Wilkie C. Mahoney

Biography

Wilkie Mahoney was born on his family's homestead in San MIguel, California, a farming and ranching community in San Luis Obispo County that enveloped an old Spanish mission. Wilkie was nine years old in 1906 when his father was appointed county recorder and moved the family 50 miles south to relative civilization in the city of San Luis Obispo. Two years later, the construction of a theater made the city of fewer than 20,000 an attractive "sleeper jump" for traveling stage shows due to its location halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and the chance to see the most popular performers of the day sparked in Wilkie an interest in dramatics. Wilkie demonstrated a knack for comedic dialog early on . As a ninth-grader at San Luis Obispo High School, Wilkie was asked by a teacher, "What has been the major contribution of the automobile age?" Classmates would forever remember Wilkie for his response: "It has practically stopped horse stealing!" Wilkie attended Santa Clara University, then struggled to find acting jobs in Hollywood. His highlight as an actor was a brief appearance in the 1927 Hal Roach-produced Lauren and Hardy short "The Battle of the Century." Wilkie played the clerk behind the counter of a bakery shop when a pie fight breaks out and the scene was later included in "The Golden Age of Comedy," a compilation of Mack Sennett/Hal Roach silent comedy films released in 1957. During one slow period in Hollywood, Wilkie mailed jokes to two of the leading comedy periodicals of the 1920s, "Captain Billy's Whiz Bang" and "Judge." To his surprise, both magazines sent $5 checks in return. The relatively easy money convinced Wilkie that his future might be as a writer rather than performer, and he later took a job as an editor for humor-magazine publisher "Captain Billy" Fawcett and moved to the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale. Wilkie returned to Los Angeles and started pitching gags on a freelance basis. His buyers included radio personality Ben Bernie, who hired Wilkie as a writer for his show in the early 1930s. At the time, Bernie was carrying on a fake rivalry with newspaper columnist/radio gossip commentator Walter Winchell as part of a cross-promotional effort to boost ratings and Wilkie helped flame the faux feud by writing gags on behalf of each. Wilkie followed Bernie to New York and in 1936 became the talk of Broadway when he sold Milton Berle the first joke the comic ever paid for. It was a momentous enough occasion that Wilkie made a copy of the $25 check via photostat and considered it the highlight of a year in which he also wrote gigs for Paul Whiteman. The next year, Wilkie again returned to Los Angeles and was writing for Al Jolson when an all-around better opportunity came along. Bob Hope signed on to perform 10-minute monologues on the NBC Hollywood-based radio program "Your Hollywood Parade" and hired Wilkie to produce the topical jokes and rapid-fire monologues that brought the comedian international fame. Walter Winchell reported in his syndicated entertainment gossip column that when Wilkie informed Jolson he was leaving to work for Hope, "He gave Jolson one of those 'To Whom It May Concern' letters recommending Jolson to anyone who wanted a good boss." In 1939, Wilkie transitioned to writing for the big screen, as he landed a writer's contract at Paramount and co-wrote (with Lewis R. Foster) the screenplay for the 1939 film "Some Like It Hot," starring Hope, Shirley Ross and Gene Krupa. Wilkie followed up by co-writing 1941's "Caught in the Draft," starring Hope and Dorothy Lamour. In 1942, Wilkie moved over to MGM, where he was contracted to write for another up-and-coming funny man who was being shaped in the Bob Hope vein: Red Skelton. Wilkie wrote for the Skelton films "Panama Hattie" and "Whistling in Dixie" in 1942 and the next year wrote for four more, "Du Barry Was a Lady" (co-starring Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly), "Whistling in Brooklyn," "I Dood It" and "Thousands Cheer." While on loan to Warner Bros. in 1942, Wilkie gagged up "George Washington Slept Here," starring Jack Benny and Ann Sheridan. Wilkie's subsequent screenwriting credits included "Abroad with Two Yanks" (1944) starring William Bendix and "Brewster's Millions" (1945) starring Dennis O'Keefe and Helen Walker. At the point he most admired the work Wilkie was pounding out, Walter Winchell asked him what he told the dopes in every crowd who would press him to say something funny. "Belly button!" Wilkie replied. "For every genius in Hollywood," Wilkie would say later, "there's a rotten play on Broadway." Wilkie left Hollywood abruptly in 1952 and returned to San Luis Obispo to care for his ailing mother and elderly father, though he joked that his departure was the result of declining mental faculties. "I left Hollywood because I began worrying about my own condition. At times I used to think I was getting my mind back and the thought of going sane frightened me. So I got out while I was still nuts. I was no fool." Wilkie never stopped writing humor, but in retirement he confined it to a trio of newspaper columnists who were more than happy to share his musings with their readers. Herb Caen, whose daily society column at the San Francisco Chronicle earned him a special Pulitzer as the "voice and conscience" of his city, welcomed Wilkie's contributions, especially the one that became an instant Bay Area classic: "Nob Hill-Where every address is a status and rooms facing Oakland cost $10 less." Caen nominated Wilkie as California poet laureate in 1965 and went so far as to launch a campaign to support the candidacy. Wilkie was working on a book, "Thirty Years in a Haunted Joke Book," when his health took a turn for the worse and prevented him from finishing it. One chapter that was to be included in the book was titled "When is a Joke Not a Joke?" and includes an anecdote for aspiring comedy writers to consider: "Should you ever crash the writing game, let me tip you off right here that there isn't much glory in it. I can best illustrate this with the following anecdote. Milton Berle was the master of ceremonies at a Friar's banquet at which Bob Hope was the guest of honor. Comes time for Bob to speak and he quipped, 'The reason Bishop Sheen is getting most of Berle's listeners is because Bishop Sheen has better writers-Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.' The joke has since been quoted in hundreds of newspapers, and to my knowledge Hope was only credited once. This was by the NY papers the morning after the banquet. From then on everyone was taking a bow for it. This is one of the heartbreaking ordeals of joke writing. You might not end up in the poor house, but the chances are great that you'll end up with a broken heart. (The above joke, incidentally, was authored by this writer.)" Another tip: "Meanwhile, you'll find that one-line jokes are more effective than the long joke. In a one-liner you can get the punchline across before some point killer can interrupt you and spoil your joke. And don't press for laughs. If the joke is funny, your audience will laugh at it. "And remember, he who laughs.... lasts!"