Today, I attended a lovely (and often funny) memorial service for the late Pat Harrington Jr., who left us in early January. Pat was both a comic actor and a serious one who appeared in countless TV shows, movies and plays but was probably best known for playing Schneider, the building superintendent on the long-running situation comedy, One Day at a Time.
The hall was packed with industry folks for a long presentation expertly hosted by one of Pat's sons, Michael. To steal a joke from the great comedy writer Gary Belkin, I was the only person there I'd never heard of. Many of those who spoke were members of Pat's family but there were also speeches about him from — among others — director Howard Storm, producer Norman Lear, actor Ed Asner and the comedy team of Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall. Charlie and Mitzi, who were among Pat's dearest friends, were indecently funny and touching.
Actually, all the speeches were touching. Pat was loved the way everyone should be loved — by all the people around him and unconditionally. Especially inspiring were the tales from the later stages of his Alzheimer's. Pat was twice married and when his second wife Sally needed a break from the 24/7 caregiving he required, his first wife Marge stepped in to take over. The two ladies were very close friends — and how often does that happen? What extraordinary women.
As I said, the whole place was filled with show biz folks including, I believe, all the surviving cast members from One Day at a Time, as well as an awful lot of comedy writers.
Of all the stories told, my favorite was the one related by Michael Harrington. Pat's father was a popular entertainer who did not encourage his son to follow him into that business. Instead, Pat wound up in the advertising department at NBC where he often amused his co-workers with brilliant dialects and characters, almost always improvised on the spot. His most popular identity was as a great Italian golf pro named Guido Panzini.
One night, Pat and a co-worker were in a bar and they spotted Jonathan Winters, who was a pretty big star. The friend approached Winters and asked if he'd mind meeting this golfer he had never heard of. Somehow, this led to a half-hour of Pat — introduced as Guido — entertaining Jonathan with anecdotes and hilarious stories.
After a while though, Pat began to feel guilty about hoaxing Jonathan Winters that way and he finally dropped the accent and said, "Mr. Winters, I can't lie to you anymore. My name is Pat Harrington and Guido is just a character I do." Pat was momentarily afraid that Winters was going to be pissed and maybe slap him or something. Instead, Jonathan grabbed him by the lapels and said, "I'm guest-hosting the Tonight show this week while Jack Paar is off and I'm putting you on Thursday night's show."
That's how Pat Harrington, who'd barely performed before a real audience before, made his network television debut.
The man had guts and he had talent. And I guess we all knew he had a great family and a great circle of friends. It was a joy today to be among them, to feel a part of that family and those friends, and to remember a fine gentleman. That he was, that he was.