Toot-toot-tootsie, goodbye. -- Steven Otte [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: "danny burstein" <[email protected]> To: "wnn" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 3:57 PM Subject: It'll be a MASH of a funeral
> >>From: Rob Cibik <[email protected]> >>Newsgroups: alt.obituaries >>Subject: Larry Gelbart ,81 (LA Times) >>Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:43:49 -0700 (PDT) > > 'MASH' writer Larry Gelbart dies at 81 > Gelbart, who was diagnosed with cancer this year, died at his home in > Beverly Hills. He also wrote for Broadway and the movies, including > 'Tootsie.' > > By Dennis McLellan > Los Angeles Times > > September 11, 2009 > > Larry Gelbart, the award-winning comedy writer best known for > developing the landmark TV series "MASH," co-writing the book for the > hit Broadway musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" > and co-writing the classic movie comedy "Tootsie," died this morning. > He was 81. > > Gelbart, who was diagnosed with cancer in June, died at his home in > Beverly Hills, said his wife, Pat. > > Jack Lemmon once described the genial, quick-witted Gelbart as "one of > the greatest writers of comedy to have graced the arts in this > century." > > Gelbart's more than 60-year career began in radio during World War II > when he was a 16-year-old student at Fairfax High School in Los > Angeles. He wrote for "Duffy's Tavern" and radio shows starring Eddie > Cantor, Joan Davis, Jack Paar, Jack Carson and Bob Hope, with whom he > traveled overseas when Hope entertained the troops. > > He moved into television with Hope in 1950 and spent the next few > years writing for the comedian as well as for Red Buttons' comedy- > variety series. > > In 1955, Gelbart joined the fabled writing staff of "Caesar's Hour," > Sid Caesar's post-"Your Show of Shows" TV comedy-variety series. Among > his fellow writers were Neil Simon and Mel Brooks. > > In the writers' room, as colleague Carl Reiner later told Time > magazine, Gelbart "popped jokes like popcorn." > > Indeed, after he went to work for "Caesar's Hour," Hope contacted > Caesar to say, "I'll trade you two oil wells for one Gelbart." > > During his time on Caesar's show, Gelbart shared three Emmy > nominations for comedy writing -- in 1956, '57 and '58 -- and earned > the admiration of Brooks, who once described him as "the fastest of > the fast, the wittiest man in the business." > > Moving to Broadway in 1961, Gelbart bombed with the musical "The > Conquering Hero," for which he wrote the book. The show closed after > eight performances. > > But Gelbart returned to Broadway in triumph in 1962 with the hit > Stephen Sondheim comedy musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to > the Forum." Gelbart and Burt Shevelove wrote the book, which they > based on the comedies of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus. > > "Forum," whose cast included Zero Mostel, ran on Broadway for more > than two years and won a Tony Award for best musical, as well as a > Tony Award for Gelbart as coauthor. > > Gelbart later wrote the 1976-'78 Broadway comedy "Sly Fox," his > updated adaptation of Ben Jonson's "Volpone"; the 1989 comedy > "Mastergate"; and the book for the 1989-'92 Broadway comedy musical > "City of Angels," the Tony Award best musical winner for which Gelbart > won a Tony for best book of a musical. > > For films, he wrote the screenplay for "Neighbors" and co-wrote "The > Notorious Landlady," "The Wrong Box," "Not With My Wife, You Don't!," > "Movie Movie" and "Blame It on Rio." > > He also received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for "Oh, God," > the 1977 comedy starring George Burns and John Denver. And he shared a > screenwriting Oscar nominationwith Murray Schisgal and Don McGuire for > "Tootsie," the 1982 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange. > > Among his other credits: He wrote the screenplays for the HBO movies > "Barbarians at the Gate" (1993), "Weapons of Mass Destruction" (1997) > and "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" (2003). > > But most famously there was "MASH," the long-running series whose > blend of laughter and tragedy made TV history. > > Set in the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War, > TV's "MASH" grew out of director Robert Altman's hit 1970 movie > written by Ring Lardner Jr., which was based on the 1968 novel by > Richard Hooker (the pen name of Dr. Richard Hornberger, who had been a > military surgeon in Korea). > > Gelbart and his family were living in London, and he was producing the > British TV show "The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine" in 1971 when > producer-director Gene Reynolds called him about writing a pilot > script for a TV series based on "MASH." > > In writing the pilot, Gelbart recalled in his 1998 memoir "Laughing > Matters," he knew that it "was going to have to be a whole lot more > than funny. Funny was easy. How not to trivialize human suffering by > trying to be comic about it, that was the challenge." > > "MASH" debuted on CBS in 1972, with Gelbart serving as executive > script consultant. He and Reynolds were both executive producers of > the show -- and shared Emmys -- when it won