Larry Rhine

Writer
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The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

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About
About this interview

In his nearly four-hour Archive interview, writer Larry Rhine (1910-2000) speaks of his early years as a writer in radio, which culminated in the position of head-writer of Duffy's Tavern (1949-50). He discusses his work as a TV staff writer on Private Secretary, Duffy's Tavern, and The Gale Storm Show. He talks about his many years (1960-67) working on The Red Skelton Show and describes how he simultaneously worked on the sitcom Mister Ed (with collaborator Lou Derman). He recounts his work with other comics such as Bob Hope and Lucille Ball and discusses his freelance work on such series as The Brady Bunch in which he co-wrote the well-known "The Subject Was Noses" episode and The Odd Couple in which he co-wrote the series finale. He discusses his work on All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place in which he collaborated with writer Mel Tolkin. Gary Rutkowski conducted the interview on February 25, 2000.

"I would like to be remembered as a writer."

People Talking About ...
Larry Rhine
Highlights
Larry Rhine on his favorite The Red Skelton Show characters
Larry Rhine on writing for the Bob Hope Specials
Larry Rhine on writing the series finale of The Odd Couple
Larry Rhine on Jean Stapleton as "Edith Bunker" on All in the Family, and on the creation of "Archie Bunker's" bar on the show
Full Interview

Chapter 1
On his early life and influences; on replacing Art Linkletter as a writer/announcer at KGB radio in San Diego; on working as a writer/announcer on radio in New York City on a show for bandleader Ben Bernie, and on Ben Bernie's "feud" with Walter Winchell
On writing gags and B pictures for 20th Century Fox and Universal; on meeting Edward R. Murrow; on his experience with World War II

Chapter 2
On writing for the radio versions of "The Life of Riley" and the radio version of "Duffy's Tavern"; on the first time he saw television
On writing for Private Secretary starring Ann Southern; on writing for The Gale Storm Show aka Oh Susanna

Chapter 3
On The Adventures of Tugboat Annie; on writing for The Gale Storm Show aka Oh Susanna; on how he came to write for All in the Family
On the having writing partners, and on writing for Here's Lucy; on the Hollywood Blacklist; on writing The Tom Ewell Show
On writing for The Red Skelton Show; on the characters of The Red Skelton Show; on Red Skelton missing shows on The Red Skelton Show

Chapter 4
On his favorite The Red Skelton Show characters; on a typical week on Larry Rhine on The Red Skelton Show; on Red Skelton on The Red Skelton Show, and on the writers of the show including Ed Simmons
On writing for Mister Ed; on the producers and guest stars of Mister Ed; on the cast of Mister Ed

Chapter 5
On being one of Bob Hope's writers; on writing for Here's Lucy and The Brady Bunch; on writing the series finale of The Odd Couple
On writing for All in the Family, and on writing with Mel Tolkin; on a typical week writing for All in the Family; on Carroll O'Connor as "Archie Bunker" on All in the Family, and on the episode "Two's a Crowd"

Chapter 6
On Jean Stapleton as "Edith Bunker" on All in the Family, and on the creation of "Archie Bunker's" bar on the show; on the All in the Family actors input into their characters, and on "Archie Bunker's" bigotry; on the character of "Archie Bunker" on All in the Family, played by Carroll O'Connor
On Rob Reiner as "Mike Stivic" on All in the Family, and on various storylines of the show; on Sally Struthers as "Gloria Stivic" on All in the Family; on the All in the Family episode "Joey's Baptism"

Chapter 7
On the All in the Family episodes "Joey's Baptism" and "Archie Finds a Friend", and on his relationship with Carroll O'Connor; on the relationship between Norman Lear and Carroll O'Connor while working on All in the Family; on the All in the Family episode "Edith's Crisis of Faith"
On various classic episodes of All in the Family; on continuing All in the Family as Archie Bunker's Place; on stories he wrote for All in the Family that weren't used, and on the longevity and continued popularity of the show
On writing for the Sanford and Son sequel Sanford and Joe's World; on writing for The Barkleys and Gimmie a Break!

