The [adj.] Leonard Stern, Emmy-winning TV writer and co-creator of the popular party game Mad Libs with partner Robert Price, has passed away at the age of 88 in Los Angeles. Stern got his start at 16 years old as a jokewriter for Milton Berle and went on to write for iconic Jackie Gleason sitcom The Honeymooners, Get Smart, The Steve Allen Show and 1952 feature The Jazz Singer.
In 1953, while stuck on a Honeymooners script (specifically, on how to describe Ralph Kramden's new boss' nose) Stern asked Price for some adjectives. With no context, Price offered "clumsy" and "naked." They both started laughing, Stern told Publisher's Weekly in 2008, and added, “We sat down and wrote a bunch of stories with blanks in them. That night we took them to a cocktail party and they were a great success.”
During his long writing career, which continued into the mid '80s, Stern won three Emmys, two Golden Globes and a Peabody award. More than 110 million copies of the word game are sold today. RIP, Leonard Stern.
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