And It Only Took 100 Years...

5 Star Review

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Editorial Book Review:

By Jessica Morgan

Some memoirs try to tidy everything up so it looks like success was always around the corner. And It Only Took 100 Years... doesn’t really do that. It leans into the idea that things take longer than you think they should, and sometimes way longer than feels fair. That’s what makes it hit. It doesn’t rush to prove anything, it just shows you what it looked like from the inside.

Reading it feels like listening to someone who’s had time to sit with their own story. Not in a polished, rehearsed way, more like they’re still figuring out what parts mattered most. There are moments that seem almost casual, then you realize how much time or frustration sits behind them. I found myself thinking about my own timeline more than his, which wasn’t something I expected going in.

The book keeps circling around patience, timing, and the strange way things fall into place long after you’ve stopped expecting them to. It doesn’t push a big lesson, but there’s this quiet realization running through it that not everything pays off when you want it to. That idea lands whether you care about the entertainment world or not.

Alan Shayne’s writing feels loose, sometimes even a bit scattered, but that actually works here. The structure jumps around, stories come in waves, and it ends up feeling closer to memory than to a carefully planned narrative. It’s not trying to impress, and because of that, it feels more believable.

By the end, it doesn’t feel like a story about achievement as much as one about staying in it long enough for things to shift. It’s worth reading if you’ve ever felt like you’re behind, or like things aren’t happening fast enough, because it quietly challenges that idea without forcing it.

About the Author

Alan Shayne

Alan Shayne is a celebrated television executive, producer, actor, casting director, and author whose career has spanned more than eight decades across stage, film, and television.

He began as a young actor on Broadway, sharing stages with theatrical giants and appearing in live television during the golden age of the medium. After acting in New York and touring nationally, he moved behind the scenes, becoming a sought-after casting director for film and television. His casting work includes the landmark political thriller All the President’s Men and numerous network series and pilots.

Shayne went on to produce television specials before joining Warner Bros., where he rose to become President of Warner Bros. Television. During his ten years at the helm, he guided some of the most successful and beloved television series of the era, including Wonder Woman, Night Court, Alice, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, The Dukes of Hazzard, Growing Pains, and many more. Known for his creative instincts and fierce dedication to quality, Shayne shaped the television landscape for a generation and was widely respected for his leadership, taste, and mentorship.

After Warner Bros., he produced the acclaimed miniseries The Bourne Identity, earning an Emmy nomination. His work has connected him to some of the most legendary names in American entertainment, including Lena Horne, Helen Hayes, Mildred Natwick, Ricardo Montalbán, and Mike Nichols.

Alan is also an accomplished author. With his husband, artist Norman Sunshine, he co-authored the critically praised dual memoir Double Life: A Love Story, chronicling their groundbreaking six-decades-long relationship at a time when Hollywood could not accept such a truth. His additional books include the moving coming-of-age memoir The Rain Must Pass, the holiday classic The Minstrel Tree, the novel Finding Sylvia, and The Star Dressing Room, his behind-the-curtain memoir of a life in theater.

Now in his centennial year, Alan reflects on a life lived fully: work fueled by passion, love sustained by courage, and a belief that the extraordinary can be found in ordinary days. He and Norman Sunshine live in Palm Beach, surrounded by family, lifelong friends, and the stories that shaped a century.