the award for outstanding > comedy series in 1974. > > Gelbart's influence on "MASH," Reynolds told the New York Times in > 1989, was "seminal, basic and enormous." > > "Larry not only had the wit and the jokes," Reynolds said, "he had a > point of view. He not only had the ribald spirit, he had the > sensibility to the premise -- the wastefulness of war." > > Looking at the show's success, Gelbart told the New York Times, "It > was a time -- it still is the time, to some degree -- of great > disillusionment. And the characters filled a hero vacuum. I think they > behaved in the way a viewer would like to think they would behave in a > stressful situation." > > A sense of disillusionment, he said, was part of his own personality. > > "I'm not a comfortable person," he said. "There are a lot of elbows > inside me bumping up against one another. I think that if you're a > reasonably well-informed, caring person, you think life is basically > sad . . . that this is a sad world we live in. > > "The thing that most appealed to me about 'MASH' was not even the > movie. It was the theme song ['Suicide is Painless' written by Johnny > Mandel and Mike Altman], the movie music, which was written in a very > minor key and appealed to me emotionally. And I know that I pegged all > that comedy to that sound." > > As for the regulation-breaking surgeon Hawkeye Pierce -- the lead > character played by Alan Alda -- Gelbart said, "I didn't have to think > of why he was saying what he said. He was saying what I felt. I mean, > he is an idealized me." > > Hawkeye, he said, "is capable -- that is, at work, at what he does. > He's an idealist. He's a romantic. Somebody who cares about himself > and other people. He's often frustrated by whatever particular system > he finds himself fighting against." > > "MASH" ran for 11 years. But Gelbart's involvement ended in 1976 after > four years and 97episodes. As he later told The Times, "After four > years, I had given it my best, my worst and everything in between." > > The son of eastern European immigrants -- his barber-father was from > Latvia and his seamstress mother was from Dumbrova, Poland -- Gelbart > was born Feb. 25, 1928 in Chicago. Growing up on Chicago's mostly > Jewish West Side, he spoke only Yiddish until he was 4. > > Gelbart, who studied clarinet for 10 years while growing up -- "I > wanted to be the next Benny Goodman" -- inherited his sense of humor > from his Polish-born mother. > > "My mother was extremely witty and caustic," he told People magazine > in 1998, "and my father knew more jokes than anyone I've ever known." > > In 1942, when he was 14, Gelbart's family moved to Los Angeles, where > his father's Beverly Hills clientele included actors and agents. > > Gelbart had his father to thank for the launch of his comedy writing > career in 1944 at age 16. > > One of his father's show-business customers was comedian Danny Thomas, > who had a weekly segment playing a Walter Mitty-type character on > "Maxwell House Coffee Time," a radio show starring comedienne Fanny > Brice. > > After Gelbart's father boasted that his son had a gift for writing > comedy, Thomas told him, "Have the kid write something and let's see > just how good he is." > > At the time, Gelbart recalled in his memoir, "My only real 'gift' was > for showing off, doing imitations, putting together sketches, > speeches, monologues at Fairfax High School." > > But he wrote a sample comedy sequence for Thomas, who showed it to the > radio show's head writer, and Gelbart suddenly had an after-school job > writing comedy for "Maxwell House Coffee Time." > > He was an 18-year-old staff writer on radio's popular "Duffy's Tavern" > when he received a post-war draft notice. > > But his career was not sidelined by his military service: Assigned to > Armed Forces Radio Service, he continued to live at home while writing > for the star-studded AFRS variety show "Command Performance," as well > as continuing his other radio-writing jobs. > > In December, 2008, the still-professionally active Gelbart found > himself the subject of an Internet hoax on the online bulletin board > alt.obituaries, which reported that he was "gravely ill . . . from a > massive stroke." > > He was fine, of course -- and in fine comedic fettle. Referring to his > alleged pending demise, he e-mailed alt.obituaries: "Does that mean I > can stop exercising?" > > But ever the re-writer, Gelbart came up with another witty response in > a brief chat with an inquiring Los Angeles Times reporter: "I was > dead, but I'm better now." > > He continued writing until three weeks ago, said his wife. > > Gelbart married his wife Pat, a Broadway actress and singer known > professionally as Patricia Marshall and the mother of three children > from a former marriage, in 1956. They had two children, Adam and > Becky. > > In addition to his wife and two children, Gelbart is survived by his > stepchildren, Gary and Paul Markowitz; six grandchildren and two great- > grandchildren. > > http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-larry-gelbart12-2009sep12,0,2812430.story > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World News Now Discussion List" group. 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