Mitzi 'n' Charlie

In 1959, while making movies for Paramount Studios, Jerry Lewis also ran a little comedy workshop on the lot via which he hoped to discover and nurture new talent. That was where a comic actor named Charlie Brill met a comic actress named Mitzi McCall. They became a comedy team and a married couple and today is the 60th anniversary of the latter union.

They appeared just about everywhere a comedy team could appear — talk shows, game shows, Sullivan, Vegas, Laugh-In…but are probably best-remembered for their agonizing appearance on Ed Sullivan's 2/9/64 TV show where they were on the bill with The Beatles and much of the audience wasn't interested in anyone else. A lot of you know them from the game shows, especially Tattletales where some of the interplay would leave you amazed that they didn't divorce right after some tapings.

But they didn't. Though they bicker offstage (I've been to their home) as much as they did on Tattletales, today is indeed The Big Six-Oh. They may have the most rock-solid marriage in all of show business.

They're lovely, funny people who've had good careers, both together and apart. I am so happy they have each other.