Chapter 8
on advice to aspiring television writers; on his proudest career achievements; on how he's like to be remembered
On b-roll pictures from his career- with musician Ben Bernie; with Ben Bernie in his hotel room; on the set of All in the Family with Carroll O'Connor; with The Red Skleton Show writing staff; with Carroll O'Connor; with Norman Lear; on the set of a pilot; with his family on his 80th birthday
Shows

Adventures of Tugboat Annie, The

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Larry Rhine on The Adventures of Tugboat Annie

All in the Family

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Larry Rhine on how he came to write for All in the Family
Larry Rhine on writing for All in the Family, and on writing with Mel Tolkin
Larry Rhine on a typical week writing for All in the Family
Larry Rhine on Carroll O'Connor as "Archie Bunker" on All in the Family, and on the episode "Two's a Crowd"
Larry Rhine on Jean Stapleton as "Edith Bunker" on All in the Family, and on the creation of "Archie Bunker's" bar on the show
Larry Rhine on the All in the Family actors input into their characters, and on "Archie Bunker's" bigotry
Larry Rhine on balancing the comedy and drama on All in the Family
Larry Rhine on the character of "Archie Bunker" on All in the Family, played by Carroll O'Connor
Larry Rhine on Rob Reiner as "Mike Stivic" on All in the Family, and on various storylines of the show
Larry Rhine on Sally Struthers as "Gloria Stivic" on All in the Family
Larry Rhine on the All in the Family episode "Joey's Baptism"
Larry Rhine on the All in the Family episodes "Joey's Baptism" and "Archie Finds a Friend", and on his relationship with Carroll O'Connor
Larry Rhine on the relationship between Norman Lear and Carroll O'Connor while working on All in the Family
Larry Rhine on the All in the Family episode "Edith's Crisis of Faith"
Larry Rhine on the All in the Family episode "The Brother"
Larry Rhine on Danielle Brisebois as "Stephanie Mills" on All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place
Larry Rhine on stories he wrote for All in the Family that weren't used, and on the longevity and continued popularity of the show

Archie Bunker's Place

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Larry Rhine on Danielle Brisebois as "Stephanie Mills" on All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place
Larry Rhine on continuing the character of "Archie Bunker" on Archie Bunker's Place the death of "Edith Bunker" on Archie Bunker's Place

Barkleys, The

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Larry Rhine on writing the series The Barkleys

Bob Hope Specials

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Larry Rhine on writing for the Bob Hope Specials

Brady Bunch, The

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Larry Rhine on writing episodes of The Brady Bunch

Duffy's Tavern

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Larry Rhine on writing for the radio versio of "The Life of Riley" and the radio version of "Duffy's Tavern"

Gale Storm Show, The aka Oh Susanna

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Larry Rhine on writing for The Gale Storm Show aka Oh Susanna
Larry Rhine on writing for The Gale Storm Show aka Oh Susanna

Gimme A Break!

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Larry Rhine on writing for the series Gimme a Break!

Here's Lucy

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Larry Rhine on having writing partners, and on writing for Here's Lucy
Larry Rhine on writing for Here's Lucy

Joe's World

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Larry Rhine on creating the series Joe's World

Life of Riley, The

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Larry Rhine on writing for the radio versions of "The Life of Riley" and the radio version of "Duffy's Tavern"

Mister Ed

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Larry Rhine on writing for Mister Ed
Larry Rhine on the producers and guest stars of Mister Ed
Larry Rhine on the voice of Mister Ed, Allan "Rocky" Lane
Larry Rhine on Alan Young as Wilbur Post on Mister Ed, and the rest of the cast

Odd Couple, The (1970-75)

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Larry Rhine on writing the series finale of The Odd Couple

Private Secretary

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Larry Rhine on writing for Private Secretary starring Ann Southern

Red Skelton Show, The

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Larry Rhine on writing for The Red Skelton Show
Larry Rhine on the characters of The Red Skelton Show
Larry Rhine on Red Skelton missing shows on The Red Skelton Show
Larry Rhine on his favorite The Red Skelton Show characters
Larry Rhine on a typical week on The Red Skelton Show
Larry Rhine on Red Skelton on The Red Skelton Show, and on the writers of the show
Larry Rhine on Red Skelton Show producer Cecil Barker and on head writer Ed Simmons

