Starstruck: Fame, Failure, My Family and Me

by Cosmo Landesman

When Cosmo Landesman's American parents decided to move their young family to London in the swinging sixties, it was not to pursue a quieter life on this side of the pond. Quite the it was out of unbridled, unashamed lust for fame and fortune.But things did not go according to plan, and as a child Cosmo found himself charged with raising his startstruck parents and trying to cope with the publicity stunt of their 'open marriage'. Over the years he wrote press releases, blurbs and proposals for their plays, film treatments, novels, book ideas and demo tapes. He found himself playing the roll of creative midwife, personal manager, publicist, psychoanalyst and apologist.Not any more. In this hilarious memoir he finally lays bare his extraordinary childhood and the twists and turns of his parents' bizarre desire for the spotlight - and how they were always doomed to failure.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

Reviews

[Chrissy Frost · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've long enjoyed reading Cosmo Landesman's film reviews and now he has a rather amusing column in one of the Sunday mags recounting his adventures in dating over the age of 60. And I was, of course, aware that he had once been married to the journalist Julie Burchill. But it was an article in a recent Sunday Times Magazine for Father's Day, in which he pays tribute to the things his father Jay taught him, that inspired me to order a copy of his memoir. Cosmo's family life was extraordinary by anyone's standards. His American parents, after achieving some notoriety in St Louis, Missouri running a popular nightclub, decide to move to London - arriving at the onset of the Swinging Sixties. Tireless self-promoters and hangers on around the edges of celebrity, arty and music circles in the city, they dream of becoming famous in their own right. Cosmo's mother Fran enjoyed some success as a songwriter and his father Jay made various forays into publishing and theatre production, with limited success. But neither would ever set the world on fire with their talent. They became closest to famous after going public about their happily open marriage - a point of excruciating embarrassment for Cosmo. Enthusiastic drinkers, experimenters with drugs, sexual adventurers, Fran and Jay were true hedonists and completely self-absorbed - sometimes alarmed at their rather buttoned up, conservative son who longed for normal parents. My favourite member of the Landesman family is Cosmo's tirelessly optimistic brother Miles, who cheerfully plays in band after unsuccessful band - never losing the hope that his big break is just around the corner. This entertaining memoir tells the story Cosmo's unusual childhood set against the cultural changes of the 1960s and 1970s. A fascinating glimpse of London in the Swinging Sixties and into the Trippy Hippy 70s and a cautionary tale about the perils of seeking fame simply for the sake of fame.

[Edmund Chattoe-Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an engaging read although I don't think anyone could accuse it of being over researched. (At one point, for example, the author mentions doing an interview with an academic but seems to make almost no use of it!) Nonetheless it keeps up a steady stream of interesting facts and ideas about the changing nature of fame and celebrity. The best thing about the book is how it combines cultural history with personal experience of being married to a celebrity (Julie Burchill) and being the son of Jay and Fran Landesman (and arguably brother to Miles Landesman) who all had quite striking (and in some cases problematic) relationships to the pursuit of fame. (Probably the best way to "calibrate" this oddity and separate it from mere awkwardness between father and son is Jay Landesman's idea to open his own house as a Jay Landesman Museum!) But overall the history points up the biography and vice versa. It is also interesting to form a judgement about the author. His parents do sound quite odd, though one wonders if he might have grown out of his embarrassment at some point. One also wonders how he and his brother might have been different if they hadn't had the same parents. I can't speak for the success of the author in journalism (though I had only vaguely heard of him) but is his brother's endless stream of failed bands really a "true passion for music" or not having been socialised to stop flogging a dead horse at some point? The reader will have to decide but they can have some fun while doing so (and learn something about the changing nature of fame and celebrity along the way.)

[Susannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Irritating. Yes, yes, your parents sought fame. You don't need to keep telling us. But then that is pretty much the only thing that you can talk about. Oh yes, until Julie Burchill enters your life and then gives us something different to read for a few chapters. I was bored and irritated by the constant feeling 'like father, like son'.

[Susan Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book is half a nonfiction memoir by Cosmo Landesman about him and his ‘interesting’ family and half a study on the British obsession with celebrity since around the 60’s.

The sections that focused on the whole of the UK rather than just his family were very interesting. I particularly enjoyed the chapters that focused on the culture surrounding fame and how this celebrity worshipping has not just started recently but has been going on for decades.

The actual memoir is also interesting, basically Cosmo (the author) grew up in an environment where all his family wanted was to be famous and this book deals with why that is and how its embarrassed him throughout his life. His parents quest for fame also can be quite humorous as is the narrative voice explaining them, for example there is a chapter entitled ‘Hippy London ate my Parents’.

To be honest at times the narrative became a bit bitter and aggressive and even hypocritical, (He criticises his Dad for wanting to write a book about himself and yet that is exactly what the author has done), and this means the narrative starts to drag. It also deals with how he would like to distance himself from this fame hunger but he also wants recognition.

Overall I enjoyed this read more than I thought I would, (I usually pretty exclusively read fiction and I only paid £1 for it as a new hardback), and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the fame culture.

[Bruno · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, by film critic Cosmo Landesman, is half a memoir of his idiosyncratic and colourful family and half a study of how Britain has become a society where being famous is a goal for some.

The fact that Landesman's own parents and brother (and himself to a certain extend) have spent their lives striving for fame serves as an interesting illustration of how the attitude to fame has changed in the UK over the last 60 years. The tales of family life are often quite hilarious and brilliantly told, yet it does on occasion feel as if Landesman uses his parents' constant search for the project which will make them famous a bit too easily, and it does feel slightly ironic when he mocks his dad's effort to write countless autobiographies, then confesses how he struggles to write his own book.

Landesman's account of the rise of celebrity culture seems pretty well researched and is often very interesting, if slightly less entertaining of course.

The juxtaposition of the two (the memoirs and the study) feels a bit regimented at times, and it almost feels like one is reading two books at the same time, but it does overall make sense. Landesman's family tales progress through the years serves as the basis for his assessment of how celebrity culture has developed through the decades.

[Erica Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a book analysing celebrity; and when the author is one of the founders of The Modern Review - this all leads towards a very good read. This book didn't let me down... Landesman writes a chapter on his eccentric fame obsessed parents followed by a chapter explaining how the world of celebrity has grown over 5 decades (or has it?), eventually bringing us up to the present day.
As long as these books are published. I'll read them. It would be nice if there was a monthly magazine in these times that was as brilliant as The Modern Review was then.

[Jackie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't waste your time.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book his parents can be proud of.

[Annija Bunde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny and brutally honest. Easy to read.