Acting out with Joe Behar

Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000 | 9:07 a.m.

All of Joe Behar's world is a stage.

Week in and week out for the past 25 years the 66-year-old drama coach has worked with aspiring actors in Las Vegas who attend his free weekly Community Drama Workshop.

"Many of them would like to become professionals, but most don't make it," Behar observed during a break at one of his workshops, held each Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon in the Showroom at the Gold Coast hotel-casino.

There are other reasons for attending besides seeking stardom.

Some simply enjoy performing. Others like the friendships they form. There are those who want to overcome the fear of speaking in public and others who do it to release pent-up emotions.

"It's the best therapy in the world," Behar said. "It's better than a $95 half-hour session with a psychiatrist."

He also offers for-profit group classes held every Wednesday at his home and is available for private tutoring.

Behar's workshop has been around for so long that the children of former students are among those who come to him to be critiqued, criticized and encouraged as they stand on stage and give dramatic or comedic readings on stage.

Twenty or more people generally attend the sessions, a mixture of veteran students and first-timers.

"Sometimes a tourist will see an ad about our class and drop by," Behar said.

They come in all ages and with backgrounds as varied as doctors, cab drivers and housekeepers.

One of the oldest workshop members is in his 90s; the youngest is 6. Some are professional entertainers, such as Danny Countess, who has a ventriloquist act.

Jack Berenbaum is a businessman who retired to Las Vegas nine years ago and has been attending the acting workshop for two years. When he was a young man he wanted to be an actor and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, but ended up in the jewelry business. Now that he is retired he is resuming his pursuit of acting.

Fifty-one-year-old Lynda Butera is Behar's most faithful student. She has been attending his classes for more than 20 years, beginning in June 1979. "This is my second home," she said. "I started coming because I needed something extra in my life. I have made lifelong friends here. Joe is like my uncle, he's part of my family."

Dick Cornell, 77, a retired sales trainer, has been attending classes for 11 years and has become Behar's right-hand man. "I've always been interested in drama . I did a lot of community theater in Ohio," Cornell said. "I retired and moved to Las Vegas and saw a write-up on Joe in the paper and I've been coming ever since."

Six-year-old Kyle Anderson may be the most ambitious of the drama students. His mother, Gina, 41, attended the workshop when she was in her 20s and has been bringing her son for the past eight months. A daughter, SaraLee, 14, has also attended the class.

"I want to be an actor," Kyle said with youthful determination.

He was about a year old the first time he performed. "When the Fremont Street Experience opened, he was the littlest Angel," Gina Anderson said.

When he was 3 he became infatuated with Charlie Chaplin and has seen most of his movies. At the drop of a hat Kyle will break into the famous Chaplin walk. He takes ballet, tap and jazz dance lessons and is ready when Hollywood calls.

Occasionally Hollywood comes to Las Vegas -- and when a film is shot here quite often some of Behar's students are cast as extras and bit players. Some of his students also pick up extra money doing local commercials or performing in dinner theater murder mysteries.

A few of his students find love in the workshop and get married -- such as Behar himself. His wife, Carol, whom everyone calls Slick, began attending the workshop in 1990 and, two years later, they were married.

"He's the best teacher in the world," Carol Behar said. "He knows how to read people. He is very fair and professional and truthful. He doesn't push you. He believes in letting you grow on your own."

Behar said he became interested in acting when he was growing up in Los Angeles.

His closest friend in high school was Allen Cohen, whose father was Carl Cohen, former vice president of the Sands hotel-casino and the man who famously punched Frank Sinatra in the mouth when Sinatra was being out of line at the casino in 1967.

Allen Cohen wanted to be an actor and convinced Behar to chase the dream as well. Cohen adopted the stage name Corey Allen. One of his most memorable roles was as Buzz in "Rebel Without a Cause." He was the head of the gang who went over the cliff in the scene in which he and James Dean were playing chicken in their cars.

Cohen went on to become a director, primarily of episodic television. He is now semi-retired in Los Angeles.

Behar said that when he graduated from high school in 1951 he attended an acting class that included Dean. "I knew he was talented, but I didn't realize at the time how talented," he said.

After college Behar pursued an acting career. "I starved with the best of them," he said. He didn't like the insecurity of the career and gave it up, turning to rewriting television scripts, which he still does today.

Although he gave up his attempt to be a professional actor, he still loved acting and he wanted to share that love with others.

In the late '60s he and actor Ed Asner teamed up to teach a weekly acting class in Los Angeles. "This was when he was still a struggling actor and had a lot of free time on his hands. We ran the workshop for about four years," Behar said.

As soon as Behar moved to Las Vegas 25 years ago, he started a workshop here, and it's been going ever since.

In the mid-'70s he and comic Rip Taylor started a "Comedy Corner" show for aspiring comics. The show floated from casino to casino, Behar said, showcasing new comics.

"Drew Carey attended my Community Drama Workshop off and on for two years and did his act for the 'Comedy Corner' in the '70s before he made it big," Behar said.

One of Behar's prized possessions is a Carey T-shirt signed by the comedian in 1991. Carey wrote on the garment: "I owe it all to the Joe Behar Community Workshop, now put the gun down. Thanks. Drew Carey."

Taylor recently spoke to a group of students at Behar's workshop, talking about the entertainment business, the theory of comedy and its importance. "People want to laugh," Taylor said. "It's sad, but many comedy clubs are fading."

Taylor currently is the special guest star appearing with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes in their "Great Radio City Spectacular" at the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel-casino.

Once a year the workshop has a "Showcase," in which producers, agents and others in the entertainment industry are invited to sit in the audience and observe students perform short readings or skits. (The next one is tentatively set for 2 p.m. May 13 at the Gold Coast.)

Behar said that the casino donates the facilities and if a paying customer comes along the workshop's show will be postponed. But that won't discourage the students. It will simply be another lesson, one learning to deal with disappointment.

"This is all about overcoming fears -- fear of being in front of an audience, fear of rejection," Behar said. "But rejection builds character. The more you get rejected, the stronger you will become. You won't get rejected by staying at home, but you won't get any jobs, either."