And the show goes on

by Sheldon Leonard

In a career that has spanned more than 60 years, Sheldon Leonard, among his many other accomplishments, has never lost his sense of humor. It is this quality that provides the driving force of his memoir, recapturing those antic moments and the comic routines, the gags and the pratfalls, and the enormous joie de vivre that have marked his wonderfully creative and eventful life. In television Leonard has made his greatest contribution to popular entertainment. Occasionally as actor, more often as writer, but mainly - and resoundingly - as producer and director, his credits include some of the most successful and beloved TV series of our time, among them The Danny Thomas Show, The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and I Spy. Leonard's account of how these series were created and sustained is in many ways the heart of his memoir.