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Playwright and successful TV writer and producer, Jerry Mayer, inspired by real life

At age 83, Jerry Mayer — a highly successful television writer and producer for such hit shows as “M*A*S*H,” “All in the Family,” “The Bob Newhart Show” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” — is still going strong.
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October 29, 2014

At age 83, Jerry Mayer — a highly successful television writer and producer for such hit shows as “M*A*S*H,” “All in the Family,” “The Bob Newhart Show” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” — is still going strong. Since 1986, he has been writing plays, most of them comedies, which have been staged here in Los Angeles, off-Broadway, and in theaters around the country and abroad. 

His romantic comedy “2 Across” is currently being given a 10th-anniversary revival at the Santa Monica Playhouse. The action begins as Josh (Kip Gilman), an unemployed, would-be actor, and Janet (Wendy Michaels), a psychologist, are riding the Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco around 4 in the morning, each doing the daily crossword puzzle. 

Josh is Jewish, follows his impulses and never finishes the crosswords. Janet, known as “Granite Janet,” is Catholic and a rigid perfectionist who always finishes the puzzles. She has just said goodbye to her 18-year-old son and is visibly upset because he quit school to join the Marines. She and Josh begin opening up to each other, leaving the audience with the expectation that a promising relationship may develop.

“You know, it’s always nice when you have opposites meeting in a romantic comedy,” Mayer said. “As I wrote the play, I drew from stuff in my life.” 

Mayer’s career as a comedy writer was launched in 1966, when he met TV comedian Jerry Lester, known for having hosted the first late-night comedy and variety program, “Broadway Open House,” in the early 1950s. Mayer was working at his father’s construction business in St. Louis and had a side investment in Budget Rent-A-Car. One day the manager of the rental car business, knowing Mayer wanted to be a writer, told him Lester was in the city and needed a ride downtown. Mayer agreed to be the driver and, on the way, let it be known that he was interested in writing comedy. As it happened, Lester needed material for an appearance at a local going-away party for sportscaster Joe Garagiola and asked Mayer if he’d like to write a comedy routine.

“So I went home,” Mayer said, “and wrote him a bunch of jokes about St. Louis, the Italian section and stuff like that, and he did them at the Chase [Hotel]. [My wife] Emily and I were there, and they were getting laughs. 

“And then he said, ‘You know, I know the producer of “McHale’s Navy.” If you want to write a spec script, I’ll get it to him.’ So I did, and they bought the story idea and had one of the regular writers punch it up.” 

Mayer continued: “That was the beginning. We moved out — I think I was 36 at the time — with three kids, to L.A., and I wrote a spec script for ‘Bewitched,’ and they bought it. It built from there.”

He took the initial step toward a career as a playwright in the mid-1980s, while working as executive producer of the hit TV series “The Facts of Life.” 

“A friend of mine, who’s an actress, said that Oliver Hailey, a well-known playwright, ran a playwright’s group. ‘Would you like to get in?’ And I said, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll try that.’ 

“I went over and started writing my first play, and I would get actors to do it in front of people to try it out, and, God, it was the best thing I ever did.

“As a matter of fact, after six years, I actually got edged out as exec producer of ‘The Facts of Life,’ because they were paying me a lot of money, and they ended up replacing me with someone they were paying a lot less. So I started writing plays, and I’m working on my ninth and 10th, and I have this wonderful life. I enjoy writing, and I don’t have to change things because of the network, and so on.”

Mayer’s plays usually have some Jewish references, sometimes very subtle ones. “I work it in often,” he said, “and I try not to beat it to death.” He attended Hebrew school, used to go to temple in St. Louis, and said he is “very proud to be a Jew who doesn’t believe in God.”

“I just believe in do unto others, you know, that kind of thing. I believe in a lot of the Ten Commandments. I guess for a while I was hiding behind being an agnostic — maybe there’s a God. I don’t buy it, and I’m at peace with it. I’m living a fun life, and when I go, I go.”

In the meantime, Mayer writes comedic plays that he imbues with deeper meaning under the surface. 

“What I like is the laughs, but I also like the heart,” he said. “I guess, in every one of my plays, at the end I want them to come out learning a lesson and saying, ‘It was worthwhile.’ ”

For information about the show, visit http://www.santamonicaplayhouse.com/2-across.html

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