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You Can't Fall Off the Floor Lib/E: And Other Lessons from a Life in Hollywood
From watching his colleague get shot in the testicles by a jealous producer to running Hollywood's most successful television studio, Harris Katleman had a front row seat in the development of the television industry. Destined to become a classic account of the business side of entertainment, this book shares what really happened in the early careers of Hollywood stars and the development of iconic programs. Through a number of hilarious accounts, Harris Katleman shares his journey from office boy to talent agent to television producer, and finally to studio head at both MGM and 20th Century Fox. Along the way, we meet industry giants including Rupert Murdoch, Bob Iger, Barry Diller, Marvin Davis, Kirk Kerkorian, Mark Goodson, and Lew Wasserman. You Can't Fall Off the Floor goes beyond the story of a life in Hollywood. It is the story of crucial developments--how motion picture film libraries were opened for television licensing, how The Simpsons was birthed, and much more. It is also a collection of vital life lessons for anyone aspiring to establish a career in Hollywood. The names are so famous and the stories so lively that this book reads like it was written about today's Hollywood.
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First published June 25, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 26, 2019
Harris Katleman certainly likes himself--his ego alone must have propelled the under-educated college dropout to become a major player in Hollywood (that and his Mafia-connected uncle). There is no evidence in this book that Harris had any idea what he was doing at any point in his career, and he just managed to survive by adapting under different owners and regimes.
While he over-praises himself and take credit for things like The Simpsons and NYPD Blue, he also needs to then accept the blame for Manimal and Cop Rocks, two of the biggest flops in TV history which were produced under his watch. The main problem is that there are few details about his involvement in any project and almost no other shows mentioned by name beyond Mr. Belvedere, which for some reason he thinks was a huge hit.
The glib stories always end with advice he gives potential executives about how the industry works, most of which is incredibly obvious and is often based on being unethical. The only really interesting section is about his time in charge of Fox TV, but even that falls way short of enough information. He does call out some major players as being horrible people, but admits that they all lie and deceive in order to make millions. He has worked with the biggest of the big, but he provides little insight into who those people really are or why they make bad choices.
The book is filled with errors: incorrect used of industry wording, hype calling shows with mediocre ratings "hits," and timelines that are out of order. Then the book suddenly ends 25 years ago with no details about what he did after leaving Fox. His five wives are alluded to in one sentence. So the whole thing is incredibly incomplete and seems like a way for his co-author grandson to spin positive his grandfather's career and somewhat poor reputation.
If you're looking for something filled with great inside Hollywood stories you won't find it here. There's more about gambling and his Mafia connections than about his actual work at the studios. It does provide insight into the nasty side of Hollywood and it's nice to hear a man demean big names before they die, but he proves to have no ethical standards and simply reinforces that those running the TV and movies business are horrible tyrants that don't understand what Americans really want in entertainment.
While he over-praises himself and take credit for things like The Simpsons and NYPD Blue, he also needs to then accept the blame for Manimal and Cop Rocks, two of the biggest flops in TV history which were produced under his watch. The main problem is that there are few details about his involvement in any project and almost no other shows mentioned by name beyond Mr. Belvedere, which for some reason he thinks was a huge hit.
The glib stories always end with advice he gives potential executives about how the industry works, most of which is incredibly obvious and is often based on being unethical. The only really interesting section is about his time in charge of Fox TV, but even that falls way short of enough information. He does call out some major players as being horrible people, but admits that they all lie and deceive in order to make millions. He has worked with the biggest of the big, but he provides little insight into who those people really are or why they make bad choices.
The book is filled with errors: incorrect used of industry wording, hype calling shows with mediocre ratings "hits," and timelines that are out of order. Then the book suddenly ends 25 years ago with no details about what he did after leaving Fox. His five wives are alluded to in one sentence. So the whole thing is incredibly incomplete and seems like a way for his co-author grandson to spin positive his grandfather's career and somewhat poor reputation.
If you're looking for something filled with great inside Hollywood stories you won't find it here. There's more about gambling and his Mafia connections than about his actual work at the studios. It does provide insight into the nasty side of Hollywood and it's nice to hear a man demean big names before they die, but he proves to have no ethical standards and simply reinforces that those running the TV and movies business are horrible tyrants that don't understand what Americans really want in entertainment.
