live then international fame with Foul Play, he really seemed to have it all - tall, genuinely handsome and virile, funny both with a line and a pratfall, intelligent, multi-talented (he played in several bands and was a writer), prestigious upbringing.
And he had a very good career - perhaps not as good as he could have, but still pretty good, being one of the major stars of the first half of the 80s. In the second half it went pear-shaped; he seems to have fallen into the trap like Ryan O'Neal did in the second half of the 70s - to wit, making films that seemed to be commercial but weren't, mainly because they were all obviously made just to be commercial (sequels to Fletch and Caddyshack, a reteaming with Dan Ackyroyd). The demise of the Fletch franchise was especially galling because Chevy was so perfect in the role and there was a whole series of books to derive plots from.
Some of this was bad luck, a lot of it was Chase's own fault - over the years I've read hints that he was a bit of a bastard (e.g. in the oral history on SNL his reappearances on the show are bagged - Will Ferrell says his hosting in 2002 was "a low point"; there were allusions to drug problems; William Goldman talks about his pretension on Memoirs of an Invisible Man) and was looking forward to this bio to illuminate it.
It does but only half does - Fruchter (who wrote a beautiful memoir about her friendship with Dudley Moore) pulls her punches in a major way. For instance, we get a chapter on Chase's drug addiction - but its only really a chapter, and not until a fair way into the book, after we've already covered many of Chase's experience on television and in Hollywood - chapters which would have been illuminated by knowing about his drug troubles then rather than "oh by the way he had a drug problem".
And while Fruchter does admit Chase's humour can be inappropriate at times, she doesn't really go into it, and has too many quotes from people justifying/forgiving his behaviour (other actors - and the problem getting quotes from actors is they usually want to be liked), and accepting too many quotes from Chase uncritically for things like "I was only mean to the director/producer because I was sticking up for other members of the crew", which is a standard lie from a star to justify bad behaviour (e.g. George Lazenby with On Her Majesty's Secret Service), and is overly sympathetic for what was evidently a major lack of professionalism for his 90s talk show (where Chase shifts the blame over to the network or his depression). (She did get Neil Simon and Carl Reiner to go on the record which is interesting) And she quotes too much from internet reviews and has a slightly irritating structure, which isn't always strictly chronological. So its not definitive.
Its is interesting, though - Fruchter is superb on music and the chapter on Chase's musician-ship is fascinating (he even cut an album - if he does want to make a "comeback" I think a concert/stand up piece would be ideal).
It is also very strong on Chase's family tree and horrid upbringing (an abusive mother and step father), which explains a lot of bad behaviour (most of his siblings had major problems in their life too) and makes the soft-soaping later on in the book doubly frustrating because its not needed, we know he's had a hard time. She also has the bright idea of quoting some of Chase's writings.
So this isn't a slap dash work, it is thorough and well written - I just wish it had been a bit tougher.
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