Brand brand new memoir now available on Amazon. Also available in Montreal at fine bookstores including Paragraphe and Argo and Indigo downtown, Chapters In Pointe Claire, Coles in Cavendish Mall and Dorval as well as Bonder in Montreal West and Bibliophile on Queen Mary Road.
“Makeup Tips from Auschwitz. How Vanity Saved my Mother’s Life” is a story of remarkable courage in the face of adversity. It is also a story of one very glamorous mom.
Mordecai Richler and Philip Roth detailed how the melting pot Americanized immigrants. This memoir is the story of a Hungarian refugee family whose chutzpah and moxie allowed it to survive and thrive in a strange new environment.
It is also the story of the rich threads and struggles that bind a unique mother-son relationship.
Meet Olga, Auschwitz prisoner A-25057 , aka Mom. A fearless, dramatic and unpredictable maverick. An original.
Exposing the souls of a family for all to see, Makeup Tips from Auschwitz has an unsettling candor reminiscent of humorist David Sedaris and essayist Augusten Burroughs.
Like the Oscar-winning film, Life is Beautiful, the memoir revisits the Holocaust with rays of light in the darkness.
It is a story of a family’s cultural collision and delightful dysfunction. With the growing pains of Shtisel, the earthiness of The Simpsons and the fierce family loyalty of The Sopranos, these newcomers from Hungary defy authority. They figured out early on that conventional values were not enough. It was their moxie that allowed them to succeed.
Schmooze with the passing parade that includes John Lennon, Elizabeth Taylor and Crystal Nacht. You will laugh out loud as you meet a cast of supporting characters who redefine eccentric: the 50-minute therapist, the psychic rabbi and a superstitious hypochondriac named Paris.
Once you get to know these mutineers from the mainstream, you will want to organize an intervention. Or at least a Passover Seder.
The memoir has been described as poignant, addictive and unpredictable by readers who sampled chapters of it on Facebook.
In addition to the bookstores in Montreal it is available online around the world in soft cover, hard cover and Kindle on Amazon. Also online at Barnes and Noble.
Audiobook read by Tommy Schnurmacher coming soon.
WHAT DID I WRITE BEFORE?
Back in 1985, I wrote a humor book, The Golddiggers Guide: How to Marry Rich. Then in 1996, one year after the referendum, I penned a political polemic entitled Canada is not a Real Country which can still be found at many a library near you. My last book was Are We on Yet: How to be Interviewed and other essential media skills.
These were just the complete books. I also wrote chapters for books likeGreat Canadian C The Anglo Guide to Survival in Quebec, Volume 2, Great Canadian Characters, and Unsportsmanlike Conduct. Plus I penned a little quelque chose for a brand new book of inside stories on Canadian journalism. Entitled Fish Wrap, it will be published by Guernica in 2020.
WHAT ELSE HAVE I DONE?
Plenty. I spent an entire week with John and Yoko at the Montreal Bed-In for Peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. hen I started at the Montreal Gazette I wrote a showbiz gossip column. I covered the Academy Awards 13 years in a row and figured that was enough. Then I became the society editor and ate way too much. Finally I wrote a weekly political column back in the day people actually thought that Quebec might separate from Canada and become an independent country.
My co-host on my first day at CJAD Radio was former Canadian prime minister Kim Campbell. Oh yes, I then went on to have my own highly-rated radio talk show for more than 20 years.
On my last day at CJAD on Dec. 13 2017, the station threw me a spectacular goodbye bash fueled with martinis and delightful messages from everyone from Green Party leader Elizabeth May and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard to comedian Gilbert Gottfried.
DID I WIN ANY PRIZES?
Yes. I once won a door prize at a Chabad synagogue raffle. I also won a Talk Radio award from Alliance Quebec and the Golden Ribbon Award presented by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.
Years ago I was an extra in the film The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. I am the one who dropped the tray. I played Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine in 2001 A Space Travesty. I danced in a Swan Lake spoof before Pierre Elliott Trudeau. I have also been on stage with Twyla Tharp at Place des Arts and Megan Mulally at the Just for Laughs comedy festival.
More recently I was one of the storytellers at the Woodstock Book Fest. I was one of the wiser judges at the the Miami Film Festival as well as one of the slower ones in an Israeli filmfest in Montreal. My goodness I have even done a book review for the Jewish Book Council in NYC.
Gazette city columnist Mike Boone once said I was a natural and immediate smash as a talkshow host while renowned human rights activist Irwin Cotler described me as “an exemplar of political humour.”
I graduated from McGill University in Montreal and Carleton University in Ottawa and steadfastly maintain that I was not harmed by either experience.
MEMBERSHIPS
ACTRA
ELAN
Quebec Writers’ Federation
The Writers’ Union of Canada
Canadian Authors Association
DO I HAVE A PODCAST?
Yes. One is called Spirits and Spirituality which I co-host with dapper Rabbi Avi Finegold. We have interviewed people ranging from David Frum and Nathan Englander to Dr. Ruth and discussed everything from shivas to Chivas. You can listen to it right here..
Will it be possible for you to suggest topics and even guests for this podcast? Of course you can. Just contact me here.
CAN YOU HIRE TOMMY SCHNURMACHER?
Sure you can. Do you want me to do readings from my memoir? Do you want me to participate in a panel discussion on the Holocaust Second Generation or dementia? Maybe you want me to officiate at your wedding or merely to use my dulcet tones to record a custom phone message or ringback for your smartphone. Sounds good to me. Just contact me with your proposition.
SHOPPING
Is there anything for sale on this website? Am I selling any souvenirs? Nope. Not yet. But hey, you never know.