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Larry Gelbart

Larry Gelbart Books

Television writer

Larry Gelbart, an American television writer, was born on February 25, 1928, and passed away on September 11, 2009. Known for his unique sense of humor and profound social insight, Gelbart contributed scripts to several classic television shows, including 'M*A*S*H' and 'The New Adventures of Old Christine'. His work is celebrated for its sharp wit and insightful commentary on societal issues, having a significant impact on screenwriters that followed.

Laughing Matters: On Writing M-A-S-H, T...

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“The subtle differences in language and humor that get lost in translation, for example, make it almost impossible for big companies to do something that will appeal at home and abroad.”

Home Bigs Lost Language Differences Company Impossible Example Appeals Subtle Translations Big Companies Lost In Translation

Author:Larry Gelbart

“I don't think you can name a good picture where the production or the possible promotion isn't "cast-contingent." That means the film needs not just star power but star box office power.”

Thinking Needs Mean Film Names Stars Office Casts Productions Boxes Promotion Box Office

Author:Larry Gelbart

“We may be born equal but we're not equally talented.”

Author:Larry Gelbart

“Reality television is less honest than YouTube. YouTube is the real reality.”

Real Reality Honest Television Youtube Reality Television

Author:Larry Gelbart

“I think technology is such that we can reach new heights but we need some of the basics of the pre-technological age. It's counter-productive to be able to type a hundred words a minute but not know what the words mean.”

Thinking Knows Needs Mean Age Able Technology Minutes Type Hundred Height Productive Technological Basics

Author:Larry Gelbart

“You can write something that has continuity, but it makes happy endings all the more ridiculous.”

Writing Ridiculous Continuity Happy Endings Make Happy

Author:Larry Gelbart

“I think it makes people frustrated when they have to live their actual lives commercial free and they can't just magically wind up at the part with the happy ending.”

People Thinking Wind Frustrated Happy Endings Actual Life

Author:Larry Gelbart

“I am on sort of a diet in terms of the Internet. It's the sheer quantity. It's the Niagara of opinion, of information. It's not that I have any kind of compassion fatigue. I just insist on having a life.”

Kind Term Compassion Opinion Information Internet Diets Quantity Sheer Fatigue Niagara

Author:Larry Gelbart

“I write what I write and I honestly don't care if it gets on or not. I'm writing to see if I can find out some of what I think about any number of situations. I work it out in the writing.”

Ifs Thinking Writing I Can Care Numbers Situation Don't Care Honestly Working It

Author:Larry Gelbart

“I refuse to do anything easy. I'm writing for the smartest person out there. I'm not equating myself with the smartest person out there, but hopefully I'm writing to say you're not alone. I'm not alone. We're not alone.”

Writing Persons Easy Refuse Hopefully Not Alone

Author:Larry Gelbart

“I think the greatest imagination we can exercise is one that imagines how someone else feels. Because you know how you feel, but so often we attribute our own feelings on to someone else.”

Thinking Knows Feels Feelings Imagination Know How Imagine Exercise Attributes How You Feel

Author:Larry Gelbart

“I know one thing - very few writers in Southern California get to write what they want to write. We are more or less worker ants, working for either film companies or tv companies or Internet companies. We do a lot of assigned work. Feelings hardly ever enter into it. If they do, they tend to be on a sort of soap opera level.”

Ifs Knows Want Writing Feelings Film Levels Company One Thing Tvs Internet Workers California Southern Opera Soap Ants Soap Operas Southern California

Author:Larry Gelbart

“Your style is formed by what you can't do.”

Author:Larry Gelbart

“The only way to avoid age discrimination in Hollywood is to die young.”

Way Age Young Dies Hollywood Discrimination Die Young

Author:Larry Gelbart

“Most jokes state a bitter truth.”

States Jokes Bitter Bitterness Bitter Truth

Author:Larry Gelbart

“One doesn't have a sense of humor. It has you.”

Inspirational Humor Laughter Sense Of Humor Good Sense Of Humor

Author:Larry Gelbart

“I never watched Friends, maybe because it was written by people straight out of college....The only way to avoid age discrimination in Hollywood is to die young.”

People Way Art Age Young Dies Written College Hollywood Discrimination Die Young

Author:Larry Gelbart

“Marriage is probably the chief cause of divorce.”

Causes Divorce Chiefs Divorced After Divorce Funny Divorce Marriage Divorce Marriage And Divorce

Author:Larry Gelbart

“One does not have humor. It has you.”

Author:Larry Gelbart

“If Hitler’s still alive, I hope he’s out of town with a musical.”

Ifs Stills Alive Towns Musical

Book:Laughing Matters: On Writing M-A-S-H, Tootsie, Oh, God!, and a Few Other Funny Things

Source: Laughing Matters: On Writing M-A-S-H, Tootsie, Oh, God!, and a Few Other Funny Things

“Contrary to popular belief, it's not the legs that go first; it's remembering the word for legs.”

Firsts Remember Belief Legs Contrary Contrary To Popular Belief

Author:Larry Gelbart

“Marriage isn't all that it's cracked up to be, let me tell you. Honestly. Marriage is probably the chief cause of divorce.”

Important Funny Causes Let Me Witty Divorce Honestly Chiefs Divorced Cracked After Divorce Funny Divorce Marriage Divorce Marriage And Divorce

Author:Larry Gelbart

“I love to play with language; make it do tricks, turn a word inside out to see if it's got a hidden meaning tucked away somewhere, or perhaps find that it's capable of an extra entendre or two. . . . Plotting is nothing I did, or do, naturally. It is the hardest part of the writing process. No matter how many times you plot a script successfully, the next one, representing new and uncharted territory, convinces you that you really don't know how to do it at all.”

“I'm a recovering optimist.”

Optimist Recovering

Author:Larry Gelbart

“Today's audience knows more about what's on television than what's in life.”

Knows Today Audience Television

Author:Larry Gelbart

“A war is like when it rains in New York and everybody crowds into doorways. They all get chummy together perfect strangers. The only difference, of course, is in a war it's also raining on the other side of the street and the people who are chummy over there are trying to kill the people who are over here who are chums.”

People Knows Trying War Together Courses Sides Differences Perfect Streets New York Rain Crowds Stranger Doorways Chum Perfect Strangers

Author:Larry Gelbart

“If vaudeville had died, television was the box they put it in.”

Ifs Science Technology Television Died Boxes Vaudeville

Author:Larry Gelbart

“Television is a weapon of mass distractrion.”

Funny Television Weapons Mass

Author:Larry Gelbart

“The Amazon is still burning; we just don't hear the smoke detectors anymore.”

Stills Nature Burning Smoke Amazon

Author:Larry Gelbart

About the Author

Born: February 25, 1928
Died: September 11, 2009
Known for: Television writer
Quotes: 29

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Laughing Matters: On Writing M-A-S-H, Tootsie, Oh, God!, and a Few Other Funny ThingsRelated source material

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