“Jim, leave that mirror alone,'” mama Kleinbeck used to bark at her son as he sat before the looking glass, trying out faces of characters.

Call it the itch to entertain, whatever, the desire to act, sing and act bit Jim Kleinbeck when he was just a squirt, and the 40-something man is still scratching.

Never happier than when he’s under the spotlight, he acts and sings at every chance and handles electric bass for his two bands, the Fabulous Murphtones, and Buddy, Richie and the Bopper.

But ever since the City of Auburn entered into its 15-year lease for the Auburn Avenue Theater in 2007 and hired Kleinbeck to coordinate theater operations, for the most part he’s been Mr. Behind the Scenes.

That is, the fellow who sweats the day-to-day stuff, books the acts, ensures the performers on stage have what they need, reports broken toilets — anything and everything to ensure the operation runs as smoothly as possible.

Even — within limits — pampering the occasional act that struts into the theater with big egos in tow and wince-inducing, prima donna demands. Like one performer who demanded a knife to cut his lemon, and a band that insisted Kleinbeck produce five clean black towels then used only two, and they weren’t cheap.

Fortunately, such acts are few and far between.

“A couple weeks ago we had “Broadway’s Next Hit Musical” here for two nights, group from New York. They’re more on the national level of things, and they were all really nice people,” Kleinbeck said. “For the most part, they are all really good, down-to-earth people to deal with. A lot of them are doing it on the side, they’re not doing it as a business, per se, they just want to perform. Everybody thinks they’re the greatest act on the planet, which is fine, as a performer I think you need to have a little bit of ego.

“There are aspects I don’t like. I hate putting the letters up on that marquee every other week. I’m the one that does that. But I love my job. Hey, where else do you get a job where you get to go to the theater every day? I get to watch performances if I want,” Kleinbeck said.

Indeed, it’s tough to glance at the mementos that clutter Kleinbeck’s desk in his shoebox of an office at 8 Auburn Avenue without thinking, “Now, here’s a guy at home, in his element.”

Which he certainly is. Don’t believe it?

Take the first potato chip bag on the left, straight on to the wall above. That’s a picture of the man himself decked out in the bulky costume of his all-time favorite stage role.

“I just love the character of the Cowardly Lion,” he said. “The Wizard of Oz has resonated in me from being a kid up to now. As a kid, I cried for poor Dorothy when she missed the balloon. And my mom would say, ‘You know everything’s going to be OK, right?’ “

Next to that, a framed picture of a Kiss Tribute Band he brought in —”Some people thought it was cheesy, but it was one of my things I wanted to do and a lot of fun” — a trash lid signed by the band Vocal Trash, and on the shelves old props like an Etch and Sketch and a plastic Oscar.

“One of my favorites in here is Randy Hansen. He does Jimi Hendrix better than Jimi Hendrix because he’s been doing it longer than Jimi,” Kleinbeck said.

There’ve been funny moments, too.

“Back in the dinner theater days we were doing a show called ‘The Year Santa Claus Almost Forgot Christmas.’ It was a kids’ show. I was getting ready for the show, and I hear the guy playing the head elf say, ‘Jim, we’ve got problem!’ I have everything on but the hat, I hear this and go out there, and there’s somebody from one of the bars that used to be downtown who’s used the back alley door and he looks like he’s had a few too many, and all of a sudden he’s got Santa in his face telling him to get out. And the guy playing the head elf said, ‘I don’t think that guy will ever like Christmas again.'”

Kleinbeck’s history is in fact intertwined with the last 30 or so years of the theater, and as such, he was a natural to assume the role of theater operations coordinator on the day that he, then working for a cable company, asked former Mayor Pete Lewis about the job.

He started when the Ave was a dinner theater.

Over time, Kleinbeck became tight with the Douglas family that was running the dinner theater.

“They trusted me with things. Then I came back, and now I’m running the place. I’ve come full circle. I’m a firm believer that if it’s meant to be, it will be. And if it won’t be, then you’ve got to deal with it and move on. I don’t know why I feel that way. I guess I’m here because I’m supposed be here,” Kleinbeck said.

“Let me put it this way. On my former job I got sick a lot, but not at this one. I have worked 40-plus years on this planet, and here my sick leave is approaching 600 hours. I don’t get sick. My job before this? I was using sick leave before I got it.”

PHOTO BELOW: Ready to perform: Auburn Avenue Theater Operations Coordinator Jim Kleinbeck in his all-time favorite stage role – as the Cowardly Lion in ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Rachel Ciampi, Auburn Reporter