Jerry Stiller’s rise to comedy fame began at SU

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In an old, cramped army barrack — a remnant of those the Air Force utilized in World War II — then-Syracuse University senior Gerald Stiller was preparing for one of his final drama performances.

He was to play Monsieur Jourdain as the leading man in Molière’s 17th century farcical play “The Bourgeois Gentleman.” Julian Tomchin, an alumnus of the Class of 1953, distinctly remembers Stiller practicing every line and gesture in the corner of the room 70 years ago.

“I was 17, and I looked like I was 14,” Tomchin said. “So, Jerry helped me put makeup on that would at least make me look a little bit older. A 10-minute gesture, but very sweet. He was always a sweet man.” 

Stiller, best known for his sketch comedy act with wife Anne Meara and his later roles in “Seinfeld” and “The King of Queens,” died of natural causes on May 11. He was 92.  

Before Stiller coined the phrase “serenity now” as the ill-tempered father of George Costanza on the sitcom “Seinfeld,” he was an SU student who arrived on campus through the G.I. Bill. The bill provided benefits such as a college education to World War II veterans. Stiller joined the army the year before the war ended. 

Stiller grew up during the Great Depression in New York City, and took to acting at a young age. After the war, Stiller began to pursue his acting career with a passion.

“During the Great Depression, when people laughed, their worries disappeared,” Stiller once said. “Audiences loved these funny men. I decided to become one.” 

At the time, SU’s drama department was in its infancy, and had only recently been established as an academic discipline rather than a mere extracurricular activity. This was largely due to professor Sawyer Falk, who served as president of the National Theater Conference, according to the SU Archives. The NTC was instrumental in founding drama departments in other colleges, including Yale and Harvard universities.

Stiller (center) practices his swordplay as the lead role in the Boar’s Head production of Molière’s 17th century play “The Bourgeois Gentleman.” Surrounding Stiller’s Monsieur Jourdain are the four teachers enlightening him on the finer points of becoming a gentleman. Courtesy of SU Archives. This photo has been cropped with the permission of SU Archives.

Falk quickly established a drama program at SU in 1927 and became the director of dramatic activities. He was an international figure in the drama field and the professor that Stiller would have as an essential mentor when he arrived on campus in 1947. 

“I was seduced by the theater to begin with. I wanted to be an actor,” Stiller said during the interview with the Television Academy Foundation. “And (Falk) allowed things to happen for me.”

As a student, Stiller was highly involved in extracurriculars. He was a member of the Sigma Tau Rho professional speech fraternity and the Tau Delta Phi social fraternity. Throughout his three years at SU, he made a name for himself through comedy gigs around the city and on campus.  

Dozens of articles in The Daily Orange recount his “riotous” comedy shows. One article states that his “benzadrine (sic) behavior carried the show from one bright spot to another.” 

But the organization that truly shaped Stiller into an actor was the Boar’s Head Dramatic Society. Headed by Falk, it was the “production arm and performing arm of the drama department,” said former director of archives and records management, Ed Galvin, in a recent interview with The D.O. 

Founded in 1904, Boar’s Head was known for its lavish production quality, always complete with an original score by a professor and costumes from New York costume firms, said Tomchin, a former member of Boar’s Head. The society had its own “little barn of a theater” at 817 South Crouse St., despite the fact that some productions cost $15,000, he said. 

Falk classically trained Stiller in drama, propelling him to star in his first Boar’s Head productions. Stiller had the lead roles in “Blossom Time” and “Girl Crazy” and directed and acted in “Long Live Love.”

For his performance in “Long Live Love,” a comedy chronicling the tribulations of a frustrated lover over 100 years, The D.O. wrote: “Every musical has its star and director. LLL has Jerry Stiller. The pint-sized comic took on a lot more than he could chew and shows no sign of indigestion.”

Articles from The D.O.’s archives state that these shows were almost always sold out. In May of 1949, Stiller won for his achievement in musical comedy at the First Annual Awards banquet at SU’s School of Speech.

