Irv, we hardly knew ye

We found out yesterday that Irv Letofsky died this week at 76.

Irv was a television critic for The Hollywood Reporter, former editor of the LA Times Calendar section and an important collector of film lobby and title cards and other memorabilia.

He also has a unique place in tabloid history.

Irv is among those mentioned in the acknowledgments of the book, Tabloid Baby. Back in early Nineties, he wrote about the tabloid television show Hard Copy for The Hollywood Reporter, and his articles were cited by author Burt Kearns. A decade later, Letofsky and Kearns wound up working together on Frozen Pictures’ documentary series, All The Presidents’ Movies (review here), that ran on Bravo and will one of these days wind up on DVD.

Irv had been the connection to Paul Fischer, the former White House projectionist who was at the center of the acclaimed Presidents project.

Irv was very well-liked by print journos in LA. Over at our pal Ray Richmond’s Past Deadline site, Barry Garron writes: "There will never be another like him… He was a genius. He was a mentor. He was capable of the driest wit and the greatest insight. He was never without a mischievous twinkle in his eye or a half-dozen projects on his agenda…”