June 18, 2019
This is very close to being a 'vanity' autobiography as Harris Katleman tells us how he made his way in the movie/TV business through guile and cunning. In reality as he works his way up from assistant to studio head, he spends most of his time smoozing other movers/shakers in Hollywood, as they all seem to participate in an endless game of musical chairs.
Every thing from booze, drugs and woman to pimping and drug dealing or dealing with drug dealers, it not so much as whether you are producing successful movies and TV but how you structure a deal.
Those who know, can make two plus two equal five or three depending on if you need to make or lose money on paper. It's where the real money ends up that makes you rich.
If you can get by the, "look how smart I am or was" and just listen to understand how the business was run, you might find yourself enjoying this book. BTW: not only can you fall off the floor, but from experience you can, and remember it's hard to leave the party when you can't find the floor.
Every thing from booze, drugs and woman to pimping and drug dealing or dealing with drug dealers, it not so much as whether you are producing successful movies and TV but how you structure a deal.
Those who know, can make two plus two equal five or three depending on if you need to make or lose money on paper. It's where the real money ends up that makes you rich.
If you can get by the, "look how smart I am or was" and just listen to understand how the business was run, you might find yourself enjoying this book. BTW: not only can you fall off the floor, but from experience you can, and remember it's hard to leave the party when you can't find the floor.
November 8, 2023
Thank you to the author and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book! I won it for my boyfriend, who provided the review below!
You Can't Fall Off the Floor is an entertaining memoir of one man's path through Hollywood. It was fascinating to read about the creation of famous works like From Here to Eternity and The Simpsons from the business perspective (vs. directors, screenwriters, actors, etc.), and the stories are engrossing. The only downside are the constant mini-sections where Katlemen gives advice like it is a self-help book. They are condescending and grind the book to a halt. Overall though, it is a quick (took me just two nights) and pleasurable read. I highly recommend for anybody with an interest in Hollywood.
You Can't Fall Off the Floor is an entertaining memoir of one man's path through Hollywood. It was fascinating to read about the creation of famous works like From Here to Eternity and The Simpsons from the business perspective (vs. directors, screenwriters, actors, etc.), and the stories are engrossing. The only downside are the constant mini-sections where Katlemen gives advice like it is a self-help book. They are condescending and grind the book to a halt. Overall though, it is a quick (took me just two nights) and pleasurable read. I highly recommend for anybody with an interest in Hollywood.
April 20, 2020
This book was not what I anticipated. I thought that this book would be more of an in-depth analysis of the author’s time in Hollywood, but it was more of a self-centered who’s-who. It’s not to say that this book wasn’t interesting or that it didn’t offer a unique perspective on Hollywood, because it did - I enjoyed reading about the author’s adventures and interactions, especially with people from the mid-20th century, and how he started from the bottom at a major movie studio. But I do wish that there had been a bit more reflection.
May 27, 2019
I was anxious to read this book because Katleman was president of the MGM Television Dept while I worked there. This book covers his career from his early 20's to his retirement. It was especially interesting when he mentions other executives familiar to me some of which I admired and some that I didn't. He pulls no punches in cataloging his climb to the top. He relates the good and the bad. An interesting book about Hollywood. In reality, a dog eat dog atmosphere.
January 6, 2024
Neglectable. Both the book and the lessons to be supposedly found in it.
October 29, 2020
Harris Katleman had a front row seat alright. He was Lew Wasserman's driver. And that was the wellspring of his career. His and his mentor's generations of agents and intermediaries first set up the unique practices, procedures, customs, hiring framework, and ethics of the "relationship business" that is the industry. Maybe you've heard. It's a world where huge egos abound, excessive rewards provide mutual validation, and outsiders are only reluctantly admitted.
At one point Katleman seems annoyed that a former mentor and sponsor seems to expect favoritism in future dealings with him, even after he's gone to work for someone else. This is one of the most pernicious expectations prevalent in the business. Loyalty is misunderstood to include favoritism, chits are held, so old personal bonds can outweigh duty to current employers. Responsibility to distant shareholders also count to the smarter ones, but count for a lot more if there's a nearby principal shareholder with a cash flow problem, like the one Katleman solved for Kirk Kerkorian.