Balancing both local comedy sketches at nightclubs and formal productions, Stiller’s career hit a fever pitch senior year with his final production: “The Bourgeois Gentleman.”  It was on the set of this play that Tomchin — who Falk had recruited to be one of two background dancers — met Stiller and witnessed his work ethic.

“Professor Falk knew what he had in Jerry. He knew he had an incredibly clever and good comic,” Tomchin said. “Jerry sat with Falk and questioned every little turn of the hand and posture and stance, so it was a fascinating thing to watch.”

Molière’s comedy about a middle-class man in 17th-century France who hires four teachers in the hope of becoming a gentleman required Stiller to rehearse his “schtick” constantly, Tomchin said. 

The production was a massive success, with sold-out nights for its historic five-week run, according to The D.O. archives. Prior to opening night, a D.O. article from March 3, 1950 stated, “it can mark a turning point in his acting career as an actor.” 

With all the press and attention on the young Stiller, Tomchin said it was easy to get caught up in everything. Yet, amid all the campus publicity coming Stiller’s way, he remained humble. During his career at SU, Stiller spoke to The D.O. once to promote a variety show he was working on entitled “Rah Rah, 1949.” 

Stiller starred alongside wife Anne Meara on numerous variety shows throughout their careers until she passed away in 2015. They were married for over 60 years. Courtesy of SU Archives. This photo has been cropped with the permission of SU Archives.

For his performance, Stiller was awarded the Gould Memorial Cup for the outstanding student in drama, an article in The D.O. from May 16, 1950 states. 

“The Stiller style is not forced or tintyped (sic) — it is just what comes naturally to him — and everybody just naturally has to laugh,” an April 4, 1950 article from The D.O. reads. 

But even after Stiller graduated in 1950, he displayed a great passion for his alma mater. When the SU Archives began a database initiative to recount the Boar’s Head Dramatic Society, Stiller was one of the first to donate, Galvin said.

“He loved the Boar’s Head,” Galvin said. “He always felt that Syracuse gave him his career and all of the training, and he was always willing to give back to the university.”

When Galvin took over for archivist Amy Doherty in 1995, Stiller welcomed him over the phone on his first day, he said. 

Although Galvin never met Stiller in person, it was the beginning of a nearly 25-year correspondence that included yearly Christmas cards and sporadic calls. Stiller also gifted Galvin a signed copy of his book “Married to Laughter: A Love Story Featuring Anne Meara.”

“(Stiller) never played the celebrity card that I ever saw,” Galvin said. “Everybody that I ever knew that knew him through the university always thought that he was a really special person and embodied everything that the university wanted in their alumni.” 

Stiller (left) pictured with fellow alumnus Dick Clark (center). After Stiller graduated in 1950, he returned to his alma mater on four separate occasions. Courtesy of SU Archives. This photo has been cropped with the permission of SU Archives.

Stiller gave a talk in 2004 with his wife and reminisced about his career, said Pete Freedman, an alumnus of the Class of 2006 and a former D.O. editor. For much of his young life, Freedman grew up hearing stories about Stiller’s numerous appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and the “palpable comedic energy and timing,” Stiller and Meara had, he said. 

When Meara hollered after the show “Jerry, Jerry, come over here, this boy is with the student paper, and he wants to talk to you,” Freedman was in disbelief that he was about to interview the comedy great. 

“As a young journalist, I’m sure I didn’t ask the most insightful questions of all time, but he took them very seriously and answered them thoughtfully and patiently. That kind of thing doesn’t go unnoticed,” Freedman said.

The brief interaction greatly impacted the trajectory of his career and proved to be a “formative experience,” Freedman said. He noted that Stiller’s humor was effortless that night as he went in and out of his “Seinfeld” character, Frank Costanza.

Eric Grode, director of SU’s Goldring Arts Journalism program, said he too had the honor of interviewing Stiller during his time as a freelance writer for The New York Times. Grode recalled that neither of them were in a hurry to get off the phone. 

“I’ve been in the presence of people who are funny, and you watch them flip that switch, and you know like ‘showtime’ kind of mode,” Grode said. “But you get the impression with Jerry Stiller that he was just a funny guy who didn’t seem that hard to be funny. Like his kids said, it was pretty effortless.”