OUR FUNNY
VALENTINE:
50 Years of Loving
and Laughing with
STILLER & MEARA
by Joanne Johnson / Humor Editor
T a l k i n g C o m e d y . c o m |
Jerry Stiller, who plays Arthur Spooner
weekly on King of Queens, will be reunited with his real-life
wife on TV this February when CBS's King of Queens brings back
comedianne/actress Anne Meara for a second guest appearance. The re-pairing
of these two legendary comedic talents gives a whole new generation
the chance to see one of the greatest comedy teams of all time working
together again. The pair first took the comedy world by storm back
in the 60s and have stood the test of time, in this often fickle entertainment
business, for over 40 years. More amazing than the longevity of their
showbusiness careers may be the longevity of their marraige. In a
profession that boasts many marriages of the fleeting and short lived
variety, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara are still going strong together
after almost 50 years.
Stiller first laid eyes on the young Irish gal that would one day
become his wife, back in '53, as he waited in a talent agent's office.
Anne Meara, the appointment just prior to his, ran out of the office
screaming about how the agent had just chased her around the room.
Stiller did the gentlemanly thing and came to her rescue. After the
matter in the agent's office was handled he invited her out for coffee
at Longly's cafe, the site of the present Time-Life Building. Meara
accepted, and thus were the unique beginnings of one of America's
all time great comedy duos.
Their show business careers and summer stock in different companies
would keep the two apart for awhile after their first meeting. But
the distance between the two could not destroy the seeds of a relationship
that had been planted. They say that absence makes the heart grow
fonder, well when you're on the road all the time and living on a
struggling actor's salary it certainly makes the pockets grow emptier.
"I spent a lot (of money) on the telephone," Stiller has
recalled of that first year. "One day I literally ran out of
cash. I figured she's not going to go out with me. I can't even buy
her a sandwich." But instead of loosing interest in him Meara
surprised Stiller by letting him know that she wanted him to marry
her. Marry they did, but their different backgrounds would prove to
be a bit of a problem. Stiller was raised Jewish … Meara Irish-Catholic
and Stiller's parents weren't thrilled at first, although they would
soon come to love Anne.
 Out
of the problems these differences caused in the beginning would come
the fodder for many of their best loved comedy routines once they
decided to go into show business together as Stiller and Meara. The
couple first honed their comedy act at a small night club in Greenwich
Village, soon moved onto a larger venue, the Blue Angel, and eventually
graduated to TV. They would appear some 36 times on The Ed Sullivan
Show during their hay day as a comedy duo in the '60s and '70s.
The eighties ushered in a new time for comedy
and the classic comedy routines of Stiller and Meara and other popular
duos seemed to become a thing of the past — like the Ed Sullivan
Show and variety shows in general. But Stiller and Meara would have
continued success, if not as a team then as solo performers.
Anne Meara went on to star in the TV sitcom Archie Bunker's Place and
continued on with her movie career. She would branch out into writing
in '83 with a CBS movie, The Other Woman, co-written with Lila
Garrett, which won a Writer's Guild Award. After branching off into
writing for the theater the first of Meara's works as a playwright,
After-Play would win the 1995 Outer Circle John Gassner Award
for ‘new and promising playwright.’ Jerry Stiller continued
on with his movie career, which had its beginnings back in the mid '70s
with his role as Lt. Rico Patrone in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three,
and stayed busy with theater and television roles as well.
And through it all they'd always come back together to do occasional
movies, television appearances and theater. A series of successful radio
commercials, throughout the '80s, gave young listeners a taste of the
duo's comedy stylings from their hey days.
"The best way to go through the world is to try and submerge the
need to be the biggest at what you do." Over the years, Jerry Stiller
has come to realize that straining for stardom can wipe a person out…
a philosophy Stiller gives his wife Anne credit for cultivating in him.
"Once I gave up on a desperate need to make it, that's when things
happened." First came an offer to play the role of Frank Castanza,
George's dad, on the hit TV sitcom Seinfeld. And when that series came
to an end, after its long and successful run, Stiller was back on TV,
once again, in time for the start of the new TV season on the popular
new CBS series King of Queens. "She (Anne) wanted to be a wife
and mother; I wanted the theater. She taught me how to be a human being,
and a father and a family person." Stiller has said his wife Anne
Meara is his "example for the way a life should be lived."
Anne Meara has echoed her husband Jerry Stiller's warm sentiments, down
through the years, by describing her other half as, in her own words,
"one wonderful man."
See Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara together again this February
on CBS's “The King of Queens.”Visit "The
King of Queens" web site for episode information.
For other sites of interest try visiting… www.simonsays.com
– the web site of Jerry Stiller's book "Married to Laughter:
A Love Story Featuring Anne Meara" by Jerry Stiller (Simon &
Schuster, 336 pages, $25 hardback, $14 paperback; Random House Audio
Book, $25.95 audiocassette, $29.95 CD).
Photo Credits (from top):
Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara together on “King of
Queens” in 1999/Photo Courtesy CBS
Illustration
of
Stiller and Meara during
their heyday as a comedy duo
TalkingComedy.com
You are visiting: http://www.TalkingComedy.com
|
CLICK HERE
to Return to the MAIN INDEX of TALKINGCOMEDY.com
|
Web Design by...
For questions or comments on this site, please contact TalkingComedy.com's
Webmaster
|
