Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel. Half of one of the most successful comedy screenwriting teams in Hollywood, Ganz is the writing partner of Babaloo Mandel, both of whom frequently have collaborated with producer-director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer. As a team their feature credits include "Night Shift" (1982), "Splash" (1984), "Gung Ho" (1986), "Parenthood" (1989) and "A League of Their Own" (1992). With Billy Crystal, Ganz and Mandel have collaborated on "City Slickers" (1991) and its inevitable sequel "City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold" (1994), "Mr. Saturday Night" (1992) and "Forget Paris" (1995).
Ganz had a significant career in TV before his partnership with Mandel. A veteran sitcom writer and producer, he has created several series and written a number of pilots. Ganz's TV career began with a staff writer position on the classic comedy series "The Odd Couple" (ABC) starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. He eventually became the head writer on that successful series which initiated his relationship with Gary Marshall. Ganz also worked for many years as a supervising producer and writer on "Happy Days" (ABC) where he began his association with Ron Howard. He co-created the first spinoff of that series, "Laverne and Shirley"(ABC), and executive produced "Joanie Loves Chachi" (ABC, 1982-83), another "Happy Days" offshoot. Ganz was involved with several short-lived sitcoms and busted pilots that showcased well-known performers: "The Ted Knight Show" (CBS, 1978), "The Rita Moreno Show" (a 1978 pilot) and "Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers" (CBS, 1974-75). Writer-producer and college classmate Mark Rothman collaborated with Ganz on a number of TV series. With Babaloo Mandel, Ganz transferred several of their films to TV with limited success: "Gung Ho" (ABC, 1986-87), "Parenthood" (NBC, 1990) and "A League of Their Own" (CBS, 1993).
Mandel and Ganz met in a Hollywood comedy club while the former was working as a joke writer and the latter was working as a staff writer on "The Odd Couple". Both transplanted writers from New York who idolized Billy Wilder, they quickly became good friends. The day after his wedding, Mandel finally accepted Ganz's offer to team up to write TV sitcoms, with their first collaboration being the hit series "Laverne and Shirley". The relationships that they developed in TV would serve them well in features; their TV colleagues included such future film heavyweights as Ron Howard, Gary Marshall, and Penny Marshall (who directed their most recent hit, "A League of Their Own" 1992). Though some critics characterize Ganz/Mandel projects as sitcoms writ large, the pair offers strengths that are rare in modern comedy writing: strong story structure and rich characterizations enhanced by Mandel's flair for killer punch lines.
|
.gif)
