Sunday night I had the pleasure of joining around 1500 of my closest book-loving friends to hear Henry Winkler discuss his memoir Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond. This event was part of the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta’s Book Festival at their Dunwoody, Georgia, campus. It was by far the largest event I have attended this year and my third at the MJCCA.
Before jumping into the talk and the book, I want to share a little more about the MJCCA and the facility. This beautiful campus in Dunwoody is home to so many great programs serving the Jewish community of Atlanta. While I am not Jewish myself, I was excited to see this gorgeous building when I attended my first event here a few months ago. Beyond the building, the center houses sports fields and has plans to expand their sports offerings soon. Inside the building, there are children’s programs, additional sports facilities, and arts programs. I have never felt uncomfortable here (even when my non-Jewish heritage is on full display with my cross tattoo showing) and am so impressed with the security and guides posted throughout the facility every event. I wish I had a place like this closer to home where I could attend arts and sports programs more regularly with my kids! You can support the MJCCA by donating to their 2024 annual fund here.
The past two events I’ve attended here have been in their auditorium, but this event was held in one of the large multiuse gyms. It was hard not to feel as though I was back in high school – a small stage was set up to one side, all the basketball goals were pulled up to the ceiling, and over 1500 plastic folding chairs were laid out in a semi-circle around the gym. It was dark and loud, but the most disappointing part of this event was the egress plan. If you’ve ever held an event in a large environment like this, you know that egress (a fancy word for your plan on how to evacuate the facility) is pretty important. While there were signs up directing attendees to multiple exit locations, at the end of the presentation, we were all funnelled to the same 3 door exit, which led to the start of the photo op line, meaning it backed up quickly. Given that it was already well past my bedtime, I wasn’t planning to partake in the photo op, but found myself stuck waiting for that line to progress forward before I could exit and make my way out to my car. It took over 30 minutes just to exit the gym, and then I had to walk another 10 minutes to my car because the lot was so packed.
With that said, I know those events were not within the control of the author or his team. But it also wasn’t the only disappointment of the evening.
If you would like to avoid spoilers or too much detail, please skip ahead by clicking here.
I was so excited to hear Henry Winkler talk. I grew up on Nick at Nite reruns of “Happy Days” and The Fonz, and he may have been my first celebrity crush. His new memoir starts by recounting his fateful audition for the role that made him a household name, but further covers his personal life and later career. This discussion also featured a slideshow of photos from Winkler’s life allowing him to shed additional details about events both well-known and hidden.
One recurring topic in the book and the talk was Winkler’s struggle with dyslexia. He was very frank that his parents did not support him when he was growing up – they punished him for bad grades, but never sought to help him improve his skills. When diagnosed in his 30’s with dyslexia, Winkler dealt with a lot of anger and frustration at his experiences. However, he also revealed that this learning disability didn’t impact his acting as much as you would think. In his own words, “I may have read the script real slow, but I can memorize things real fast!”
Winkler’s discussion of his childhood and his parents took over much of the remainder of the discussion. You can tell that relationship still bothers him and he hasn’t really been able to move past those hurts. He did discuss that he attends therapy, and, without those sessions, he wouldn’t have been able to tell his story without more anger. I found it interesting how he repeatedly hedged around exactly why his relationship was as bad as it was, other than their lack of support, and routinely stated he wasn’t going to talk bad about them…but then did. It was almost too much and left me a little jaded that my childhood hero focused so much on this hatred.
I was also quite put off by Winkler’s interactions with the interviewer, a CNN producer with a storied career. When Winkler would answer a question or react to a photo, he had to stand up and walk around the stage like he was performing. The photo below was from the first 2 minutes on the stage and probably the only 2 he sat still. I also grew frustrated with the disrespect Winkler shows the interviewer – any time she asked a question to redirect the conversation, he would ignore it and immediately go back to the previous train of thought to finish his story or continue another he wanted to discuss more. Several times, she asked questions and didn’t get answers, or he talked over her. She also asked for a “rapid answer” session with one-word prompts and answers, but instead, he spoke at length about each prompt with a story. This was less an interview than a stand-up performance and felt very scripted on Winkler’s part, and very frustrating on the interviewer’s part. I felt so sorry for her and nearly left halfway through because of how poorly it was going.
I wish I had more good things to say here. This will be the second “celebrity” book signing I’ve been disappointed by, and I just don’t know if these are really worth it. This did not feel genuine or real at all. Winkler also revealed he worked with another writer to put together this book…which is not publicized on the cover or in any of the media information. In fact, I didn’t even notice this until after he revealed it – it’s only listed in fine print on the title page of the book a few pages in.
I may not be a fan of this event, but that doesn’t mean I won’t like the book. I have not yet read Being Henry but will soon. Have you read it? Share your thoughts below!
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: The Getaway List, Emma Lord
- Current audio book: Born Confused, Tanuja Desai Hidier
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Wild, Cheryl Strayed
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