"Joel Grey, the Academy Award-winning master of ceremonies in Cabaret, finally tells his remarkable life story. Born Joel David Katz to a wild and woolly Jewish-American family in 1930's Cleveland, Joel began his life in the theater at the age of nine, starring in local productions of touring Broadway hits. He was hooked, and the search for the spotlight took him from the Cleveland Playhouse to seedy, gangster-filled nightclubs in Chicago, and finally to the lights of Broadway and the dizzying glamour of Hollywood. Master of Ceremonies is a memoir of a life lived in and out of the limelight, but it is also the story of the man behind the makeup. Coming of age in a time when being yourself tended to be not only difficult but also dangerous, Joel was required to act both on and off stage. Deftly capturing the pain and secrets of an era we have only just started to leave behind, Joel's story is one of love, loss, hard-won honesty, redemption, and success"--

Born Joel David Katz in 1930's Cleveland, Grey began his life in the theater at the age of nine, starring in local productions of touring Broadway hits. The search for the spotlight took him from the Cleveland Playhouse to seedy, gangster-filled nightclubs in Chicago, and finally to the lights of Broadway and the dizzying glamour of Hollywood. Coming of age in a time when being yourself tended to be not only difficult but also dangerous, sometimes an artists' hardest role is being himself. This is a portrait of an artist coming to terms with his evolving identity.