Read Dynomite!: Good Times, Bad Times, Our Times--A Memoir Online
Authors: Jimmie Walker,Sal Manna
Show business is like a greased pole—even if you have climbed to the top, sooner or later you are going to slide back down. I still climb the pole every day. I may not reach the top again, but at least my butt is off the ground!
In 2011
People
magazine published a special edition titled “1000 Greatest Moments in Pop Culture 1974–2011”—and J. J. saying “Dyn-o-mite!” was among them. That word has been woven into the fabric of American life, something I never could have imagined when it first came out of my mouth.
I will always be the guy in the floppy hat who said “Dyn-o-mite!” As Steve Crantz once said, “Your obit’s going to read: ‘Today the dyn-o-mite fizzled.’”
It hasn’t all been “dyn-o-mite!” . . . but you should see the guy they sent to the ghetto.
Acknowledgments
Jimmie thanks Randie Gorbena, Diane Cantor, Kaye Morano, Harris Peet, Adam Chromy, David Brenner, Ben Schafer, Chuck Hurewitz, and Craig Glazer.
Copyright © 2012 by Jimmie Walker and Sal Manna
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information, address Da Capo Press, 44 Farnsworth Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02210.
Set in Goudy Old Style by the Perseus Books Group
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walker, Jimmie, 1947–
Dyn-o-mite! : good times, bad times, our times—a memoir / Jimmie Walker ; with Sal Manna.—1st Da Capo Press ed.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-0-306-82110-3
1. Walker, Jimmie, 1947–2. Comedians—United States—Biography. 3. Actors—United States—Biography. I. Manna, Sal. II. Title. III. Title: Dynomite.
PN2287.W24A3 2012
792.702’8092—dc23
[B]
2011049684
First Da Capo Press edition 2012
Published by Da Capo Press
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
www.dacapopress.com
Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected].
Table of Contents
Chapter 2 - I’m from the Ghetto
Chapter 3 - Stand-up for the Panthers
Chapter 4 - Making It in New York
Chapter 8 - Freddie, Richard, Andy, Mitzi, and Budd
Chapter 9 - A Black Sheep among Black People