Cy Howard(1915-1993)

His first job was as a salesman in Chicago, earning $70 a week. He began acting on stage in New York, then wrote gags for Danny Thomas and Milton Berle, acquiring a well-earned reputation for wit. He enjoyed his first major success as writer and producer for the radio comedy show 'My Friend Irma', which he based on recollections of people he had met in Manhattan. This later spawned several feature films and a television series. In the late 1950's, he worked at Desilu for five years as producer and script supervisor.

A department-store magnate who wanted to try his hand at producing a Broadway show sank a lot of his money into a musical that previewed in Philadelphia prior to opening on Broadway. The show was turning out to be a huge flop and was losing large sums of money. In an effort to revamp it, the producer hired Howard to rewrite it, and asked him to come to Philadelphia to see it and then give his opinion. After the end of the last act, the producer went to Howard and asked him what he should do in order to stop losing so much money. Howard said, "Close the show and keep the store open nights."