Tag: Neil Simon

Why Is Laughter in the Jewish DNA? Just Ask Sid Caesar.

I am often asked, “Why are there so many Jewish comedians?”

I’ve never done an assessment of the numbers in line with other ethnicities, but yes, Jewish people have always found it helpful to rely on laughter to lighten the load.

I’ve also found that unlike many other groups Jewish people seem to have no problem when it comes to laughing at themselves. This probably contributes a great deal to their ability to spawn so many funny people. If laughter is allowed then many will embrace its healing effect.

And lately that load of problems seems to have increased to the size of a mountain. So how are we going to plow through and laugh enough to ease the pain?

Comedy is king when it comes to lifting one’s spirit and television was my go-to kingdom for laughter.

So, what happens when you put the funniest comic writers in a room together, add top acting talent and a boss who wouldn’t settle for anything less than perfection? You get Your Show of Shows.

Of all the shows on television I remember as a child Your Show of Shows with Sid Caesar set the bar the highest. The man knew funny and recognized it others. It was the best example of what happens when you put some of the funniest Jewish writers and comics on the planet in the same room and let them soar. Caesar let his writers take risks and then his genius added the rest.  Just perusing the list of talent on that writing staff is a who’s who of the legendary comedians of our time. Probably of all time.

No one could ever deny Sid Caesar was a great comic and actor who knew how to take a joke over the top. He also had a cast of legends including Imogene Coca, Howard Morris, Carl Reiner and Nanette Fabray. But having great material raises comedy to a whole other level. And that level was astronomical.

Your Show of Shows was created and produced by, and many of the writers discovered by, a man named Max Liebman, a producer, director and composer who worked on Broadway. He made Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca stars and helped launch the careers of Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Nanette Fabray and the writers Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Mel Tolkin.

Looking at the list of accomplishments of Caesar’s writers, I am in awe. Even the ones you might not immediately recognize just make me say “Wow, I never knew that.”

So here’s some wow moments starting with someone who surprised me.

Mel Tolkin isn’t a household name but I guarantee he delivered a whole lot of laughter into your home. As head writer on the show, he reined in all the comic geniuses and egos in that room. Tolkin went on to write for All in the Family, Archie Bunker’s Place, Dickens and Fenster and Bachelor Father among others. He won an Emmy and numerous WGA (Writer’s Guild of America) awards.

Joseph Stein wrote and received a Tony Award for Best Musical and Best Author for Fiddler on the Roof.

He was also awarded the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, Screen Writers Guild Award for the screenplay and the Newspaper Guild Award.

Among his other hits was a gem called Zorba the Greek and he also wrote and produced Mr. Wonderful starring Sammy Davis Jr.

There was also a guy named Mel Brooks you may know. Is there actually enough byte space on my computer for this guy? We needn’t even mention all the Tony, Academy, Bafta and Lifetime achievements awards this man has won. Suffice it to say his awards could fill a room.

I highly doubt you can find anyone on planet earth who hasn’t laughed at The Producers, Blazing Saddles, The Twelve Chairs, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, A History of the World, Part I, Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights or Dracula: Dead and Loving It.

He also produced critically acclaimed dramatic films through his company Brooksfilms, including David Lynch’s The Elephant Man and The Fly.

Brooks began his career on the show of shows where he wrote the 2000-year-old man with Carl Reiner. He went on to create Get Smart which won seven primetime Emmy awards.

It’s not just that Mel is funny. He is the kind of laugh-out-loud funny that makes you laugh so hard it actually hurts.

Moving on to Carl Reiner, one of my all-time favorites, his list of achievements is also admirable. The Dick Van Dyke Show, still one of the funniest and best written shows ever to fill a television screen.

His movies include The Jerk, Summer School and Dead Men don’t Wear Plaid among others.

I have always been impressed with his sheer ability to write great comedy that is not only funny, but intelligent.

Neil Simon wrote 30 Broadway hits that featuring some of the wittiest and most prolific dialogue ever produced. His plays starting with Come Blow Your Horn, Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple Plaza Suite, The Sunshine Boys: Chapter Two, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound and

Lost in Yonkers, for which he received a Pulitzer Prize. 

The Sunshine Boys, California Suite and the Goodbye Girl were among his plays that found their way to the big screen. In his career he received numerous Tonys, WGA and other awards for his voluminous body of work.

Larry Gelbart left Caesar to co-write the Broadway hit A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He moved on to his television mega hit M.A.S.H. and hit movies Tootsie and Oh God.

Gelbart’s work garnered him 14 Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, six Golden Globe Awards, seven Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards, and seven Writers Guild of America (WGA) Awards.

Selma Diamond was highly recognizable for her raspy voice and Dorothy Parkeresque wit.  Her unique voice and personality led her into acting and she was well known for her work as the Bailiff on Night Court, and role on Too Close for Comfort. Some say she was the model for the character of Sally Rogers on Reiner’s Dick Van Dyke Show.

Danny Simon, Neil’s older brother wrote material for comics like Buddy Hackett, Jan Murray and Phil Silvers. He and Neil began by writing for various radio and television shows including Broadway Open House and the Red Buttons and Jackie Gleason shows before as Your Show of Shows.

After they stopped writing together in 1954, Danny became head writer on The Colgate Comedy Hour and Danny Thomas’ Make Room for Daddy.

