Achingly funny as it was, Larry Gelbart's writing gave off sparks that turned a hard light on the way we are. Some people even said at the time that his episodes of M*A*S*H, with their unblinking account of the costs of war, helped our country lose its patience with the one they were then fighting in Vietnam. He certainly pointed us, with zero sentimentality, toward a more compassionate look at one another. Many physicians have told me they entered medicine to become the kind of doctor they saw in the character of Hawkeye Pierce.
Larry, who died September 11, at 81, had a graceful presence and humble affability that didn't hint at his enormous influence. He inspired many other writers, although few could match his skill at folding words together like verbal origami.
But, I remember him above all for being the one everyone at the table wanted to be sitting next to. Wit wafted from him like perfume from a rose.
He was incandescent. 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 -- that's a light that's gone out, and now we're all sitting here in the dark.
Michael Winship: Gelbart and Schulberg: Two Writers Depart an Ever Stranger Land
You certainly can argue that the depths to which our so-called democratic dialogue has sunk are nothing new. Politicians and advocates have been slinging mud...
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MASH has been hugely influential - and that influence lives on in a new generation. My kids (11 and 13) and their friends now watch it. What a legacy Gelbart left. Congratulations to him, Alda and the other cast members for creating such an amazing show.
This has to have been a tough couple of months for you, Mr Alda, what with losing your friends, Mr Hewitt and Mr Gelbart. My sympathies to you.
Much as I have enjoyed your pathological characters the past few years. I still hope you will find one to play that rivals Hawkeye's sometimes preachy, but always finely honed sense of justice and fairness. Our country sorely lacks such a voice.
Thank you for your many artistic and educational contributions, and my best to you and your family.
And I've been a big fan of Alan Alda for a very long time, too.
The episodes were brilliant -- the Gelbart mix of sadness and laugh-aloud lines. One that stands out in my mind had each of the partners being interviewed separately by off-stage sex researchers. Separately, at different points in the show, each was asked whether their partner had ever had an affair. When the wife was asked, she said, "No" and took a sip of coffee as the camera studied her face which gave away the lie by its effort to be blank.
The researcher: "Do you want to talk about it?"
The episode ends with the two in bed.
She: "Did they ask you how I was in bed?"
He: "Yes, I said you were O.K."
She: "I said you were the best."
He: "I was just kidding."
She: "So was I."
The shows humor was special -- not from characters reaching for punch lines but from characters who had intelligence and wit as part of their beings.
j
He made a difference by bring the Korean War to life for those of us too young to know.
As accomplished and successful as he was, he was so open and such a regular guy with everyone he met, including younger, far less accomplished writers.
He was and remains a powerful inspiration to me, a role model of what a remarkable person a writer, an American and a human being could be.
He will be greatly missed, the impact of his presence on this planet however will in one way or another, be remembered and re-discovered as time goes by.
What happened to Scientific American Frontiers?
You were a really good liaison between science folks and lay people.
I want more.
Alda's eulogy is sublime.
And Mary Travers too, and Uncle Teddy, and Patrick Swazie, and on and on - all, so soon, too soon.
Dammit.