Guild Hall Honoree A Quadruple Threat

It can be said that former Montauker Marshall Brickman is enjoying the fourth act of an ongoing career—he’s a comedy writer, screenwriter, film director and is now writing the book for smash Broadway musicals. Conceivably, he could be all four of the honorees on Monday evening when Guild Hall doles out its 26th annual Academy of Arts Lifetime Achievement awards.

However, Mr. Brickman, who has also spent time in Springs and Amagansett but now lives full time in Manhattan, will share the spotlight and will take home only the award for Literary Arts. The other recipients, all South Fork residents, are Dick Cavett for Performing Arts, Elizabeth Peyton for Visual Arts and Lewis B. Cullman for Leadership and Philanthropic Endeavors. The ceremony will be held at Cipriani on 42nd Street. Actor and director Bob Balaban will be the master of ceremonies, and the honorary chair of the event is Alec Baldwin, who of late has been no stranger to awards ceremonies.

If life had turned out differently, Mr. Brickman, who might well be the only Guild Hall honoree born in Rio de Janeiro, could have been receiving the award going to Mr. Cavett. Initially, he set out to be a musician after attending the University of Wisconsin.

A former classmate, banjo player Eric Weissberg, invited him to join the folk group the Tarriers, which Mr. Brickman tarried with for three years. Then, in 1965, Mr. Brickman joined another group, the New Journeyman. Alas, he did not journey with band mates John and Michelle Phillips long enough before they went on to form the Mamas and the Papas. But he and Mr. Weissberg would later collaborate again, on the soundtrack for the movie “Deliverance.”

For Mr. Brickman, television was the new frontier, as well as his second act. He moved full time to New York and prowled the comedy clubs while looking for writing jobs. And he found them, writing for “Candid Camera” and then “The Tonight Show.” At the age of only 28, he was the head writer for Johnny Carson’s show, easily the most popular of the late-night programs. Mr. Brickman points out, however, that this feat wasn’t quite as remarkable as it sounds.

“No one else wanted the job,” he told The Press in an interview last week. “I didn’t even have an office. I had an old Royal typewriter on a metal rolling stand and I would push it into whatever office was empty to write my jokes. The head writer was an old guy, meaning he was probably 40, with five kids and his contract was up and he wanted a raise of something like $20 a week. They wouldn’t give it to him.”

That’s when Mr. Brickman’s big television break began, though not quite as auspicious as it might have been.

“He called me in his office and said he was leaving for Los Angeles where they hand you the money as you get off the plane. He did, and they did—he wrote for ‘Happy Days’ and other shows,” Mr Brickman continued. “He gave me his joke file and half a box of cigars and said I’m the new head writer. I found out that job was the hardest one. Guys like Cavett just did the monologue. I did everything else.”

Still, it would seem that Mr. Brickman had many years ahead of him on “The Tonight Show.” But two people changed that. One was Mr. Cavett, another writer on the show. When he left to do his own show as a late-night rival to Carson, Mr. Brickman went with him.

“I defected, much to Johnny’s displeasure,” he recalled. “But the show had become predictable to me. Dick was a friend, and what he was going to attempt seemed exciting. And it was.”

The other person who had a hand in Mr. Brickman’s career path at that time was Woody Allen, he recalled.

“I first met Woody when he was the opening act for the Tarriers at the Bitter End in Manhattan,” Mr. Brickman said. “It was one of his first stand-up gigs. His act was treated with total silence. The audience didn’t know what to make of him. But I would sit in the back and listen to the brilliant material. Years later Charles Joffe, who with Ed Rollins managed both of us, suggested we try writing together, I was game.”

Mr. Brickman and Mr. Allen’s first screenwriting collaboration was “Sleeper” in 1973. Their next two films are considered by many the best in Allen’s filmmaking career, “Annie Hall” and “Manhattan,” released in 1977 and 1979. “Annie Hall” received the Academy Award for Best Picture, star Diane Keaton was named Best Actress, Mr. Allen won Best Director, and Mr. Brickman and Mr. Allen won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Unlike the more reclusive director, Mr. Brickman attended the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles the year that “Annie Hall” raked in the statuettes, he said.

“A lot of us who worked in New York were sort of out of the Hollywood loop,” he said. “So when I went on stage to collect the Oscar, I thanked the Academy for giving this award to what is essentially a foreign film. I got a nice, knowing laugh.”

While the two men would later reunite to co-write the script for “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” released in 1993, Mr. Brickman’s next act was to strike out on his own as a screenwriter and director. Among the films he made were “Simon,” “Lovesick” and “Manhattan Project.” He also wrote the screenplays for “For the Boys,” “Intersection” and “Anna Veritiny.” And while Mr. Brickman had to sometimes work in Los Angeles, over the years he resisted the siren call of Tinsel Town, preferring to remain a New Yorker.

“I was never tempted,” he stated. “I love New York. I wanted to raise my kids in New York. Especially now, with my work for the stage, I like being able to walk to work, to the theater and back. The hours are very civilized. That trumps anything the West Coast can offer.”

As it turned out, New York was to play a prominent role in the next act of Mr. Brickman’s career. For his very first Broadway outing, he was brought in (along with Rick Elice) to write the book for a musical being developed about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

The resulting “Jersey Boys” was, and continues to be, a huge hit. The musical received four Tony Awards, including Best Musical of 2006, and has spawned both national and international touring companies.

Why not try his hand again? Mr. Brickman thought. So he did. The result has been another hit—“The Addams Family,” now on Broadway with Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth.

Among the projects Mr. Brickman is working on now is the screenplay for the movie of “Jersey Boys,” which is scheduled for release next year, and, of course, his speech for Monday night’s award ceremony.

“What I think I’ll do is, Guild Hall called me to say that my biography is too long and I should cut it,” he said. “So I think I’ll just read the parts that I took out.”

Tickets start at $150 for Guild Hall’s Lifetime Achievement Awards Dinner at Cipriani in Manhattan, which will be held on Monday, March 7, starting at 6:30 p.m. For information or reservations, visit guildhall.org or call 324-0806.