He also wrote for My Three Sons, The Carol Burnett Show, The Mac Davis Show, The Kraft Music Hall, The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes as well as Joan Rivers.

Lucille Kallen was the first woman hired on the show. After Show of Shows she went on to write the popular C.B. Greenfield Mysteries book series.

Your Show of Shows morphed into Caesar’s Hour with some of the same staff, but also added writer’s like Woody Allen who went on to become Woody Allen.

The list was comedy royalty. The enormous body of work these writers went on to produce is legendary. I doubt I have ever, or will ever see such an illustrious and talented group of comedy geniuses in the same room again. Sad, when it seems now more than ever we need laughter.

If anyone ever wonders how Baby Boomers got their sense of humor, they need only watch reruns of Your Show of Shows.

Lunch Was Super With Soupy Sales

It wasn’t a fancy lunch at the Polo Lounge or Spago, but mostly peanut butter and jelly, some tuna fish and lots of Jello that went boing, boing, boing. Not five star or gourmet fare, but they were the best lunches I’ve ever had. As a special perk the menu for the next day’s lunch was posted on the blackboard so we could entreat our mother to duplicate whatever Soupy was having. We weren’t just viewers, we were Birdbaths. Members of an elite card carrying club that drank United Dairies milk.

I’ve been really fortunate in my life to meet and dine with some pretty incredible people, but I’ll take my memories with Soupy Sales, White Fang, Black Tooth, Willie da Worm, and Pookie over anything. The knowledge I gleaned from the words of wisdom written on the blackboard under the title Soupy Sez were invaluable. Such gems as; “Be true to your teeth or they’ll be false to you,” “Over the teeth and through the gums, look out stomach here it comes,” “When a man writes a song in his automobile, it’s called a cartoon,” “You show me a man who puts his parakeet in the blender and I’ll show you a man who makes shredded tweet,” “Birds are really something to crow about, but a bird in the hand can be a mess,” “Show me a woman who has misplaced her handbag and I’ll show you a tote-all loss,” “Show me a novel caught in a wind storm and I’ll show you a book gone with the wind,” or “Show me a midget king and I’ll show you a twelve-inch ruler.”

Or such informational weather reports on his ancient radio as, “there will be a volcano eruption today so for your own safety learn the words to lava come back to me.”

Add to that learning to dance The Mouse and the Soupy Shuffle and our aerobics were included with lunch.

It wasn’t just learning the skill of taking a pie to the face or being made aware how careful you need to be before opening a door unless you knew the pointed finger or arm waiting on the other side or a celebrity waiting to get a pie in the face. It was the interaction between friends that taught me so much. Let’s face it, who else could ever get away with throwing a pie in Frank Sinatra’s face and live? The pranks, including one infamous moment Soupy opened the door to a naked woman we never saw on camera as he fell apart, are still part of the show’s mystique.

Of course White Fang and Black Tooth were the experts at getting one’s point across without the use of intellectual phrases or complex sentences. Just a few shakes of the paw and a couple of familiar grunts were all we needed to get the message and laugh uncontrollably. Their grunts far exceeded the intelligence of most politicians today. No interpreter necessary, we understood every “eh eh eh” White Fang uttered. To this day an imitation of those two extremely vocal hounds can send me into fits of laughter. Perhaps I can credit them with my editing abilities. Thanks guys for jump starting my journalism career.

Of course Willie da Worm as Soupy called him, was a great life lesson as well. Prone to sneezing fits and health issues, he owned the moniker, “the sickest worm in all of Detroit.” He made one wonder how many other sick worms there were in Motown. The way Soupy delivered his sympathetic offerings to the poor little ailing creature taught me true compassion. It’s one thing to offer empathy to another human being, but the idea of opening my heart to a worm, I have to confess it opened my eyes. Nowadays Willie da Worm would have to take  a COVID test. Times have changed indeed.

Soupy was constantly telling Black Tooth, the biggest sweetest doggy in the United States, “don’t kiss.” While he attempted to untangle himself from her hugs he advised her to drink lots of milk because it gives the cows something to do.

I could double up in hysterics faster at a puppet hand that made noises than at people.

Now Pookie, that was one cute little lion. Always referring to Soupy as “Boobie” it’s no wonder I love cats so much. And that cat could scat like Ella Fitzgerald or put on a wig and sing like Petula Clark. Okay so maybe he sang pretty badly, but I was actually grateful something existed with a voice worse than mine.

White Fang, the biggest, meanest dog in the United States was not only nasty, but oh so clever and conniving. He never failed to put one over on Soupy. Guess it should have taught me to beware of cute dogs or good looking men with bad intentions.

The guys in the studio snickered at all the puns and bad jokes and many times you weren’t quite sure why. So I also learned the meaning of an inside joke.

Between the insane news reports and future guest stars like Moshe Dyan Cannon and Belly Savalas, it was non-stop insanity. Yet, more than anything from watching the interaction between Soupy and the gang, we noticed how Soupy, befuddled look on his face, actually listened to his puppet friends. Maybe that’s where we learned how.

Yes, the humor was shtick and craziness was the order of the day, but we laughed and loved every minute. Half the humor we got, half not so much, but we heard the guys in the studio roaring with laughter so we smiled along. The point is we had a side order of giggles with our lunch. It wasn’t politically correct and it didn’t have the artful banter of a Neil Simon, but it lightened our day. And after lunch we returned to school with a full stomach, a happy heart and Soupy throwing us a big kiss.