King of the Half Hour: Nat Hiken and the Golden Age of TV Comedy

A television pioneer is revived in David Everitt's King of the Half Hour: Nat Hiken and the Golden Age of TV Comedy. Formerly Fred Allen's radio writer, Hiken moved to TV in 1950 as a head writer for NBC's Four Star Revue and went on to create Sergeant Bilko and Car 54, Where Are You? Working with the likes of Mel Brooks and Woody Allen throughout the '50s and early '60s, Hiken won eight Emmy Awards and wrote material for Milton Berle, Bette Davis, Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball. Everitt (For Reel) portrays Hiken in his New York and, later, Hollywood contexts, sketching the inception and early childhood of television. ( Apr.)