About
"I had a personal adage that - sure, God made man before women, but then you always do a first draft before you make a final masterpiece. So I was known as a proponent of women. But to his credit Rocky was also. He pushed me to get forward and not just be known as 'Rocky's wife' but to be known as Irma Kalish."
In the 20-minute solo portion of her interview, Irma Kalish (1924-2021) talks about growing up in New York and being inspired to become a writer after her college dean told her she never would. She also recalls working for pulp magazine publisher Popular Publications and discusses her relationship with her husband and writing partner, Rocky Kalish.
In the two-hour joint portion of their interview, Rocky Kalish (1921-2016) and Irma Kalish discuss their long career as television writers. They talk about their first gigs writing for Martin & Lewis on the radio, and for The Colgate Comedy Hour in the early days of live television. They chronicle their writing careers on shows such as Gilligan's Island (for which they co-wrote the pilot with Elroy Schwartz and conceived the characters), I Dream of Jeannie, My Three Sons, F Troop, Family Affair, The Flying Nun, The Reconversion of Sister Shapiro, Carter Country, Too Close for Comfort, and The Facts of Life. They speak in detail about several episodes of All in the Family they wrote, including an emotional story about Edith's character in "Edith's Christmas Story," and the controversial "Gloria the Victim" episode. They describe writing "Maude's Dilemma" on Maude, and working with Norman Lear. They discuss working with a largely Black cast on Good Times and the challenges of the show, and talk about various stars with whom they've worked, including Shelley Berman, Marilyn Monroe, and Fred MacMurray. They talk about creating the failed series Mason, and Irma speaks of writing books and her involvement with the Writers Guild and Motion Picture and Television Fund. Amy Harrington conducted the interview on December 21, 2012 in Los Angeles, CA.
Highlights
Irma Kalish on wanting to be a writer when she grew up
Irma Kalish on the process of writing with her husband Rocky and how they divvied up responsibilities
Irma Kalish on her status as a woman writer in the early days of television and the pressure to be "twice as good as a man" and how Rocky supported her career
Irma Kalish on how writing the All in the Family episode dealing with cancer helped her friend, and impacted her feeling about her profession "you never know how many people you've touched"
Irma Kalish on her advice to aspiring writers
Full Interview
Chapter 1
On her early childhood in New York City, and on her parents
Irma Kalish on wanting to be a writer when she grew up; on the first time she recalls seeing television; on her education in high school and Syracuse University
On being inspired after the dean at he school told her she would never be a writer; on what she did after college
On going to work for a pulp magazine publisher (Popular Publications) as a secretary and then as a writer for a penny a word; on her pen name and on her relationship with Austin "Rocky" Kalish; on writing books
Chapter 2
Start of joint interview with Rocky and Irma Kalish; on getting married; on writing pulp magazines and their writing partnership; on writing movie reviews
On their writing process and how they divvied up responsibilities; on writing at the beach
On writing lyrics to music; on beginning to write for early television shows together;
On working with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis on radio; on writing sketch humor;
On writing for the Colgate Comedy Hour
On the dearth of women in writer's rooms in any television show when they first began working in TV and how they helped change the dynamic with Family Affair; on
On the Hollywood Blacklist and Irma's pioneering efforts as a woman in the business
On working on Gilligan's Island with Elroy Schwartz; on not getting credit for their work on the series; on the difficulties with Sherwood Schwartz his brother and producer on the series; on coming up with the names of all the characters
On working on I Dream of Jeannie; the writers room
Chapter 3
On the I Dream of Jeannie... 15 Years Later special; on The Flying Nun and how the premise of the character's being Jewish being rejected by network Standards & Practices
On working on The Brian Keith Show (aka Little People); F-Troop and why it was cancelled, on My Three Sons and working with star Fred MacMurray
On All in the Family; on writing the script about Edith's cancer scare and Gloria's attack; on doing shows with great social import
On working between comedy and drama; on writing a controversial script for Maude (Maude's Dilemma); on the discrepancy over the writer's credits on that episode
On working with Shelley Berman; on writing for Good Times with a mostly black-cast and alleviating tension on-set
On writing with relevancy; on creating and writing the pilot Mason with Mason Reese, the first show they created; on Carter Country and Too Close for Comfort, Oh, Madeline, The Facts of Life, 227 and more
On advice to writers, on their legacy in television
Shows
227
Irma and Rocky Kalish on working on 227 and some battles they had with Marla Gibbs
All in the Family
Rocky and Irma Kalish on writing the All in the Family episode where Edith gets cancer
