A Comedy Legend, A Beef Stroganoff Mystery — and an Act of Kindness
Maybe you remember him from The Dick Van Dyke Show, or as Mel Brooks’ sidekick in the 2,000 Year Old Man. Or as the director of The Jerk — or the old con man in Ocean’s 11. However you first encountered Carl Reiner, one thing’s for sure — he made you laugh, and you will not forget him. And while his comedic genius is well known, his menschiness also must be acknowledged — including one particular mitzvah (good deed) which touched the 92nd Street Y.
“You could tell immediately that Carl Reiner was a genuine lover of people,” recalls Susan Engel, the director of 92Y Talks. “ It didn’t seem to make any difference to him whether he was addressing a packed audience in Kaufmann Concert Hall, or a small group of 92Y staffers backstage. He held court. That’s how he was.”
This story, which we discovered thanks to New York comic book writer Matthew Rosenberg, goes something like this:
Philip Rosenberg, a television writer — and Matthew’s father — was a big fan of Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows — and one of its cast members and writers — Carl Reiner. As the younger Rosenberg put it, “It’s the show that made my dad fall in love with storytelling and comedy.”
Philip Rosenberg’s choice of dinner every year on his birthday was Beef Stroganoff — because of a joke in a sketch on Your Show of Shows. Charlton Heston was a guest on the show, and in the sketch — about a Cold War spy — Carl Reiner was told to go to a restaurant and “ask for Beef Stroganoff.” He sits down, the waitress comes over and Reiner says, “I’m here for the Beef Stroganoff.” She leaves and a short while later Heston walks over to the table and asks Reiner, “Can I help you?” Reiner responds, “I asked for Beef Stroganoff,” and Heston pauses and then in his deep voice deadpans, “I am Beef Stroganoff.”
Years later, while Philip Rosenberg was celebrating his birthday which featured the traditional Beef Stroganoff dinner, he and his twin brother Stuart discovered that they remembered the sketch differently — while Philip Rosenberg swore “Beef Stroganoff” was Heston’s name in the sketch, his brother believed strongly that it was actually “Sauerbraten.”
The argument lasted for years, and it saw Philip Rosenberg buying every DVD/VHS copy of Your Show of Shows, and reviewing every clip, but he could never track down the sketch in question.
In 2006, Philip Rosenberg learned that Carl Reiner was set to visit the 92nd Street Y to talk about his new book, NNNNN: A Novel.
We’ll let Matthew Rosenberg take it from here:
“My dad sees his chance. He buys tickets as fast as he can. My dad was desperate to ask him about the sketch in person. But knowing that he may not get the chance, he also wrote up a letter to hand to Reiner in case there was no time to ask. When it came time for the book signing, my dad waited in line and when he got in front of Reiner he told the story of how his whole life he'd loved the show, and the sketch, and Beef Stroganoff, but then he got in the fight with his brother. Carl listened. When he got to the part about how they couldn't remember whether it was Beef Stroganoff or Sauerbraten he asked Carl point blank: which was it? Carl Reiner stared at my dad, laughed, and simply said, ‘That was a long time ago.’
"My dad thanked him anyway, got his book signed, and then decided to hand him the letter he'd written too, just because he had said some nice things in it about how much he appreciated Reiner’s work over the years. Two months later, and my dad is out for a bike ride. The phone rings. My mom answers. A man asks to speak to my father. She tells him that he's out. The man says he'll try back another time. She asks who it is, and he says, ‘Carl Reiner,’ and hangs up. No number. No caller ID. Obviously we are all in awe that he had called, and we wait for him to call back. And we wait. And we wait.
“Finally a week goes by and the phone rings. My dad answers it excitedly, like he’d answered every call the past week. But this time it is Carl Reiner again. He says he read the letter my dad gave him at the 92nd Street Y, and he found it so touching that he wanted to share it ‘with the others.’ Then he puts the phone on speaker and Carl Reiner is having dinner with Mel Brooks and Sid Caeser. They are calling my dad to answer his question about a sketch from 50 years ago. They all make some jokes and then admit they have no idea whether Charlton Heston was named Beef Stroganoff or Sauerbraten in the sketch.
“But they all agree Beef Stroganoff is funnier, so they give the victory to my dad over my uncle.
This was literally one of the best days of my father’s entire life. His heroes called him up to chat and make jokes and thank him for caring. It meant the world to him then, and it means as much to me now that they would do that.
“As a side note, a few years later my dad went to the Museum of Television in New York and decided to watch some stuff from the archives. There were some episodes of Your Show of Shows that aren't available anywhere else. My dad sat down and watched them all.
“On the very last episode they announced a special guest: Charlton Heston. My dad held his breath. The sketch begins just as my dad remembers it. And then Sid Caeser tells Carl Reiner: ‘Go to this restaurant and ask for Sauerbraten.’”
While we mourn the loss of Carl Reiner, we feel lucky that he graced our stage. May his memory be a blessing.