FUNNYOSITY

“2037--and Counting” (by Steve Schmidt, May 25) was a very informative and amusing article on Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks. But contrary to popular belief, the near-legendary stable of writers on “Your Show of Shows” did not include Larry Gelbart or Woody Allen.

Gelbart is not happy that this misconception has been perpetuated through the years. To quote him from my forthcoming book, “Comedy Writing in Radio and TV’s Golden Age”: “It’s not fair to the original guys. I think the people who did do it were very unique. . . . I hate to see them robbed of the distinctive quality of that credit.”

Gelbart worked on “Caesar’s Hour,” the show that followed “Your Show of Shows.” He further recalled: “Woody Allen actually worked on a Sid Caesar series on ABC, a half-hour series I believe it was. The first time Woody worked for Sid was--after ‘Caesar’s Hour’ went off the air--on two specials, for Chevrolet.”

JORDAN R. YOUNG

Anaheim

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Steve Schmidt (credited in knowing all the routines by heart) quoted Mel Brooks as saying that the “national anthem” was “Let them all go to hell, except Cave 17.” Unless I have a very different recording, it was “Cave 7.”

For what it’s worth, I was the co-star (with Vic Morrow) of “Combat,” a World War II series still playing on cable, satellite and all over the world.

Dick Peabody, who played Littlejohn in the show, and I fell in love with the Reiner/Brooks recordings (remember, the straight man always gets top billing!) and memorized them. We would do them for the other cast members on the back lots (1 and 2) of MGM while waiting for a camera setup. And we could never do them often enough. We recently did the first cut on a reunion cruise to Mexico out of Miami this past October. Since “Combat” is on the Web (which amazed the hell out of me), bunches of people came from all over to join in the festivities.

RICK JASON

Moorpark

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Exhaustive listening to the routine on CD by Calendar staffers, plus input from Mr. Carl Reiner, reveals the actual cave number to be . . . 76!

Your article brought back memories of sheer fun and delight. There was a CBS animated 2,000-Year-Old Man special in 1974. It would be nice to see it again. The talented, late Leo Salkin, who produced it, had prepared a sequel. Perhaps your article will revive interest in it.

FINI LITTLEJOHN

Malibu