5 things you didn't know about Shelley Berman

In his 60+ year career Shelley Berman has put together a very impressive resume as a stand-up comic, actor, teacher, poet, lecturer, an philanthropist. He start his remarkable career in 1949 when he joined the woodstock acting group of Illinois. His career was sidetracked for a few years when he moved to New York in the mid 1950's but soon went back on track. Since that time he has done everything from working as lounge act to teaching comedy writing a USC where he still lectures. There is much more to Shelley Berman than just his on stage comedy. The following are just 5 little known facts of his life: He has been married for almost 7 decades Mr. Berman meet the woman that he would marry when they were both students at the famed Goodman Theater in Chicago, in 1945. The story of how they meet sounds more likely to happen in a sitcom than in real life. Sarah Herman was to shy to approach Shelley Berman so she took a rather unique approach of stealing the pants he laid out for a date he had that evening. He was forced to run up and down the halls until she admitted that she took the pants and gave them back. They started dating soon after that incident and were married 2 years later. He wrote sketches for Steve Allen In the early 1950's when the Bermans moved to New York Mr. Berman was having a hard time finding work in acting. He took a variety of jobs ranging from driving taxi to being a dance instructor at the Arthur Murray studios. Eventually he was able to make it back into show business as a sketch writer for Steve Allen's Plymouth Show. The Berman's had 2 adopted children In the mid 1960's the Berman's adopted Joshua and Rachel. The Bremans were building a good life for their adopted children. Then, in 1977 tragedy struck when their son Joshua was found to have a brain tumor and died. Just before his death they were planning a traditional bar mitzvah to be held o his 13th birthday. He has taught at USC for over 50 years In 1962 Mr. Berman began teaching humor writing for the Master of Professional writing course at USC (University of Southern California). He ha since become a Lecturer Emeritus and is still giving lectures. He accused Bob Newhart of plagiarism Both Shelley Berman and Bob Newhart have made telephone conversations a big part of their stand-up routines. Mr. Berman started over a decade before Mr. Newhart and claims that Mr. Newhart stole the act from him. According to Mr. Newhart one-sided telephone conversations have been a long stand part of several comic routines dating back to vaudeville.