By Jae-Ha Kim
Tribune Content Agency
August 12, 2014
Carl Reiner created “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and directed films such as “The Jerk.” He has won multiple Emmys, a Grammy and, in 1999, was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.His books include “All Kinds of Love,” “Enter Laughing” and his latest memoir “I Just Remembered” (Random Content; $24.99). He’s 60 pages into his next memoir, which he plans to have published in 2015. To say that the 92-year-old actor-comic-producer-author likes to stay busy is an understatement.
Of his life, Reiner — who resides in California — says, “I am very lucky. I have lived a very fortunate life that has been full of travel. There’s no place we haven’t been to. (My wife and I) made one trip many years ago to China, when it first opened up to Western trade. It was three of the most glorious weeks we ever spent.” Fans may read Reiner’s very funny Twitter feed here.
Q. Do you ever write when you’re on the road?
A. I don’t think I do. When I’m on an airplane, I watch a movie or do a crossword puzzle. It’s hard for me to think and write somewhere else. I don’t want the competition.
Q. What is a destination you enjoy returning to on a regular basis?
A. France. When I was in the army, I studied French. When our kids got old enough, we would go for a couple weeks to someplace in France. We rented a house in the south of France. We eventually bought a house and lived there every summer for 15 years. Those eight or nine weeks of summer every year were some of the best times of our lives. Our friends, Mel Brooks and his wife Anne Bancroft, stayed with us. It was such an idyllic time in our lives.
Q. Is there a trip that stands out in your mind?
A. So many. We took a trip to Venice. It was very dramatic. One of my parents passed away. I left my wife in Venice and flew back home and then came back to Venice.
Q. Was there a point when you got sick of traveling so much?
A. No! Every trip is emblazoned in my head as the best time of my life.
Q. Where have you traveled to that most reminded you of home?
A. Nowhere, because home is the Bronx and there’s no place like it. When you get to places like London with its little neighborhoods that have a lot of people squeezed into a little place, it feels a little bit like home. But, it’s still different. All this talk about travel is fun. I’m writing another memoir, which I hope to have come out next year. I need to do a chapter about travel.
Q. What is one of your favorite domestic destinations?
A. Hawaii. The army sent me to Hawaii when I was a soldier. I was on my way to Iwo Jima to join the entertainment section. I toured the whole Pacific entertaining troops. I love Hawaii so much that when I was an adult and married, I couldn’t wait for our family to go there. I remember getting off the plane and just smelling the aroma — it’s mind bogglingly wonderful. We spent of lot of winters and Christmases there.
Q. Did your family travel much when you were a child?
A. We lived in the Bronx. The furthest we went was to the Bronx Zoo. Our summer vacation was going there every day with a bag lunch and roaming around. We knew all the animals. We fed llamas leaves. One of them spit on our faces. So when we had kids, we enjoyed having them travel with us. One of my sons is a fine artist. He’s coming home from Rome. He was there and in Berlin. He’s doing more traveling than I ever did!
Q. Where did you enjoy some of your best meals?
A. China! The food! Wow. There was one place in Beijing that kept a regular menu. Then they had another menu for the leaders. They prepared some meals for us from that menu and I have never tasted food that was so very delicious. Many years later, I can still remember the look and taste of it. There was this beautiful soup served in this intricate bowl. It was the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted.
Q. What was the best meal you’ve had on an airplane?
A. It wasn’t technically on an airplane. On a trip to China, we went from Canton (now called Guangzhou) further into the country. We got in a plane and they said since it would be a long ride, we could expect to be served lunch, which was normal. No. The plane landed in the middle of the desert where there was this little restaurant that had been built in this tiny town just to serve the passengers. We had this delicious three- or four-course meal and then got back onto the plane to fly another three or four hours. That’s something I’ll never forget.
Q. Do you think we get a bad rap as being Ugly Americans?
A. (Laughs) Some are really horrible. I remember an idiot American overseas saying, “I don’t understand these people. I said, ‘Milk,’ as clear as anything.” They weren’t even trying to learn how to speak the language of the country that they were visiting. When I used my French, the French almost took me by the hand to wherever I needed to get to.
Q. But you’re famous. They might not appreciate my French as much.
A. (Laughs.) I’m not so famous. To this day, I believe that trying to speak the language of the country you’re visiting will make a big difference in how you are accepted. If you try to ask for something in their language — even if you get it wrong — they will help you. One of the things we should be doing is speaking to our children in at least two languages so that they are exposed to a foreign language and can grow up bilingual. If you expose a child to another language when they’re very young, they will pick it up much quicker than if you try to teach them in high school.
© 2014 JAE-HA KIM
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
My hero.
A great article about not being a jerk abroad. I’ve been to France several times and can attest that he is completely correct. Try to speak French and the natives will bend over backwards for you.