There is good advice in this book between the name dropping and deal bragging. Katleman understands the primacy of good writing in television, for instance. He also gives credit where due, notably when he praises his assistant for fishing David E. Kelley's spec script off the slush pile.
The tone of the book is one dimensional: I sold this, then I brokered that. There's very little of a wider view of TV's evolution as a technology, as an art form, its social impact, or in comparison to other industries, and nothing on its transformation in the quarter century between Katleman's departure from 20th TV and the publication of the book. There is the requisite gratuitous dig at President Trump wherein Katleman seems to rue the day his boss Rupert Murdoch had the resources to create Fox News. But maybe that was just Harris' jealousy at a division of Murdoch's old company which would become even more profitable than his own.
Although Katleman was present at 20th when the historically ginormous hit The Simpsons was spun out of The Tracey Ullman Show, look elsewhere for details on exactly how the scrawny interstitial short subject family evolved into the robust characters of Jim Brooks' all-time megahit. (Mike Reiss' Simpsons Confidential is a very funny book if you're a Simpsons fan!) In another major success, Katleman attached Steven Bochco to Fox en route to his and David Milch's artistically unsurpassed NYPD Blue. But you'll find more details on how that show navigated the censorship issues in Bob Iger's autobiography, and more on its creative development in "True Blue" by Milch and NYPD Detective Bill Clark. So like a good agent/studio deal maker, Katleman stays in his lane and lets the creatives take their own bows.
He cannot, however, suppress his pride about transporting Bob Uecker from the couch on The Tonight Show to the cast of Mr. Belvedere. So, The Simpsons, NYPD Blue, ... Mr. Belvedere? But you see, that's the point. For all it was and wasn't, Mr. Belvedere somehow made it to 95 episodes, enough for syndication revenue, and that was largely Harris Katleman's doing. It won't get him a plaque at the TV Academy Hall of Fame, but he did his duty to the Fox shareholders and maybe that's why he ultimately lasted so long as studio chief.
How revealing is this Hollywood memoir? It depends on the who and where. Katleman's career had a couple of interludes with the game show factory Goodson & Todman. There it's time "to tell the truth" and you learn who the real imposters were. Whereas when the subject is the mysterious Sidney Korshak, we get only one story. But hey, Katleman's still alive at 91, so you can't criticize him for not being the type to blab more about the mob's reputed man in Hollywood. As a reader I do wish Katleman had been more of a gentleman re some personal details on one female Fox Network executive. And surely he should have been more muted in his praise of a protégé turned Hollywood bigshot disgraced by a #MeToo type scandal.
Combine that with the casual mention of his five wives, and this coverage must conclude that our protagonist isn't always sympathetic. There may be problems with the female demo. Mark this one down as a "pass" for further development in all media, but maybe pitch the book to some young relative who decided against working in the industry. She'll feel twice as good about her decision.
At one point Katleman seems annoyed that a former mentor and sponsor seems to expect favoritism in future dealings with him, even after he's gone to work for someone else. This is one of the most pernicious expectations prevalent in the business. Loyalty is misunderstood to include favoritism, chits are held, so old personal bonds can outweigh duty to current employers. Responsibility to distant shareholders also count to the smarter ones, but count for a lot more if there's a nearby principal shareholder with a cash flow problem, like the one Katleman solved for Kirk Kerkorian.
There is good advice in this book between the name dropping and deal bragging. Katleman understands the primacy of good writing in television, for instance. He also gives credit where due, notably when he praises his assistant for fishing David E. Kelley's spec script off the slush pile.
The tone of the book is one dimensional: I sold this, then I brokered that. There's very little of a wider view of TV's evolution as a technology, as an art form, its social impact, or in comparison to other industries, and nothing on its transformation in the quarter century between Katleman's departure from 20th TV and the publication of the book. There is the requisite gratuitous dig at President Trump wherein Katleman seems to rue the day his boss Rupert Murdoch had the resources to create Fox News. But maybe that was just Harris' jealousy at a division of Murdoch's old company which would become even more profitable than his own.
