The title, “The Second City: Backstage at the World’s Greatest Comedy Theatre,” lets you know right away that this is not going to be a book that short on affection for its subject. With 200 pages, plus two compact discs tucked into an envelope on its inside front cover, it is a combination family album, reference work and trivia mine, all contained in a coffeetable volume of remembrances about the venerable Chicago institution. Published by Sourcebooks in Naperville, it is presented by The Second City organization and has a dedication page signed by its present owners, Andrew Alexander and Len Stuart.
Weaving all the material together is Sheldon Patinkin, who began his association with The Second City from the very beginning, served as its artistic director in the mid-’60s and, except for a period in the 1970s when he moved out of town, has been associated with it ever since.
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In a personal, “I was there” style, Patinkin traces the roots of The Second City to the days when players such as Shelley Berman, Severn Darden, Mike Nichols, Elaine May and Byrne and Joyce Piven worked with director Paul Sills in a variety of early formats that had started at the University of Chicago and spread into the North Side and downtown areas of the city. Though legendary, these efforts — University Theatre, Playwrights Theatre Club, The Compass — were not long-lasting. It wasn’t until The Second City opened, ready or not, on Dec. 16, 1959, at 1842 N. Wells St., that the comedy juggernaut took hold in Chicago, spread to Toronto, Detroit, the memorable SCTV series and points beyond, and produced 40 years (and still counting) of comedy revues.
Along with Patinkin’s invaluable detailed reminiscences, there are other words by Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, George Wendt, Jim Belushi and Harold Ramis; “spotlight” biographies chronicling the achievements of many alumni, and “Backstage Pass” bits from fellow Second citizens recalling incidents in their careers. There’s a lovely story from Joyce Sloane, producer emeritus, on how she first encountered John Belushi at the College of DuPage. Trying to book a Second City performance at Du Page, she was told by a college official, “We don’t need Second City. We’ve got a student who goes to see your shows and comes back and does the whole thing for us. He’s right over there, playing football.”
These personal touches, mixed in with a wealth of vintage photos, are the best things in the book. Lovers of incidental information also will enjoy finding out that Joan Rivers (born Molinsky) was “never really happy at Second City. Her style was different enough from the others’ so that she wasn’t easily able to blend into the ensemble — she was a born stand-up.”
Every once in a while, a little red dot pops up indicating that the sketch, song or blackout referred to in the text can be found on a track in the CDs. These recorded passages, strung together by Robert Klein’s narration, have been taken from Second City’s vaults and are sometimes fuzzy in sound quality, but you do get audio gems of original work from 1959 to the present.
The book is not definitive. Jeff Sweet’s 1978 oral history, “Something Wonderful Right Away,” remains the best work on the early years at Second City; and still to be heard from is Bernard Sahlins, former Second City producer, director and owner, who is writing his record of the Second City story in his memoirs.
In a book so full of Chicago theater history, it’s unfortunate, too, that the author and editors let slip misspellings of the names of director Stuart Gordon and actors William L. Petersen and D.W. Moffett (all on the same page, no less).
Still, at $45, which includes the two CDs, the book is a good investment, rich in happy memories of a fabled cabaret. (I value it alone for the stunning photo of a very young, very radiant Barbara Harris.) Bit by bit, sketch by sketch, the parade of scenes and stars passes by, reminding us of all the laughs in all the revues in every year of Second City’s existence.