From Robert Barnes…
Thank you a thousand times over for the link to the Caesar's Writers video. I have never seen so many funny people in one place and it's obvious they all had a lot of love and respect for each other. Was that you in the video sitting next to Howie Morris?
It must have been great to be there that night. I wish I could have heard the conversations backstage. I also wish we'd heard more from some of the people I didn't know more about like Gary Belkin and Danny Simon. Thanks again.
Yes, that was me sitting next to Howie Morris. Howie and I went to dinner earlier at a restaurant near the theater and wound up joining a table with about half the dais. The best line I remember from that table occurred when Sheldon Keller was talking about an encounter in the forties with Milton Berle. He said, "Berle was at the Paramount Theater" and in less than a second, Larry Gelbart jumped in and added, "Yeah, and his cock was at the Bijou."
Danny Simon isn't represented more in the show because he was not feeling well that evening. In fact, he took ill during the proceedings and left about two-thirds of the way through. It's not too noticeable due to deft camera angles and editing. (By the way, I'm amazed how well-shot the video was. That theater was not made for TV and they had to put the cameras in some less-than-ideal spots but still cover a long line of eleven people who were jumping in and out of the conversation, often unexpectedly. Notice how many times someone starts speaking and the camera is right on them. The camera guys and director did a good job of guessing who was about to talk and being ready for it.)
Gary Belkin's presence there involved a certain amount of courage. Gary's wife had died not long before and he became something of a recluse. He initially declined to appear but a couple of friends nagged him and threatened to drag him from his apartment at knifepoint and spirit him off to the theater. He ultimately came under his own power and I think it may have been the only public appearance he made after he became a widower and before he passed. I was pleased he was there at all and he was pleased that he actually got a couple of big laughs.
Yes, those men were fans of each other and there was a lot of love up there on the stage. There were also a few resentments and mostly-concealed jealousies. That's kind of inevitable when you have a gang of folks who were all at one point more-or-less equal and then one went on to become the most produced playwright of the century, one became a movie star, etc. It would be odd if a band of peers who came to have wildly-different income levels didn't have some points of bitterness…but they were very happy to be together that night and managed to leave most of the bad stuff at home.
Before I leave this topic: I forgot to mention that the video posted here is very close to the complete program. A version that aired on PBS was seriously cut so if you saw it there, you may still want to check out the version posted here.
And I must correct an omission on my part. Bob Claster did the great job of hosting the evening but the initial idea for the event came from a fine writer-producer named Aron Abrams. Aron secured Mr. Gelbart's participation and help, then was wise enough to bring Bob into the project. Aron passed away less than a year ago and while he had many credits on television, he had a special pride in Caesar's Writers. He should…because it was a terrific and important evening.