By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
October 3, 1993

She’s not a former actress, TV reporter or radio personality. So what’s Bertice Berry doing with her own talk show?

After working as a college lecturer, stand-up comedienne, body builder, writer and singer – sometimes simultaneously – joining the Gab Pack seemed like the right path for the dreadlocked scholar. And if her latest day job doesn’t pan out, Berry has a Ph.D. in sociology to fall back on.

“The people who watch my show don’t care what I did in my past,” said the Chicago-based talk show host, who turns 33 next month. “They don’t get press releases, and I don’t start each show going, `Hi, I used to be a sociologist.’ They want to get information and entertainment when they tune into the program. And that’s what I try to do.”

That she is a novice to the world of television isn’t apparent. As host of “The Bertice Berry Show,” which began airing weekdays at 10 a.m. on WFLD-Channel 32 in mid-September, Berry is comfortably professional. She guides her guests when they stray from the topic without haranguing them into submission. A co-executive producer of her show, Berry memorizes most of her lines rather than relying on ear-pieces that allow producers to bail her out if she flubs up.

“It’s not difficult memorizing things, especially if you wrote some of the material,” she said. “Besides, I think it’s harder to be natural with all those things attached to your body. When we did some test shows, the executives all said there’s no way I’d be able to remember everything. But for me, I think it’s harder to be conversational when you’re reading things and have audio equipment attached to different parts of your body.”

Currently, Berry’s show is ranked sixth in its 10 a.m. Chicago time slot. Nationally, it’s rated 53 out of 127 syndicated programs, beating Jenny Jones (58) and Jerry Springer (76), but well behind Oprah Winfrey (4) and Phil Donahue (20). Though the show is off to a slow start, “Berry” executive producer Bonnie Kaplan – who also launched Winfrey’s first season as host of “A.M. Chicago” and Geraldo Rivera’s show “Geraldo” – is confident Berry will find a loyal audience before the end of th e first season.

“When someone’s already an established star, like Geraldo, you have a built-in audience,” Kaplan said.

“When you come out as an unknown, it takes people awhile to find you. We knew from the beginning that a slow growth is what we were looking for. We have a lot of faith in Bertice Berry and are trying very hard to do the best show we can.”

The bigwigs had enough belief in Berry to let her try things her way, especially after more than 100 markets, representing 90 percent of the country, snapped up the program based on test shows.

“We weren’t apprehensive at all that she had never done a talk show before,” said Peter Marino, executive vice president of programming for 20th Television, which syndicates the show. “When she first walked into the room for our initial meeting, she bowled me over. She had such charisma and the intelligence to lead any panel discussion. It’s an easy thing to find people with television experience. It’s another thing to find someone very, very smart and charming. That can’t be taught. The mechanization of how television works can.”

On this morning at WTTW’s North Side studio where the show is taped, Berry is fighting off an intestinal virus. She sits patiently while a makeup artist pokes at her with eyeliner and lipstick and a hair stylist prods her dreadlocks neatly into place. An assistant helps her select lower platform heels so she doesn’t tower over one of her shorter male guests – a warm gesture, considering Berry is just shy of 5 feet 2.

She tries hard not to cough. She has two hourlong shows to get through, a panel of guests to appease and a curious audience to charm. Berry doesn’t want the sympathy vote.

She wants folks to like her because she’s fun and interesting. Because she doesn’t have a ready-made following, every audience member is coveted. By the end of the year, Berry hopes the studio day care center she asked for will be ready to accommodate employees’ children as well as audience members’ kids.

“I wanted a center for women who wanted to come to the show but maybe couldn’t because there was nobody to watch their kids while they were gone,” Berry said. “It was like, `Duh. That’s who the viewing audience is.’ And if you wantthose kinds of people in your audience, it seems to me you want to provide child care.”

Berry herself has recently – and unexpectedly – discovered the world of parenting. Divorced with no children, Berry had no plans to remarry or start her own family. When one of her sisters got sick and was unable to care for her three children, Berry took the kids, ranging from seven months to 8 years old, into her home.

“In the first month, it was difficult to adjust to being an instant mom,” she said, laughing. “I was like, `Wow. How do women do this? Why do they do it? Why do they go back for more? Wow.’ . . . It’s a lot easier for me than other moms in many ways because I’m getting a lot of support. I don’t have to do it on my own. I have full-time help. Plus one of my other sisters, Chris (who also works on her show), does most of the work.”

