George Kirgo

George Kirgo (born George Blumenthal; March 26, 1926 – August 22, 2004) was an American screenwriter, author and humorist. 2Early life Kirgo was born George Blumenthal in Hartford, Connecticut, the middle child of three born to Russian immigrants Isadore and Anna Blumenthal. While attending Hartford Public High School, he worked as a movie usher and as a reporter for The Hartford Times; graduating in 1943, he was dubbed "the Orson Welles of HPHS" by his high school yearbook.In April 1944, while attending Wesleyan University, Blumenthal enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve, eventually serving in the USAAF during the final few months of World War II, in the South Pacific and Japan. It was sometime after his return, but before his brief emergence in the early 1950s as a small book seller and publisher, that Blumenthal became George Kirgo, officially adopting his erstwhile nickname. 2Career A screenwriter since 1954, Kirgo's many credits encompass a wide variety of TV series, including Kraft Suspense Theatre, The New People, Run for Your Life, Room 222, Mary Tyler Moore, My Mother the Car, and The Feather and Father Gang. He scripted or co-scripted feature films such as Red Line 7000, Spinout, Don't Make Waves, and Voices as well as TV movies such as Get Christie Love!, The Man in the Santa Claus Suit, and the American Playhouse production My Palikari. He was a producer for the short-lived 1978 situation comedy Another Day. Kirgo also appeared onscreen on occasion, primarily in the early 1960s, with a flurry of talk and game show appearances between 1959 and 1964. The first of these came shortly after the publication of his first book, the comic novel Hercules, the Big Greek Story. Some glowing notices notwithstanding, not much notice was paid; nonetheless, the book impressed Tonight Show host Jack Paar sufficiently to secure Kirgo a guest spot; the ensuing appearance sufficed to earn the fledgling novelist several such invitations over the next two season