Larry Gelbart

What would he write about himself if he just found out he'd died? I wonder. I know it wouldn't be something soft and sentimental. Larry Gelbart could take an event where sentimentality was allowed, even expected, and turn it on its ear. My friend Allan Katz, who also wrote for "MASH," was with him once at a friend's funeral. When Larry realized he had to leave early, he leaned over to Allan and said simply, "I'm sorry to grieve and run." I'm sure he meant no disrespect, or maybe just the right dose of it, depending on the life and times of the recently departed.

The Beverly Hills home of the late "MASH" writer Larry Gelbart came on the market for the first time in 40 years in February and sold this week for more than its asking price of $7,999,000. The traditional-style house sits on three-quarters of an acre and has one of the largest lots in the flats of Beverly Hills. The compound includes a swimming pool with waterfall, a tennis court and a greenhouse. The main house and two guesthouses contain a total of seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

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."

A celebration of the life of award-winning comedy writer Larry Gelbart, who died Sept. 11 at age 81, will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 10 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills.

In 1989, when Larry Gelbart's "Mastergate" opened and closed on Broadway after just 68 performances, his message was timely but not one the American public wanted to hear. Gelbart's satirical take on the lies told by the various witnesses in the Iran-Contra hearings has proved itself increasingly on target, but it was not a popular subject right after George Bush was elected President.

Larry Gelbart, who has never much liked the way he and other screenwriters are treated by their bosses, has swathed his grievances in bebop and ballads. Opening on Broadway Dec. 11 is his "City of Angels," a $4.5-million musical comedy thriller that honors Hollywood films of the '40s while trashing the system that spawned them. "City of Angels" is set in the solariums and sound stages of Los Angeles in 1946.

"Politically Incorrect" host Bill Maher will emcee "A Tribute to the Writer," a Writers Guild of America program honoring Larry Gelbart for his lengthy career in radio, television and the stage. Among the participants scheduled for the Jan.

Larry Gelbart, who began as a gag writer for Bob Hope and then worked for Sid Caesar, says that unlike his generation, many young comedy sketch writers today have few past masters from whom to learn. Thus, he quips, they "learned by watching 'The Captain and Tennille.' " Gelbart, who wrote "MASH" for four years, spoke Monday in New York at a Museum of Broadcasting salute to him.

Can stratospheric high finance, which appears so tedious and complicated on paper, really be this much of a hoot? You can't imagine a more deliciously entertaining movie about the $25-billion leveraged buyout of R.J.R. Nabisco Co. The script by Larry Gelbart, based on a bestseller by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, demonstrates that the former "MASH" head writer is as acutely clever and witty as ever. Former Nabisco president F.

A funny thing happened to Larry Gelbart this week on the way to death's door: Having already placed himself in select comic-writing company over the last half-century and more, the two-time Tony winner and co-creator of the "MASH" television series woke up Monday to find himself rubbing elbows with Mark Twain on the list of notable wits who have been privileged to affirm that reports of their actual or imminent deaths were greatly exaggerated. In Gelbart's case, the blog alt.obituaries carried grim tidings in Monday's wee hours that he was "gravely ill . . . from a massive stroke."

Re "Larry Gelbart, 1928-2009: Comedy writer hailed for work on 'MASH,' 'Funny Thing,' " Obituary, Sept. 12 One year in the 1970s, I served as the vice president of the PTA at our children's grade school. My close friend was president, and we agreed on most everything. At the start of our first meeting with the full board, she announced that the Monday meeting would end at 8:45 p.m. to allow us to get home for "MASH." Everyone laughed, but at 8:45 we stood up and said, "Good night, see you next meeting."

What would he write about himself if he just found out he'd died? I wonder. I know it wouldn't be something soft and sentimental. Larry Gelbart could take an event where sentimentality was allowed, even expected, and turn it on its ear. My friend Allan Katz, who also wrote for "MASH," was with him once at a friend's funeral. When Larry realized he had to leave early, he leaned over to Allan and said simply, "I'm sorry to grieve and run." I'm sure he meant no disrespect, or maybe just the right dose of it, depending on the life and times of the recently departed.

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."

A funny thing happened to Larry Gelbart this week on the way to death's door: Having already placed himself in select comic-writing company over the last half-century and more, the two-time Tony winner and co-creator of the "MASH" television series woke up Monday to find himself rubbing elbows with Mark Twain on the list of notable wits who have been privileged to affirm that reports of their actual or imminent deaths were greatly exaggerated. In Gelbart's case, the blog alt.obituaries carried grim tidings in Monday's wee hours that he was "gravely ill . . . from a massive stroke."

Calendar Weekend asked several Festival of Books authors: "What author would you like to meet at the festival?" Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey ("A Woman of Independent Means"): "Isabel Allende. I'm teaching a course at Hollins College [in Virginia] called Autobiographical Sources of Fiction. We began reading her extraordinary book about her daughter, which tells the story really of how she came to write 'The House of the Spirits.'

"Weapons of Mass Distraction" is much more than just fun. It launches messages like ballistic missiles. One is that media tycoons move faster than do the TV scripts defining these stratospheric power elitists who control the destinies of all those worker ants scurrying anonymously at their custom-shod feet.

Calendar Weekend asked several Festival of Books authors: "What author would you like to meet at the festival?" Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey ("A Woman of Independent Means"): "Isabel Allende. I'm teaching a course at Hollins College [in Virginia] called Autobiographical Sources of Fiction. We began reading her extraordinary book about her daughter, which tells the story really of how she came to write 'The House of the Spirits.'

Inside American Ballet Theatre's Studio 6, Amanda McKerrow, the Bird in the new "Peter and the Wolf," sat in a tree eating potato chips. Below her, Ethan Brown, the Wolf, was making sure he'd get strung up in the tree without getting hung up on his harness. Gil Boggs, who has the title role, visited with his black Labrador retriever, Montana, a company mascot who likes to play with toe shoes and by the end of rehearsal was draped in a tutu and charming red velvet cap.

It's got Bruce Willis, CGI effects, outlandish Jean-Paul Gaultier costumes, and enough explosions to keep sci-fi buffs and militia members in heaven. What "The Fifth Element" hasn't got is much of a story. Luc Besson's 23rd century space fantasy even has some fans admitting it's among the most incomprehensible big-budget releases in many a moon. Far less charitable are critics like Variety's Todd McCarthy, who branded its image-overload style "cacophonous," its story "inane . . .

Fewer hands, greater power. That troubling scenario in communications drives a new movie that Larry Gelbart, a celebrated comedy writer for years, is finishing for HBO. "Weapons of Mass Distraction" is scheduled to arrive May 18. The distracting media weapons reside in the arsenals of fictional warring moguls played by able actors Gabriel Byrne and Ben Kingsley.