Berry, who lives in Streeterville, rents a second apartment close to the studio to accommodate her nieces and nephews. Her downtown digs are big enough for her extended family, but aren’t child friendly.

“It’s white and I’ve got all this artwork and sculptures around,” she said. “It’s great for adults, but there’s no backyard. And I agree with my mother that kids should be able to play outside. At the other apartment, there are two decks and a backyard, and the children eat and play outside and just live..”

Her own childhood wasn’t quite as idyllic. The sixth of seven children, Berry grew up poor in Wilmington, Del. Her mother, Beatrice, did her best to raise the family as a single mom, and elder sister Chris dropped out of high school to help care for her siblings. A smart student who took accelerated classes in high school, Berry had her heart set on going to college, but knew that kind of luxury wasn’t in the family budget. When a wealthy benefactor – now her business manager – paid her way through Jacksonville University in Florida and later encouraged her to pursue her Ph.D. at Kent State, her dream came true. While at Kent State, Berry taught part time and found that her sense of humor made her one of the most popular teachers on campus. Encouraged to win a few bucks doing what came naturally to her, Berry entered amateur night at a local comedy club and won the $50 prize. In order to cash in, she had to return the next week and perform.

“Teaching and comedy go hand-in-hand because each has to do with interacting with other people,” Berry said. “It seemed to be natural to link the two together.”

After receiving her Ph.D. in 1988, Berry decided to try stand-up full time. She also moved to Chicago, but her reasons were strictly pragmatic.

“As crazy as I seem, I’m very practical,” she said. “I came here because of the airports. Chicago has the cheapest connecting flights, which was a necessity in my business.”

“I always knew Bertice would grow up to be important,” said Beatrice Berry, 75, who still lives in Delaware. “She has an inner spirit that drives her through life. I don’t really recall her ever being a difficult child, but she did go through some rough periods. But that was until she found God (when she was 10).”

“I was a very angry, bitter kid – almost evil,” Berry agreed. “I beat up on other kids, and I definitely was not happy. My godmother told me, `You can go through life mad at everybody else, or you can get over it and be happy.’ So I decided that when I was grown, I would be happy, but I couldn’t choose that as a kid because I didn’t have control.”

Prior to the taping of each show, Berry invites her guests to join her in a silent affirmation in the green room.

“It’s a prayer, really, but for those who might be afraid that I might pray to Jesus or Buddha or Allah, I call it an affirmation,” she said. “It’s less directed that way.

“When I was a kid, I decided that success for me would be when I could pay my bills on time, and I reached that years ago,” Berry said.

“But the ultimate sign of success is what Gloria Steinem said – doing what you want to do, affecting others positively and making enough to live, all at the same time. I feel very successful now.”

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Mentor Was `A Miracle’ In My Life’

The guardian angel in Bertice Berry’s life is very much alive.

“In many ways, Terry (Evenson) was a miracle in my life,” Berry said. “He helped me realize my dreams.”

Even though her family didn’t have money for her to attend college, Berry applied anyway. Philanthropist Evenson, who in 1955 founded the record store chain Musicland, called Jacksonville University in Florida seeking candidates for a scholarship on the same day the admissions committee was going over Berry’s application.

“I’ve been active in the civil rights movement most of my life and had set up scholarships through other organizations,” said Evenson, 63. “But I found that often the money I was putting in was going into boilers and things. So I wanted to do a one-on-one where I was able to keep track of where the money went and who it was used to help. I was trying to find students who otherwise would have fallen through the proverbial crack.”

“I used to wish on a star every night that I had a rich father,” Berry said. “In many ways, Terry was the closest I had to a father. My nephew recently asked if Terry was his grandfather, which just cracked me up that this child didn’t think it at all strange to ask if a white man could be his grandpa.”

Evenson and Berry, who didn’t meet face-to-face until graduation, spoke often on the telephone, discussing school and what Berry would do with her future. In recent years, when Evenson experienced a financial turnaround, Berry was there to help him and put him to work as her business manager.

“I’m happy to be her friend, proud to be her mentor and busy being her business manager,” Evenson said. “It’s funny how things work out. In this case, everything worked out for the best.”