Gelbart on Writing

I SAT DOWN to start this short little entry thinking one thing, and now my fingers are ready to to type another. What I was going to type is that walking around Manhattan today I've been thinking a lot about the late Larry Gelbart. And I didn't know why. But I think I've maybe got some of it now.

I saw Billy Elliot last night. And never having seen the movie, I was surprised and frankly, a little moved by how much it tackled the story of the British Coal Miners. I remember that strike well from when I was in high school. The coverage of that strike and the stories that I heard and read at the time was probably what shifted my political consciousness from centre right, leftward.

It was a real trip seeing all these well-heeled middle and upper middle class types (me included) sit there in a theater in New York listening to Americans struggle to replicate the Geordie tones and talk about the decline of the British Working Class.

That kind of social commentary in comedy is a rare breed in TV these days. When you go back and watch the early, Gelbart seasons of M*A*S*H, you realize what an incredibly subversive show it was for its time. On CBS, of all places.

Anyhoo. I have more exploring and more work to do. But for now here's a bit of writing advice from the last interview Larry Gelbart ever gave, ( to Mike Sacks, from this month's Vanity Fair) --

Any advice you'd care to give to those writers out there just beginning their careers?

When you're writing and come to a rough spot and the ideas just aren't flowing, put down dummy text and keep on moving—especially if it's at the end of the day and you're going to stop. Your brain will never stop for the day, even if you have stopped working, and there's a very good chance you'll come up with something better. Also, at the very least, you'll have something to come back to the next day, instead of a blank page. That's important.

But in general terms, just sit your ass down in a chair and hope your head gets the message. Isaac Bashevis Singer's advice for the struggling young writer was to stop struggling and write. As for me, I don't have any other advice. If I did, I would have had a far more trouble-free life and a much, much better career.

And as a bonus, here's an NPR interview Gelbart gave in 1996.