.4,6 Friday, February 21, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
PEOPLE
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Quadruple Bypass Fails
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BY MICHAEL ELKIN
Special to The Jewish News
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4
Milton Berle: Back in (show) business.
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Milton Berle well understands
the unisex phenomenon of the
1980s. Long before Boy George
was a gleam in Maybelline's
eyeliner, Milton Berle was play-
ing dress-up. Surely, nobody
looked better in satin and boa.
And nobody held the audi-
ence's attention like Uncle
Milty, the weekly visitor whose
Texaco Star Theatre helped fuel
the fledgling industry of televi-
sion. ,
Though that was close to 40
years ago, Milton Berle still
clings to the title of "Mr. Televi-
sion." Over the years, others
have made millions and left
their imprint — Carson, Paar —
but nobody has ever swept away
the title from the man who
channeled comedy into so many
living rooms.
Berle's is a living legacy. He
is a hearty hall of famer that
not even a quadruple heart
bypass could squelch.
"I'm getting along fine, in
good health," he says. "I have
more energy now than ever. The
blood is really flowing."
So are the jokes. "You know
what (wife) Ruth said to a re-
porter recently about my re-
covery? She said it's the longest
time I've been laid off since I
was 7 years old."
Of course, by then, Berle was
an old hand at performing. Two
years earlier he had won a
silver cup at an amateur event
impersonating Charlie, Chaplin.
By his teens, Berle was a reg-,
ular on the vaudeville ircuit. In
the 1930s Berle, was a Broad-
way' hit and a regul 'on radio
and in the movies.
■
Fifty years later, the laugh is
as hearty as ever. And why
shouldn't it be? "I didn't have a
heart attack," says Berle, dispel-
ling any misconception of what
led to the surgery.
"I was just feeling lousy while
I was in New York last April. I
•
felt overloaded. So, when I go
back to the Coast — I had done
a Love Boat and Amazing
Stories for TV — I drove myself
over to the doctor and told him
that I felt lousy and tired."
After a checkup, Berle even-
tually checked into Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center, where Dr. Jack
Matlof — "the best," says Berle
— performer the surgery. After
ten days of recuperation at the
hospital and then more time at
home, Berle was set to go. "I
feel great. It's better than the
alternative," he wisecracks.
•When it comes to being busy,
there is no alternative for the
toothsome comic. "I'm not slow-
ing down," says Berle. "But I
know I have to take care of my-
self. I exercise a lot — I do 30
minutes every morning on my
'exercycle.' I feel fine.
Helping him to feel that way
were "50,000 get-well cards from
fans, from every denomination,"
including Jews who wrote they
would pray for .him in shul.
"Twenty-eight percent, of the
cards were religious, people say-
ing they were saying prayers for
me. There are a lot of nice
people, good people, in the
world."
Indeed, Berle has had time to
smell the roses. "There were so
many flower lg in my room — five
truckloads," he says.
Berle keeps on trucking, ad-
mitting that he'll use his opera-
tion as the source for a couple of
jokes in Atlantic City. "But it
will be in good taste," he as-
suresI
What would be the best trib-
ute that could be paid Berle?
"That I made the world hap-
pier," he says. "That I made
people laugh. That for a few
moments I was able to take
them into another world."
A world where "Mr. Televi-
sion" has been able to plug into
their funny bone.'