Marc "Babaloo" Mandel (born October 13, 1949) is an American screenwriter. He first wrote episodic television comedy, then later began writing feature films. He and long-time writing partner

Lowell Ganz Lowell Ganz (born August 31, 1948 in New York City) is an American screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is the long-time writing partner of Babaloo Mandel. Ganz grew up in Queens, New York, attending Martin Van Buren High ...

penned numerous high-profile films including ''

Splash Splash or Splash! or The Splash may refer to: Common meanings * Splash (fluid mechanics), sudden disturbances on the surface of water Entertainment * ''Splash'' (film), a 1984 fantasy film starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah ** ''Splash, Too'' ...

'' (1984), '' Parenthood'' (1989), ''

City Slickers ''City Slickers'' is a 1991 American comedy film, directed by Ron Underwood and starring Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby, and Jack Palance, with supporting roles by Patricia Wettig, Helen Slater, and Noble Willingham with Jake Gyllen ...

'' (1991) and ''

A League of Their Own ''A League of Their Own'' is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The film stars Tom Hanks, Geena Dav ...

'' (1992).

Biography

Mandel was born in New York City, the son of a taxi driver. He attended

Queens College, City University of New York Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body ...

, before leaving for Hollywood in 1972. There he met Ganz. It was Ganz who gave him the nickname "Babaloo", after the character Babaloo Mandel in

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...

's novel ''

Portnoy's Complaint ''Portnoy's Complaint'' is a 1969 American novel by Philip Roth. Its success turned Roth into a major celebrity, sparking a storm of controversy over its explicit and candid treatment of sexuality, including detailed depictions of masturbation us ...

''. Mandel and Ganz were featured in ''The Dialogue'' interview series. In the 90-minute interview with producer

Mike DeLuca Michael De Luca (born August 13, 1965) is an American film studio executive, film producer and screenwriter. The former president of production at both New Line Cinema and DreamWorks, De Luca has been nominated for three Academy Awards for ...

, they discussed their 40-year partnership as it evolved from television to feature films. Both men worked on the television series ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most succ ...

'', Mandel as a creative consultant, Ganz as supervising producer. As a result of that connection, they were offered their first big break, the movie ''Night Shift'', by series star

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...

and his friend, producer

Brian Grazer Brian Thomas Grazer (born July 12, 1951) is an American film and television producer and writer. He founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. The films they produced have grossed over $15 billion. Grazer was personally nominated fo ...

. Howard directed ''Night Shift'', and it was Grazer's first feature film as producer. The writing duo later reteamed with Howard on ''

'', for which Mandel, Ganz and

Bruce Jay Friedman The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...

won the

National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay The National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay is the award given for best screenwriting at the annual National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) Awards. The category was introduced in 1967, in the 2nd awards ceremony. At the last awar ...

. Mandel, Ganz, Friedman and Grazer were also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. The pair also wrote for the television series ''

Laverne & Shirley ''Laverne & Shirley'' (originally ''Laverne DeFazio & Shirley Feeney'') is an American sitcom television series that played for eight seasons on ABC from January 27, 1976, to May 10, 1983. A spin-off of ''Happy Days'', ''Laverne & Shirley'' star ...

''. They were the screenwriters for the 1992 sports movie ''

'', directed by

Penny Marshall Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, director and producer. She is known for her role as ...

(who played Laverne in the sitcom). He married Denise Madelyn (nee Horn) in 1974. They have six children, including a set of triplets. The

Online Archive of California The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management a ...

has the Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel Collection of material related to their writing careers.

Partial filmography

*'' Night Shift'' (1982) *''

'' (1984) *''

Spies Like Us ''Spies Like Us'' is a 1985 American spy comedy film directed by John Landis, and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest and Donna Dixon. The film presents the comic adventures of two novice intelligence agents sent to the Soviet Unio ...

'' (1985) *''

Gung Ho ''Gung ho'' () is an English term, with the current meaning of "overly enthusiastic or energetic". It originated during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) from a Chinese term, ( zh, hp=gōnghé, l=to work together), short for Chinese ...

'' (1986) *'' Vibes'' (1988) *'' Parenthood'' (1989) *''

'' (1991) *''

'' (1992) *''

Mr. Saturday Night ''Mr. Saturday Night'' is a 1992 American comedy-drama film that marked the directorial debut of its star, Billy Crystal. It focuses on the rise and fall of Buddy Young Jr., a stand-up comedian. Crystal produced and co-wrote the screenplay with ...

'' (1992) *'' Greedy'' (1994) *'' City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold'' (1994) *''

Forget Paris ''Forget Paris'' is a 1995 American romantic comedy film produced, directed, co-written by and starring Billy Crystal as an National Basketball Association, NBA referee and Debra Winger as an independent working woman whose lives are interrupted b ...

'' (1995) *''

Multiplicity Multiplicity may refer to: In science and the humanities * Multiplicity (mathematics), the number of times an element is repeated in a multiset * Multiplicity (philosophy), a philosophical concept * Multiplicity (psychology), having or using multi ...

'' (1996) *''

Fathers' Day Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the Unite ...

'' (1997) *''

EDtv ''EDtv'' is a 1999 American satirical comedy film directed by Ron Howard. An adaptation of the Quebecois film ''Louis 19, King of the Airwaves (Louis 19, le roi des ondes)'' (1994), it stars Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson, E ...

'' (1999) *'' Where the Heart Is'' (2000) *''

Robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...

'' (2005) *''

Fever Pitch ''Fever Pitch: A Fan's Life'' is a 1992 autobiographical essay by British author Nick Hornby. The book is the basis for two films: ''Fever Pitch'' (1997, UK) and ''Fever Pitch'' (2005, U.S.). The first edition was subtitled "A Fan's Life", but ...

'' (2005) *''

Tooth Fairy The Tooth Fairy is a fantasy figure of early childhood in Western and Western-influenced cultures. The folklore states that when children lose one of their baby teeth, they should place it underneath their pillow or on their bedside table and ...

'' (2010)

Partial television credits

*'' Busting Loose'' (1977) *''

'' (1977–78) *''

'' (1981)

References

External links

* 1949 births Screenwriters from New York (state) Living people 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers Writers from Queens, New York American male television writers American television writers {{US-screen-writer-stub