News Scrapbooks 1977-1979
Thursday, Moy 3, 1979
On Comic Art Milton Berle Plays It Straig t (Continued from E-1)
Page 4 May 3, 1979 lemon Grove (CA.) REVIEW USD Programs May Ma e Up ay Cimp Loss "l•I a c ... n ,, \,Vith a Dif Thi' .first camp ls Hw All- Sports program, de;;igned to expose young peoµle, ages 9 to H, to a variety of sport· and :,;pwts fund,mentnls. Ba- sk in true lion will bo offored in swimming, socc•er, softball, raquctb·tll and vollf') ball. D:ii- ly t<'ssions will bP held from 9 a.m. to •1 p.rn., ::i.r on day through Friday. Two, one- Wf'Pk sessions will be held, .July 2 thrnugh July G, and .July 9 Uu·ough July 13. Cost for eaeh w<•eklong SC'ssi vaudevillians who did the same, all the way back to Weber and Fields In 1912. Berle reeled off his four favontes on TV today. "All in the Family," "M 0 A 0 S 0 H," "Barney Miller." What was the fourth? "The fourth? Oh, right. It's on today, but it's not new. 'The Honeymoon- ers. n, those, he said, match strong comedy styles and personalities to sharp writing. Too much of today's television humor stresses personalities but ls flawed by weak writing. "It's like saying, 'Here's a button. Can you sew on a suit?' . . Most of those shows that I've watched, the material did not come up to the performers. They're working with a bunch of junk." He repeated Ed Wynn's theorem that a comic says runny things whlle a come- dian says things funny, and objectively called himself "a quadruple threat,'' able to say funny things AND say things funny, deliver straight lines and perform as a seriou. actor. Back to his theme, stand- ing up for a remlmscence of how he recovered from a bad gag ("My girl is a Statue of Liberty girl. She gets lit every night.") m All of 1930 on Rudy Vallee's radio show just the way Johnny Carson does today. Taking an occasional bile from the sandwich, he talked about Henny Young- man ("How well do you know him? Vi ell enough to say goodbye."), and about how boxer Joe Frazier muffed his hnes during a skit on a fund-raising telethon, and how Berle rescued it with ancient tricks. So, does Berle miss the old days, when he was the Potentate of Tuesday Nights, the King of the Cathode Ray? "Do I miss doing a show every week? Yes, as often as possible. . . . Laugh Jt up. I laugh when you write .. Comedi.Jn Milton Berle runs through a we/I-polished routine of dramat, expressions. On The Art Of Comedy Some Straight Lines From Milton Be *** The University of San Diego String uartet will present a benefit concert for the La Jolla Cancer Re- search Foundation on May 8th. The concert will feature the first performance of San Diego com- poser Robert Furstenthal's Quar- tet, Op. 16 for clarinet, violin, viola and cello. Also on the program will be Henry Kolar's String Quartet No 2 and a quartet of Mozart. Members ofthe string quartet are Dr. Henry Kolar and Alice Good- kind, violins, Nick Stamon, viola, and Marjorie Hart, cello. Robert Barnhart will assist on clarinet. The concert will begin at 8 p.m. at the Camino Hall Theatre of The University of San Diego. Tickets ($5, $ 1.50 students) are available through the USD Dept. of Fine Arts, the UCSD Box Office, The Turntable on Ivanhoe St., in La Jolla. Tickets will also be available at Camino Hall on the evening of the pcrformaq,cc. :.,e,w,·~4 Pre.sS f-1--e.,.:+-.j 4- $:/J./ /-r, 1r.·,c.c11t,. ,/10/71 Vice president named at USD Dr. William L. Pickett is the new vice president for university relations at Um- versity of San Diego. He holds a similar po t at University of Detrmt His appointment here 1s effe<'- tive Aug. 1. He will be replacing Dr Gilbert L. Brown, who ha been named by USD I- dent Author E. Hughes to the newly-created po 1tJon of special assistant to the president at the university. Hughes said a major part of Pickett's work ,1 ill be to recruit financi.al aid · Berle, at e.i e, talks about comedy: "What you could do back in 1930, you c.in do in 1980' in walked a journalist he reC'lgnl7.ed from previous encounters. "Thls is the ame bleep that I gave you. What I gave you 10 years ago, I'm giving them today." Onward. "There ISD't any c!Jange. He talked about Chevy Chase, brightest of the bright youn¥ comics, and his use of doubletalk and re- minded the reporters of a raft of It's the