Sol Saks

In his two-and-a-half-hour interview, Sol Saks (1910-2011) talks about his early years breaking into radio writing in Chicago and Los Angeles. He gives his impressions of such radio personalities as Dinah Shore, Ozzie Nelson, Fanny Brice, and Hattie McDaniel. On Duffy's Tavern he recalls the long workdays and his run-ins with head writer Abe Burrows and recites a memorable joke he wrote for the show. He describes breaking into TV with My Favorite Husband and how the series cast actors, as opposed to comics, in the lead roles. He humorously recounts writing for seven weeks for the Joan Davis series I Married Joan, for the expressed purpose of paying for his swimming pool. He discusses in detail his work on the sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve, which starred Ida Lupino. Among the stories he tells are how he and Lupino would come up with show premises over martinis and when producer Fred De Cordova was hired, how he tried to throw out scripts Saks had written. He notes how he came to write the Bewitched pilot and why he felt the show was popular. He outlines his short tenure as a CBS executive and reminiscences about socializing with Cary Grant during the shooting of the feature film Walk, Don't Run. Throughout the interview, Saks shares his thoughts on comedy writing, his disregard of writer's block and his belief in honesty in one's writing and life in general. Bill Freiberger conducted the interview on May 21, 2009 in North Hollywood, CA.