Twisted Sisters

Flush from the overflow success of its first “Speakeasy” Benefit, the Arcata Playhouse has scheduled another, on Friday, Oct. 23, with music etc. by Jackie Dandeneau and others. Details at www.arcataplayhouse.org.

The HSU production of the musical comedy City of Angels opens Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Van Duzer Theatre and runs for two weekends with a final performance, a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Nov. 1. Cy Coleman composed the music, and Larry Gelbart wrote the script. Since I work part-time for both the HSU departments producing the show (Music as well as Theatre, Film & Dance), I can’t say much more here. But Larry Gelbart died just about a month ago, and I’ll probably never get a better opportunity to pass on one of his jokes, one that few people have heard.

Gelbart was a comedy writer for TV pioneer Sid Caesar, the main writer for the TV version of *MASH, and co-authored the stage comedy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, seen at Ferndale Rep in 2006. Gelbart and his wife, Pat, were friends with Steve Allen and his wife, Jane Meadows. In addition to hosting and inventing The Tonight Show and other comedy shows, Steve Allen wrote a series of mystery novels, and in one of them, there’s a scene with Larry and Pat Gelbart as characters. I spent a week hanging out with Steve Allen in the early ’90s, shortly after this novel came out, and he told me what happened next.

Allen sent Gelbart a note, telling him about this scene. Gelbart wrote back to thank him, and added, “This goes a long way to making up for Pat and I being edited out of War and Peace.”

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