Alan Alda has written a moving tribute to the late Larry Gelbart for The Los Angeles Times that can be found here. Thanks to “Mary Lou Wallace” at alt.tv.mash for bringing this to my attention. Titled “On the front lines with Larry Gelbart,” the appreciation recalls Gelbart’s humor and kindness, warmth and wit. Here’s my favorite excerpt:

For all his hatred of death and his disgust with those who casually brought it about, Larry was a gracious and encouraging presence. It seemed that there were few awkward moments that couldn’t be turned aside with a wit-charged observation. He was genial from his toenails to his scalp. He never laughed so hard as he did at himself when — while directing his first episode — instead of saying “Action!” he accidentally started a scene by authoritatively calling out, “Cut!”

Between May of 1996 and August of 2009, Larry Gelbart posted more than 3,000 messages to the alt.tv.mash newsgroup (for those who don’t know what a newsgroup is, read all about Usenet and newsgroups here). Gelbart used the name Elsig – “El” for his first name, Larry, “si” for his middle name, Simon, and “g” for his last name, Gelbart — and was a regular contributor, answering questions from fans and often posted more than 50 times a month. I believe Larry Linville occasionally posted as well; Jeff Maxwell continues to do so.

In February of 2006, Gelbart was kind enough to write and post three brief interview segments, like those seen in “The Interview,” for Colonel Blake, Trapper John and Colonel Flagg. I recall having read these several years ago but had forgotten about them until yesterday when Bob e-mailed me suggesting I post them here. It seems like a fitting tribute to Larry Gelbart, so here’s Henry’s interview segment, copied directly from the alt.tv.mash newsgroup via Google Groups:

Henry’s “The Interview” Interview
February 9th, 2006

REPORTER: How does it feel, having the responsibility for saving such a
great number of lives?
HENRY: We just take ‘em one or two, sometimes maybe twenty at a time.
The big trick is not to start thinking of ‘em as numbers – as just
so many stats that go into a report that winds up in somebody’s
filing cabinet under “out of sight, out of mind.” You’ve gotta
always remember that what you’re dealing with is hurt people, people
that have been run over by a war.
REPORTER: And not just -
HENRY: You gotta remember to take a peek at the odd dog tag now and
then and remind yourself that that dangling leg or busted gut you’re
going to try and put back together again is somebody’s dad or son or
boyfriend – that all that blood and guts soiling your linen belongs
to somebody that’s got a name attached to him.
REPORTER: You can’t afford to lose your sense of humanity.
HENRY: There’s just so many senses you can lose over here.
REPORTER: Humor not being one of them, obviously.
HENRY: Around here laughter’s just crying without the tears.
REPORTER: You have a family back home, sir?
HENRY: In Bloomington. The one in Illinois, not in Indiana – unless
things have changed since I went away.
REPORTER: You keep in touch with them, of course, your family.
HENRY: We write, we phone. Far apart as we are, I don’t think we’ve
ever been closer.
REPORTER: Would you like to say hello to them on television?
HENRY: Be better if this was kissovision, but, yeah, can I?
REPORTER: Go right ahead.
HENRY: Lorraine? Hi, honey. Hi, kids. I got your report cards this
morning and I had Radar go out post ‘em on the bulletin board here so
everybody can see why I’m so darn proud of you. Especially how
you’re doing in math. You must get those brains from your mom. Got
to be. Old as I am, I still don’t know how many tens to give someone
for a five-dollar bill. (TO REPORTER) Thanks.
REPORTER: That it?
HENRY: That’s it. (TO CAMERA) Except I’m counting the days till
we’re back together again.
REPORTER: You have any idea when that will be?
HENRY: I try not to have too many ideas. There’s always someone who
ranks you who’s sure you’ll agree he’s got a better one.
REPORTER: When you do finally get home, what are you going to tell your
children is the biggest lesson being over here has taught you?
HENRY: To always try to work things out, I guess. Whatever those
things might happen to be. You don’t make your point killing the other
guy. Even if you do it’s kind of wasted if the other guys not around
to get the message.
REPORTER: You seem – if all may so, Colonel – you seem near exhaustion.
HENRY: What I am mostly is tired of being tired. We’re supposed to
be a hospital but it’s more like a chop shop around here. We’re up
to our elbows in people that other people are doing their best to chop
down.
REPORTER: That doesn’t lead to a lot of sleep, I would imagine.
HENRY: I used to think of sleeping in terms of hours. How many did I
get last night, how many will I get to steal tonight. I’m down to
minutes now. It’s like somebody broke one hand off the clock.
REPORTER: Does that ever affect your performance?
HENRY: I fell asleep a few weeks ago in the middle of resecting a
patient’s bowel. How’s that for exhausted?
REPORTER: Does that fishing hat mean there are those times when you do
get to get away from it all?
HENRY: What it means is that I have to fish for those times. And let
me say, the biting’s pretty poor.
REPORTER: Business is too good around here.
HENRY: Let’s just say it takes a whole lot longer to take a bullet
out of a belly than it does putting one into one.
REPORTER: Thank you, sir.
HENRY: Can I say one more thing?
REPORTER: Of course.
HENRY: I just want you to know we all here are grateful for this visit
you’ve paid us, this attention you’re paying to the job we’re doing.
You get the feeling sometimes, being over here that, aside from our
families, we’ve kind of dropped off the planet, that we’ve been
kind of disinvited to the party – like everyone back home is busy
living their real lives and for us to give them a call when we get back
to town. (TO REPORTER) That sound too preachy?
REPORTER: It sounded just fine, Colonel.
HENRY: Henry. I’m a lot more a Henry than I’ll ever be colonel.
REPORTER: Thank you, Henry.
HENRY: Tell me the truth: didn’t that feel better?
REPORTER: You’re an excellent doctor.
HENRY: Hey – that’s why I’m over here getting 300 hundred dollars a
month.

