MEL TOLKIN, 94 Comedy writer
Mel Tolkin, the head writer for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, which defined the art of sketch comedy during early television, died Monday of heart failure at his Century City home, said his son, writer-director Michael Tolkin.
Mr. Tolkin spent nearly a half-century in show business, beginning in the 1930s when he wrote revues and played piano in Montreal jazz clubs. He wrote comedy for Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Danny Kaye and Danny Thomas, and in the 1970s was a writer and editor for All in the Family.