same." "• othing Is new that's old and nothing iS old that's new If :;ome- body says, 'That's old,' 1t mean_s they're old enough to have seen 1t before. The pie in the face, the ltzer bottle, the pratfall - they re all new, but they're tried and true. \\ hat you could do back m 1930, you haven't seen ft before, Jt's new" He was in the middle of a soliloquy on the importance of personalities in attracting television audiences when can do in 1980. Because if you m a red dre TO · !r and Mrs. Levell Kimble of San Diego announce the upcommg marriage of thc1r daught r, Debra Lynn Kimble, to Darny Medel Manalo, son of Mr. and Mrs. Drmny E Manalo of Chula \'ista The bride-elect attends th_e C niversity of San Diego Her fiancf' is in the l\avy, stationed at • 'Orth Island A fay 26 wedding I planned a~ter which the coup!~ \111 make the:r hr,me in Chula Vista. ED - FOR NET PLAY l'.ntversity of San Diego's lenms team, with a 21-11 record for this season, has qualified for the NCAA Di vision II nationals in Litlle Rock, Ark , May 17-20. Coach Ed Collins said today he will take Scott pton, Peter Herrmann, Rlck Goldberg, Par Svens- son and Joe Pino to the mpetition - 64 m singles and 32 doubles tea('1S, Lip- ton and Gl"lldberg will form one doublP · squad and Herrmann nd Pino will play on the other. All ex- cept Pino will compete in singles. (Continued o E-7, Col. 5) Berle gets plenty of mileage on old jokes Collegiate tennis c larshlps have been accepted by three promising Junior players from the area. Steve Dawson will play at Texas Christian Universtty in Fort Worth, Mark ~cMahon will play at 'otre Dame and Jerry J~fee \\111 atte Id USD. --Tr:\..,."~ "5"/lr/71 that's someone who is secure in his work. Of course, Jack Benny was the master of this," said Berle going into that famous Benny stance with his hand on the side of his face, looking glum. " A real comedian is not afraid of silence. When you think of Benny, you think of his great silence gag when they asked him, 'Your money or your life!"' Berle said the great Ed Wynn said it, " A comic is a guy who says funny things, but a comedian is a guy who says things funny. The latter must be an actor." What does Berle consider himself? "I'm a triple threat. I can also play a damn good straight role." How does a comedian act? "They say actors are really great when they are honest. As soon as you learn to fake that, you've got it made!" Does he miss doing a weekly televi- son show? "Yes, as often as possible. (pause) Laugh it up, fellas, I laugh when you write!" Berle explained. "Things that worked in 1930 work today. The pratfalls, the pie-in-the- face - that's old stuff, but if you're not old enough to remember when it was first done, then it's new. It's tried and true stuff. "I just finished doing a televison show with Chevy Chase, a funny and charming guy. Backstage he started doing the old double-talk routine with me - thinking he originated it - that was done back in 1912, but Chevy's rediscovered it." What does he like on TV? "Honest and truly, my favorite pr~ gram is '60 Minutes,' but the pro- grams I think are the best comedy shows as far as writing goes nwnber )nly four- 'All in the Family,' 'M-A- S·H,' 'Barney Miller." That's only three. "Well, the fourth one - (thinking) Please see A-6 - it's a rerun. 'The Honeymooners."' Berle figures he did the first stand- up comedy monologue on radio. It was back in 1930 on the "Rudy Valee Show." "If your joke laid a bomb, it was a bomb. I didn't know how dangerous it was. There was no laugh track - you were out there all by yourself." Then he recalled the joke that brought silence while he was on live, coast-to-coast on Vallee's network radio. "I told the audience my girl was like the Statue of Liberty - she's lit up every night! (pause, shaking his head) Nothing - dead silence, so I counted, one-two-three, then went into a light joke, like 'Great suit you have on, sir - who polishes it for you? (pause ) 89, 90, 91." Berle said that technique is used by Johnny Carson during his monos on the "Tonight Show" with great suc- cess. "The guy who can come out on the stage and use silence as a bit - now Berle said he retreated without identifying himself and finally found gas at another dealer. The gas shortage made the states- man of comedy 20 minutes late, but a series of one-liners to newsmen quick- ly made up for lost time. "You're from the Times-Advocate? One of the world's great newspapers! (pause) Where the hell is Escondi- do?" Milton Berle was on and run· ning. After a couple of minutes of Berle- style candids for photographers, the ageless king of television began munching on a sandwich and answer• mg questions. A question about what Berle thought of present-day comedy on TV brought forth a 20-minute routine which boiled down to, "Nothing is new that's old, and nothing is old that's new." . 