Customer Reviews
Millers the name lady ! - By: Peter Wade, 27 Sep 2008 
Millers the name lady !
He was a big star in the 30, 40 & 50s. Comedy like pop music has to come from somewhere. I like to hear from current performers as to who were their influences. Even if they do not admit or even know it a lot of stand up comedians were influenced by the music halll greats. They had a complete act & would be able to hold the audience with their jokes, singing & dancing.
These days a lot of so callled comedy can easily rely on bum fart willy jokes. Before & well after the second world war such jokes would not have been possible.
There therefore grew up a tradition of innuendo. This is epitomised by the seaside postcards & in the fifties the Carry on Films.
Max Miller was the arch exponent of that sort of comedy. He built himself up on the musical halll circuit & was reputedly very mean. He would boast how much he was being paid. that is very astute as your worth goes up in people's eyes if people think that you are highly paid. during the second world war he was earning a thousand pounds a week. A pretty good sum even these days.
He said carrying a notebook & pencil was essential for writing down the jokes as they were pearls of wisdom
He was a private man & did not socialise with other show biz personalities If you listen to his Cd or see him on tape he does a lot of gestures & glances which heightened the comedy as he is being suggestive by saying very little. He played to the women in the audience who loved him. He did not do very long jokes but made the most of each word by pausing for effect
He would do interjections like All clever stuff & You're the kind of people who give me a bad name.
I remember when I was young people using expressions like alll clever stuff so they got it from the Max Miller routine & became catch phrases.
He was very astute & saved his money after coming from a very humble background. A very moving story of his life with plenty of laughs.
Highly recommended.
Max star still shines bright! - By: Daniel Mclaughlin, 30 Dec 2006 Max was the greatest stand-up of his day.This superb book (written with affection by someone who knew Max well)is a fitting tribute to a great man, who was the biggest star of his day.I have read & re-read this book & it leaves me with only one regret - I didn't see this true comedy legend live!
