Jerome Coopersmith obit

 

Jerome Coopersmith Obituary

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Jerome (Jerry) Coopersmith, age 97, of Rochester, NY passed away peacefully on July 21, 2023. Jerry was born on August 11, 1925, in New York City. He was an award-winning dramatist known for television, theater, and his work as a professor of screenplay writing. Working in the television industry since 1947, Jerry authored more than 100 television scripts for anthology dramas and episodic series and is perhaps best known for writing "Hawaii Five-O (1967-1980)." His theatrical plays spanned Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional productions. Jerry was a member of the Dramatists Guild, Mystery Writers of America, and a past officer of the Writers Guild of America, East.

Jerry was a World War II veteran, serving in the United States Army, 94th Infantry Division from 1943-1945. He was the recipient of a Combat Infantryman Badge, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, and European Theater of Operations Medal with three battle stars. In 2019, at age 94, he was honored with the highest distinction of Chevalier, or Knight, in the National Order of the French Legion of Honor in recognition of his service to France in World War II.

Jerry is survived by his two daughters, Amy Coopersmith Lauria (Ken) and Jill Andrea Lambert (Robert), his grandchildren Kyle Cheney (Hannah) and Kim Nicholetti (Shane), his step-grandchildren Stephanie Lauria, Kevin Lauria, Michelle Franzen (Danny), and Daniel Lambert, four great-grandchildren, Clara Josephine Cheney, Beatrice Dorothy Cheney, Ashton Daniel Franzen, and Gavin Louis Franzen, his niece, Gretchen Garrett (Jeff), and many life-long friends.

A Memorial Service will be held at Anthony Funeral Chapel, 2305 Monroe Avenue, Rochester New York on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, at 12:00 pm Eastern.

Jerome Coopersmith landed his first television job in 1947 with pioneer TV producer Martin Stone, who had a number of shows on the air including the popular "Howdy Doody". Coopersmith's first assignment was with the quiz show entitled "Americana" which challenged a panel of high school students to answer questions about American history based on brief dramatizations performed by actors. Coopersmith wrote the short vignettes of American history which aired on the show.

This led to Stone's production of The Gabby Hayes Show, a series of full half-hour dramas of events in American history. The stories were co-written by Jerome Coopersmith and the more experienced playwright Horton Foote. Foote was a mentor to Coopersmith, and together they wrote more than 50 episodes which aired on NBC. Many successful actors began their television careers on the show, including Ernest Borgnine, Rod Steiger, and Leslie Nielsen.

In 1952, Martin Stone wanted to try his hand at producing a comedy, and so he and Coopersmith came up with the idea of a series called "Johnny Jupiter" about a television studio janitor, played by Vaughn Taylor, who succeeds in contacting the planet Jupiter. His attempt to explain the strange ways of Earth to the Jupiterians, portrayed by hand puppets, provided the satirical content of the series. In reviewing the show, Jack Gould of the New York Times wrote, “If Mr. Coopersmith can sustain the brilliant pace of the opening show, he obviously is going to move quickly to the head of the class among TV's satirists.”  The 13-week series was produced on the independent station, DuMont Television Network, and was extended for another 26 weeks as a sitcom on ABC.

By 1954, the one-hour anthology drama series, such as The Philco Television Playhouse and US Steel Hour had become extremely popular. David Susskind, wishing to enter that realm, took over as executive producer of "Armstrong Circle Theater," originally a half-hour dramatic show, and recruited Coopersmith to help him change the show's format. The series was reinvented as a one-hour docu-drama based on true stories and real events, and at Coopersmith's suggestion, each episode was narrated by a renowned newscaster to stress the reality of the series. Coopersmith's first episode, "The Strange War Of Sergeant Krenzer", was the true story of United States Sergeant Werner Krenzer, an army sergeant in Korea who was given the job of rounding up homeless kids on the streets and placing them in shelters, but the kids didn't want to go. Coopersmith became a principal writer for the “Armstrong Circle Theatre”, penning 19 additional teleplays airing from 1955 to 1963 and providing him with some extraordinary experiences. For the episode "SSN 571 The Nautilus" Coopersmith took a 6-day underwater journey in America's first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, for which his agents and lawyers required David Susskind to insure Coopersmith's life for one million dollars. The episode "I Was Accused" was based on the true experience of actor George Voskovec, who was kept interned at Ellis Island during the days of Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch hunt". For this teleplay, Coopersmith was presented with the 1956 Robert E. Sherwood Award by a committee that included Eleanor Roosevelt.

