Store of memories

Mitzi Shore presided over the huge success of her Comedy Store empire and her success ignited the growth of the comedy club industry; but the Comedy Store was not the creation of Mitzi Shore. It was her husband’s vision -- comedian Sammy Shore’s energy, talents and contacts -- that gave “the Store” life.

Sammy Shore had long dreamed of a Westside comedians’ hangout, where working comics could informally work out material in front of live audiences. I had been his publicist during the years he and other local comics wrangled for stage time at the Horn in Santa Monica, then the area’s fabled “discovery place” for musical talent. Comics were generally offered stage time in between singers and musicians. Scheduled comedians knew that if a favored singer or musician popped into the club unexpectedly, comics got bumped.

Needing to refresh his act, Sammy couldn’t depend upon testing new material at the Horn, where comics were second-class artists. So, he approached some of his friends, one of whom knew the guy who knew the guy who owned the old Ciro’s nightclub property on Sunset Boulevard. Wife and homemaker Mitzi, borrowing inspiration from the Candy Store, Beverly Hills’ then trendy, private, after-hours club, dubbed Sammy’s place the Comedy Store.

The Store was hit-and-miss those early years. Sammy was usually on the road performing, leaving management and organization to his writer and pal Rudy DeLuca. By trial and error, Rudy set the tone for the room. Mitzi would pop in from time to time to check things out. Perhaps she envisioned the club’s possibilities even before contemplating her messy divorce from Sammy.

At any rate, the divorce gave her sole possession of the Store, and she went on to create comedy history.

Joe Siegman

Beverly Hills

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Phyllis Diller, Erma Bombeck and Roseanne are a few of the powerhouses in the humor field who juggled a thriving career with raising a passel of kids. Mitzi Shore’s cultural contributions assure her a place on that list.

Thanks for the great article on the woman who changed entertainment as we know it when she gave us the Comedy Store. There are plenty of comedy club owners, but only Shore has had a life so rich and wild it should be turned into a movie. I hope someone’s writing the screenplay.

Dawna Kaufmann

Los Angeles