Gerald Nachman, author, former San Francisco Chronicle columnist and theater critic, and occasional lyricist who "elevated his subject matter, especially the arts, by humbling himself before it," died April 14. He was 80. Nachman's "exhaustively researched books, Raised on Radio and Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s, remain oft-cited sources," the Chronicle reported.
His other books include Right Here on Our Stage Tonight!: Ed Sullivan's America; The Fragile Bachelor: Perilous Adventures in the Single Life; and Out on a Whim: Some Very Close Brushes with Life.
"When Nachman loved something, it left a mark on him--an imprint he endeavored to stamp, in turn, on his readers," the Chronicle wrote. "Or as he put it, in the introduction to his Showstoppers! The Surprising Backstage Stories of Broadway’s Most Remarkable Songs, after some particularly 'indelible' numbers, 'musicals were not the same, and neither were we.' "