WOODY KLING

'Woody Kling', born 'Heywood Fisher Kling', (April 14, 1925 – April 10, 1988) was an American television writer, producer, playwright, and composer.

Contents

1920s

1940s

“We Are the Men of Texaco”

1950s to 1960s

1970s

Playwright

Cartoons

Cancer

Legacy

External links

1920s

Born in New York City, Kling was the son of Mayme and Ken Kling. Ken was a cartoonist for the New York Daily Mirror, predicting the horse races in his strip ''Joe and Asbestos''. Woody Kling was given the middle name Fisher in tribute to Ken Kling's friend Bud Fisher, who created the first successful daily comic strip in the United States.

1940s

In the 1940s, Ken and Mayme Kling hosted celebrity parties at their home at the El Dorado building in New York City. At one of those parties, Woody Kling, then only in his 20s, met the vaudeville star Milton 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. Called ''The Texaco Star Theatre starring Milton Berle'', the show was created by Berle, produced live before a New York audience on kinescopes owned by Berle, but with the scripts and music owned by Kling.
Texaco was television’s first hit show. On Tuesday nights, many America businesses would close down so that people could go home and watch the programme.

“We Are the Men of Texaco”

The show’s theme song was the broadcasting creation of the modern jingle. The theme song, called ''We Are the Men of Texaco'', and written by Kling and Buddy Arnold, was the first time that a television program used music to promote a commercial advertiser’s product.
In the decades that followed, ''We are the Men of Texaco'' and the way it was staged – sung by 4 gas station attendants (Kling’s idea) – would be licensed by Kling’s heirs to filmmakers wishing to depict the impact of television’s advent on the American family (like Barry Levinson’s 1990s film “Avalon”). The song also served as Milton Berle’s theme for personal appearances. In 1979, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi and Garret Morris recreated Kling’s staging and sung ''We Are the Men of Texaco'' live on ''Saturday Night Live'' in honor of Berle, its host that week. And in obituaries of Berle, the theme song’s lyrics would be quoted.

1950s to 1960s

Thereafter, Kling in New York City was head writer on a series of television shows like the “Jack Parr” Show, the “Will Rogers Jr. Show”, and the “Red Buttons Show”. He additionally created and wrote a several dozen of cartoons programs at Hal Seeger Studios.
In 1968, Kling was producer of the program “Wedding Party”. Thereafter, he became head writer on the “Jackie Gleason Show” in Palm Beach, Florida. The hit show for Gleason became the first hit television shows to be broadcasted from Florida. Finally, in late 1969 now married Kling moved to Hollywood, California where Kling wrote for Joseph Barbera the filmed television show “Love American Style”.

1970s

Kling thereafter was quickly was hired for the “Carol Burnett Show” where he became head writer.
While on Burnett, producer Norman Lear offered Woody Kling to leave the show and become head writer on a new emerging show called “All in the Family”. Ironically, Lear had offered the starring roll in the show to Kling's previous star Gleason, and then to Mickey Rooney, who 12 months later would tour the country with a play written by Kling.
Under Kling, “All in the Family” became a huge hit for CBS and Lear. Some of the show’s most memorable episodes Kling had drawn from his personal life. They include the February 23, 1976 episode "Joey’s Baptism" in which Archie Bunker’s baptizing his Jewish born son, which Kling (born Jewish) based upon the baptism of his son Anthony at the time.
In less than half a decade, “Burnett” and “All in the Family” brought Kling seven Emmy Nominations, and two Emmy Awards.
Kling helped create the introduction of the spinoff the “Jeffersons“, and wrote or head wrote other Lear shows “Maude“, “Good Times“, and “Sanford Arms“ among others while turning down other Lear shows like “One Day at a Time“.

Playwright

In the early 1970s, Kling wrote the play “Three Goats and a Blanket” (“Stop Thief Stop” or “Alimony”). Over the next decade, the show touring with Mickey Rooney would become the highest grossing play to never reach Broadway.

Cartoons

Between television film shows, Kling would reunite and write for Joe Barbera a series of cartoon series including “Casper the Friendly Gost” and the “Globetrotters”. 1983, for ABC, he created and wrote the series “The Littles” and thereafter wrote the syndicated special “Cabbage Patch Kids First Christmas”.
In the 1980s, Kling wrote and created the program “Rainbow Brite” that he licensed, solely for television syndication broadcast only . Shortly thereafter, Kling became ill with inoperable brain cancer and lung cancer eventually dieing in Los Angeles on April 10, 1988. In the years that followed, Kling’s heirs would sue Hallmark Cards, for copyright infringement of Kling’s property allegeding 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 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California. In the first appeal (Kling v. Hallmark), Kling’s heir won. The court found against Hallmark, ruling Kling’s case was not barred by laches, 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 the statute of limitations, awarding Klings’ heirs no money.

Cancer

Kling attributed his cancer to the very item that made him successful, television writing. In shows like the Carol Burnett Show, Kling would work over 12 hour days in smoke filled rooms with most writers of the time smokers.

Legacy

Following Kling’s death, Kling’s legacy flourishes. In 1991, Kling’s episodes of the "Carol Burnett Show" were brought back for a CBS primetime broadcast, becoming one of the highest rate shows of the 1991 season. Six years later in 1997 son Anthony Kling became the first to deliver original television programming on the internet with his company TelevisionInternet.com, with virtually every article comparing’s Anthony innovation of television over the internet to Kling’s innovation with television in the 1940s. “Kling's son, Anthony Kling, is pioneering programming on the Internet ... In the 1940s, Woody Kling teamed with Milton Berle to create one of the first successful television series. “ (Daily News, 2000).

External links

Ken Kling, “Joe and Asbestos”

http://www.toonopedia.com/asbestos.htm

http://www.barnaclepress.com/archives/2006/02/new_strip_joe_a.html

Image: http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/JoeAsbestos/joeasbestos250901.jpg


”We Are the Men of Texaco”

Owners: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040041/soundtrack

Saturday Night Live Performance: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/78/78qtexaco.phtml

Ranked Eleventh Greatest Commercial of All Time: http://www.drewbabb.com/100-greatest-commercials/commercials-page-two.htm


Jingle

http://www.tvacres.com/adslogans_t.htm

http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/sheetMusicBooks/jingleFolioBooks.html


New York Times Obituary

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE4D8103CF937A25757C0A96E948260


1971-1972 Emmy Awards

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0151543.html


1972-1973 Emmy Awards

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0151546.html


“Three Goats and a Blanket”, “Alimony”, “Stop Thief Stop”

http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsK/KlingWoody.htm


Kling v. Hallmark Cards

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=9th&navby=case&no=9955222

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/calendar.nsf/1753C4331C34DF9788256CFC00013DFA/%24file/pa04_03.PDF%3Fopenelement+%22kling+v.+hallmark+cards%22+01-55902&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us


Some of Kling's Credits

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0459708/


Woody Kling's Legacy

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117779758.html?categoryid=17&cs=1

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:PPWfFqP-ag8J:www.thefreelibrary.com/BIZ%2BBYTES%2B:%2BSITE%2BOF%2BTHE%2BWEEK-a083629230+%22anthony+kling%22+%2B+woody&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=13&gl=us