Milton Berle

• Born: July 12, 1908
• Birthplace: Harlem, New York
• Died: March 27, 2002
• Place of death: Beverly Hills, California

Entertainer, actor, and philanthropist

Berle was a first-class entertainer in vaudeville, theater, East and West Coast films, and early television.

Early Life

Milton Berle (MIL-ton BURL) was born Milton Berlinger in Harlem to Moses (Moe) and Sarah (Sadie) Glantz Berlinger. Moses worked in a paint store on First Avenue in New York City owned by his Jewish father Jacob, who had migrated to America from Germany, in 1849. Sarah’s ancestry reached back to Poland, and her father was a cobbler; she worked as a store detective. Berle was born at home at 68 West 118th Street; his older brothers were Philip Louis, Francis, and Jacob, and his younger sister was Rosalind Marianna. The Berlingers struggled to make ends meet, living in a flat surrounded by Italians, Jews, Germans, and blacks. Berle and his siblings went to the Imperial Nickelodeon and lived next door to George Jessel. Out of family necessity, Berle went to work when he was five years old after winning a contest showcasing amateur talent. His stagestruck mother took him for auditions, and he received children’s parts beginning in silent films, such as The Perils of Pauline (1914) with Pearl White, and continued with Bunny’s Little Brother (1914) with John Bunny, Tess of the Storm Country (1922) with Mary Pickford, Birthright (1920) with Flora Finch, Love’s Penalty (1921) with Hope Hampton, and Ruth of the Range (1923) with Ruth Roland. He received acclaim in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917), starring Pickford; The Mark of Zorro (1920), starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.; and Tillie’s Punctured Romance(1914), starring Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand, and Marie Dressler.

With these film credits, Berle was on his way to bigger opportunities. He attended the Professional Children’s School in 1916, was tutored on the road, and at twelve he appeared in the stage play Floradora (1920), first in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and then on Broadway in 1920. Berle worked at a frantic pace in theaters, films, and vaudeville and wore his own tuxedo. He changed his name to Milton Berle as Floradora wound down in 1921 to work with Elizabeth Kennedy as Kennedy and Berle on the Orpheum Circuit, two shows per day, seven days a week, for a twenty-eight-week tour of the United States. His mother changed her name to Sandra Berle and his siblings also took Berle as their last name. In comedy acts peppered with song and dance, Berle worked in nightclubs, then moved into radio and television. He sent much of his income home to New York, to his father and older brothers, while he toured with his mother, his early agent. At thirteen, he had his Bar Mitzvah at Mount Zion Synagogue in New York.

By the early 1930’s Berle was a stand-up comedian of renown, and he appeared in the musical comedy Poppin’ the Cork in 1933, for which he wrote the theme song. His creative stint as a songwriter—he would write more than three hundred songs—continued with his collaboration with Milton Drake and Ben Oakland in writing the title song for Li’l Abner starring Buster Keaton in 1940. Success on radio followed, with Berle featured on the Rudy Vallee Hour from 1934 to 1936. Berle appeared on the Columbia Broadcasting System(CBS) variety-comedy broadcast The Gillette Original Community Sing on Sunday evening radio from 1936 to 1937. Berle was tapped as the funnyman host of Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One, a radio program airing in 1939, as Europe moved toward World War II and Americans needed a lift with comedy. Radio audiences found emotional release and joy with Berle’s Campbell’s Soups sponsored comedy-variety show Three-Ring Time in 1943, Let Yourself Go in 1944-1945, and CBS’s Kiss and Make Up in 1946. He often entertained troops in hospitals on United Service Organizations (USO) tours. Performing comedy during the war to raise spirits was a patriotic endeavor, and Berle did his duty admirably. Berle founded the Friars Club, composed of celebrities and famed for its members’ comedic roasts, in Beverly Hills in 1947. He became a household favorite on radio with The Milton Berle Show on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), sponsored by Philip Morris 1947-1948. The apex of Berle’s radio career was The Texaco Star Theater on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1948-1949, and it elevated him toward television. Berle had three wives, Joyce Mathews (1941-1947 and 1949-1950), Ruth Cosgrove (1953-1989), and Lorna Adams (1991-2002).