In 1964, Coopersmith wrote an episode for "Decision: The Conflicts of Harry S. Truman", A documentary series based on the writings of Harry S. Truman during his U.S. presidency, produced by Ben Gradus for Screen Gems. Coopersmith met President Truman when he wrote the 25th episode, "I Am an American", reflecting on the attempted assassination of Truman in 1950. By 1965 the series was widely broadcast and was reaching about 70% of American households.

Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s Coopersmith wrote episodes for many popular television series including "Justice", "Appointment with Adventure", "The Big Story", "Decoy", "Brenner",and "Combat!, as well as anthology dramas for "Goodyear Playhouse"'', "The Alcoa Hour" , "Kraft Television Theater", and "Hallmark Hall of Fame".

By the mid-1960s the bulk of the TV industry had moved from New York to Hollywood. In 1967, Coopersmith was hired by producer Leonard Freeman to write a script for a new TV series "Hawaii Five-O".[16] That script, "Samurai", became the 4th episode of hit show's first season. "Hawaii Five-O" became Coopersmith's focus for the next 8 years, during which he wrote 30 one-hour episodes and 2 feature-length movies for the show. One of Coopersmith's episodes, "Retire In Sunny Hawaii – Forever" featured Helen Hayes, mother of James MacArthur (Danno), in the leading guest role. Hayes received an Emmy Nomination for this performance. Another Coopersmith episode, "I'm A Family Crook... Don't Shoot!" was a comedy-crime drama guest starring Andy Griffith and Joyce Van Patten. "Nine Dragons", one of Coopersmith's feature-length episodes, was filmed in Hong Kong and continues to air as a full-length movie in foreign countries.

Coopersmith continued to write scripts for many popular television series throughout the 70's and 80's including "Streets of San Francisco", "Medical Center", "The Andros Targets", "Nurse", "Spencer for Hire" and its spin-off "A Man Called Hawk".

Coopersmith also wrote screenplays for TV movies and specials which aired on the major networks in the 1970s and 80s. His first feature film of this era, "Mr. Inside/Mr. Outside", was originally planned as a series pilot, and was produced by Philip D'Antoni ("The French Connection") in 1973. The movie starred Tony LoBianco and Hal Linden as cops thwarting a gang of diamond smugglers.

In 1973, Coopersmith wrote the screenplay for "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" an animated adaptation of Clement Moore's classic poem "A Visit From Saint Nicholas". The Rankin/Bass production featured voices by Joel Grey, George Gobel, Tammy Grimes, and John McGiver. The special became an annual holiday classic, airing on CBS for 20 years from 1974 to 1994. In 1994 The Family Channel (now ABC Family) purchased the syndication rights. The special was also released commercially in most media formats.

Coopersmith celebrated the holiday theme with two additional works. "Have I Got A Christmas For You" was a 1-hour television special based on the true story of a Jewish congregation whose members filled the jobs of their Christian neighbors for one night, so they could be with their families on Christmas Eve. The holiday special, produced by Gilbert and Joseph Cates in 1977 and directed by Marc Daniels, starred Milton Berle, Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows, Herb Edelman, Jim Backus, and Adrienne Barbeau.

"An American Christmas Carol", another holiday-inspired work, is a feature-length movie adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic transplanted to New England during the great depression. The movie, produced by Stanley Chase and Jon Slan, first aired in 1979 with Henry Winkler starring as Benedict Slade (the adaptation version of Scrooge), and David Wayne and Dorian Harewood co-starring. The movie continues to air annually, and was released commercially in all media formats.

