Babaloo Mandel

The Dialogue: An Interview with Screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel

Few screenwriters can concentrate for more than a few hours, let alone sustain a career in Hollywood for over 30 years. But the blockbuster comedy writing team of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel has been making television and film audiences laugh for decades. In the early '70s, Ganz was writing for The Odd Couple while Mandel was receiving his first paychecks for work on M*A*S*H and Busting Loose. In total, Ganz and Mandel have written an astonishing 18 produced feature screenplays, including City Slickers, A League of Their Own, Mr. Saturday Night, Forget Paris, Where the Heart Is, Robots, and Fever Pitch, while also maintaining a "secret career" of un-credited rewrites on studio comedies.

Making a 'Splash'

Retrospective documentary on the making of the hit comedy Splash (1984).

Mr. Saturday Night

Buddy Young was the comic's comic, beloved by everyone. Now, playing to miniscule crowds in nursing homes, it seems like everybody but Buddy realizes that he should retire. As Buddy looks for work in show business, he realizes that the rest of the world has forgotten the golden days of Buddy Young, and that there just may not be room in the business for an old comic like himself.

Splash

A successful businessman falls in love with the girl of his dreams. There's one big complication though; he's fallen hook, line and sinker for a mermaid.