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Dig A Hole: Sheldon Keller, co-author of original MAMA MIA!

September 2nd, 2008 by Scott Marks

Comedy writers for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows:” (from left, front row) Gary Belkin, Sheldon Keller, Michael Stewart and Mel Brooks; (from left, back) Neil Simon , Mel Tolkin, and Larry Gelbart.

Sheldon Keller collaborated with some of the finest comedy writers 50s television had to offer. On Caesar’s Hour, a spinoff of the wildly successful Your Show of Shows, Keller worked alongside Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and of course Sid Caesar. In later years Keller was called on to write one-shot variety shows for such diverse talents as Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren, Danny Kaye, Marty Feldman, Bing Crosby, Englebert Humperdink and Paul Lynde. He won an Emmy for a show he wrote for Carol Channing.

Keller, 85, Keller died Monday of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at his home in Valencia, a northwest suburb of Los Angeles. The AP quotes his son Casey Keller as saying, “He was on one of the greatest shows on television. It created a huge reputation for him that lasted for many years.”

Composer, songwriter and author, Keller was the son of Polish immigrants. Educated at the University of Illinois and the University of Maryland, Keller moved from Chicago to New York in the 1950s to pursue a career as a comedy writer. Casey added that his father was the inspiration for the character Milton in the Broadway play Laughter on the 23rd Floor, based on Neil Simon’s years writing for Sid Caesar.

Most closely associated with television, Keller collaborated on only three feature screenplays: The blaxploitation classic Cleopatra Jones, Movie, Movie, Stanley Donen’s affectionate look back at Warners programmers from the 30s, and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell, a so-bad-it’s-good comedy that playwright Catherine Johnson shamelessly ripped off and called Mama Mia!

In Mrs. Campbell, three American servicemen (Telly Savalas, Phil Silvers and Peter Lawford) reunite in Italy 20 years after the war. The trio have all been making child-support payments to Gina Lolobrigida who has them convinced that they are the father of her daughter Janet Margolin.

Shift the locale from Italy to Greece, substitute Phyllida Lloyd for Bob Hope gag writer cum auturd Melvin Frank, and replace Riz Ortolani’s Mickey Mouse score with some equally ear-bursting ABBA fluff and a hit is born. Needless to say, the current trio of studs are no match for the golden triumvirate represented by Telly, Phil and Peter. At least Telly could sing.

Hopefully, Mr. Keller’s Alzheimer’s was so far advanced that he wasn’t aware of what had been done to his story.

Trailer for “Buona Sera Mrs.Campbell” here.

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Filed Under Obituaries