
Member Reviews

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of this biography on one of the most creative people to ever work in the arts or entertainment, and yet is little known for her achievements, which is exactly the way she wants it.
Elaine May should be famous, and not just known to people in the know. Many of the things we use to distract ourselves from the world, plays, television, comedy, and especially movies have either been influenced, or even created by Ms. May. Working early with Mike Nichols she brought improv comedy, and the idea of women in comedy to the masses. May was a writer of films, credited and script doctor of many, uncredited. May wrote plays, skits, worked with famed directors to bring their vision to life, directed three movies, two classics and one infamous. Yet May has tried to avoid the spotlight, the fame and everything that goes with it. And even today May is still hard at work, and finally getting some recognition for all her achievements. Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius by Carrie Courogen is a look at the person, what she created, and how the world was changed by her creations, all without losing what made her, for better or worse.
Elaine Berlin was born in Philadelphia but with a family in entertainment, moved all over the country, attending different schools, which didn't give Elaine much interest in school, but a love of reading gave her an education. Elaine's father died before she was a teen, and her mother moved them to California, where Elaine gave up on school for good, taking a job and getting married and having a daughter. The marriage did not last and Elaine now May decided to go to Chicago, for colleges there would let her attend even without a high school diploma. May never enrolled, attending classes that interested her, and finding like minded people in the drama department, which led her to joining an acting troupe where she met Mike Nichols. The two were made for each other, creative muses who shared a soul, and a talent to entertain. Within a short period they worked as a duo, cut albums, made money, and broke up. That's when May really started to shine, well shine from the shadows where she was comfortable. Slowly she wrote, directed a movie, that was rough, began to script doctor in Hollywood for no credit, directed a second movie that had over 260 hours of film. Worked with Warren Beatty on Heaven Can Wait, and Reds. And also Ishtar, which sidelined May for a time. But, never stopped her.
An fascinating biography about a woman who knew everyone, scared many, was used as muse, collaborator, friend, and yet still was haunted by a childhood that one could only describe as very rough. What Courogen does best is show how good May is. The little things, about looking at a scene and knowing things are too short. A sound editor saying May's ears were the best he ever worked with. The list of movies that May helped create, or helped make better, some expected, some completely unexpected. Ghostbusters, Labyrinth, movies that still are being made, remade, in many cases badly, all had a bit of May in them. Courogen is a very good writer, getting people to tell their tales of May, even if May didn't want to. To think of all that May did, with the handicap of being a woman in comedy, in Hollywood is just amazing. And for May to do it on her terms, stealing film reels, ignoring players, making sure to credit other writers, is astonishing. May deserves every accolade, as does Courogen for writing a interesting biography that really gets to the soul of the person.
Recommended for people who enjoy reading about Hollywood, the arts, and woman who don't let anything get in the way of their art. A great Mother's Day gift, heck a great gift in general. Also a great book to give to a young artist and show them the work is important, don't let them bring you down. One might fail, one might succeed, one might do both. But one won't know unless you do it. Just like Elaine May does.

If I've learned one thing about comedy legend Elaine May from reading Carrie Courogen's "Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood's Hidden Genius," it's that the hidden icon doesn't want to talk to me.
Or you.
Or, for that matter, Carrie Courogen.
An icon who has never really acted like one, Elaine May was a successful female in Hollywood before Hollywood was ready to accept the idea of a successful female. May wasn't just talented. Hollywood could deal with it. May was someone who demanded control of her craft and her creativity, a control not given easily by Hollywood and given even less easily to a female who would prove wondrously talented at acting, directing, writing, and pretty much everything else she tried.
In the first few pages of "Miss May Does Not Exist," we're rather humorously informed that Miss May wasn't so much opposed to this biography as she just plain didn't cooperate with it. Courogen would have stops and starts, scheduled interviews and no shows along the way to creating what is undeniably the most comprehensive account of May's life.
May began her career as one-half of the legendary comedy team Nichols and May. Nichols, esteemed director Mike Nichols, and May would revolutionize comedy before initially parting ways after their Broadway smash 'An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May." It was grand, of course, and May would remain loyal to Nichols throughout her career.
After toiling around Broadway for a bit, May would have a breakthrough in Hollywood directing such films as "A New Leaf," "The Heartbreak Kid," and the criminally underappreciated "Mikey and Nicky." It might be fair to say that "Ishtar" is her most remembered film for reasons not quite as pleasant. It was a largely unsupported film by the studio that was misunderstood by audiences and critics. Years later, the critical and box-office bomb has gained new fans, myself included, and is starting to get the respect it long deserved.
On one of the albums she made with Nichols, her bio reads "Miss May does not exist." Indeed, this seems to be largely how she's lived even her professional life. She's been hired as a script doctor on such films as "Heaven Can Wait," "Reds," "Tootsie," and "The Birdcage." Yet, she often shuns credit for her writing. Well respected as a script doctor in Hollywood, it's likely safe to say that a good majority of America has no clue just how present May's writing is in some of our best films in recent decades.
Now 91-years-old, May won a Tony Award as recently as 2019 for Best Leading Actress in The Waverly Gallery. She's also won a BAFTA, a Grammy, an honorary Oscar, and numerous other awards.
It's unlikely that May will ever tell us whether or not Courogen has accurately captured her life, though it's most certainly clear that Courogen has researched relentlessly. At right around 400 pages, a good 1/3 of "Miss May Does Not Exist" consists of Courogen's source material and over 1,500 footnotes.
Yikes.
While May herself may have never cooperated with "Miss May Does Not Exist," I chuckle at the idea that somewhere in the weeks to come she'll be hovering over the book wishing she could have edited it.
An absolute must-read for fans of Elaine May and those who want to gain insights into the ways that women were mistreated and held back in Hollywood, "Miss May Does Not Exist" is an engaging, extensively researched, and revealing biography that proves once and for all that Elaine May does exist and she's made all of our lives so much better.

Elaine May receives the detailed biography she so richly deserves. Carrie Courogen scrupulously researches the life and career of one of America’s true comic geniuses. Courogen interviews everyone connected with Elaine May except for May herself. It wasn’t for lack of trying, as Courogen makes clear in an amusing history of her efforts to get May to speak on the record. The author diligently chronicles every fascinating facet of May’s life: her turbulent upbringing; her years essentially inventing improvisational comedy; her storied partnership with Mike Nichols; her vexed career as a screenwriter and director (for many years the only woman directing feature films in Hollywood), and her astonishing late triumph on the Broadway stage. Courogen regularly circles back to her powerful central point that May was branded as “difficult” while her male collaborators like Nichols and Warren Beatty engaged in the same behavior and were able to play the “genius” card. Yet May’s work holds up with theirs. Courogen is honest, calling out disappointments and missteps made by May, but always compassionate. She even squeezes humor into the footnotes. Mark Harris’s titanic Nichols biography now has company on the shelf, Nichols and May continuing to keep each other company. A treat to read.