Another of Coopersmith's TV movies was an adaption of the Mary Higgins Clark best-selling novel, "The Cradle Will Fall", a murder-mystery about a doctor obsessed with creating a fountain-of-youth drug. The movie, which premiered on CBS in 1983, was produced by Joseph Cates and starred Lauren Hutton, Ben Murphy, and James Farentino. Appealing to the network's daytime audience, the story was set in the soap opera Guiding Light's fictional town of Springfield USA, home of Cedars Hospital, and featured six of the soap's key characters in supporting roles

Selected filmography & stage plays

 

Selected television episodes

 

Americana: Miscellaneous Segments (1947-1949)

The Gabby Hayes Show: Miscellaneous Episodes (1951-1953)

Johnny Jupiter: Miscellaneous Episodes (1953-1954)

Justice: Death for Sale (1954)

Appointment with Adventure: Stranger on a Plane (1955)

Armstrong Circle Theatre: Leap for Freedom (1955)

Armstrong Circle Theatre: The Strange War of Sergeant Krezner (1955)

Armstrong Circle Theatre: I Was Accused (1955)

Encounter: Tolliver's Travels (1956)

Goodyear Playhouse: The Terrorists (1956)

The Alcoa Hour: Adventure in Diamonds (1956)

Armstrong Circle Theatre: Arson: File #732 (1957)

Decoy: To Trap a Thief (1957)

The Big Story: House Divided (1957)

The Big Story: The Frame-Up (1957)

Armstrong Circle Theatre: The Meanest Crime in the World (1958)

Armstrong Circle Theatre: The Nautilus (1958)

Decoy: First Arrest (1958)

Kraft Theatre: Riddle of a Lady (1958)

Armstrong Circle Theatre: Prescription-Hypnosis (1959)

Brenner: Record of Arrest (1959)

Brenner: Monopoly on Fear (1959)

Armstrong Circle Theatre: Track of an Unknown: The Story of North American Air Defense (1961)

Armstrong Circle Theatre: The Battle of Hearts (1961)

Combat!: Forgotten Front (1962)

Decision: The Conflicts of Harry S. Truman: I am an American (1964)

Hawaii Five-O: Samurai (1968)

Hawaii Five-O: Blind Tiger (1969)

Hawaii Five-O: Highest Castle, Deepest Grave (1971)

Hawaii Five-O: I'm a Family Crook Don't Shoot! (1972)

Hawaii Five-O: Here Today... Gone Tonight (1973)

Hawaii Five-O: Why Wait Till Uncle Kevin Dies? (1973)

The Streets of San Francisco: The Victims (1973)

The Streets of San Francisco: Most Feared in the Jungle (1973)

Hawaii Five-O: Diary of a Gun (1975)

Hawaii Five-O: Retire in Sunny Hawaii... Forever (1975)

Hawaii Five-O: Nine Dragons (1976)

The Andros Targets: The Killing of a Porno Queen (1977)

The Andros Targets: Requiem for a Stolen Child: Part 1 & 2 (1977)

The Andros Targets: The Smut Peddler (1977)

Nurse: Impressions (1982)

Spenser: For Hire : Arthur's Wake (1988)

A Man Called Hawk : Passing the Bar (1989)

Selected television movies and specials

 

The Story of Roger Williams (1952)

Mr. Inside/Mr. Outside (1973)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974)

Hawaii Five-O: Nine Dragons (1976)

Have I Got a Christmas for You (1977)

An American Christmas Carol (1979)

The Cradle Will Fall (1983)

Selected stage plays

 

Baker Street (1965)

The Apple Tree (1966)

Mata Hari (musical)|Mata Hari (1967)

Ballad for a Firing Squad (1968)

Eleanor (1965)

Pinocchio (1973)

The Mystery of Anna O (1992)

Reflections of a Murder (1998)

Haven (2001)

The Other Side (2009)