The gift of provoking laughter came early to Larry Gelbart and hasnever deserted him. His distinguished career as a writer of comedyreads like a history of the art over the last 40 years. His writingcredits date back to the Golden Age of radio, thanks in part to hisfather. The elder Gelbart was a barber in Beverly Hills who made it apoint to tell his clients, such asDanny Thomas, what a funny15-year-old son he had. As a result of his father's being hisunofficial agent, Larry became a professional comedy writer beforefinishing high school. Shortly after being signed by the William MorrisAgency, he joined the writing staff of "Duffy's Tavern," working forthe man generally considered to be the hardest taskmaster in radio,Ed Gardner. "Seventy writers went through themill while I was there," recalls Gelbart. "I was lucky because I wasyoung and everybody wanted me to make good. They were all mygodfathers." Gelbart left "Duffy's Tavern," to write for the "JoanDavis Show." While doing that he was called into the Army. He servedwith Armed Forces Radio Service for one year and 11 days, but it was amost productive period. He wrote for the Army's "Command Performance,"while continuing to write forJoan Davis andJack Paar, who was then a summerreplacement forJack Benny. He then went onto write forJack Carson andBob Hope, both on radio and television,and he also contributed to theRed ButtonsTV show. In 1953 he joined the staff of TV'sYour Show of Shows (1950),writing skits forSid Caesar andImogene Coca in company with such fellowmaster wits asMel Brooks,Carl Reiner andNeil Simon. For that series Gelbartwon the Sylvania Award and two Emmy Awards. In the 1960s he beganwriting for the theater. He wrote "My L.A." and "The Conquering Hero,"and withBurt Shevelove tried his hand atrewriting Plautus. The result was "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way tothe Forum," a smash Broadway musical comedy starringZero Mostel that earned Gelbart andShevelove a 1962 Tony Award. When "Forum" moved to London, Gelbart andhis family went with it. During his nine-year stay there, he wrote thecomedy filmThe Wrong Box (1966), aplay called "Jump," and several televisionscripts. Gelbart came back to Los Angeles to write the televisionseriesM*A*S*H (1972) He wasresponsible for 97 segments of that show, one of television's mostliterate and entertaining efforts. Four years later he again dippedinto the classics and transformed Ben Johnson's "Volpone" into aBroadway success, "Sly Fox," directed byArthur Penn and starringGeorge C. Scott. Gelbart's screencredits includeThe Notorious Landlady (1962),Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966),Oh, God! (1977),Neighbors (1981),Burukkurin monogatari (1978) (directed byStanley Donen) andTootsie (1982), which earned him anAcademy Award nomination and best screenplay honors from the New York,Los Angeles and National Film Critics organization.