Someone is spreading the word around Ye Olde Internet that the great comedy writer Larry Gelbart was recently incapacitated by a stroke and is on the cusp of taking the permanent dirt nap. Mr. Gelbart has since posted a few messages here and there suggesting that as far as he knows, this is not true. I hope, for his sake and all of ours, he's right.
Some time before Larry does leave us, it would be nice if someone would put a certain great, neglected masterpiece out on DVD. I'm talking about Movie Movie, a 1979 release which starred George C. Scott, Art Carney, Eli Wallach and a bunch of other fine folks. Stanley Donen directed and Gelbart co-wrote with our pal Sheldon Keller, who left us last September. I once heard Sheldon talk about the film over lunch at Jerry's Deli and if you could have recorded that and put it out as a commentary track, there would have been the danger of the commentary track being funnier than the movie…and the movie's pretty damn funny.
The film is actually two short movies in one, plus a trailer for a third movie. All feature the same cast. All feature the same warped sense of humor, spoofing their respective genres with great affection. This article in The Washington Times makes the case that a DVD release is waaaay overdue and it's the first thing in that paper all year I've agreed with. Let's make a little noise in the direction of seeing that happen.