Although Katleman was present at 20th when the historically ginormous hit The Simpsons was spun out of The Tracey Ullman Show, look elsewhere for details on exactly how the scrawny interstitial short subject family evolved into the robust characters of Jim Brooks' all-time megahit. (Mike Reiss' Simpsons Confidential is a very funny book if you're a Simpsons fan!) In another major success, Katleman attached Steven Bochco to Fox en route to his and David Milch's artistically unsurpassed NYPD Blue. But you'll find more details on how that show navigated the censorship issues in Bob Iger's autobiography, and more on its creative development in "True Blue" by Milch and NYPD Detective Bill Clark. So like a good agent/studio deal maker, Katleman stays in his lane and lets the creatives take their own bows.
He cannot, however, suppress his pride about transporting Bob Uecker from the couch on The Tonight Show to the cast of Mr. Belvedere. So, The Simpsons, NYPD Blue, ... Mr. Belvedere? But you see, that's the point. For all it was and wasn't, Mr. Belvedere somehow made it to 95 episodes, enough for syndication revenue, and that was largely Harris Katleman's doing. It won't get him a plaque at the TV Academy Hall of Fame, but he did his duty to the Fox shareholders and maybe that's why he ultimately lasted so long as studio chief.
How revealing is this Hollywood memoir? It depends on the who and where. Katleman's career had a couple of interludes with the game show factory Goodson & Todman. There it's time "to tell the truth" and you learn who the real imposters were. Whereas when the subject is the mysterious Sidney Korshak, we get only one story. But hey, Katleman's still alive at 91, so you can't criticize him for not being the type to blab more about the mob's reputed man in Hollywood. As a reader I do wish Katleman had been more of a gentleman re some personal details on one female Fox Network executive. And surely he should have been more muted in his praise of a protégé turned Hollywood bigshot disgraced by a #MeToo type scandal.
Combine that with the casual mention of his five wives, and this coverage must conclude that our protagonist isn't always sympathetic. There may be problems with the female demo. Mark this one down as a "pass" for further development in all media, but maybe pitch the book to some young relative who decided against working in the industry. She'll feel twice as good about her decision.
August 21, 2019
Providing an interesting and often funny look behind the scenes of Hollywood, Harris and Nick Katleman’s “You Can’t Fall Off the Floor,” details the long career of Harris, who rose from the mailroom of MCA, to become the head of MGM Television and 20th Century Fox.
It is clear from reading this that Harris has certainly led a very interesting life and career! He quite literally starts his book off with a bang, as he helps out a studio executive who runs afoul of a jealous husband and producer. From there, it’s a chronological journey filled with famous figures and occasional asides detailing a bit of advice for those looking to enter the business.
If Harris’ story is to be an example, it is clear that the adage, “its not what you know, but who,” definitely applies here! The garrulous and personable nature one has to have in Hollywood comes through clearly throughout these pages, making the memoir feel like a conversation with that cool relative in the family. Like any good behind-the-scenes story, Harris is not hesitant to relate the warts prevalent in the industry as much as the successes, and there are certainly a few well-known figures here that you will likely gain a new understanding about.
Though the memoir only goes till Harris’ retirement in 1994, this is a good book for those interested in Hollywood, and even the advice given could very easily apply in general as much as in the industry itself. All-in-all a great little tale of a bygone Hollywood age!
(I did receive a finished copy of this in a Goodreads giveaway. Nothing influenced my opinion on the story other than my own reading of it.)
It is clear from reading this that Harris has certainly led a very interesting life and career! He quite literally starts his book off with a bang, as he helps out a studio executive who runs afoul of a jealous husband and producer. From there, it’s a chronological journey filled with famous figures and occasional asides detailing a bit of advice for those looking to enter the business.
If Harris’ story is to be an example, it is clear that the adage, “its not what you know, but who,” definitely applies here! The garrulous and personable nature one has to have in Hollywood comes through clearly throughout these pages, making the memoir feel like a conversation with that cool relative in the family. Like any good behind-the-scenes story, Harris is not hesitant to relate the warts prevalent in the industry as much as the successes, and there are certainly a few well-known figures here that you will likely gain a new understanding about.
Though the memoir only goes till Harris’ retirement in 1994, this is a good book for those interested in Hollywood, and even the advice given could very easily apply in general as much as in the industry itself. All-in-all a great little tale of a bygone Hollywood age!
(I did receive a finished copy of this in a Goodreads giveaway. Nothing influenced my opinion on the story other than my own reading of it.)