11cl~ l)!liltie, gets lots of' mileage on jokes Esondido? Just another I-liner for comedian Berle By 'IOMAS J. MORROW f-A Staff Writer laughed, munickingthe Texaco man- ager. J NCLE MILTIE'S MANY MOODS-Milton Berle puts on a number of expressive faces as he chats with reporters in Son D_iego's Westgate Hotel. Times photos by Robert Lacbm • n :>N THE ROAD TO SAN DIEGO At the Gas Pump, Uncle Miltie's Just Another Straight Man BYJACKJO~ Tlfflfl Shlff Writer 'Uncle Miltie?' I thought the guy was old enough to remember." SAN DIGO - Mr. Television al- most dic't make It to San Diego Wednesdv because a man who wore a star rtUSed to pump gas for the former Txaco Theater host. Milton lerle, 70, came to town for an evenig speaking engagement at the Univrsity of San Diego, but ad- mitted th trip from Los Angeles by car was omewhat tense at times be- cause of he closed gas stations. Berle, ponsored by Texaco on one ol TV's irst comedy programs, told his m~er, who was driving, to pull into a 'Jexaco station in Newport Beach. Eerie said the pumps were closed, t he thought the manager was old enough to recognize "Uncle Miltie," so he took off his glasses, slicked uck his hair and flashed that famous Bugs Bunny grin. "Sorry, partner, no gas!" Berle the shows done Jive on both radio and early television. "There was no laugh track." Then: "Do I rruss doing a show every week? As often as I can ..." But Berle said he loved the hve shows because the goofs added to the hilarity. "I thmk the thing that is m1ssmg on account of tape IS the spontaniety," he said. Some other pomts in Berle's discourse included: -There is nothing really new in comedy. "What you could do back m 1930, you can still do m '80" (E>:ample: Steve Martin, the "wild and crazy guy.") -Some of the best-written TV shows today are All in the Family, M.A.S.H. and Barney Miller -A comic is a guy who says funny thmgs, but a come- d.ian is a guy who says thmgs funny. The latter must be an actor. ("I'm a triple threat. I can also play straight parts.") -A real comedian is not afraid of silence. (Example. Jack Benny and his memorable long pause after the holdup man's line, "Your money or your life.") Berle managed to fill up somewhere, however, and did make it to San Diego to chat about comedy, television and entertainment in general at USD's Camino Theater. That was after he strolled in tieless - with a half - smoked Ctgar - to the V.'estgate's Bordeaux Salon to have a sandwich. strike clo n poses for photographers and d1Scuss with reporters much of the above. Predictably, Berle fill~ the room with one-liners and frequently got up from his sandwich to act out some bit recalled from years ago - on one occaSJon a monologue he'd delivered on a 1930 Rudy Vallee radio show and on which he had bombed wth a Joke about a gll'l who was like the Statue of Liberty be Milton Berle, 70, whose broad comedy helped addict the nation to television nearly 30 years ago, was low on gaso- line as he drove to San Diego for a Wednesday evenmg appearance at the University of San Diego. niere were waiting lines at all the open service stations he passed. But coming through Orange ~ounty, he deci_ded he was in luck: He saw a Texaco station that had Just closed. "I did the Texaco show for ears," he renunded those attending a sort of press conference when he finally arnved at the Little America Westgate Hotel. "They ought to remember Uncle Miltie, nght?" Re said he tapped on the window of the station and flashed his familiar "Bugs Bunny" smile - only to have the attendant call him "Partner" and refuse to sell him any gas. "'Partner?'" Berle asked incredulously afterward. "No
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