Newport Beach recalls two Hollywood legends

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- As the nation mourns the loss of twoheartwarming

entertainers, the city mourns the loss of friends.

Milton Berle, the comedian so legendary he was dubbed “Mr.

Television,” died Wednesday in Los Angeles at the age of 93 after a

battle with colon cancer.

Dudley Moore, the beloved 66-year-old actor and musician, died Tuesday

of pneumonia as a complication of progressive supranuclear palsy, at his

home in New Jersey.

The memorable impression both performers leave across the country and

the world include some special moments at the Balboa Bay Club, where

Berle and Moore were both members in the mid-1990s.

“Milton Berle was as funny as they come -- just born funny,” said

Henry Schielein, president and chief operating officer of the Balboa Bay

Club. “I had so many laughs with him I can’t tell you.”

Schielein (pronounced “she-line”) said Berle had nicknamed him Hank

Shoeshine.

“One time he was wearing a tie with all clowns on it. I walked up and

said, ‘I love your tie,’ and he said, ‘I want you to have it.’ He took it

off right there and gave it to me.”

Schielein, like Berle a cigar smoker, said “Uncle Milty” attended

numerous cigar-smoking events at the club and several times served as the

guest of honor. Schielein first met Berle at his previous job at the Ritz

Carlton in Dana Point.

“We were cigar buddies,” he said.

At the Balboa Bay Club, Schielein also got to know Dudley Moore, most

famous for his starring roles in “Arthur” in 1981 and “10” in 1979.

“He was a wonderful guy who loved to have a good time and who was

always willing to say hello, to sign an autograph, to have a picture

taken,” Schielein said.

Perhaps Schielein’s fondest memory of Moore happened after a private

party Moore attended at the club.

“There was a very nice dinner party with him. Everyone had such a good

time. Then afterward he got up and was playing the piano,” Schielein

recalled. “The guests loved it. He was really fun and just really a nice

guy.”

The Balboa Bay Club has long been one of the city’s top magnets for

the rich and famous. Legends whose memories still linger there also

include John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart.