David Zucker to Keynote Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books with His New Book, Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!

The annual Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books has lined up a sure-to-be-entertaining keynote for its annual community celebration of literacy and the arts held the first weekend of November. David Zucker, the legendary filmmaker of the iconic movie “Airplane!” will be interviewed by Gino Salamone at the festival on Friday, November 3 from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. The festival will be held at the UW-Milwaukee at Waukesha campus, 1500 N. University Drive in Waukesha. 

Zucker is out with a new book, Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! on sale October 3, 2023, which he co-wrote with his film partners Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker to tell the behind-the-scenes story of the movie’s creation. 

According to the festival website, this is an event where local and national authors and readers of all ages come together to enjoy presentations, performances, creativity and conversation. It is free for the public to attend. Numerous authors will provide presentations and panel discussions and there will be book signings and opportunities to meet the authors and buy books throughout the event.

The festival officially runs November 3 – 4, but there are two pre-festival events: 

• October 13 at 7:00 pm: Film historians David Fantle and Tom Johnson will give an in-person talk on their latest book: C’mon, Get Happy the Making of Summer Stock. Summer Stock is a 1950 MGM musical starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly and it was Garland’s final film at the studio she called home for 15 years. They will trace the history of this “troubled” production as well as provide insights into the mechanics of MGM’s famous musical film factory system.
• November 2 at 7:00 pm: Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward, famous for his Watergate reporting at the Washington Post and decades of stellar reporting, will be speaking about, “The Past, Present and Future of the American Presidency.” 

Some presentations require pre-registration. See the Festival website for the full description of the event and schedule.