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 A Special Homage to Mr. Television |
 Alone at 80 |
 Berle, left, clowns with another TV legend, Sid Caesar. Offstage, he wasn't so happy. |
A vulnerable Uncle Miltie?
That's who Frymer found
of TheColumnists.com
It was 1989. Milton Berle was doing a show at the Circle Star Theater south of San Francisco. He was billed with Danny Thomas and Sid Caesar.
I went to the Sofitel Hotel on the Peninsula to talk to all three. We had coffee in the lounge. Caesar was silent, smiling awkwardly. Thomas told stories. Berle suggested I accompany him to his room for a one-on-one.
Upstairs at the door to his room, Berle fussed with the key. The door wouldn't open. He cursed and pushed and complained. The door wouldn't open. I tried, too, but this was definitely the wrong key.
Berle was frustrated and moaned about the lousy door, the lousy key. And then, suddenly, he started to cry. Tears gushed down his face as he gave up trying to hide his mood.
I said I would go downstairs to the front desk and get a bellman. Berle said he was having a lousy day, a lousy year. Looking even older than his 80 years, Berle stood slouched against the wall and said that his life had fallen apart with the death of his wife, Ruth. The two had married in 1953 (Berle's second wife) and they had been together for 36 years.
"She was my life," Berle said. "She held me together. She did everything for me."
And more tears came. I went downstairs to get the bellman. "He's locked himself out four times today," the young man grinned. "He tries to open the door with his car keys."
The interview was brighter and funnier. That night I went to see the show at the Circle Star. On stage, Berle looked 50, grinning and hopping around and being even funnier than I remembered him. The laughs, even more than his late wife, are what held him together.
©
2002 by Murry Frymer. The
Frymer caricature is © 2000 by Jim Hummel. The photo of
Berle with Sid Caesar is from "NBC's 60th Anniversary Celebration"
and is ©
1986 by NBC.
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