ARTS and culture
Carl Reiner, 95, dishes his secrets to longevity Curt Schleier
(JTA)—The first thing Carl Reiner does every morning is pick up the paper and read the obituary section to check if he’s named there. “If I’m not, I’ll have my breakfast”—or so he says in the charming and appropriately titled HBO documentary If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast. Then, the 95-year-old actor, writer and director, the creator of the Dick Van Dyke Show—“my greatest achievement,” he tells JTA—goes to his computer to work on his latest project, a book. In fact, that’s what he was doing when a reporter calls to talk about the film and their shared genesis in the Bronx (and not necessarily in that order). Reiner, however, is not entirely in a reflective mood and dismisses the invitation to reminisce. “You know,” he says, “I wrote three books about growing up in the Bronx.” Instead, he quickly brings the conversation into the present. “It’s funny you mention the [Loew’s] Paradise [Theater on the Grand Concourse]. While we’re talking I’m working with a graphic designer,” he says. “We’re putting together a book of posters of movies that influenced me as I was growing up. Movies and TV moved me more than anything. Eddie Cantor. Jack Benny. Fibber McGee and Molly.” The book—tentatively titled Carl Reiner Alive at 95 Recalling Movies He Loved—is one of several recently published or in the works in his crowded pipeline. These include a newly released children’s book, You Say God Bless You for Sneezing and Farting, and the forthcoming memoir Too Busy to Die. Staying busy is one of the bromides offered in the the heartwarming HBO film Reiner hosts. The idea for If You’re Not in the Obit percolated from an obituary Reiner read for actress Polly Bergen, who died in 2014 at age 84. “It scared the bejeebers out of me,” he says in the film.
were 93-yearThe obit, Reiner old Harr iette goes on, stayed with Thompson, the him. oldest woman ever “How come we to finish a marathon, got the extra years and Jim “Pee-Wee” and we’re thriving?” Martin, who fought he wondered. in D-Day and still So at the suggesparachutes today. tion of his nephew, The film doesn’t the producer George provide a definitive Shapiro, Reiner set answer to living a out to find what long life. keeps some old “I think it’s people young. For partly your genes,” example, he visits Reiner says. “Also, 102-year-old Ida it’s your environKeeling, who does ment. Also, if you push-ups and jogs Carl Reiner at a ceremony for Jon Cryer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame have a funny bone; daily. She started in September 2011. if you grew up in a running at 67 to family with a sense overcome depresof humor.” sion resulting from For Reiner, at the drug-related Reiner points to family and least, religion or murders of her two friendships as an important spirituality hasn’t sons. aspect of achieving old age. played much of a Among others role in his longevappearing in this ity. He didn’t attend delightful film are Hebrew school Patricia Morrison, growing up. 101, who starred in the original produc“I got a bootleg bar mitzvah,” he says. tions of Kiss Me Kate and The King and I; “An old Jew taught me just enough to comic actress Betty White, 94, and fashion sneak by.” icon Iris Apfel, 94. Reiner’s spirituality hasn’t increased “People ask me where I get my vitality,” much with age—his belief in a higher Apfel says, “and to tell you the truth, I power was a casualty of World War II. don’t have a clue.” “Six million people died in the A funny bone is one thing that almost Holocaust and 6 million others yelling all the people interviewed had in common. to God, ‘Please stop this f***er,’ and He For example, the late Fyvush Finkel— didn’t.” who was 92 when he was interviewed in Reiner does, however, point to family 2015—says, “There’s nothing more boring and friendships as an important aspect of than a clean old man.” achieving old age, noting in the film, “The Kirk Douglas, 100, speaks about how key to longevity is to interact with other his wife urged him to go on the road with people.” a one-man show to show how he was His support system includes multiple recovering from a stroke. Emmy Award winner Norman Lear and “What does an actor who can’t talk longtime buddy Mel Brooks. If not reflecwait for? Silent pictures to come back?” tive about the Bronx, Reiner is more than he asks. willing to talk about his 67-year friendThey also shared a zest for life, a ship with Brooks. joie de vivre. Among those interviewed
30 | Jewish News | May 29, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org
“Mel and I go back to 1950, the first day I came to the Show of Shows,” he says, recalling the 90-minute variety show featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. “I was hired as an actor, to be a straight man for Sid. Mel was in the office. He wasn’t on the [show’s] writing staff yet. He was working for Sid, giving him jokes. “I came in and didn’t know who he was. But Mel was standing there doing a Jewish pirate, saying, ‘You don’t know how hard it is to set sail. It’s $3.87 for a yard of sail cloth. I can’t afford to pillage and plunder anymore.’ “So I just started interviewing him, and I just interviewed him for the next 10 years.” The pirate warped into the 2000 Year Old Man—a routine they performed at parties and made a private recording “for our non-anti-Semitic friends,” Reiner quips. “Cary Grant loved it and asked if he could have a dozen records. He was going to England and wanted it for his trip. You know they speak English there. “When he got back he said, ‘she loved it.’ We asked, ‘Who?’ and he said, ‘the Queen Mother,’” he says. “What an endorsement. The biggest shiksa in the world loved it.” Reiner and Brooks became inseparable buddies; an intense friendship that continues to this day. Reiner says that what helped cement their relationship was that their wives, Estelle Reiner and Anne Bancroft, got along. Bancroft, an Academy Award-winning actress, died in 2005, and Estelle Reiner passed away in 2008. “It was easy; it was a foursome,” Reiner says. “Mel still comes over almost every night. We watched Captain Blood yesterday.” Who decides what to watch? “We talk it over,” he explains. “We’ll see anything on that’s worth a look. We also watch journalism—Rachel Maddow, who knows that Trump is a schmuck.” (That’s an opinion Reiner frequently shares about the president with his 169,000 followers on Twitter.)