“The truth is,” Stein said in a candid interview, his first since his abrupt departure from the camp years ago, “that my parents forced me into it. They said it would be good for me.”

As luck would have it, Stein grew to love the pastoral idyll of Camp Anawanna, with its scenic vistas, spacious grounds and fellow campers who he would never forget.

“Those guys were great,” Stein told me in the living room of his family’s Malibu home. “I loved all of them, even Budnick.”

Ah yes, Robert “Bobby” Budnick, a fiery-haired dynamo who was nearly always up to mischief at Camp Anawanna, incurring the wrath of Counselor Kevin “Ug” Lee.

“That time I faked sick with Budnick, I really got to know the guy,” Stein said. “He’s all right.” Stein is referring to the time both campers feigned illness to avoid going on an all-camp swimming trip.

But what about Budnick’s countless attempts to undermine Mike’s (as he was called at camp) position as man-about-camp, oftentimes with the help of Edward “Donkeylips” Gelfen?

“Man, they pulled some crazy stunts, didn’t they?” Stein said, laughing. “They even formed a secret society designed to expel me from their cabin. I was pretty upset about stuff like that at the time, but now that I think about it, I can understand where they were coming from. Budnick was threatened with my popularity with the other campers, and Donkeylips, well, everyone knew Donkeylips liked Dina, so there you are.”

Ah yes, the lovely Dina Alexander, the camp beauty who “launched a thousand Awful Waffles.”

“Dina,” Stein said, his expression serious, “was a complicated woman. I learned that when we did ‘Cinderella.’”

Stein is referring to the camp’s production of ‘Cinderella,’ with Alexander in the titular role and Stein as Prince Charming. The show was rife with on-set conflict, due primarily to Alexander, according to reports from the set, which were confirmed by Stein himself.

“Dina really let the part get to her head,” Stein said. “I mean, she was signing autographs and everything. Of course, it was only later that we all found out that she had stage fright. I was shocked. If I had known, I would have tried to help her.”

Just how close were Dina and Mike?

“Pretty close,” Stein said after a long pause. “We had a very close relationship.” Stein refused to go into details regarding their relationship, so the interview turned to the subject of the infamous “Awful Waffle,” a horrific Camp Anawanna ritual performed on campers guilty of gross misconduct.

“I saw one once,” Stein said. “It was for a new camper. I don’t even know what he had done.”

What exactly happened?

“I don’t feel comfortable talking about it,” Stein said.

Finally, our discussion turned to Mike’s controversial departure from Camp Anawanna. Fellow campers were told that he had come down with chicken pox, and that when he got better his parents were taking him to Europe.

“I never had chicken pox,” Stein said, upset. “That’s just what they were told. I also never went to Europe. At least not at that particular time.”

What really happened then?

“What really happened was,” Stein said, choosing his words very carefully, “that I was forced out of the camp.”

By who?

“I have no idea who gave the order,” Stein said. “Ug just woke me up in the middle of the night and told me to pack my things immediately, that I had to leave right away.”

Camp Anawanna officials denied any such misconduct on their part, and stood by the chicken pox story.

“They’re lying,” Stein said, a touch of anger in his voice. “They wanted me out. I don’t know why, but that’s how it went down.”

Could it have been a plot hatched by Ronald Pinsky, the popular camper who arrived at Anawanna just after Mike’s departure?

“I’ve thought about it,” said Stein. “It certainly could have been Pinsky. It wasn’t Budnick; he wasn’t smart enough to pull off that big a scam, and we got along okay by then. It could have been Pinsky, though. He certainly had the brains.”

Attorneys for Ronald Pinsky did not return the Nincompoop’s calls.

Stein, however, isn’t bitter. “I’m just grateful for the good times I was able to have with Budnick, Dina, Sponge, Telly, Z.Z., and Donkeylips,” Stein said. “I look back with nothing but fond memories.”