Life’s Work

Berle had already worked for thirty-five years (from age five) by the time he took his radio program to television with The Texaco Star Theater beginning in 1948. His work ethic continued as he enthusiastically pursued his comedian’s craft on television, the new medium. Berle was superbly suited to the new visual vehicle of household television sets, with his slapstick routines, his outlandish costumes, his clean jokes, and his funnyman gags promoted as family entertainment. Berle often chided other comedians who used off-color jokes, saying they should work “clean,” and he became a beloved comedian, appealing to all ages and ethnic backgrounds. His comedy was a great healer following World War II, and he built a sense of postwar community. On Tuesday evenings, Americans across the nation tuned in to his television show, and he endeared himself as Uncle Miltie, earning the moniker Mr. Television. NBC made a kinescope (a film made from television) of each show. Berle would sue NBC in 2000 for negligence when they were feared lost, but the kinescopes were found in Burbank, California.

Berle invited black performing artists to appear, opening doors formerly closed to them. Stars wished to appear on Berle’s show because it gave them wide exposure, and each episode was produced for a modest fifteen thousand dollars. Each show offered singing acts, including the regularly featured singing Texaco station attendants, dancing, comedy, and skits. So successful was The Texaco Star Theater that NBC gave Berle a thirty-year television contract in 1951, at the height of his popularity, guaranteeing Berle $200,000 per year if he would appear exclusively on NBC.

Berle did television specials, such as Uncle Miltie’s Christmas Party (1950), Show of the Year (1950), and Uncle Miltie’s Easter Party (1951). Berle received the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance Humanitarian Award, and the Look magazine television award in 1951. Buick replaced Texaco as the sponsor of the Buick-Berle Show for the 1953-1954 season. Production costs rose because of labor union negotiations and higher salaries commanded by guests for appearances. For the 1955-1956 season, the Milton Berle Show moved production to California, closer to the variety of talent Berle desired to showcase on his program, then being shown in color. Berle gave Elvis Presley early breaks, inviting him to appear in his show during his last NBC season on April 3, 1956, and again on June 5.

Berle’s show became more refined and lost the zaniness and spontaneity of early days. Berle faced increasing competition from other comedians. In 1957, Berle appeared in the Kraft Music Hall programs, and in 1960 he hosted Jackpot Bowling. He won the National Academy of Arts and Sciences Man of the Year Award in 1959, and he was an Emmy Award nominee in 1961. In 1959, he starred in The Milton Berle Special on television. Berle was given an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1978/1979. A Tribute to “Mr. Television” Milton Berle was a 1978 television special. Berle was awarded an honorary degree by McKendree College in 1984. He cohosted NBC’s Sixtieth Anniversary Celebration in 1986. Berle died of colon cancer at ninety-three in 2002. Berle was inducted into California’s Hall of Fame posthumously in 2007.

Significance

Berle was a celebrated comedian who established the genre of comedy on television as part of family-oriented variety shows. His brand of humor was inclusive, appealing to children and adults alike. Berle, as Mr. Television, expanded the new medium’s reach to a wide audience, extending its cultural influence to compete with films.

Bibliography

Allen, Steve. The Funny Men. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956. Allen was a funny man himself who studied Berle.

Berle, Milton. Milton Berle: An Autobiography. New York: Delacorte, 1974. Written by Berle in collaboration with Haskel Frankel, this is an authoritative personal account.

Berle, William, and Brad Lewis. My Father, Uncle Miltie. New York: Barricade Books, 1999. Laudable biography written by the adopted son of Berle and Ruth Cosgrove. Berle adopted daughter Victoria with Joyce Mathews.