How to Be a Gag Writer---Come From Milwaukee
By Ray McBride
The ranking gag writer for Fred Allen, the comedians’ comedian, is a former Milwaukeean, Nat Hiken.
Hiken is one of four writers who sit in with Allen each week to work out the theme for each show and develop the gags which are stolen by many other comedians as soon as they hit the airwaves. The other writers are Bob Weiskopf, Harry Bailey and Terry Ryan. But Hiken, who is only 31 years old, is the “dean,” having worked for Allen for seven years.
Hiken’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Max Hiken, now live in Los Angeles, Calif., but Hiken has a grandfather, Joseph Hiken, and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins living here.
Hiken attended Roosevelt junior high school and Washington high school here, and wrote a column for the high school paper. At the University of Wisconsin, where he earned a Phi Beta Kappa key, he wrote the popular “Griper’s Column” in the Daily Cardinal.
Hiken worked briefly for the United Press after graduation, but he wanted to write for the movies, and went to California. He took a part-time job in an office, but convinced a young announcer friend that he should try out Hiken’s idea for “the Grouch club.” It was a 6 a.m. show which fit its name, but it caught on quickly and eventually landed on a network. Warner Brothers studio then hired him to write a series of satiric shorts under the same title.
His next move was into the stable of Fred Allen, who never has been slow to spot gag writing talent. When the war came, Hiken went into the army. He served in special services and came out a sergeant, promptly rejoining Allen. While he was in the army he had continued to contribute ideas to Allen.
Hiken is a New York apartment dweller with his wife and 18 month old daughter. Hiken met his wife when she was a movie colony secretary in Hollywood. Hiken still pays occasional visits to relatives here.
The latest inside tip from New York is that Hiken may write the new show which Milton Berle is preparing fro radio. Thus Hiken would be writing for radio’s greatest comedian, Allen, and the highest paid night club comedian, Berle, which is not bad going at all for a young man who some 10 years ago was washing dishes in a Madison restaurant to work his way through the university.
More Milwaukeeans
Jack Carson is not the only Milwaukeean on the Jack Carson show. Joe Twerp, who is a Carson gag writer and plays zany parts on the show, was born in Milwaukee, too, some 30 years ago. His name was Brandon Boyes, and his father, Escott Boyes, was a vaudeville singer and carnival performer. The family did not stay here long, but stopped over at Portland, Ore. and settled down at Santa Monica, Calif. At 14, Twerp started his career by imitating Charlie Chaplin outside a movie theater to advertise “The Gold Rush.” Later, he drifted into stock and then into the movies, under the name Twerp. When Twerp discovered his talent for gag writing, he banged out quips for Ransom Sherman, Al Jolson, Benny Goodman, Edgar Bergen and others. Carson signed him when he started a new show.
Born, Not Made
Just what makes a gag writer anyway? George Balzer, who helps to write the Jack Benny show, says comedy writers are born and not made.
“If you’re born with it, then you can develop it further, but if you’re not born with it, then you can’t develop it,” says Balzer. “You’ve got to have a flare for comedy. You’ve got to keep thinking it. If you’re inclined that way, not a day will go by but that you’ll see something funny. There’s something funny in almost anything.”
But even Balzer concedes that having a gift for comedy is not enough, unless one works at it.
Balzer himself was a laundryman in California until he got to thinking he could write material as good as that which he heard on the air. He consulted Andy Devine, who at that time was on the Benny show. Devine told him to write a few scripts, and Balzer did. Devine liked them and took them to Benny. Benny liked them and so did his agency, but they decided not to hire Balzer at the time. They helped him make other contacts, however, and Balzer wrote gags for Bob Burns and Bing Crosby.
Finally Balzer was hired as a full time writer for the Burns and Allen show, working with Sam Perrin. They worked 39 weeks for Burns and Allen, 65 weeks for Tommy Riggs and finally got the summons from Benny in 1943. They write the Benny show now with Milt Josefsberg and John Tackaberry.
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transcribed by Yhtapmys