Flavin got the best 'Tip' with Howard

He's finally able to bring play to stage

Actor Ken Howard, writer Dick Flavin, and Rick Lombardo, artistic director of the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, go over Flavin's script for "According to Tip," based on the life of the late House Speaker Thomas P. ‘‘Tip’’ O’Neill Jr. (Robert Pushkar)

As a successful television personality, Dick Flavin of Quincy has delivered more than his share of humorous ditties, poems, and commentaries. And he always had a knack for telling a story - such as his "Teddy at the Bat" tribute to Ted Williams. Flavin performed that one at Fenway Park and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

But it wasn't until he began his latest career - playwright - that he said he recognized where his writing talents really lie.

"I had an epiphany and realized the spoken word, dialogue, was what I wrote best," said Flavin.

The result of that realization was Flavin's play, "According to Tip," based on the life of the late US House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr.

The premiere of the play, produced by the New Repertory Theatre in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, was held at the center's Mosesian Theatre in Watertown on Sunday. It runs through July 13.

The play stars Tony- and Emmy award-winner Ken Howard as O'Neill.

O'Neill died in January 1994, but it wasn't until January 2001 that Flavin decided to write the piece. He read everything he could about O'Neill, whom he met many times while working at WBZ and later. The late US representative J. Joseph Moakley of South Boston, another longtime friend, proved a treasure trove of Tip stories for Flavin.

"Tip wasn't a saint and wouldn't want to be portrayed as one," said Flavin of the subject of his 90-minute play, which explores all aspects of the legendary former speaker.

The first draft was wrapped up in just three months. But the polishing and rewriting continues to this day.

The project has been a series of stops and starts over the past half-dozen years. There were many people who were interested in the show and vowed to invest in it, but didn't. As a result, Flavin learned several hard financial lessons along the way. "I was never very good on the business side," he admits.

Creativity, not financial savvy, is what has fueled his writing career.

The winner of seven Emmys for television writing and commentary, Flavin has also written and performed special material for the Boston Pops and Boston Symphony orchestras, and taught courses on the uses of humor and satire at Harvard University and Brandeis University.

He is a graduate of Archbishop Williams High in Braintree and Stonehill College in Easton. He grew up in the Merrymount section of Quincy, left for many years, and returned a few years ago to care for his ailing mother.

The Flavin name is a familiar one on the streets of the city, in part because his family has had a longtime real estate business.

With "According to Tip" successfully launched, a play on songwriter Dorothy Fields completed, and another project on the boards, Flavin, 71, said the new career has "energized" him. "I feel like a young colt."

Flavin himself played the role of Tip in the early workshop production of the play. After that, progress on the production faltered a bit. Cambridge-born comic and actor Lenny Clarke was the original choice to portray Tip, but he became too busy. Actor Brian Dennehy expressed interest in the part before saying no. George Wendt - the beloved Norm from "Cheers" - was set to star in a production set for the Zero Arrow Theatre in Cambridge in summer 2005, but then a TV pilot interfered. Flavin found himself stuck with a $65,000 tab for the theater rental.

Howard's eventual interest in the role - and his decision to stick with it and see it to fruition - was vital to finally getting the show produced, Flavin said.

Howard, 64, won a Tony and an Emmy for "Promises, Promises," originated the role of Thomas Jefferson in "1776," and returned to the role for the 1972 film version. He also won a Tony for "Child's Play" in 1970, and from 1976 to 1981, he starred as the title character in the TV series "The White Shadow." Most recently, he appeared in the film "Michael Clayton" with George Clooney. Rick Lombardo, the artistic director of the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, said, "I was attracted to the piece because I'm a political junkie." Lombardo, the winner of multiple IRNE and Norton awards for directing, called Tip O'Neill "one of the giant figures in American politics."

Lombardo said the level of discourse in politics has worsened since O'Neill's day, when the speaker found a way to disagree with Ronald Reagan and still get things done. "It's great to hear from Tip about the way things used to be, about another way politics could be played."

At Burns Library at Boston College, where film of the speaker is stored, Lombardo and Howard enjoyed a private screening of footage of O'Neill taken from interviews and public appearances.

"I would watch Tip make a little gesture, and Ken immediately pick up on it," said Lombardo.

If the show is well-received here, Flavin said he expects to take it over the pond to Dublin.

Said Flavin, "Tip was a great hero over there."

Rich Fahey can be reached at faheywrite@yahoo.com.