King of the Half Hour: Nat Hiken and the Golden Age of TV Comedy

by David Everitt

Overview

Regarded by his contemporaries as one of television's premier comedy creators, Nat Hiken was the driving creative force behind the classic 1950s and 1960s series Sgt. Bilko and the hilarious Car 54, Where Are You? King of the Half Hour, the first biography of Hiken, draws extensively on exclusive first-hand interviews with some of the well-known TV personalities who worked with him, such as Carol Burnett, Fred Gwynne, Alan King, Al Lewis, and Herbert Ross. The book focuses on Hiken's immense talent and remarkable career, from his early days in radio as Fred Allen's head writer to his multiple Emmy-winning years as writer-producer-director on television. In addition to re-establishing Hiken's place in broadcast history, biographer, David Everitt places him in the larger story of early New York broadcasting. Hiken's career paralleled the rise and fall of television's Golden Age. He embodied the era's best qualities-craftsmanship, a commitment to excellence and a distinctive, uproariously funny and quirky sense of humor. At the same time, his uncompromising independence prevented him from surviving the changes in the industry that brought the Golden Age to an end in the 1960s. His experiences bring a fresh and until now unknown perspective to the medium's most extraordinary period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815606765
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	03/01/2001
Series:	Television and Popular Culture
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

David Everitt is a free-lance writer who lives in Huntington, New York. He is the author of Film Tricks: Special Effects in the Movies and For Reel. He has also contributed to such publications as Entertainment Weekly, Television Quarterly, and the New York Times.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	Introduction	xi
1.	Milwaukee Boy	1
2.	The Grouchmaster	11
3.	Fred Allen Writes His Own Material	22
4.	Not Quite Mr. Television	44
5.	Book Shows	61
6.	Clown Queen	78
7.	You'll Never Get Rich	98
8.	Burnout	124
9.	Between Engagements	136
10.	The Last Stand	150
11.	Content Is Out	177
12.	Hollywood Bound	191
	Appendixes
A.	The Nat Hiken Shows	209
B.	Emmy Awards Won by Nat Hiken	213
	Notes	215
	Bibliography	233
	Index	239

Editorial Reviews

Any student of television will want to read this book. Taking a journalistic approach (using interviews and popular works on the subject), Everitt spells out the life of the humorist whom TV producer James Burrows called a 'founding father of situtation comedy.'

Choice

Everitt has written a carefully researched biography of one of the smartest and funniest writer-producers who ever worked in televsion, Nat Hiken. . . . Everitt not only chronicles Hiken's multi-Emmy-winning career . . . but convincingly frames Hiken's ups and downs in the larger context of the changing face of the medium in which he toiled.

Television Quarterly

A television pioneer is revived in David Everitt's King of the Half Hour: Nat Hiken and the Golden Age of TV Comedy. Formerly Fred Allen's radio writer, Hiken moved to TV in 1950 as a head writer for NBC's Four Star Revue and went on to create Sergeant Bilko and Car 54, Where Are You? Working with the likes of Mel Brooks and Woody Allen throughout the '50s and early '60s, Hiken won eight Emmy Awards and wrote material for Milton Berle, Bette Davis, Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball. Everitt (For Reel) portrays Hiken in his New York and, later, Hollywood contexts, sketching the inception and early childhood of television. ( Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Everitt (Film Tricks: Special Effects in the Movies and for Reel) delves into the early years of TV comedy, here writing a sensitive biography of writer-producer Nat Hiken, who died of a heart attack in 1968 as he was in the process of editing The Love of God. Hiken was the comedic genius behind television's You'll Never Get Rich with Phil Silvers and Car 54, Where Are You? He had a knack for creating hilarious situations and zany characters that had depth and feeling. He worked with the top stars of the day, even managing to turn boxer Rocky Graziano into a comedy star on The Martha Raye Show. Everitt has included anecdotes about stars Hiken wrote for and interviews with people who worked for this innovative Hollywood figure. Photos would have been a nice complement to the text. Still, this well-written biogaphy the first on Hiken nicely blends his professional career with a look at what television was like in the early years. Recommended for all libraries. Rosalind Dayen, Broward Cty. South Regional Lib., FL Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Everitt (a free-lance writer, no university affiliation) situates television pioneer Nat Hiken in broadcast history and in the larger story of TV's early years. He discusses Hiken's creative role in classics like and This biography draws extensively from interviews with the television personalities who worked with Hiken, including Carol Burnett, Fred Gwynne, Alan King, Al Lewis, and Herbert Ross. Appendixes list the shows Hiken worked on and the awards he won. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews