GOOD HUMOR

from page 67

says during a phone conver-
sation. "When I started, I
wanted to be a straight
actor, and I was for many
years. But I always wanted
to make people laugh."
Today, Reiner and his
wife of 55 years, Estelle,
reside in Beverly Hills,
"where I belong," he cracks.
The couple's home is within
15 minutes of their three
children, director Rob
( When Harry Met Sally, A
Few Good Men), Lucas and
Sylvia A. (whom the Reiners
call Annie).
A shelf in the den is lit-
tered with the 11 Emmy
Awards Reiner has earned
for his television work. After
a recent California earth-
quake, he says, six of the
statuettes were broken,
although they have since
been repaired. "I liked it
when they were crashed,"
Reiner jokes. "The balls were
off them and the wings were
off them and they looked
like abstract sculptures.
Reiner was born on
March 20, 1922, in Bronx,
N.Y. The son of Irving and
Bessie Reiner, he and his
brother Charles (now of
Atlanta) were raised in a
religious Jewish community,
even though the family was
not particularly observant.
Its a big part of who I
am," Reiner says of his
Jewish heritage. "My friends were all
from, but because my father didn't go
to shul and I hung out with my
friends and didn't want to be alone on
Friday and Saturday, I went to shul
with them."
He graduated from high school at age
16 and attended Georgetown's School of
Foreign Service. "I was very smart when
I was young, and then I got dumber as
the years progressed," Reiner says.
He had long had an interest in act-
ing but didn't pursue anything until
his brother urged him to enroll in a
local drama program. Immediately
drawn to the stage, Reiner began per-
forming for free just to get his feet
wet. Eventually, he persuaded the pro-
ducers to pay him a mere $1 a week
for his efforts.
Looking to be taken seriously as an
actor, he joined a repertory company
performing Shakespeare in the south-
ern United States and also worked in
summer stock in and around New

"

3/5
1999

74 Detroit Jewish News

22104MVW4amtt „,

Clockwise from top left:

Carl Reiner, right,
with Sid Caesar on
"Your Show of Shows."

Carl Reiner, front, on
the set of his hit TV series
"The Dick Van Dyke Show."
One of Reiner's first writing
jobs was working on
"The Dinah Shore Show."

Carl Reiner, left, and best
friend Mel Brooks — as the
2000 Year Old Man — in the
early days. Their latest CD just
won a Grammy for Best
Comedy Recording.

York City. During World War II,
Reiner joined the Army but continued
to act, touring several South Pacific
bases in GI revues and honing his rou-
tine in front of soldiers.
When he returned home in 1946,
Reiner set his sights on Broadway. He
toured in the leading role with Call
Me Mister and later landed on
Broadway in productions of Inside
U.S.A. and Alive and Kicking.
Max Leibman, one of the latter's
producers, also produced and directed
NBC's variety program "Your Show of
Shows." In 1950, he hired Reiner as a
character actor and host alongside com-
edy notables Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca
and Reiner's Army buddy Howard
Morris. The show's writing staff includ-
ed Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, Larry
Gelbart and a young Woody Allen.
"We all learned from each other
and we learned as we earned because
there had never been a variety show
that did original material week after

week," says Reiner. "There had been
radio shows that had sketches but not
dancing and songs. All the people we
worked with on Your Show of Shows'
had a different kind of humor.
Watching each one contribute his or
her best, you learned about what
makes a joke a joke. Sometimes it was
a word. Sometimes it was an attitude.
We got more laughs with attitude than
' we did with jokes sometimes."
Ironically, one of Reiner's most
enduring routines grew out of an
interview he had seen on a program
called "We The People Speak," a dis-
tressing re-creation of an alleged con-
versation where a heavily accented
man imitated Russian leader Joseph
Stalin.
With that on his mind during
"Your Show of Shows," Reiner sponta-
neously said to Mel Brooks during a
mock interview on the program,
"Here's a man that was at the scene of
the crucifixion 2000 years ago." And

with that, the infamous
2000 Year Old Man
was born.
The concept, usually
ad-libbed by the pair,
spawned four records.
The latest, The 2000
Year Old Man In The
Year 2000, just earned
the pair a Grammy
Award for Best
Comedy Recording —
and a standing ovation
from the mostly Gen-X
audience.
Reiner's partnership
with Caesar inspired
him to move into writ-
ing full time. The pair
later worked together
on two more shows,
"Caesar's Hour" and
"Sid Caesar Invites
You," and he later
joined the staff of "The
Dinah Shore Show" as
a writer.
Reiner also pub-
lished the first of three
novels, a fictional
account of his foray
into acting titled Enter
Laughing, which was
later adapted for the
screen and stage.
As the '60s
approached, Reiner
teamed up with Rat
Packer Peter Lawford to
put together a comedy
show. But after writing
13 episodes, they could
not sell the pilot. "I said, 'That's it.
That's my best shot. I'm not going 'to
bother with television anymore.' So I
started writing movies," Reiner says.
After appearing in several films, he
was persuaded once again to try his
hand at television, this time as a pro-
ducer. It was a role he adapted to well,
originating and producing one of the
most successful shows of all time,
"The Dick Van Dyke Show," a job he
recalls — along with his three novels
— as "the big thrill of my life."
He put a personal imprint on the
show. "Mainly in television, the pro-
ducers were also the writers. So, I
wrote 20 of the first 30 shows the first
year and 40 of the first 60 shows
c_
[through] the second year," he says.
The show became a television mile-
stone. "If you want to pick a dozen
shows that changed the face of televi-
sion and what defined television history,

GOOD HUMOR

on page 76