Growing up in 1930s America, Sidney knew what it was to struggle to get by. Millions were out of work and the Sheldons travelled America in search of employment. Grabbing every chance he could, Sidney worked as bus-boy, a clerk, an usher but dreamt of being so much more – a writer and what’s more, a writer in Hollywood.
By a stroke of luck, he found work as a reader for a top Hollywood producer. Then, writing through the nights, he slowing built a reputation and found himself in demand. Although the war and pilot training for the US Army Air Corps interrupted things, Sidney returned to work with the hottest producers and starts in Hollywood including Cary Grant, David Selznick, Irving Berlin and Judy Garland. And his future was brighter still....
This is the self biography of Sidney Sheldon which he entitled The Other Side of Me. Sidney told his life story in the same way like how he told the stories that many loved...Naked Face, Rage of Angels, Master of the Games, If Tomorrow Comes, etc. The book is very typical Sidney Sheldon and if you love his novels, you would enjoy The Other Side of Me. I certainly did.
The focus in this book is more on how Sidney struggled to be a script writer and producer in Hollywood and in Broadway in NY. Perhaps many fans might not known (I certainly didn’t) that before Sidney started writing his novels, he has many credentials of working in movies, theatres and even wrote and produced television series under his belt. Many also might not known that he wrote the scripts of many well know movies as well as produced well know series such as The Patty Duke Show, I Dream of Jeannie and Hart to Hart. Well, you would know after you read this. He had 7 writing credentials on broadway plays, 25 wiritng credentails for motion pictures and created 4 television series.
Sidney shared very briefly on his experience on writing the novels and only towards the end of the book. I would have like it better if he shared more but like the title said, perhaps he wanted the world to know the other side of him - the one who’s not a novelist but a writer in general.
Highly recommended to fans of Sidney Sheldon.
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