Last week in Maine, my pal Paul Harris and his wife were driving along U.S. Route 1 when they spotted a sign advertising a new musical based on the movie, Grumpy Old Men. It stars Hal Linden and Sally Struthers, neither of whom plays one of the Grumpy Old Men.
They were unable to procure tickets to the (supposedly) Broadway-bound show at the Ogunquit Playhouse. If they had, they would have seen some of the last work of my friend, the late Nick Meglin. Nick, who left us suddenly last June, was a long-time editor for MAD Magazine. Some called him the heart, soul and sense o' humor at that publication where he served for more than three decades but less than five.
In retirement, Nick turned his formidable skills to musical comedy. He wrote the lyrics for Grumpy Old Men: The Musical and when I saw him at the end of May, he was looking forward to the tryout in Ogunquit. Here is the bio of him that appears in the GOM:TM playbill…
NICK MEGLIN (Lyrics) was best known as the editor of MAD Magazine, a position he held for most of his career. His critically-acclaimed musical Tim & Scrooge (book and lyrics) won Broadway World's Best New Musical Award in 2016. Nick authored 15 books including "MAD About the 50's," "MAD About the 60's," "Rotten Rhymes and Other Crimes," "MAD Stew," and "Honor Thy Godfather," "Superfan," and "Superfan Again!" as well as articles in over 300 national publications. He was particularly proud of his book, "Drawing From Within," written with his daughter Diane, as well as an episode of "The Pink Panther" written with his son, Chris. An earlier publication, "The Art of Humorous Illustration," is considered the definitive work on the subject. Nick made over 50 TV appearances including "The Today Show," "60 Minutes," "Larry King," "Howard Stern," and "Robert Klein" and several NPR programs. Comedy albums include "Everything You Wanted to Know About the Godfather — But Don't Ask!"
He was also when I saw him excited about an upcoming production of his other show, Tim and Scrooge, but I'll be darned if I can remember where it is. Somewhere between now and Christmas, some theater in this country is doing that show and Nick planned to be there for that, too.
Anyway, it's oddly delightful to me that one friend of mine stumbled across another friend's show in what I assume is not a huge town. (Just checked: Population is 918. I assumed right.) Here's a feature about Grumpy Old Men: The Musical there. I'm sad that Nick's not around to see it and even sadder than he's not around so I can see him.