(more…)

If you only know Larry Gelbart because of his connection to M*A*S*H, take a moment to read over his entry in the Encyclopedia of Television, published by the Museum of Broadcast Communications. The online version is the 1997 edition; an updated second edition was released in 2004.

And here’s a wonderful interview (in PDF format) for the American Comedy Archives at Emerson College, conducted in March of 2005 by Bill Dana and Jenni Matz. There are several questions about M*A*S*H, including one in which Gelbart explains how the series was survival humor:

Well, M*A*S*H was, in a sense, I don’t think I’m stretching it, those people were in a ghetto in a sense. They were cut off from their families, they were cut off from what they knew to be civilization, huddled together far from home, displaced, doing something they didn’t want to do. As doctors they weren’t prepared to operate on basically healthy people who just happened to be insulted by a piece of metal, you know? So, that was the series, but in real life it was exactly the same. The series we know came from a movie which came from a book. And that book is full of reminiscences about doctors in Korea behaving insanely to stop themselves from going insane.

It’s a fascinating interview that covers Gelbart’s life and career (I had no idea he spent the first five years of his life speaking only Yiddish) but primarily focuses on humor and comedy. Here’s another interview, by Kenneth Plume for IGN, that is all about M*A*S*H. It was conducted to celebrate/commemorate the release of the first season of the series on DVD. Gelbart discusses his time on the series, fighting with the network, writing out the character of Colonel Blake and more. There’s also 10 Question with Larry Gelbart.

Finally, the Archive of American Television conducted a lengthy videotape interview with Gelbart in May of 1998. It’s available at YouTube in eight parts; here’s part one.

Larry Gelbart, the man most responsible for bringing M*A*S*H to the small screen, has died at the age of 81. He wrote the pilot episode, which premiered in September of 1972, and stayed with the show through the end of its fourth season in 1976. He wrote or co-wrote several dozen other episodes and directed six. He also created AfterMASH. But his career in television began decades earlier when he was a writer for Caesar’s Hour and Your Show of Shows. In 1980 he created United States, a short-lived sitcom starring Beau Bridges.

Gelbart was also involved in theater and movies, co-writing the award-winning play A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum as well as the feature film Tootsie. He released his memoir, Laughing Matters:: On Writing M*A*S*H, Tootsie, Oh, God!, and a Few Other Funny Things, in 1998. Gelbart was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in December of 2008 and was present at the 2009 TV Land Awards in April of 2009 to help accept the Impact Award for M*A*S*H.

Larry Gelbart in 2002 (from the 30th Anniversary Reunion Special)

Obituaries can be found at the Los Angeles Times, CNN.com and Variety. I extend my personal condolences to Gelbart’s friends and family and I am sure the entire M*A*S*H fan community feels the same way.

Saturday, September 12th, 2009 Update
Alan Alda released the following statement yesterday (it’s included in the Los Angeles Times obituary):

Larry’s genius for writing changed my life because I got to speak his lines — lines that were so good they’ll be with us for a long, long time; but his other genius — his immense talent for being good company — is a light that’s gone out and we’re all sitting here in the dark.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will be inducting Larry Gelbart into its Hall of Fame on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 as part of its 18th Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Joining Gelbart are Bea Arthur, Dan Burke, Merv Griffin, Tom Murphy and Sherwood Schwartz. Gelbart is, of course, best known for his role in the creating M*A*S*H, developing the original novel for television, writing the pilot episode and dozens of others, and serving as executive producer for several years before leaving at the end of the fourth season.

In addition to M*A*S*H, Gelbart’s many writing credits include radio (beginning in 1945, Danny Thomas, Command Performance, The Joan Davis Show), television programs (beginning in 1952, Caesar’s Hour, United States, AfterMASH), film (beginning in 1962, Oh, God!, Tootsie) and stage (beginning 1948, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Mastergate). Here is his IMDb page; read more about Gelbart here at the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame began in 1984 and has since inducted more than 100 of television’s most influential and honored men and women including Alan Alda, Edward Asner, Dick Van Dyke, Brandon Tartikoff, William Shatner, Rod Serling, Lucille Ball, Norman Lear and Johnny Carson. Here is a complete list of inductees; an April 17th, 2008 press release about this year’s Inductees can be found here.

According to The Daily Breeze, the ceremony will be hosted by actor James Denton with presenters to include Norman Lear, Dawn Wells and Angela Lansbury.