(June 13, 1914 - December 7, 1968) was a pioneering American television writer, producer, and songwriter who rose to prominence in the 1950s. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Hiken worked on a number of popular TV series during the 1950s and 1960s, including Car 54, Where Are You? and The Phil Silvers Show, a sitcom set on a US Army post in which Silvers played Sergeant Ernie Bilko; the show was also often referred to by this name. Hiken was one of TV's first writer-producers, and he had begun originally in radio by writing for Fred Allen's hit radio show and as the head writer for NBC's Four Star Revue. He moved from radio to TV as a writer for Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater. As a writer for Car 54, Where Are You? and the The Phil Silvers Show,
he exhibited a comic flair, and his capacity for spoofing such entities as the U.S. Army, the U.S. government, and cops and their police forces was exceptional. TV historians attest to Hiken's talent to create zany but lovable characters and also to his ability to draw strong comedic performances from such unlikely celebrities as boxer Rocky Graziano on The Martha Raye Show.
As a producer, Hiken also had a wonderful eye for spotting new talent. He is credited with discovering and advancing the TV careers of such future stars as Fred Gwynne (1955), Alan Alda (1958) (both who made their TV debuts on The Phil Silvers Show), and Dick Van Dyke (1958). A television pioneer, Hiken worked with such major figures as Mel Brooks and Woody Allen throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. Hiken won eight Emmy Awards and wrote material for Milton Berle, Bette Davis, Carol Burnett, and Lucille Ball. After his death, his influence was still felt in 1970s sitcoms. Programs including Welcome Back, Kotter and especially Barney Miller owed clear debts to Hiken's meat-and-potatoes, yet smart comedic ideas.
Hiken also displayed his musical talent by working with composers George Bassman and Gordon Jenkins on music and theme songs for TV series, and among the songs Hiken himself composed are "Close To Me," "Irving," and "Fugitive From Fifth Avenue." He also wrote the theme song and music for the TV series, Car 54, Where Are You?
Hiken's career, talents, and contributions to the early years of commercial radio and TV are documented in the book King of the Half Hour: Nat Hiken and the Golden Age of TV Comedy by David Everitt published by Syracuse University Press in 2001. Hiken's career was cut short when he died of a sudden heart attack on December 7, 1968 in Brentwood, California. Hiken was 54.
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks (born "Melvin Kaminsky" June 28, 1926) is an American multi-award winning director, writer, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer best known as a creator of broad film farces and comedy parodies.
Brooks is a member of the short list of entertainers with the distinction of having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award.
He started out in show business as a stand-up comic, telling jokes and doing movie-star impressions. He found more rewarding work behind the scenes, becoming a comedy writer for television. He joined the hit comedy series Your Show of Shows with Sid Caesar and Carl Reiner.
In 1960, an attack of gout (and the aftermath of the surgery done to relieve it) left him allegedly feeling like a 2000-year-old man. This became the persona of Carl Reiner as his straight man.
Mel Brooks later moved into film, working as an actor, director, writer, and producer. Brooks' first film was The Critic (1963), an animated satire of arty, esoteric cinema, conceived by Brooks and directed by Ernest Pintoff. Brooks supplied running commentary as the baffled moviegoer trying to make sense of the obscure visuals. The short film won an Academy Award.
With Buck Henry, Brooks created the successful TV series GET SMART
Brooks' first feature film, The Producers, was a black comedy about two theatrical partners who deliberately contrive the worst possible Broadway show. The film was so brazen in its satire (its big production number was "Springtime for Hitler") that the major studios wouldn't touch it, nor would many exhibitors. Brooks finally found an independent distributor, which released it like an art film, as a specialized attraction. The film received an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The film became a smash underground hit, first on the nationwide college circuit, then in revivals and on home video. Brooks later turned it into a musical, which became one of the most popular Broadway shows.
His two most financially successful films were released in 1974: Blazing Saddles (co-written with Richard Pryor, Andrew Bergman, Norman Steinberg and Alan Uger), and Young Frankenstein (co-written with Gene Wilder). He followed these up with an audacious idea: the first feature-length silent comedy in four decades. Silent Movie (1976) featured Brooks in his first leading role, with Dom DeLuise and Marty Feldman as his sidekicks. The following year he released his Hitchcock parody High Anxiety, which was the first movie produced by Brooks himself.
Brooks developed a repertory company of sorts for his film work: performers with three or more Brooks films to their credit include Gene Wilder, Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Ron Carey and Andréas Voutsinas. Dom DeLuise has appeared in six of Brooks' 12 films, the only person with more appearances being Brooks himself.
In 1975, at the height of his movie career, Brooks tried TV again with When Things Were Rotten, a Robin Hood parody that lasted only 13 episodes. Nearly 20 years later, Brooks mounted another Robin Hood parody with Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
In interviews broadcast on WABC radio, Brooks has discussed with NYC radio personality Mark Simone the possibilities of turning other works from his creative oeuvre (such as the movie Blazing Saddles) into future musical productions. Specifically, in a conversation airing March 1, 2008, he and Simone speculated on what show tunes might be incorporated into a theatrical adaptation of the Get Smart property.