Jay Burton; Comedy Writer

Jay Burton, 77, Emmy-award-winning gag writer who penned material for such comedy greats as Bob Hope and Milton Berle. Rejected for a job by a not-so-great comic, Burton impulsively submitted three pages of one-liners to Hope and was hired immediately as Hope’s youngest writer. In addition to Hope and Berle, Burton wrote for “The Dinah Shore Show” for which he won an Emmy, “Hollywood Palace,” “The Perry Como Show” and “The Dean Martin Show.” On Wednesday in Los Angeles of diabetes.