tar Maker

Former Detroiter who helped Halle Berry win Oscar
coaches a slew of other Hollywood actors.

ir

ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER

Special to the Jewish News

or more than two decades, Royal Oak
native Ivana Chubbuck has been a top L.A.
acting coach.
But in March, she earned worldwide
recognition during the televised Academy Awards
ceremony. After nabbing the Oscar for Best Actress,
Halle Berry named Chubbuck as one of the people
responsible for her success.
"I had worked with Halle previously, and she called
me for help before her. Monster's Ball audition,"
Chubbuck says. "We spent a lot of time breaking
down the material, and it worked. She called me the
day after she won and said, 'It's your Oscar, too.'"
Notoriety is nothing new for Chubbuck. Since 1980,
she has been coaching actors, building a list of high-
profile celebrity clientele including the likes of Geena .
Davis, Brad Pitt, Kim Cattrell, Elizabeth Shue, Jim
Carrey and Jon Voight.
Chubbuck didn't start off as a coach. After graduating

owned by his second cousin Leo
Brecher, and Iry made $18 a week
with which he supported his father,
mother, sister, brother and grand-
mother.
Iry heard about the rising popular-
ity of a young, very brash comedian
named Milton Berle. "I'd never seen
we all went over to the Rainbow Room at him, or heard him on the radio. But
I knew that he was getting a kind of
the Hilton for a 4-o'clock feast."
Iry said both Gelbart and Sid Caesar fame by saying that he stole every-
body else's material. And other
came over afterward and asked him
comedians, who were not kidding,
why he didn't speak, since Berle had
were
really very angry with him."
given Iry his first job writing gags at
So Iry sent this ad into Variety.
the Loews State Theater in Manhattan
"Positively Berle-proof gags. So bad,
in March of 1933. Gelbart told Iry he
not even Milton will steal them. The
was the definitive man on Berle.
House that Joke Built, Circle 7-1294." Milton Berle: Mr.. Television.
"Plus, you're a helluva lot funnier
Berle called him a week later to
than those guys," Caesar told him.
"Will you stop? I'm busy!" Iry said,
invite
him to his show at the Loews
"I'm not offended," said Irv.
and
hung up the phone.
Capital Theater. Iry remembers taking
Here's what Iry had to say about his
A moment later, the phone rang
the call.
friend Milton Berle: "He was an origi-
again. "Nobody hangs up on Milton
"Little Carnegie Playhouse."
nal, outstanding at his craft -- and he
Berle," the caller said. "Who the hell
A
man's
voice
said,
"Is
there
some-
taught them all. I might not be here if
do you think you are?"
one there named Iry Brecher? This is
it weren't for him. In a strange way he
Iry began to shake. "Who is it?" he
Milton Berle speaking."
was the reason I got into show busi-
stammered
back.
"Cut it out, would you, Lee?" Iry
ness. Your life turns on not only what
"I
told
you.
This is Milton Berle. Are
said, because he assumed it was from a
you do, but what everyone else does."
you
the
guy
who
ran the ad or not?"
wise-guy friend of his named Lee Geier.
In 1933, Iry was an usher and tick-
"Yes,
but
I
was
really only kidding."
"This is Milton Berle," the man said
et-taker at the Little Carnegie movie
"Never mind the apology, you s--t,"
house on West 57th Street, a few yards again. 'Are you the guy who put the
A FOND ADIEU on page 78
ad in Variety?"
east of Carnegie Hall. The cinema was

A Fond Adieu

Bidding goodbye to Uncle Miltie, a writer recalls
gag that brought them together.

HANK ROSENFELD

Special to the Jewish News

I

ry Brecher had a rough week.
The last surviving writer for
Groucho Marx and his broth-
ers, as well as screenwriter for
such Hollywood favorites as Meet Me
in St.Louis and Bye Bye Birdie and cre-
ator of the Life of Riley and other radio
and TV comedies, Iry lost not one but
two friends in late March. One of
them was Milton Berle.
At Hillside Memorial Park in Culver
City, Jan Murray spoke. Red Buttons
said some funny things. Don Rickles too.
Larry Gelbart read a wonderful tribute.
"It was a show," Iry told me. "It went 2
1/2 hours. He was, after all, 93, and he
had a great life, and they extolled it. Then

Hank Rosenfeld, a former Detroiter, is

qi0x:4

5/3
2002

76

working on an as-told-to memoir with
Irving Brecher.

from Southfield High in 1970, taking classes at Oakland
University and playing in a local band called White
Trash, she set out for Los Angeles to become an actress.
"I got some parts, but I wasn't very good," she says.
"So I took classes and met actor Roy London, and
asked him if he could direct an audition scene for me.
"He was great about giving notes, and I asked him if
he thought of teaching a class — and I would do it
with him. He agreed. At first our clients were regular
people off the street, but many became stars and we
developed a reputation."
Chubbuck's coaching studio currently offers begin-
ning, advanced and master classes. While the former
Detroiter now teaches only at the master-class level,
she employs accomplished actors and actresses to
teach other levels.
As for her approach, Chubbuck says it's based on
psychology, behavioral science and finding a way to
relate to the character. She teaches students how to
have feelings they have never before experienced.
"It's up to an actor to expose himself and not to
STAR MAKER on page 78