Comedy Casts Bright Light on Ageism in Tinseltown

Ageism, and what is appropriately called the “graylist,” is not as new in Hollywood as a lot of people think.

In her autobiography, Lillian Gish told how carefully D.W. Griffith photographed his older character actresses. He wanted them to look beautiful. When Gish returned to Hollywood to make “Duel in the Sun,” she heard the film’s director tell the cameraman to make Jennifer Jones beautiful, but not to worry about how Gish looked under the harsh lights.

Gish and Griffith would be even more surprised at what’s happening today. Not only actors, but even writers are dropped by the wayside when the gray hair begins to show.

Director Jack Heller, who is also an actor, said he dyed his hair once for a play, but won’t do it again. He’s proud of the gray. He quotes H.H. Munro, the British satirist, who wrote under the pseudonym Saki: “Youth is a gift of nature; age is a work of art.”

The director--whose acting credits include television’s “L.A. Law” and “Beverly Hills 90210,” the films “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Notes From The Underground,” and Broadway’s “Luv”--has seen ageism at work.

And he said it informs his approach to the staging of George Tricker’s and Neil Rosen’s “Marvin and Mel,” opening Saturday at Actors Alley at the El Portal in North Hollywood. The play focuses on ageism in Tinseltown.

“We hear about minorities as of late, and we hear about women, but ageism is very subtle,” Heller said. “We joke about it, but there is a graylist. It’s never stated, but it’s there, nevertheless. Just ask any actress who’s in her 40s today. She’ll tell you.”

“Marvin and Mel,” is a comedy about two sixtysomething Hollywood writers who try to get back into television, having been dropped from the rolls after long and successful careers. It is a problem the playwrights, who also had successful careers as television writers, know a great deal about.

“We’d never had trouble before, then suddenly as we got older the calls weren’t coming, and our calls weren’t answered,” said Tricker. “We became more and more frustrated. We were always working, then all of a sudden it just stopped.

“I could understand if I was younger and couldn’t get work because I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. But you learn, you go along and you perfect your craft. Then, when you’re at your peak, all of a sudden you can’t get work anymore. It’s backward.”

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Both Heller and Tricker are quick to say that “Marvin and Mel” is a comedy, in spite of the serious issue at its core.

“The thing I like about it,” Heller said, “is that it’s not just comedy for comedy’s sake. It does have something very important to say.”

Tricker agreed. It may be a play that examines the mistreatment of older writers, said Tricker, but “it’s a lighthearted look at the problem.”

Heller is upset by what he sees as a lack of film and theater knowledge by the new generation of young Hollywood moguls. He enjoys sharing the oft-repeated story of an interview Shelley Winters apparently once had with an inexperienced writer: “What have you done, Miss Winters?” asked the interviewer. The actress, it is said, took out her two Oscars and put them on his desk. “That’s what I’ve done,” she said with a smile. “What about you?”

DETAILS

* WHAT: “Marvin and Mel.”

* WHERE: Actors Alley at the El Portal, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 & 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends June 2.

* HOW MUCH: $16.

* CALL: (818) 508-4200.