Sanford

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Larry Rhine on writing for the Sanford and Son sequel Sanford

Tom Ewell Show, The

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Larry Rhine on writing The Tom Ewell Show
Topics

Advice

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Larry Rhine on advice to aspiring television writers

Historic Events and Social Change

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Larry Rhine on his experience with World War II

Hollywood Blacklist

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Larry Rhine on the Hollywood Blacklist

Industry Crossroads

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Larry Rhine on the Hollywood Blacklist

Television Industry

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Larry Rhine on the Hollywood Blacklist
Larry Rhine on advice to aspiring television writers

War

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Larry Rhine on his experience with World War II

World War II

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Larry Rhine on his experience with World War II
Professions

Writers

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Larry Rhine on having writing partners, and on writing for Here's Lucy
Larry Rhine on advice to aspiring television writers
Genres

Comedy Series

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Larry Rhine on writing for Private Secretary starring Ann Southern
Larry Rhine on writing for The Gale Storm Show aka Oh Susanna
Larry Rhine on writing for The Gale Storm Show aka Oh Susanna
Larry Rhine on how he came to write for All in the Family
Larry Rhine on the Hollywood Blacklist having writing partners, and on writing for Here's Lucy
Larry Rhine on writing for The Red Skelton Show
Larry Rhine on writing for the Bob Hope Specials
Larry Rhine on writing for Here's Lucy
Larry Rhine on writing episodes of The Brady Bunch
Larry Rhine on writing The Odd Couple
Larry Rhine on writing All in the Family
Larry Rhine on writing for All in the Family
Larry Rhine on writing for All in the Family
People

Danielle Brisebois

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Larry Rhine on Danielle Brisebois as "Stephanie Mills" on All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place

Bob Hope

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Larry Rhine on being one of Bob Hope's writers

Norman Lear

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Larry Rhine on the relationship between Norman Lear and Carroll O'Connor while working on All in the Family

Art Linkletter

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Larry Rhine on replacing Art Linkletter as a writer/announcer at KGB radio in San Diego

Edward R. Murrow

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Larry Rhine on meeting Edward R. Murrow

Carroll O'Connor

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Larry Rhine on Carroll O'Connor as "Archie Bunker" on All in the Family
Larry Rhine on the character of "Archie Bunker" on All in the Family, played by Carroll O'Connor
Larry Rhine on the relationship between Norman Lear and Carroll O'Connor while working on All in the Family

Rob Reiner

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Larry Rhine on Rob Reiner as "Mike Stivic" on All in the Family, and on various storylines of the show

Ed Simmons

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Larry Rhine on Red Skelton Show producer Cecil Barker and on head writer Ed Simmons

Red Skelton

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Larry Rhine on writing for The Red Skelton Show
Larry Rhine on the characters of The Red Skelton Show
Larry Rhine on Red Skelton missing shows on The Red Skelton Show
Larry Rhine on Red Skelton on The Red Skelton Show, and on the writers of the show

Ann Sothern

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Larry Rhine on writing for Private Secretary starring Ann Southern

Jean Stapleton

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Larry Rhine on Jean Stapleton as "Edith Bunker" on All in the Family, and on the creation of "Archie Bunker's" bar on the show

Gale Storm

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Larry Rhine on writing for The Gale Storm Show aka Oh Susanna

Sally Struthers

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Larry Rhine on Sally Struthers as "Gloria Stivic" on All in the Family

Mel Tolkin

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Larry Rhine on writing for All in the Family, and on writing with Mel Tolkin

Walter Winchell

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Larry Rhine on working as a writer/announcer on radio in New York City on a show for bandleader Ben Bernie, and on Ben Bernie's "feud" with Walter Winchell

Alan Young

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Larry Rhine on Alan Young as Wilbur Post on Mister Ed, and the rest of the cast

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