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Woody Kling | |
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| Born | Heywood Fisher Kling (1925-04-14)April 14, 1925 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 10, 1988(1988-04-10) (aged 62) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1948–1986 |
Woody Kling (April 14, 1925 – April 10, 1988) was an Americantelevision writer,producer,playwright, andcomposer.
BornHeywood Fisher Kling in New York City, Kling was the son of Mayme andKen Kling. Ken was acartoonist who predicted horse races in his stripJoe and Asbestos. Woody Kling was given the middle name Fisher in tribute to Ken Kling's former employer and still friendBud Fisher, who created the first successful daily comic strip in the United States.
In the 1940s, Ken and Mayme Kling hosted celebrity parties at their home atThe Eldorado building in New York City. At one of those parties, Woody Kling, then only in his 20s, met the vaudeville starMilton Berle. Berle told a joke, at which Kling did not laugh. When questioned by Berle as to what was wrong, Kling said the joke wasn't told in the right way, and retold it in his own style. Upon Kling receiving the laughs of the entire party, Berle hired Kling on the spot to produce, head write and create the theme song for a new television show in which Berle would be starring.[citation needed] CalledThe Texaco Star Theatre Starring Milton Berle, the show was created by Berle, produced live before a New York audience onkinescopes owned by Berle, but with thescripts and music owned by Kling. The show's theme song was the broadcasting creation of the modernjingle.[citation needed] The theme song, called "We Are the Men of Texaco", and written by Kling andBuddy Arnold, was the first time that a television program used music to promote a commercialadvertiser's product.
In the decades that followed, "We are the Men of Texaco" and the way it was staged – sung by four gas station attendants (Kling's idea) – was licensed by Kling's heirs to filmmakers wishing to depict the impact of television's advent on the American family (likeBarry Levinson's 1990s filmAvalon). The song also served as Milton Berle's theme for personal appearances. In 1979,Dan Aykroyd,John Belushi andGarret Morris recreated Kling's staging and sung "We Are the Men of Texaco" live onSaturday Night Live in honor of Berle, its host that week. The song's lyrics were quoted in obituaries of Berle.
Kling soon became the head writer on a number of television shows likeThe Jack Paar Show[disambiguation needed],The Will Rogers, Jr. Show, andThe Red Buttons Show. He additionally created and wrote several dozen cartoon programs atHal Seeger Studios.[citation needed]
In 1968, Kling was producer of the programWedding Party. Thereafter, he became head writer onThe Jackie Gleason Show inPalm Beach, Florida. The hit show for Gleason became the first hit television shows to be broadcast from Florida. Finally, in late 1969, Kling moved toHollywood, California where he wrote forJoseph Barbera the filmed television showLove, American Style.[citation needed]
Kling thereafter was quickly hired forThe Carol Burnett Show where he became head writer. While onBurnett, producerNorman Lear offered Kling the position of head writer on a new emerging show calledAll in the Family. Ironically, Lear had offered the starring role in the show to Kling's previous star Gleason, and then toMickey Rooney, who 12 months later toured the country with a play written by Kling.
Under Kling,All in the Family became a huge hit forCBS and Lear. Kling drew some of the show's most memorable episodes from his personal life. They included the February 23, 1976 episode "Joey's Baptism" in whichArchie Bunker had his grandson baptized (against the wishes of agnostic parents Mike and Gloria), which Kling, who was born atheist, based upon the baptism of his son Anthony at the time.
In less than half a decade,Burnett andAll in the Family brought Kling seven Emmy nominations, and twoEmmy Awards.
Kling helped create the introduction of thespin-offThe Jeffersons, and wrote or head wrote Lear showsMaude,Good Times, andSanford Arms among others while turning down other Lear shows likeOne Day at a Time.
Kling and fellow Gleason show writerRobert J. Hilliard wrote the 1971playThree Goats and a Blanket (which also played asThe Laugh's On Me;[1]Stop, Thief, Stop!;[2] andAlimony), in which a TV producer moves in with his ex-wife when he can no longer afford to pay alimony.[3][4] Over the next decade, the show, touring withMickey Rooney, became the highest grossing play to never reachBroadway.[citation needed]
Between television film shows, Kling reunited with and wrote for Joe Barbera a series of cartoon series includingCasper the Friendly Ghost and theHarlem Globetrotters. In 1983, he created and wrote the seriesThe Littles and thereafter wrote the syndicated specialCabbage Patch Kids First Christmas.
In the 1980s, Kling wrote and created the programRainbow Brite that he licensed, solely for television syndication broadcast only. After Kling's death, his heirs suedHallmark Cards, forcopyright infringement of Kling's property alleging that Hallmark had stolen Kling's property making Hallmark over $1 billion during his illness and thereafter. Kling's case went up on appeal twice to the9th Circuit Court of Appeals inCalifornia. In the first appeal (Kling v. Hallmark), Kling's heir won. The court found against Hallmark, ruling Kling's case was not barred bylaches, becoming the leading decision on laches still today of the Court. In a second appeal (Kling v. Hallmark), the 9th Circuit found for Kling's heir, ruling Kling's heir to be the copyright owner of Woody Kling's Rainbow Brite works, but found Kling's damages to be barred by thestatute of limitations, awarding Klings' heirs no money.[5]
Shortly after creatingRainbow Brite, Kling became ill with inoperablebrain andlung cancer, eventually dying in Los Angeles on April 10, 1988. He was survived by his wife, Mary, and his son, Anthony.[6]
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