Irv Letofsky: There Will Never Be Another Like Him

By Barry Garron

On my desk sits an 8x10-inch black-and-white photo of Ned Beatty playing Arthur Jensen in the movie "Network." The film, from Paddy Chayefsky, is a cautionary tale of what might happen to TV (and pretty much what did happen to TV) as it fell under the control of corporate overlords.

The photo was a gift from Irv Letofsky, who wrote TV reviews for The Hollywood Reporter and who died Sunday at the age of 76, after accomplishing more in one lifetime than most of us could scarcely dream of.

I met Irv almost exactly 10 years ago. I just came to L.A., a refugee from The Kansas City Star newspaper, where I had been the TV critic. Irv was the acting chief TV critic at The Reporter and quickly became the best friend any newcomer could have.

Along with freelance TV review assignments, he provided me with advice and encouragement. Five months later, when the chief TV critic job opened on a permanent basis, Irv's support and confidence in me proved invaluable. He marked the occasion of my being hired with that photo, perhaps to remind me that the world of commerce is always lurking behind the creative and artistic endeavors of those who make TV programming.

I know Irv best through our shared interest in the TV industry but, where I've spent most of my career focused on TV, that was just a part of Irv's multifaceted life. This gentle and genial soul was, at one time or another, a reporter (St. Paul Pioneer Press), an assistant city editor (Minneapolis Tribune), a features editor (Sunday Calendar of the Los Angeles Times), an executive producer of a documentary and a short film, an author and a key figure in establishing the Brave New Workshop Comedy Theatre in Minneapolis.

He was an important collector of film lobby and title cards and other film memorabilia. He donated part of his collection to his alma mater, the University of North Dakota, and to the Hoover Institution of War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. He lent part to the Richard Nixon Library. And yet, so modest was Irv that, had I not asked him about my photo of Ned Beatty, I might never have learned of his national expertise in this area.

He was a genius. He was a mentor. He was capable of the driest wit and the greatest insight. He was never without a mischievous twinkle in his eye or a half-dozen projects on his agenda.

At the same time, he was a loving husband and a doting dad. When one of his children, Polly, spent three years walking around the world to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer, Irv fairly bubbled over with updates on her adventures and progress.

With his good heart and his ready smile, Irv was a friend to everyone who loved quality television, smart journalism, clever humor and genuine friendship. Shakespeare said it best in "Julius Caesar:"

His life was gentle, and the elements so mix'd in him that Nature might stand up and say to all the world: "This was a man!"

Comments

[Howard Burns]

Irv Letofsky was the consummate professional and a heckuva nice guy. I enjoyed my years working with Irv and appreciate all he did for THR. He will be missed.

[Ben Sullivan]

I knew Irv first as "Uncle Irv," best man at my parents' wedding and one of the legendary Brave New Workshop gang. He was one of those adults who made you as a kid feel taken seriously and yet completely tickled by his humor. Later while I was a reporter at the L.A. Business Journal, Irv hand fed me my two best story ideas.

He really was a funny, warm guy. Did I say funny? My Mom tells a story about how one night at a party when Irv and his wife were expecting, he had my Mom - no naif - completely convinced that if the child was a boy, they were going to name him Uncle Max. Because, Irv said, every family needed an Uncle Max.

Irv will be very missed and is very loved.

[Dale Fetherling]

Irv was my first ACE when I went to the Minneapolis Tribune. Such a wry joker was he. My first day in the newsroom when I reported to him for duty, he looked at my resume, scowled, and said, “Northwestern? But can you at least type?”

Now I would say, “No…but I’ll print clearly.”

But then, totally intimidated, I fumbled and stumbled and said, “Well, 30 words a minute maybe…but then if subtract errors, maybe 24. But that’s on a good day. On a bad day, maybe…” and went on ad nauseum.

He smiled broadly, and I knew I'd been had.

[Eric, John, Jim, Ken at Hollywood Book & Poster Co.]

