Babaloo Mandel

Marc "Babaloo" Mandel (born October 13, 1949) is an American writer and producer. He first wrote episodic television comedy, then transitioned to writing feature films and theatre. He and long-time writing partner Lowell Ganz wrote numerous high-profile films including Splash (1984), Parenthood (1989), City Slickers (1991), and A League of Their Own (1992).^[1]

Babaloo Mandel
Born	(1949-10-13) October 13, 1949 (age 75) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Writer, producer
Spouse	Denise Madelyn Horn ​ (m. 1974)​
Children	6

Biography

Mandel was born in New York City. His father was a taxi driver.^[1] He attended Queens College, City University of New York, before leaving for Hollywood in 1972.

At Queens College, Mandel met Ganz, who nicknamed him "Babaloo", after the character Ba-ba-lu Mandel in Philip Roth's novel Portnoy's Complaint.^[1] In 2006, Mandel and Ganz were featured in The Dialogue interview series.^{[citation needed]} In the 90-minute interview with producer Michael De Luca, they discussed their 40-year partnership as it evolved from television to feature films.

Both men worked on the television series Happy Days, Mandel as a creative consultant, Ganz as supervising producer.^[1] As a result of that connection, they were offered their first big break, the movie Night Shift, by series star Ron Howard and his friend, producer Brian Grazer.^[1] Howard directed Night Shift, and it was Grazer's first feature film as producer.^[2] The writing duo later teamed up again with Howard on Splash, for which Mandel, Ganz, and Bruce Jay Friedman won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay. Mandel, Ganz, Friedman, and Grazer were also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

The pair also wrote for the television series Laverne & Shirley. They were the screenwriters for the 1992 sports movie A League of Their Own, directed by Penny Marshall.

He married Denise Madelyn Horn in 1974.^[1] They have six children, including a set of triplets.^[3]

The Online Archive of California houses the Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel Collection of material related to their writing careers.^[2]

Partial filmography

• Night Shift (1982)
• Splash (1984)
• Spies Like Us (1985)
• Gung Ho (1986)
• Vibes (1988)
• Parenthood (1989)
• City Slickers (1991)
• A League of Their Own (1992)
• Mr. Saturday Night (1992)
• Greedy (1994)
• City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994)
• Forget Paris (1995)
• Multiplicity (1996)
• Fathers' Day (1997)
• EDtv (1999)
• Where the Heart Is (2000)
• Robots (2005)
• Fever Pitch (2005)
• Tooth Fairy (2010)

Partial television credits

• Busting Loose (1977)
• Laverne & Shirley (1977–78)
• Happy Days (1981)