Joe Ruby (1933 - 2020)

The worst kind of Hollywood obituary is the one that starts out about the deceased then rapidly segues into a self-promoting piece announcing a weekend gig at a supper club.

It’s hard to write about Joe Ruby without writing extensively about my experiences with him, and readers of this blog know I’ve posted several stories involving him, some mentioning him by name, others alluding to him but not wanting to call undue attention since those stories frequently are about situations that weren’t really his fault.

I’m in the cast of clowns who make up those stories, and many of my fellow bozologists have already left us as well.

So I feel kind of stymied.

Let me say Joe Ruby was many things, with fair, honest, and dedicated sitting at the very top of the list.

The man possessed the patience of Job:  He had to, running a company that at one time included Jerry Eisenberg, John Dorman, and yrs truly and boy howdy if ever there was a trio that could push a Buddhist saint into gibbering fits of anger, that was us.

I’m honestly surprised I wasn’t fired a dozen times over while working for Joe.  

I would have fired me.

It was a golden time, working for Ruby-Spears from 1979 to1984, and I cheerfully came back and freelanced for them on several occasions after that.  

The thing about Joe was that no matter how much one might be at loggerheads with him creatively, one always recognized he was a mensch, one of the good guys, and someone who would try his honest to God best to make his shows as good as he possibly could.

I can only imagine the pain his family must be feeling at this time, or the great sense of loss his producing partner Ken Spears must have.

In very many ways, Joe was the quintessential cigar chompin’ Hollywood producer.  In far many others he was atypical in that role.  He could keep his focus when everything about him was going completely bonkers, either from network fiat or his own crew running riot.  And he always retained his compassion and empathy.

I’m sorry he didn’t get to do more projects that he wanted to do, not stuff the networks forced him into producing.  I’m glad I had the chance to work for him.

I close with one last Joe Ruby story, this one in classic Hollywood producer mode.

Whenever we’d have a writers meeting at Ruby-Spears, Joe would always be interrupted by phone calls.  At one such meeting we were sitting around the coffee table in his office while he was popping up every three or four minutes to take a call at his desk.

At one point Steve Gerber said, “We ought to start a pool on how often we’re going to be interrupted by Joe’s phone calls during this meeting” and immediately we all started laying money down on the table and staking our bets.

Joe came back, looked at the pile of cash, and said, “What’s this?”

“It’s a pool on how many times we’ll be interrupted by your phone calls during this meeting,” we said.

Joe nodded, dug into his pocket, pulled out a five spot, and tossed it in.  “Put me down for seventeen.”

P.S.  Joe won.

© Buzz Dixon