Irma and Rocky Kalish on an All in the Family episode they wrote when Gloria is molested
Brian Keith Show, The aka The Little People
Irma and Rocky Kalish on The Brian Keith Show; on how the director never spoke with Irma
Carter Country
Irma and Rocky Kalish on writing for Carter Country with Victor French
Colgate Comedy Hour, The
Rocky Kalish on writing for The Colgate Comedy Hour; the format of the show; on meeting Marilyn Monroe
Rocky and Irma Kalish on The Colgate Comedy Hour' s writers room
F Troop
Irma and Rocky Kalish on writing for F-Troop; on why it was cancelled
Facts of Life, The
Irma and Rocky Kalish on The Facts of Life and an episode with Lisa Welch she refused to do
Family Affair
Irma Kalish on how they changed the writer's room dynamic on Family Affair by including women in the writer's room
Irma Kalish on the premise of Family Affair; on working on the show as the only staff writers
Flying Nun, The
Rocky and Irma Kalish on The Flying Nun which they wrote for; on the character being a jewish girl; but the network said they couldn't use the word Jewish
Gilligan's Island
Rocky Kalish on writing the pilot for Gilligan's Island with writer Elroy Schwartz; on not getting credit for the show
Rocky Kalish on coming up with the premise of Gilligan's Island and the characters, and the name of the S.S.Minow
Rocky Kalish on the un-aired pilot he wrote for Gilligan's Island and the changes between that and the series; on coming up with the names of the characters
Rocky Kalish on the success of Gilligan's Island "there's no accounting for what the success of a show is going to be"; on the tone of the show
Good Times
Irma and Rocky Kalish on writing on Good Times with John Amos
Irma and Rocky Kalish on being white writers on an mostly black show, Good Times; on how they adapted to their cast
I Dream of Jeannie
On working on I Dream of Jeannie; the writer's room
I Dream of Jeannie… 15 Years Later
Rocky and Irma Kalish on working on the I Dream of Jeannie... 15 Years Later special;
Mason
Irma and Rocky Kalish on writing the pilot for Mason with Mason Reese
Maude
Rocky and Irma Kalish on pitching and writing for a controversial episode of Maude with Susan Harris (Maude's Dilemma)
Irma and Rocky Kalish on the reaction to the abortion episode (Maude's Dilemma) on Maude;
My Three Sons
Rocky and Irma Kalish on writing for My Three Sons; on Fred MacMurray
Oh Madeline
Irma Kalish on writing for Oh, Madeline with Madeline Kahn
Too Close for Comfort
Irma and Rocky Kalish on writing for Too Close for Comfort; getting a People's Choice Award
Topics
Censorship / Standards & Practices
Irma and Rocky Kalish on the origin of The Flying Nun as a jewish girl; but the network said they couldn't use the word Jewish
Hollywood Blacklist
Rocky and Irma Kalish on the impact of the Hollywood Blacklist
Underrepresented Voices
Irma and Rocky Kalish on being white writers on an all-black show, Good Times; on how they adapted to their cast
We Cried
Irma Kalish on how writing the All in the Family episode dealing with cancer helped her friend, and impacted her feeling about her profession "you never know how many people you've touched"
Women
Irma Kalish on the dearth of women in writer's rooms in any television show when they first began working in TV and how they helped change the dynamic
Irma Kalish on her status as a woman writer in the early days of television and the pressure to be "twice as good as a man" and how Rocky supported her career
Irma Kalish on how writing the All in the Family episode dealing with cancer helped her friend, and impacted her feeling about her profession
Professions
Writers
Irma Kalish on writing for Popular Publications, a pulp magazine, and getting paid a penny a word in her early days as a writer
Irma Kalish on the difference between writing books versus writing for television
Irma Kalish on the process of writing with her husband Rocky and how they divvied up responsibilities
Rocky Kalish on writing for Martin & Lewis in their early radio career, as a boost to his career with wife Irma
Irma Kalish on writing sketch humor
Irma Kalish on how writing the All in the Family episode dealing with cancer helped her friend, and impacted her feeling about her profession "you never know how many people you've touched"
Irma and Rocky Kalish on how they work together and how they determine what is funny
Rocky and Irma Kalish on tackling scripts with social import in the 1970s
Irma Kalish on her advice to aspiring writers
People
Shelley Berman
Rocky and Irma Kalish on working with Shelley Berman
Jackie Gleason
Rocky and Irma Kalish on getting hired by Jackie Gleason then let go after Jackie found out a woman was to be in the writer's room
Jerry Lewis
Rocky Kalish on writing for Martin & Lewis on the radio
Rocky Kalish on writing for Martin & Lewis in their early radio career, as a boost to his career with wife Irma
Fred MacMurray
Rocky and Irma Kalish on Fred MacMurray on My Three Sons; on his frugality
Dean Martin
Rocky Kalish on writing for Martin & Lewis on the radio
Rocky Kalish on writing for Martin & Lewis in their early radio career, as a boost to his career with wife Irma
Dick Martin
Rocky Kalish on writing a song for Dan and Dick Martin that never was used
Marilyn Monroe
Rocky Kalish on meeting Marilyn Monroe "when she walked, she left little puddles of sex"