Never Have Your Dog Stuffed
and Other Things I've Learned

Alan Alda

There are very few people in the United States who have never seen the television show M*A*S*H*. For that matter it has been seen around the world. Everyone know of it's star, Alan Alda, who played Hawkeye Pierce. Never Have Your Dog Stuffed is his story of his involvement with acting and the profession since he was small.

Robert Alda, Alan's father, was a famous actor who started out in burlesque. In the 1930's when Alda was born he traveled with his parents as they performed around the country on burlesque stages. He remembers watching strippers and comics from the wings of the theater. Alan watched his father as he sang and emceed and joked around on stage.

Alda's mother was supposed to maintain the family. Unfortunately, she had schizophrenia although it wasn't diagnoses or discussed. Mental illness was a taboo subject through the middle 20th century. Though the years she got worse but she never saw a doctor, was treated, or even admitted her problem. Her manic episodes were accepted as part of their family's lives.

Alda tells about his life in generalities with only the occasional specific story. He discusses the early years as he was trying to break into the acting business and support his family. Yet he doesn't mention getting nominated for his first Tony award when he was 30. He talks about M*A*S*H*, but only takes a chapter or so to cover all eleven years. He doesn't address any of the politics that were involved throughout that time, no addresses any of the movies following except in references of other memories. For example, he talks about writing The Four Seasons, but not about the production.

Never Have Your Dog Stuffed is an interesting overview of Alda's life - from his unusual childhood to being the outsider in high school to his meeting and marrying Arlene to the early life of an actor and the life he had after he was successful. This is not a nasty tell-all, which is refreshing. Instead, it is as the second part of the title claims "things I have learned".

I thoroughly enjoyed Alda's burlesque stories, both during the early years and later after his father was in movies. He casually name drops with many of the greats we can still recognize from early television and movies. I tried to imagine growing up with these people visiting every weekend and performing in my living room. Good book - which I immediately recommended to my mother because she also is an Alda fan.