I thought of a way to preserve the image of the incredible talent and at the same time aid colleges with their financial problems. I had been involved in education, and had served as national spokesperson for the Coalition for Literacy, so what I had in mind seemed like an exciting plan.
I broached my idea to the group at dinner one evening.
“Friends,” I said, “I would like to put a show together with all of you on the future of comedy. I would be the interlocutor. We would travel to colleges around the country, sell tickets for our show, and donate all the money to the colleges. How many of you would like to get involved?”
The hands started to go up. Sid Caesar . . . Steve Allen . . . Shecky Greene . . . Carl Reiner . . .
“That’s great,” I said. “Let me make some arrangements.”
I decided to do our first show in Hollywood, as a test, and the city of Beverly Hills was delighted to have us. The first-ever “Future of Comedy” panel discussion was held on July 17, 2000, at the Writers Guild Theater in front of an overflow crowd.
Our reception was wonderful, and I could see that my idea would work. Sid, Steve, Shecky, Carl, and I had a ball, and so did the audience. The laughs were nonstop. The panel members kept interrupting one another with one-liners. We were really on to something, and we were all looking forward to our new adventure together.
But shortly after that evening, fate stepped in, and everything began to fall apart. Steve Allen died, Sid Caesar was not able to travel long distances, Shecky Greene had some emotional problems, and Carl Reiner became heavily involved with movies. It was not meant to be.
But I will never forget the generosity of my friends.
In 1970, I created another television show. I called it Nancy. It was a story of the sophisticated young daughter of the president of the United States who, while on a vacation at a ranch, met and fell in love with a young veterinarian. They married. And the scripts were based on the disparities between the two lifestyles.
I cast the leads with three very good actors: Celeste Holm, Renne Jarrett, and John Fink. The pilot was shown to NBC and they bought it.
The show was a sweet, romantic comedy and the cast brought it to life beautifully. The network canceled it after seventeen episodes. At the time it was canceled, the Nielsen ratings ranked Nancy as number seventeen, which is more than strong enough to keep a show on the air. I have no idea whether the White House was displeased by the show or whether any political pressure was ever brought to bear, but I know that the cancellation was a big surprise to all of us.
CHAPTER 33
Several years later I decided I wanted to do a black-tie show with sophisticated people in elegant backgrounds. I created Hart to Hart, and it went on the air in 1979, with Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg producing. We were fortunate in obtaining Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as our stars. The show was a hit and ran for five years.
In the midst of my doing other projects, the idea about the psychiatrist kept coming back to me. I could not seem to get rid of it. It was as though the character was demanding to have a life. I had no confidence in my ability to write a novel, but in order to get the psychiatrist off my back, I decided I was going to write his story.
Mornings I dictated the novel to one of my secretaries. Afternoons I put on my producer’s hat and worked on other projects.
The novel was finally finished and I had no idea what to do with it. I did not know any literary agents.
I called a dear friend of mine, the talented novelist Irving Wallace.
“Irving, I have a manuscript of a novel here. Who do I send it to?”
“Let me read it,” he said.
I sent it to him and waited for his phone call saying, “Don’t send it to anybody.”