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Review: Malarkey aside, Malachy McCourt sings a touching 'Song'

book cover

"Singing My Him Song"
By Malachy McCourt
HarperCollins
Memoir
242 pages


In this story:

A certain charm

Candid talk


RELATED STORIES, SITES Downward pointing arrow


(CNN) -- I'm happy Malachy McCourt stopped drinking, because it would be pure hell to run into him fully loaded at a bar. Enchanted with himself, brimming with faux-Hibernian whimsy, McCourt strikes me as the kind of conversationalist I generally want to throttle.

That doesn't mean he's not a nice fellow, or even a good writer, but does he have to be so precious? His syntax, and the grating use of such locutions as "poshish" (position), "premi" (premises), "sez," "twixt," "tis," and "twas," are affected and irritating. It's as if the man read all of P.G. Wodehouse one lost weekend and forever submerged his own voice in frenzied homage to the master. Don't get me wrong: McCourt has stories to tell and hard truths to impart. Would that he didn't cloak everything in stereotypical Irish blarney. He professes to be offended by people mocking his accent or putting down Irishmen.

  EXCERPT
Excerpt: 'Singing My Him Song'
 

Regarding his implausible but well-played role on the soap opera, "One Life to Live," he writes, "All my speeches were written in that quaint lingo that non-Irish writers believe to be our way of expressing ourselves."

A longtime fan of "One Life to Live," I remember watching McCourt's performance way before the McCourt memoir dynasty took off. His Irish lingo on that show was subdued compared to the malarkey he slings about in this book. Despite his sensitivity to anti-Irish putdowns, McCourt admits he found it convenient to play the part of the wild Irishman, quick with a quip or a left hook, and fast with the women.

A certain charm

Can he have it both ways? Why the hell not? Like all rakehells, active and reformed, he is not without a certain charm.

Malachy McCourt charms readers with his memoir
Malachy McCourt charms readers with his memoir "Singing My Him Song," even if he is a bit heavy with the stereotypical Irish blarney  

As his tale unfolds, if one can keep reading through periodic urges to hurl the volume against the nearest wall, we learn that he was a lot worse than irritating to his friends and family before he sobered up and began to confront his demons.

Starting out as a bartender and proprietor of several New York watering holes in the '60s and '70s, McCourt progressed to acting in commercials, movies and daytime dramas. His boyhood friend, Richard Harris, helped secure McCourt's first film role in "The Molly Maguires." He appeared on stage in "Mass Appeal" and co-wrote "A Couple of Blaguards," a popular autobiographical play he performed with his brother, Frank.

Malachy hosted a talk radio show for a while, and made regular appearances on the David Susskind and Merv Griffin shows. In fact, it was falling off a chair, drunk, on TV that helped McCourt face up to and conquer his drinking problem.

Candid talk

He talks candidly about his horrible childhood and the long-term emotional consequences of poverty, a hideous family life, and early sexual abuse. Without wallowing in victimhood or resorting to psychobabble, McCourt recounts painful memories and touchingly tells us how he gradually came to grips with his bitterness and despair.

Before he realized he had a problem, his drinking and carousing took a toll on McCourt's domestic arrangements. His first wife divorced him, and for many years he had minimal contact with his children from that union. He was separated for a time from his second wife, Diana, because of a big lie he told her about money. Despite his growing success as an actor, financial concerns always dogged Malachy and his family. At least now he's raking in the royalties.

But wait, there's more. McCourt deals movingly with Diana's handicapped daughter, Nina, and their trials finding the proper care for her. He relates, briefly, a bout of prostate cancer that hit him just as he thought he was getting everything together. Ah, the luck of the Irish.

McCourt survived his health scare, and happily lives on. Faith and begorrah, I wish him well. Now, if only he can lay off the lingo ...



RELATED STORIES:
McCourts making most of memories
January 13, 1999
Malachy McCourt finds new kick with 'A Monk Swimming'
July 22, 1998

RELATED SITES:
MalachyMcCourt.com
HarperCollins

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