Few entertainers have worked harder for their success than Joan Rivers.

For more than a decade, she worked her way up, performing her comedy in seedy clubs, Borscht Belt hotels, and Greenwich Village cabarets — sometimes without pay — just for the opportunity to sharpen her skills.

Her big break in 1965 on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson put her on the trajectory to celebrity.

But everything came crashing down in 1987. Following her departure as permanent guest host of The Tonight Show, her Fox talk show, The Late Show With Joan Rivers, was cancelled.

Not long after, her husband of 22 years, producer Edgar Rosenberg, committed suicide in a Philadelphia hotel room.

Since then she has rebuilt her life and career, one piece at a time.

Rivers will talk about how to survive life’s challenges when she speaks at the opening gala of the 2005 United Jewish Campaign on Sept. 9.

One of the most recognizable faces on television from her red carpet interviews on E! and appearances selling her merchandise on QVC, Rivers and her daughter, Melissa, now begin a new chapter in their lives, working for the TV Guide Channel.

On top of all this, she continues to perform her stand-up comedy on a regular basis.

“I do everything, ” she says in a phone interview from her home in Manhattan. “It’s the reason I’m still here.”

Rivers had just returned from performances in Las Vegas.

“And I do stand-up once a week in a little comedy club called Fez. It keeps you active.”

She is no stranger to Dayton. “I was a Kenley player,” Rivers says, remembering the time she was paired with Dom DeLuise for a production. She recalled producer John Kenley fondly. “He brought live theatre to Dayton.”

Rivers started her entertainment career pursuing work as an actress.

Born Joan Molinsky in Brooklyn to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, she graduated from New York’s Barnard College in 1954 with a degree in English and anthropology.

She says her mother had the greatest influence on her personal life.

“My mother was very strong, very positive. She never discussed anything negative in her life.”

Professionally, her greatest influence was Lenny Bruce.

“I saw Lenny Bruce when I was in high school,” she says. “I just went, ‘Wow.’ I wonder what he’d be doing now. What a waste of a life.”

Rivers says her parents didn’t want a career in show business for their daughter.

“We didn’t talk for a year,” she says. “They were right, in their minds. I was Phi Beta Kappa from Barnard.”

There was additional pressure because her sister Barbara became a lawyer.

Ultimately, her parents lived long enough to see Rivers become a success, which meant the world to her.

“I once asked Elvis Presley what his greatest regret was and he said it was that his mother didn’t live to see his success.”

Though Rivers has been fortunate to see Melissa make a name for herself too, she was not happy when Melissa told her she was going to work in the entertainment field.

“I was totally surprised,” Rivers said. “Very upset. I still am. It’s a rotten, tough business. Very tough and competitive.”

Rivers’ soft spot comes with the mention of her grandson, Edgar Cooper Endicott, named after her late husband. Parents Melissa and ex-husband John Endicott call him Cooper.

“Cooper is three and a half,” Rivers says. “It’s a great age, adorable and cute. They’re not fresh yet. Sweet and innocent and fun. I see him every three weeks. They live in California and I live in New York. He’s coming for a week in December. You have to do that. Otherwise you lose their childhood.”

While Melissa has begun her work with the TV Guide Channel, her mother will start with the Emmys.

Rivers says she already loves working with the TV Guide people. The most immediate change: the channel will take the listings off the bottom half of the screen in favor of its new programming.

“Rupert Murdoch is one of the owners. In five years, it will be (like) Fox.”

Noting that The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers helped launch the Fox network in 1986, she jokes, “My mission in life is to start new channels. I’ve finally figured it out!”

Looking back over 40 years in show business, Rivers, who turned 71 in June, says she continues to evolve and change her comedy. “Otherwise, you stop being effective. You become a cultural relic. I’d rather be cutting edge.”

A speaker for numerous Jewish organizations each year, she has championed and volunteered for causes including Tay-Sachs, AIDS, cystic fibrosis and suicide prevention.

United Jewish Campaign
“Joan Rivers is a model of the Torah’s mandate for the Jewish people to choose life,” says United Jewish Campaign Chair Dr. Robert Goldenberg.

“She’s been through difficult times and knows how important it is to work through your problems,” he says. “She understands that there are times in our lives when we all need the strength and support of others. That is what the Jewish Federation’s United Jewish Campaign is all about. When Jews are in need — in Dayton, in Israel, or around the world — we are here to help.”

Goldenberg adds that the Jewish Federation and its network of domestic and overseas partners — all supported by gifts to the annual United Jewish Campaign — are stretching their resources to the limit to provide a critical safety net of services.

These include food programs, financial assistance, aid to the sick and elderly, counseling, rescue and refuge.

“With increasing needs and decreasing resources, we need everyone to give generously,” he says.

The chairs for the 2005 UJC opening gala are Natalie and Dr. Mike Albert and Marci Vandersluis. Participants at the gala will have the opportunity to make their 2005 pledges to the Campaign.

A dessert reception prepared by Sarah Leventhal will follow Rivers’ talk.

An Evening With Joan Rivers, 2005 United Jewish Campaign Opening Gala, Thursday, Sept. 9, 7:30 p.m., Marjorie and Oscar Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education, 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville. $20 per person. Dessert reception to follow.