As noted here, veteran TV and screenwriter Larry Gelbart died last Friday. There have been some nice tributes written about him over the weekend. Here is my favorite – from writer and Huffington Post contributor Robert J. Elisberg:

Some days, you wish you didn’t answer the phone. Today was that day. It was a friend telling me that Larry Gelbart had died.

I can’t do justice to Larry Gelbart, even if I had several months weeks to write something about it. He was an amazing writer and probably a better person. There may have been more renowned writers in a single medium, but his versatility was breathtaking, and so he may have been the most successful and best writer ever in America who wrote in all three major media — the theater, movies and television.

A few examples to show Gelbart’s range:

* Early television: “Your Show of Shows” (139 episodes, 1950-1954)

* Broadway: “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” winner of the 1962 Tony for Best Musical

* Modern television: “M*A*S*H” (57 episodes, 1972-1983)

* Movies: Tootsie (1982) (screenplay) (story), winner of Academy Award for best original screenplay

Elisberg relates this telling story about Gelbart:

Years back, we had never met, but communicated with each other regularly on what was called the Writers Guild BBS, a precursor of newsgroups or chat rooms. One day, I mentioned how I had seen a revival of his musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which played in Chicago with Phil Silvers in the lead role — and there was a great song added to that version that never got recorded, because there was no cast album when the show finally got to Broadway. I said how I’d been looking for the number, The Echo Song, for over 20 years, and wondered if he knew whether or not it had ever been recorded. He didn’t know, but said that whenever he next talked to Steve, he’d find out.

Fine, I thought, That’s nice. Though I didn’t have a clue who this “Steve” was, perhaps his assistant, I figured. Then I realized — oh, he meant Stephen Sondheim, who’d written the score, and that new song. Again, I thought, geez, how really nice that was, but figured they wouldn’t likely be talking to one another for a very long while, and when they did, I hardly thought it would be something he’d remotely remember to ask about. But still, you have to admit, it was a nice thought and nice thing to say. Little did I know.

One week later, I got an email from Larry. “I just called Steve and asked him about that song. He said he had a recording of it in a little revue that was done and will send me a tape. What’s your address?” Now, remember, we had never met. I had done close to nothing in my career. I was not much more than a punk kid. He didn’t know me from Adam, other than some email correspondence. And he did all this. And I today have the tape. The song is wonderful. But far better is knowing how I got it.

Elisberg shares several wonderful anecdotes about Gelbart, but let me end this with how Elisberg ends his tribute: Quoting Larry Gelbart’s writing (from a play) about writing:

There’s so much more I want to say about Larry Gelbart, but none of my words will do him justice, so I’ll leave it at that. What I’ll do though is give him the last words. My very favorite thing he ever wrote. Not surprisingly, it’s about writing.

It’s from near the end of City of Angels. The main character, Stone, has just been told by the director’s secretary that she helped rewrite a scene in his screenplay, and figures he should be grateful. Stone, the writer, replies:

“‘Helped?’ You’d need a divining rod to find the word ‘grateful’ in me. Jesus, where the hell is everybody when they first deliver the typing paper? Where are all the ‘helpers’ when those boxes full of silence come in? Blank. Both sides. No clue, no instructions enclosed on how to take just twenty-six letters and endlessly rearrange them so that they can turn them into a mirror of a part of our lives. Try it sometime. Try doing what I do before I do it.”

“Try doing what I do before I do it.” That’s a real writer talking.

And that was Larry Gelbart: A real writer.