View source for Larry Siegel

{{short description|American dramatist}}

[[File:Larry Siegel.jpg|alt=|thumb]]
'''Lawrence H. Siegel''' (October 29, 1925 – August 20, 2019) was an American comedy writer and satirist who wrote for [[television]], stage, [[magazine]]s, records, and books. He won three [[Emmy]]s as Head Writer during four seasons of ''[[The Carol Burnett Show]]'' along with one [[Writers Guild of America, East|Writers Guild]] award and a dozen Emmy and Writers Guild nominations for his work in television comedy on shows like ''Burnett'' and ''[[Laugh-In]]''.  He was one of ''Mad'' Magazine's top movie satire writers, and a member of the  "usual gang of idiots" for almost 33 years as well as one of the earliest humor and satire writers for ''[[Playboy]]''. He was also a WWII Veteran, and the only American comedy writer to have ever both won an [[Emmy]] and received a [[Purple Heart]].

==Early life==
Siegel was born in [[New York City]] on October 29, 1925, to a family of [[Jewish]] descent.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2019/08/22/larry-siegel-rip/|title=Larry Siegel – RIP|date=August 22, 2019|website=The Daily Cartoonist}}</ref> His first published work was a poem, ''Oh Dear What Can Sinatra Be?'', which tweaked both the singer and his [[Bobby soxer (music)|bobbysoxer]] fans, and ran in [[Earl Wilson (columnist)|Earl Wilson]]'s syndicated [[newspaper]] column in 1943. The verse read in part:
:A quivering lip
:Blaring lovesick rhyme,
:Her insides flip in double time.

:A slender frame with sagging knees
:Yet garnering fame with uncanny ease
:The stricken dame pants the breeze.

:Eyes of blue, two hands alike
:Stretching forth true
:Lovingly to strike
:Close to you?  No, his mike.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9SxgBgAAQBAJ|title=The Peter Lawford Story: Life with the Kennedys, Monroe, and the Rat Pack|last=Stewart|first=Patricia Lawford|last2=Schwarz|first2=Ted|date=2015-02-03|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.|isbn=9781632200884|language=en}}</ref>

At the age of 18, Siegel was drafted into the Army soon after his contribution to Wilson's column.  In early 1944, after concluding [[infantry]] [[basic training]] in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], he volunteered for additional stateside training with the 10th Mountain Division. The 10th landed in [[Naples, Italy]] for battle in January 1945. Siegel became an Army Rifleman and decorated war hero who received a [[Combat Infantry Badge|Purple Heart, Bronze Star Medal, American Theater Ribbon, EAME Theater Ribbon with two Bronze Stars, Victory Medal, Combat Infantry Badge]], and a Good Conduct ribbon.

After the war ended, Siegel enrolled at the [[University of Illinois]] on the [[G.I. Bill]]. He wrote for the school humor magazine, ''Shaft'', for two years. He became editor of the publication when his predecessor, [[Hugh Hefner]], graduated, a college connection that would influence his future comedy career. While at college, Siegel had stories published in ''[[Fantasy and Science Fiction]]'' and ''[[American Legion Magazine]]''. Siegel graduated and returned to his family in New York in 1950.

In 1955, while on vacation in Nantucket, Siegel fell in love with Helen Hartman, an aide in the office of [[United Nations]] Secretary-General [[Dag Hammarskjöld]] in New York.  He proposed on their first date and they were married until Siegel's death.

==Career==

===New York===
In the late 1950s, Hugh Hefner would enter his life once again when Siegel found work as Eastern Promotion Manager for [[Chicago]]-based ''[[Playboy]]''. Siegel started writing humorous articles and satirical pieces for ''[[Playboy]]'', ''[[Humbug]]'' and ''[[Mad Magazine]]''.  He wrote nearly 300 articles for the latter, which appeared in more than 150 issues.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.madcoversite.com/ugoi-larry_siegel.html|title=Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site - UGOI - Larry Siegel|website=www.madcoversite.com|access-date=2016-04-11}}</ref>  Siegel's output for ''Mad'' included nearly 80 movie and television parodies, including "The Oddfather," "Balmy and Clod" and "Flawrence of Arabia" as well as a dozen "primers," and several imaginary magazine parodies on topics ranging from medicine, to 1960s protesters, to "gun nuts."  Siegel also wrote song parodies, including several of those in the ''Mad'' special issue which ultimately provoked a [[Berlin v. E.C. Publications, Inc.|failed lawsuit]] by [[Irving Berlin]] and other composers which established certain copyright law protections that endure to this day.

In 1965, at the behest of composer [[Mary Rodgers]] and ''Mad'' publisher [[William Gaines]], Siegel collaborated with [[Stan Hart]] on ''[[The Mad Show]]''.

===California===
The world-wide success of ''The Mad Show'' brought the Siegel and Hart families to [[Los Angeles]] in 1968. There, they wrote a [[Flip Wilson]] special for [[NBC]] and a pilot for [[20th Century Fox]] producer [[David Gerber]] called ''Oh Nurse!''

In 1970, Siegel was hired by producer [[George Schlatter]] to write for ''[[Laugh-In]]''. He later broke contract to write for [[Carol Burnett]] with Stan Hart. The team spent three years with Burnett, during which they won two Emmys and were nominated for another. Siegel and Hart parted from the Burnett show in 1974, and Siegel helped launch ''[[That's My Mama]]'' on ABC. He returned for the final season of Carol Burnett's show in 1977 and won a third Emmy.

In the early 1980s, Siegel was hired as part of a team of writers to pen a sequel of sorts to the hit LP record ''The First Family''. Titled ''The First Family Rides Again'' and highlighting mimic [[Rich Little]], the follow-up dealt with the life of [[Ronald Reagan]].

During the 1990s, Siegel spent three years teaching comedy writing at [[UCLA]] before turning to acting and joining the [[Screen Actors Guild]]. He did commercials for companies including [[IBM]] and [[Northwest Airlines]] and also performed in stage musicals in the Los Angeles area.  At the age of 87, Siegel was still  doing improvisational comedy, writing, and performing in sketches for shows at the [[Broad Theater]] in [[Santa Monica, California]]. He died on August 20, 2019, at the age of 93.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsfromme.com/2019/08/21/larry-siegel-r-i-p/|title=News From ME - Mark Evanier's blog|website=www.newsfromme.com}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/siegel_larry.htm Lambiek Comiclopedia article.]
* [http://madcoversite.com/ugoi-larry_siegel.html Complete list of Siegel's MAD articles]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JACh73X0lck&feature=player_embedded Larry Siegel in 2010 at a Los Angeles comedy club]
*{{IMDb name|id=1047699}}
* [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?15947 Entry at isfdb.org]
* {{Discogs artist|Larry Siegel (2)}}
* [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/207188048/larry-siegel Larry Siegel] at [[Find a Grave]]

{{Madcontribs}}
{{EmmyAward ComedyVarietyMusicWriting 1970s}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siegel, Larry}}
[[Category:American comedy writers]]
[[Category:American satirical comics writers]]
[[Category:American male television writers]]
[[Category:American satirists]]
[[Category:American parodists]]
[[Category:American male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:21st-century American comedians]]
[[Category:Mad (magazine) people]]
[[Category:Primetime Emmy Award winners]]
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:2019 deaths]]
[[Category:Male actors from New York City]]
[[Category:Military personnel from New York City]]
[[Category:Writers from New York City]]
[[Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni]]
[[Category:Jewish American comedy writers]]
[[Category:Jewish American comics writers]]
[[Category:Jewish American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Jewish American screenwriters]]
[[Category:Jewish American television writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American screenwriters]]
[[Category:Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners]]