Hollywood Comedy Club
Posted By thecircusblog on February 1, 2011
Clifford Henry on the left, second in on right Morry Malcolm my agent and friend for the motion picture business. Forth in on right is myself. I wish I could remember the names of the rest of the group but I can tell you that they were old time comedians of the stage and screen. We were the only animal act in the club, that was only because of our doing comedy with the chimps.
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thecircusblog
My name is Ivan M. Henry and I am the 4th generation of a circus/show business dynasty. I hope you enjoy the blog.Comments
7 Responses to “Hollywood Comedy Club”
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My grandfather, Arthur Schreiber, was a member of the Hollywood Comedy Club. He was also the Headliner (President) of the Club back in 1975, I believe. I do remember that Sammy Davis, Jr. was the honorary Headliner that year. Grandpa knew everybody. The summer of ’77 as a sixteen year old I spent the month out in L.A. with him. He took me to the monthly meeting of the Club with him, I had a blast and got to meet a lot of stalwarts of the old Vaudeville and Borscht Belt days as well as contemporaries of the day like Billy Barty.
Oh! By the way, my grandfather was an animal trainer in Hollywood in the ’50’s. He used to do comedy way back in the day.
The man with the eye patch is Vern Rickards. My dad Eddie Pierce was a member of the club for years. They used to hang out at the Ontra Cafeteria on Vine street every day. Milton Berle’s brother Phil was always there as was Will Ahern, Abe Golberg who was also a clown, Little Billy Curtis, and so many others!
I was a member of the Hollywood comedy club 1978-85 and remember most of the guys above we would have our meetings at the Hollywood American Legion. I was a part of a Vaudeville song and comedy team by the name of Jules n’ Wood the youngest members who were invited and backed by our mentors Will Ahearn and Eddie parks. Another good friend of ours from our home town of Fort Lee, NJ was Tom Powers of the famous Powers elephant act was also a member. The fellow with the patch on his eye was Jimmy Val Gray. Who was the photographer of the club.Vern Rickards was the president one of the years we were there. We also knew Art Scheiber etc.
P.S. My professional name was Jules Wood of the duo Jules n’ Wood.
Ivan I have written to you about the Hollywood comedy Club and have gotten no reply, I guess you have passed over to the big tent up in the sky!
Ivan,
Thank you for getting back to me, I’m glad to see you are still you are still in this three ring circus called life. Patience is a virtue; you are right …it comes with wisdom, that comes with age, and by the time some people learn it the act is over!
When I first wrote on your blog I was responding to the question as to who were some of the gentlemen in the photo of the Hollywood Comedy Club with you. That picture brought fond memories to mind of that talented group of fellows that were the pioneers and the icons of the entertainment industry, and how encouraging they were to us while in their midst!
May God Bless their souls!
Bruce R. Balestri (Jules Wood)
P.S. I have a facebook page that my daughter set up for me for father’s day, called “The Traveling Troubadour”, covering some of my Hollywood adventures as a Vaudeville Duo who were dubbed “The Entertainer’s Entertainers”! If you or any of your followers would like to view it and leave comments for dialog it would be welcomed.