My favorite memory of Irv would be his full support and help in publicizing our first Cult Film Festivals in the 1970's and 80's.
He was instrumental in our initial success with our Herschell Gordon Lewis, Russ Meyer and John Waters film tributes. Without his encouragement and articles in the LA TIMES,
we would never have been able to pull off our shows, having little funds and manpower available at the time.
We put on a week long Violence in the Cinema
Film Festival at the Fox Venice Theater in the early 80's and Irv did a nice feature article on the event in the LA TIMES for us.
Irv supported all the film events we ever attempted to put on, successful or not.
Without Irv pulling for us, I don't think we would have attempted to try some of the more risky film tributes.
We always miss getting the Sunday Calendar section 3 days in advance.
Rest in Peace, our friend.

[julia s]

I met Zev as a young woman just out of college and still attending grad film school at AFI in the 80's when he was editor for the LAT Sunday Calendar. Or I should say, I approached him with the idea he hire me as a freelance film critic to attend foreign film festivals -- at first he questioned my critical experience (I'd been a studio analyst p/t), but hey, I was cheap and he agreed. What an experience, to attend several int'l festivals as a critic for the LAT when I was 22 -- everyone did a double-take, and so did Irv when he finally met me (after he'd agreed to my insistent letters and calls).

After a few of these festivals, he said well, they were fine and well and different and gave the Times intellectual depth and all that (those were still my earnest intellectual days), but that highbrow stuff reached maybe 10% of the broad readership of a paper like the Times, whereas if I made it my forte to interview celebs and write about them from the point of view of my being a hot young chick (or something to that effect), I could attract a whole new readership to the Times. You know, he said, put some of your own fantasies about these guys out there, what other women are thinking, and as for the women, they can relate to you because you sure don't look like an egghead (or something to that effect).

I thought it about it for a minute and then I told him that if he had any fantasies about these guys, he can write that stuff himself, because I was a highly educated intellectual feminist despite my looks. (Hey, I'd turned down easy money modeling for a French perfume company, too -- what can I say, as I was foolish and naive as I was learning-smart.)

Now, I see that he was really a visionary and genius, and that his idea was way ahead of what the tv entertainment shows did soon after. He gave me a chance to be a critic "personality" before anyone really knew what that meant, and if I knew then what I know now (and had the self-confidence we women achieve as we get older), who knows where it could have led.

I'll never forget you, Irv, and thanks for those film festivals, anyway.

[Noela Hueso]

It's December 28 and I've just learned of Irv's passing. What a shock. I didn't even know he was ill.
I've been at the Reporter for almost 13 years, but it was only in the past five years or so that I really got to know Irv. He started telling me about the exploits of his daughter Polly as she traveled the world on foot. He gave me copies of her daily missives about her adventures and would go on at length about her triumphs and travails. It was obvious he was extremely proud of her. I loved listening to him. I urged him to have Polly's words turned into a book, as she is a very talented writer. He said that was already the plan. When her journey finally ended and she returned home, Irv was an active participant in helping her formulate the right tone and angle for her book. They were still in that process the last time I saw him.
I didn't know the details of Irv's journalistic background but I could tell that he loved words — the humor they can provide, the pathos they can deliver, the drama they can ignite.
He was a great guy. I will miss him.

[Glenn Abel]

In all the years we worked together, I never saw the man without a smile on his face. Good writer, great guy.

[Dixie Whatley]

Back in the 70's, fairly fresh out of Journalism school, I walked into Irv Latofsky's office at the LA Times. He's agreed to see me to talk about free lance writing. I'd written an article for the now long defunked 'New West' magazine which editor Larry Dietz turned down. But Dietz suggested pitching it to the Times.

I was shocked that Irv agreed to see me, novice that I was, but immediately felt comfortable when he fixed me with that low key, slightly wry look and said, "So what do you have in mind?"

I pulled out my finished article and plopped it on his desk. He grinned and started reading, then glanced up and said, "So how are we going to illustrate it?" I pulled out a finished illustration and put that on his desk as well. I'm guessing that the black artist's portfolio I carted in inspired the question.

Irv not only ran the article and drawing, he introduced me to Lois Dwan, the restaurant critic, and for the ensuing six-plus years, I illustrated her column. Through those years my TV career grew, from news anchor to Entertainment Tonight host, but I still saw Irv at the Times,read his screenplays and listened to his ribbing about my on air work and and drawing critiques.

I'm now a stone sculptor, with Irv's big break as a mainstay in my art bio. Thanks, Irv. My, aint life strange?