Dan Greenburg
Daniel Greenburg was an American writer, humorist, and journalist. His 73 books have been published in 20 languages in 24 countries.
His books for adults include the non-fiction books How to Be a Jewish Mother: A Very Lovely Training Manual, How to Make Yourself Miserable: Another Vital Training Manual, and How to Avoid Love and Marriage – all satirical self-help books – as well as the novels Love Kills, Exes, and Fear Itself.
Greenburg wrote four series of children's books, The Zack Files, Secrets of Dripping Fang, Maximum Boy, and Weird Planet.
Writing career
Daniel Greenburg was born on June 20, 1936, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Samuel and Leah Greenburg.Greenburg studied design at the University of Illinois. While there, he read Catcher in the Rye, which inspired him to become a writer. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Illinois and his M.A. degree from the University of California in Los Angeles.
His first piece of professional writing was "3 Bears in Search of an Author", a retelling of the same story in the voices of J.D. Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, and James Joyce. The piece was published in Esquire magazine, and Esquire commissioned a sequel: "Hansel and Gretel" in the styles of Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac and Samuel Beckett.
After obtaining his M.A. in industrial design, he continued to live in Los Angeles. Dissatisfied with industrial design, he spent three years working at advertising agencies. Meanwhile, his old editor at Esquire, Ralph Ginzburg, had started a new national magazine called Eros and convinced Dan to move to New York and become its managing editor. In New York, Greenburg began to write a satirical non-fiction book entitled How to Be a Jewish Mother, which became the bestselling non-fiction book of 1965.
In September 1969, he published Porno-Graphics: The Shame of our Art Museums, a now scarce and far-out-of-print heavily illustrated book with lift-up vinyl page covers, pull-outs, and copies of famous paintings. In a retrospective interview, Greenburg said, "At the time, I was amused by all the people who were being offended by anything slightly sexual. Usually when something sexual is covered up, it becomes more sexual. I thought it was funny. I had already had some success with a couple of books and Random House said to me 'what else can you do?
Greenburg is probably most well known for authoring a handful of very popular series of children's books, although he still also wrote novels for adults. He also wrote for television and movies, and has been regularly published in Life, Time, The New Yorker, and other national publications.
When asked how he keeps in touch with what kids like in an interview in 2005, he responded: "I visit schools constantly. I talk to kids, I try out ideas on them, and I ask them what they like to read. Both boys and girls tell me they love scary stories and funny stories the best, and the boys tell me they love to be grossed out. I've tried to do all three things in these books." When asked where he gets ideas for his books, he replied: "1) inspiration from adventures I've survived; 2) a funny title I think up first ...; 3) asking myself "What if ...?".
Personal life and death
Greenburg's first wife was film director and author Nora Ephron. After seven years, their marriage ended in an amicable divorce.His second wife was writer Suzanne O'Malley, whom he married in 1980; they remained married for fifteen years before they separated, eventually divorcing in 1998. With O'Malley, he had a son, Zack O'Malley Greenburg; Dan Greenburg's children's book series The Zack Files was named for him.
Greenburg's third wife was Judith C. Wilson, a children's book author. They resided in Hastings, Oswego County, New York.
Greenburg died of complications from a stroke at a hospice in the Bronx, on December 18, 2023, at the age of 87.
Selected works
Books for adults
How to Be a Jewish Mother: A Very Lovely Training Manual Kiss My Firm But Pliant Lips How to Make Yourself Miserable: Another Vital Training Manual Chewsday Philly Porno-Graphics: The Shame of Our Art Museums Scoring Something's There: My Adventures in the Occult Love Kills What Do Women Want? How to Avoid Love and Marriage True Adventures Confessions of a Pregnant Father The Nanny Exes Moses Supposes: The Bible As Told to Dan Greenburg- ''Claws''
Books for children
The Zack Files chapter booksGreat Grandpa's in the Litter Box Through the Medicine Cabinet A Ghost Named Wanda ZAP! I'm a Mind Reader Dr. Jekyll, Orthodontist I'm Out of My Body ... Please Leave a Message Never Trust a Cat Who Wears Earrings My Son, the Time Traveler The Volcano Goddess Will See You Now Bozo the Clone How to Speak Dolphin in Three Easy Lessons Now You See Me ... Now You Don't The Misfortune Cookie Elvis the Turnip ... and Me Hang a Left at Venus Evil Queen Tut and the Great Ant Pyramids Yikes! Grandma's a Teenager How I Fixed the Year 1000 Problem The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot How I Went from Bad to Verse Don't Count on Dracula This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us Greenish Eggs and Dinosaurs My Grandma, Major League Slugger Trapped in the Museum of Unnatural History Me and My Mummy My Teacher Ate My Homework Tell a Lie and Your Butt Will Grow Just Add Water ... and Scream! It's Itchcraft!Secrets of Dripping Fang chapter booksThe Onts Treachery and Betrayal at Jolly Days The Vampire's Curse Fall of the House of Mandible The Shluffmuffin Boy is History Attack of the Giant Octopus Please Don't Eat the Children When Bad Snakes Attack Good Children
Maximum Boy chapter booksHow I Became a Superhero The Day Everything Tasted Like Broccoli Superhero ... or Super Thief? Invasion from the Planet of the Cows Maximum Girl Unmasked Attack of the Soggy Underwater People Meet Super Sid, Crime-Fighting Kid The Worst Bully in the Entire Universe
Weird Planet chapter booksDude, Where's My Space Ship? Lost in Las Vegas Chilling with the Great Ones Attack of the Evil Elvises Lights ... Camera ... Liftoff! Thrills, Chills, and Cosmic Spills Jumbo the Boy and Arnold the Elephant, illustrated by Susan Perl, picture bookThe Bed Who Ran Away from Home, illus. John Wallner, picture bookYoung Santa, illus. Warren Miller, chapter bookClaws, chapter book
Filmography
Live a Little, Love a Little, based on his novel Kiss My Firm But Pliant LipsI Could Never Have Sex with Any Man Who Has So Little Regard for My Husband, based on his novel ChewsdayFore Play, with Bruce Jay Friedman and David OdellPrivate Lessons, based on his novel PhillyPrivate School The Guardian, based on his novel The NannyPrivate Lessons II, based on his novel ''Philly''Dramatic works
Greenburg's plays have been performed on Broadway, off-Broadway, at the American Conservatory Theater, Yale University, and at the Actors Studio, where he was a member of the Playwrights Unit.Free to Be... You and Me Oh! Calcutta! Arf! and The Great Airplane Snatch The Restaurant Convention How to Be a Jewish Mother . Stage adaptations of Greenburg's best-selling book have been running for over 30 years; they've been produced in France, Spain, Poland, Israel, Brazil, Holland, Turkey, and Brazil.Television
A Deadly Vision The Zack Files Mad About You SteambathGreenburg has also written numerous sitcom pilots for CBS-TV and NBC-TV, including a fireman sitcom for producer-comedian Alan King, which Greenburg researched by spending months with NYC firefighters, and a cop sitcom for producer Sonny Grosso, which Greenburg researched by spending months with NYC homicide cops.
Greenburg was also a television talk show guest on the Today Show, The Tonight Show, Larry King Live, and Late Night with David Letterman. With fellow author Avery Corman, Greenburg has also appeared as a stand-up comedian on television talk shows hosted by Sir David Frost, Dick Cavett, and Merv Griffin, and has performed at the New York Improv comedy club.