July 30, 2019
I received a copy of this book thru a Goodreads giveaway. I usually read fiction, but I've always been interested in Hollywood and movies so this book caught my eye. I didn't recognize the name of the author, but I did recognize the names of many (not all) mentioned in the book. it really put the whole business side of Hollywood in a worse light for me. There were some interesting snippets, but the chronology was sometimes difficult to follow. Those in the industry would probably find it interesting.
August 8, 2019
rec'd through goodreads…
Interesting snapshot of the entertainment industry and Katleman's family.
While I had no illusions about the industry, I was disappointed about the truth of the golden globes.
Interesting snapshot of the entertainment industry and Katleman's family.
While I had no illusions about the industry, I was disappointed about the truth of the golden globes.
August 13, 2019
Blah! Almost finished it but just could not listen to another chapter because it is just too much self-importance and dripping with testosterone. If you want to know how absolutely cool the big cats of Hollywood then this is the story for you!
September 24, 2021
I had never heard of Harris Kattleman before choosing this free audiobook, but enjoyed learning about this story. Plus, he played an intregal role in delivering Mr Belvedere and The Simpsons to the world. That makes for a pretty impressive IMdb profile.
September 13, 2019
entertaining, informative, a blast to read. highly recommend.
September 16, 2019
I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the writing and the stories.
September 23, 2019
Great read - provides a lot of behind the scenes perspective but is also a quick read as well.
October 24, 2019
An interesting view of the entertainment industry from a Hollywood executive. It confirmed my opinion of what Hollywood is like
November 19, 2019
Interesting but not as funny as I anticipated.
January 2, 2020
Pretty entertaining show business memoir written by an executive with a reasonably large ego (which has to be expected) but who also has some amusing stories to tell.
January 20, 2020
Great read and lots of great one-liners.
December 3, 2020
I found this book to be a pretty good read with all the stories from a Hollywood executives point of view.
October 29, 2022
First hand account of the creation of major motion picture companies - interesting!
September 3, 2019
I liked the book, but it reads slowly.
May 25, 2023
Everything culled (i.e. that I annotated) regarding David “Begelscam” Begelman…
background: Harris Katleman started out as Lew Wasserman’s east coast
(MCA offices) hatchet man:
“As it turned out, the agents working out of the New York hub were running their own boutique agencies within MCA. Let’s just say that they were feathering their own nests. Lew had gotten word, and he needed a bulldog to sniff out the clean agents from the crooked ones. The ringleaders were David Susskind and David Begelman.”
A New Company and A New Scandal : 1977-1980
Remember David Begelman, the New York–based MCA agent that I fired for embezzling money under Lew Wasserman’s nose? He had managed to fail upward, and now he was running Columbia’s motion picture department. In fact, his run of smash hits had kept Columbia afloat since Alan Hirschfield’s takeover of the company. Having green-lit titles like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Taxi Driver, and Kramer vs. Kramer, David was operating at a peak level.
Considering that David’s last words to me had been “I’ll get you back, mother fucker,” I figured he probably harbored some resentment toward me. I’d feel the same way if a twenty-three-year-old kid ended my eleven-year streak at MCA.
David Begelman, Colum Pic President, was fast friends with Herbert Allen, the CEO of Allen & Company, who maintained a controlling stake in the studio. Herbert offered David an extended vacation to “clear his mind.” He figured that the political crisis would blow over by the time David returned, but he underestimated the obstinacy of Alan Hirschfield, Colum Pic CEO 1973 to 78. Alan had lost all trust in Begelman [after repeatedly lying about forging Columbia paychecks] and demanded immediate termination. In the end, it came down to a rock, paper, scissors game of firing. Hirschfield canned Begelman, and Begelman convinced Herbert Allen to fire Alan Hirschfield.
October 21, 2024
intermittently intriguing; comparable to Sue Menger's exhaustive Can I Go Now?: The Life of Sue Mengers, Hollywood's First Superagent -- whereas the Menger's biography is deftly assembled via co-author Brian Kellow, The Katlemans’ insistence on keeping too many unqualified cooks-in-the-kitchen is easily their book's glaring hindrance
Everyone Needs an Editor...….some of us more than others .. but especially if you can't help yourself from padding every showbiz anecdotal into a low-rent cautionary doodle that only Shecky Greene, both Harpo & Chico Marx, and Harvey Levin could cherish
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews