- published: 29 Dec 2011
- views: 50284
- author: LaughVids2
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Berle, Milton Filmography
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Famous quotes by Milton Berle:
"Anytime a person goes into a delicatessen and orders a pastrami on white bread, somewhere a Jew dies."
"The company accountant is shy and retiring. He's shy a quarter of a million dollars. That's why he's retiring."
"I just filled out my income tax forms. Who says you can't get killed by a blank?"
"A man is hit by a car while crossing a Beverly Hills street. A woman rushes to him and cradles his head in her lap, asking, "Are you comfortable?" The man answers, "I make a nice living.""
"Poverty is not a disgrace, but it's terribly inconvenient."
"Experience is what you have after you've forgotten her name."
"Committee--a group of men who keep minutes and waste hours."
"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."
"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?"
"I live to laugh, and I laugh to live"
"I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are."
"We owe a lot to Thomas Edison - if it wasn't for him, we'd be watching television by candlelight."
"Laughter is an instant vacation."
"I feel like Zsa Zsa Gabor's sixth husband. I know what I'm supposed to do, but I don't know how to make it interesting."
"A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours."
"You can lead a man to Congress, but you can't make him think."
"I live to laugh, and I laugh to live."
RELEASE
ALBUMS
- Songs My Mother Loved
- Anniversary Song
- Oh How I Miss You Tonight
- I Don't Know Why
- Try a Little Tenderness
- Imagination
- Together
- Dear Little Boy of Mine
- If You Were the Only Girl
- Till We Meet Again
- I'd Give a Million Tomorrows
- Near You
Born: 1908-07-12
Died: 2002-03-27
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Milton Berle Roasts Jack Benny
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:14
- Updated: 01 May 2013
Milton Berle Roasts Jack Benny.
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Roasts_Jack_Benny
Milton Berle has problems with the censors!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:51
- Updated: 23 Apr 2013
hilarious comedy sketch from a 1949 episode of "Texaco Star Theater".
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_has_problems_with_the_censors!
hilarious comedy sketch from a 1949 episode of "Texaco Star Theater".
- published: 07 Aug 2012
- views: 3521
- author: MattTheSaiyan
Milton Berle Vs. Statler & Waldorf
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:50
- Updated: 30 Apr 2013
This is a video from the Muppet Show where Milton Berle the best comedian the television knew failed to compete with the well known Statler & Waldorf, very f...
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Vs_Statler_Waldorf
This is a video from the Muppet Show where Milton Berle the best comedian the television knew failed to compete with the well known Statler & Waldorf, very f...
- published: 05 Dec 2007
- views: 1073770
- author: Nawar Nory
Henny Youngman heckles Milton Berle 1966
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:09
- Updated: 24 Apr 2013
Henny Youngman, king of the one-liners, heckles Uncle Miltie on The Hollywood Palace, 1966.
http://wn.com/Henny_Youngman_heckles_Milton_Berle_1966
Henny Youngman, king of the one-liners, heckles Uncle Miltie on The Hollywood Palace, 1966.
- published: 15 Jan 2012
- views: 42536
- author: Milton Berle
Milton Berle roasts Lucille Ball
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:03
- Updated: 30 Apr 2013
Dean Martin Roast.
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_roasts_Lucille_Ball
Milton Berle Roasts Don Rickles
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:12
- Updated: 28 Apr 2013
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Roasts_Don_Rickles
Bob Hope, with Milton Berle & Danny Thomas, 1990
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:47
- Updated: 23 Apr 2013
Bob jokes with Milton Berle and Danny Thomas about early television. From a Bob Hope special, based on his book "Don't shoot, it's only me" Sept. 15, 1990.
http://wn.com/Bob_Hope,_with_Milton_Berle_Danny_Thomas,_1990
Bob jokes with Milton Berle and Danny Thomas about early television. From a Bob Hope special, based on his book "Don't shoot, it's only me" Sept. 15, 1990.
- published: 11 May 2011
- views: 12094
- author: LPXI
Henny Youngman Roasts Milton Berle
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:18
- Updated: 25 Apr 2013
Henny Youngman Roasts Milton Berle.
http://wn.com/Henny_Youngman_Roasts_Milton_Berle
What's my Line? Milton Berle
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:42
- Updated: 13 Apr 2013
What's my Line? Milton Berle.
http://wn.com/What's_my_Line?_Milton_Berle
Milton Berle Roasts Jerry Lewis
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:59
- Updated: 26 Apr 2013
Milton Berle Roasts Jerry Lewis.
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Roasts_Jerry_Lewis
Paula Stewart's Comic Giants: Milton Berle's Funeral - Don Rickles Eulogy
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:10
- Updated: 11 Apr 2013
From Paula Stewart's Comic Giants Series: Tribute to Milton Berle. Don Rickles Eulogy is Hilarius, irreverent and just what you'd expect from this exclusive,...
http://wn.com/Paula_Stewart's_Comic_Giants_Milton_Berle's_Funeral_Don_Rickles_Eulogy
From Paula Stewart's Comic Giants Series: Tribute to Milton Berle. Don Rickles Eulogy is Hilarius, irreverent and just what you'd expect from this exclusive,...
- published: 24 Apr 2011
- views: 25126
- author: VictoriaWarrior
Rupaul and Milton Berle at vma93.mp4
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:05
- Updated: 20 Apr 2013
RuPaul and Milton Berle at the Video Music Awards (vma) '93. Hilarious.
http://wn.com/Rupaul_and_Milton_Berle_at_vma93mp4
RuPaul and Milton Berle at the Video Music Awards (vma) '93. Hilarious.
- published: 09 Jan 2012
- views: 9493
- author: ejetsam
Milton Berle roasts James Stewart
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:27
- Updated: 30 Apr 2013
Dean Martin Roast.
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_roasts_James_Stewart
The Milton Berle Show - Elvis Presley and Debra Paget
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:32
- Updated: 18 Apr 2013
Elvis Presley and Debra Paget as guests on The Milton Berle Show in 1956.
http://wn.com/The_Milton_Berle_Show_Elvis_Presley_and_Debra_Paget
Elvis Presley and Debra Paget as guests on The Milton Berle Show in 1956.
- published: 14 Aug 2007
- views: 93081
- author: changeofhabit
Late Night with Conan O'Brien - Milton Berle Charges the Set (Paley Center, 2007)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:16
- Updated: 25 Mar 2013
Host Conan OBrien tells one of his favorite on-air stories about the time Milton Berle charged the set. ABOUT THE PALEY CENTER: In an era of rapid change in ...
http://wn.com/Late_Night_with_Conan_O'Brien_Milton_Berle_Charges_the_Set_Paley_Center,_2007
Host Conan OBrien tells one of his favorite on-air stories about the time Milton Berle charged the set. ABOUT THE PALEY CENTER: In an era of rapid change in ...
- published: 12 Jan 2010
- views: 35733
- author: paleycenter
Uncle Miltie IS Auntie Mildred!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:29
- Updated: 28 Mar 2013
Milton Berle guest stars (in drag) on the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (I Love Lucy).
http://wn.com/Uncle_Miltie_IS_Auntie_Mildred!
Milton Berle guest stars (in drag) on the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (I Love Lucy).
- published: 13 Sep 2008
- views: 16384
- author: Gregory May
Jackpot Bowling starring Milton Berle - Jan 23, 1961 (part 1 of 2)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:59
- Updated: 15 Mar 2013
Part 1 of 2 parts. A 1961 episode of "Jackpot Bowling Starring Milton Berle." This show aired from January, 1959 through March of 1961 as part of NBC's prime...
http://wn.com/Jackpot_Bowling_starring_Milton_Berle_Jan_23,_1961_part_1_of_2
Part 1 of 2 parts. A 1961 episode of "Jackpot Bowling Starring Milton Berle." This show aired from January, 1959 through March of 1961 as part of NBC's prime...
- published: 07 Mar 2012
- views: 1931
- author: BowlingOldies
Uncle Miltie Gets Told Off
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:57
- Updated: 14 Mar 2013
Comedy & TV legend Milton Berle is told off in this clip from a Holiday show. It is available on Milton Berle Vol 1 at HoughsVideos.50Megs.Com.
http://wn.com/Uncle_Miltie_Gets_Told_Off
Comedy & TV legend Milton Berle is told off in this clip from a Holiday show. It is available on Milton Berle Vol 1 at HoughsVideos.50Megs.Com.
- published: 05 Jul 2007
- views: 102306
- author: HoughsVideos
ELVIS PRESLEY - Hound Dog (live on the Milton Berle Show in 1956)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:56
- Updated: 28 Apr 2013
Elvis Presley and Debra Paget on the Milton Berle Show (June 05, 1956 - on NBC). LYRICS/SONGTEXT: (words & music by Jerry Leiber - Mike Stoller) You ain't no...
http://wn.com/ELVIS_PRESLEY_Hound_Dog_live_on_the_Milton_Berle_Show_in_1956
Elvis Presley and Debra Paget on the Milton Berle Show (June 05, 1956 - on NBC). LYRICS/SONGTEXT: (words & music by Jerry Leiber - Mike Stoller) You ain't no...
- published: 13 Jan 2009
- views: 500673
- author: MacXmedia
The Milton Berle Show 3 April 1956 with Elvis Presley
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 59:08
- Updated: 22 Jun 2012
NO WHERE ELSE ON YOUTUBE Entire episode of the comedy-variety series "The Milton Berle Show". Milton's guests in this episode are: Esther Williams, Harry James, Buddy Rich, and Elvis Presley. (note: this is a B&W; copy of a color telecast, with the color version being lost).Best copy I could find, And this show is VERY OFFENCIVE.Crude humor,tasteless stupid even.
http://wn.com/The_Milton_Berle_Show_3_April_1956_with_Elvis_Presley
NO WHERE ELSE ON YOUTUBE Entire episode of the comedy-variety series "The Milton Berle Show". Milton's guests in this episode are: Esther Williams, Harry James, Buddy Rich, and Elvis Presley. (note: this is a B&W; copy of a color telecast, with the color version being lost).Best copy I could find, And this show is VERY OFFENCIVE.Crude humor,tasteless stupid even.
- published: 22 Jun 2012
- views: 18103
Jack Benny Roasts Milton Berle
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:58
- Updated: 31 May 2012
Jack Benny Roasts Milton Berle
http://wn.com/Jack_Benny_Roasts_Milton_Berle
Jack Benny Roasts Milton Berle
- published: 31 May 2012
- views: 11898
Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel (Milton Berle Show)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:27
- Updated: 02 May 2013
Elvis making his first appearances on the Milton Berle Show on April 3, 1956. Performing on the deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego. Cheered from an audienc...
http://wn.com/Elvis_Presley_Heartbreak_Hotel_Milton_Berle_Show
Elvis making his first appearances on the Milton Berle Show on April 3, 1956. Performing on the deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego. Cheered from an audienc...
- published: 30 Sep 2011
- views: 157378
- author: tigerman00
Milton Berle At The Roast of Milton Berle
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:32
- Updated: 31 May 2012
Milton Berle At The Roast of Milton Berle
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_At_The_Roast_of_Milton_Berle
Milton Berle At The Roast of Milton Berle
- published: 31 May 2012
- views: 1539
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The Milton Berle Show 3 April 1956 with Elvis Presley
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 59:08
- Updated: 22 Jun 2012
NO WHERE ELSE ON YOUTUBE Entire episode of the comedy-variety series "The Milton Berle Show". Milton's guests in this episode are: Esther Williams, Harry James, Buddy Rich, and Elvis Presley. (note: this is a B&W; copy of a color telecast, with the color version being lost).Best copy I could find, And this show is VERY OFFENCIVE.Crude humor,tasteless stupid even.
http://wn.com/The_Milton_Berle_Show_3_April_1956_with_Elvis_Presley
NO WHERE ELSE ON YOUTUBE Entire episode of the comedy-variety series "The Milton Berle Show". Milton's guests in this episode are: Esther Williams, Harry James, Buddy Rich, and Elvis Presley. (note: this is a B&W; copy of a color telecast, with the color version being lost).Best copy I could find, And this show is VERY OFFENCIVE.Crude humor,tasteless stupid even.
- published: 22 Jun 2012
- views: 18103
THE MILTON BERLE TV SHOW - 1956
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 58:58
- Updated: 21 Jan 2013
Starring Milton Berle with guests Mickey Rooney and Peggy King - Complete with original commercials - Higher quality 480P upload
http://wn.com/THE_MILTON_BERLE_TV_SHOW_1956
Starring Milton Berle with guests Mickey Rooney and Peggy King - Complete with original commercials - Higher quality 480P upload
- published: 21 Jan 2013
- views: 173
The Milton Berle Show - Rudy Vallee
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 59:01
- Updated: 25 Mar 2013
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successf...
http://wn.com/The_Milton_Berle_Show_Rudy_Vallee
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successf...
- published: 02 Oct 2012
- views: 696
- author: AudioAndVisualClub
MIlton Berle's 90th Birthday at Radio City Music Hall
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 20:08
- Updated: 29 Dec 2012
Billy Crystal, Whoopie Goldberg and Robin Williams pay tribute to Milton Berle on his 90th birthday at NY's Radio City Music Hall in 1998.
http://wn.com/MIlton_Berle's_90th_Birthday_at_Radio_City_Music_Hall
Billy Crystal, Whoopie Goldberg and Robin Williams pay tribute to Milton Berle on his 90th birthday at NY's Radio City Music Hall in 1998.
- published: 27 Sep 2012
- views: 408
- author: Milton Berle
The Milton Berle Show - Jackie Cooper
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 59:41
- Updated: 27 Apr 2013
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successf...
http://wn.com/The_Milton_Berle_Show_Jackie_Cooper
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successf...
- published: 29 Sep 2012
- views: 714
- author: OldMoviesRadioAndTV
The Milton Berle Show - Mickey Rooney
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 42:31
- Updated: 18 Feb 2013
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successf...
http://wn.com/The_Milton_Berle_Show_Mickey_Rooney
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successf...
- published: 30 Jan 2013
- views: 220
- author: TonightOnTheRadio
Jackpot Bowling with Milton Berle January 1961
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 29:40
- Updated: 23 Apr 2013
Here's an installment of Jackpot Bowling which aired on NBC television in January 1961. The players here included Fred Lening, Al Thompson, and Jim St. John.
http://wn.com/Jackpot_Bowling_with_Milton_Berle_January_1961
Here's an installment of Jackpot Bowling which aired on NBC television in January 1961. The players here included Fred Lening, Al Thompson, and Jim St. John.
- published: 27 Mar 2013
- views: 383
- author: irishpogi
Milton Berle's Mad Mad World of Comedy
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 65:56
- Updated: 03 Apr 2013
This 1974 hour-long show features host Milton Berle interviewing Dick Martin (of Rowan & Martin), silent film actor Eddie Quillan, satirist Mort Sahl, and co...
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle's_Mad_Mad_World_of_Comedy
This 1974 hour-long show features host Milton Berle interviewing Dick Martin (of Rowan & Martin), silent film actor Eddie Quillan, satirist Mort Sahl, and co...
- published: 27 Sep 2012
- views: 942
- author: Milton Berle
Bing Crosby hosts Milton Berle & Jimmy Durante - Hollywood Palace.9-5-67
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 51:43
- Updated: 10 Apr 2013
Bing Crosby hosts Milton Berle & Jimmy Durante Season 5, Episode 1 -- Aired: 9/5/1967 Host: Bing Crosby --Bing Crosby (host) - "When We All Get Together" --R...
http://wn.com/Bing_Crosby_hosts_Milton_Berle_Jimmy_Durante_Hollywood_Palace9-5-67
Bing Crosby hosts Milton Berle & Jimmy Durante Season 5, Episode 1 -- Aired: 9/5/1967 Host: Bing Crosby --Bing Crosby (host) - "When We All Get Together" --R...
- published: 14 Sep 2011
- views: 8966
- author: dentelTV2
Milton Berle Interview (1956)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 28:36
- Updated: 17 Aug 2012
Milton Berle Interview (1956)
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Interview_1956
Milton Berle hosts Hollywood Palace with Nanette Fabray and Burns & Schreiber
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 59:43
- Updated: 15 Jan 2013
Season 5, Episode 11 -- Aired: 11/28/1967 Host: Milton Berle / Nanette Fabray Host: Milton Berle --Milton Berle - "Comedy Tonight" --Nanette Fabray - "Toot, ...
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_hosts_Hollywood_Palace_with_Nanette_Fabray_and_Burns_Schreiber
Season 5, Episode 11 -- Aired: 11/28/1967 Host: Milton Berle / Nanette Fabray Host: Milton Berle --Milton Berle - "Comedy Tonight" --Nanette Fabray - "Toot, ...
- published: 25 Jun 2011
- views: 931
- author: dentelTV2
Milton Berle Salutes Winter Sports 1948
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 29:12
- Updated: 08 Jan 2013
Milton Berle Show Salutes Winter Sports. Original Air Date Was 01/06/1948.
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Salutes_Winter_Sports_1948
Milton Berle Show Salutes Winter Sports. Original Air Date Was 01/06/1948.
- published: 07 Jan 2013
- views: 23
- author: OTR HALLOWEENHOLIDAZE
Milton Berle Salute To Christmas 1947
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 29:55
- Updated: 14 Mar 2012
Milton Berle Salute To Christmas. Original Air Date Was 12/23/1947. Believe it or not, Berle was on the same night- in the same time period- he later became ...
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Salute_To_Christmas_1947
Milton Berle Salute To Christmas. Original Air Date Was 12/23/1947. Believe it or not, Berle was on the same night- in the same time period- he later became ...
- published: 19 Dec 2011
- views: 131
- author: OTR HALLOWEENHOLIDAZE
Texaco Star Theater- November 29, 1949
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 56:19
- Updated: 01 May 2013
An episode of the hugely popular comedy-variety series "Texaco Star Theater". Hosted by Milton Berle, this was one of the first "hit" television series. Plea...
http://wn.com/Texaco_Star_Theater_November_29,_1949
An episode of the hugely popular comedy-variety series "Texaco Star Theater". Hosted by Milton Berle, this was one of the first "hit" television series. Plea...
- published: 27 Jan 2013
- views: 371
- author: ClassicTV789
Jack Benny Program Featuring Milton Berle Comedy Full Episode
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 25:05
- Updated: 19 Apr 2013
Jack Benny Program Featuring Milton Berle Comedy Full Episode.
http://wn.com/Jack_Benny_Program_Featuring_Milton_Berle_Comedy_Full_Episode
Jack Benny Program Featuring Milton Berle Comedy Full Episode.
- published: 07 Apr 2013
- views: 47
- author: OldiesClassicTV
Let's Make A Deal (Milton Berle Guest Stars) (1975)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 22:53
- Updated: 21 Feb 2013
with Monty Hall.
http://wn.com/Let's_Make_A_Deal_Milton_Berle_Guest_Stars_1975
Milton Berle Salutes The New Year 1947
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 29:28
- Updated: 19 Oct 2012
Milton Berle Show Titled Salutes The New Year. Original Air Date Was 12/30/1947. Milton, believe it or not, was on Tuesday nights at 8pm(et). By the fall of ...
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Salutes_The_New_Year_1947
Milton Berle Show Titled Salutes The New Year. Original Air Date Was 12/30/1947. Milton, believe it or not, was on Tuesday nights at 8pm(et). By the fall of ...
- published: 10 Sep 2012
- views: 99
- author: OTR HALLOWEENHOLIDAZE
The Lucy Show - Lucy Meets the Berles
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 23:58
- Updated: 30 Apr 2013
The Lucy Show features Lucille Ball, the "First Lady of Television" at her best. Throughout the many shows, look for guest appearances by Carol Burnett, John...
http://wn.com/The_Lucy_Show_Lucy_Meets_the_Berles
The Lucy Show features Lucille Ball, the "First Lady of Television" at her best. Throughout the many shows, look for guest appearances by Carol Burnett, John...
- published: 07 Jan 2013
- views: 5157
- author: AllegroMediaMovies
Milton Berle in "Rave Notice" ~ "Suspense" Radio Drama - 10-12-1950
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 29:21
- Updated: 31 Oct 2012
One of the premier drama programs of the Golden Age of Radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" and focused on suspense thriller-type scripts, usually featuring leading Hollywood actors of the era. Approximately 945 episodes were broadcast during its long run, and more than 900 are extant.
Suspense went through several major phases, characterized by different hosts, sponsors, and director/producers. Formula plot devices were followed for all but a handful of episodes: the protagonist was usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation; solutions were "withheld until the last possible second"; and evildoers were usually punished in the end.
In its early years, the program made only occasional forays into science fiction and fantasy. Notable exceptions include adaptations of Curt Siodmak's Donovan's Brain and H. P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror", but by the late 1950s, such material was regularly featured.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspense_%28radio_drama%29
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_in_Rave_Notice_~_Suspense_Radio_Drama_10-12-1950
One of the premier drama programs of the Golden Age of Radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" and focused on suspense thriller-type scripts, usually featuring leading Hollywood actors of the era. Approximately 945 episodes were broadcast during its long run, and more than 900 are extant.
Suspense went through several major phases, characterized by different hosts, sponsors, and director/producers. Formula plot devices were followed for all but a handful of episodes: the protagonist was usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation; solutions were "withheld until the last possible second"; and evildoers were usually punished in the end.
In its early years, the program made only occasional forays into science fiction and fantasy. Notable exceptions include adaptations of Curt Siodmak's Donovan's Brain and H. P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror", but by the late 1950s, such material was regularly featured.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspense_%28radio_drama%29
- published: 31 Oct 2012
- views: 36
Milton Berle hosts Hollywood Palace (RE-POST) with Nanette Fabray and Burns & Schreiber
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 56:04
- Updated: 11 Nov 2012
Season 5, Episode 11 -- Aired: 11/28/1967 Host: Milton Berle / Nanette Fabray Host: Milton Berle --Milton Berle - "Comedy Tonight" --Nanette Fabray - "Toot, ...
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_hosts_Hollywood_Palace_RE-POST_with_Nanette_Fabray_and_Burns_Schreiber
Season 5, Episode 11 -- Aired: 11/28/1967 Host: Milton Berle / Nanette Fabray Host: Milton Berle --Milton Berle - "Comedy Tonight" --Nanette Fabray - "Toot, ...
- published: 04 Jul 2011
- views: 1752
- author: dentelTV2
Lucy Show Lucy Meets Milton Berle Comedy Full Episode
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 25:31
- Updated: 11 Apr 2013
Lucy moonlights as Milton Berle's secretary. She overhears Milton rehearsing a torrid love scene, thinks that the comedian is cheating on his wife and plots a suitable comeuppance.
http://wn.com/Lucy_Show_Lucy_Meets_Milton_Berle_Comedy_Full_Episode
Lucy moonlights as Milton Berle's secretary. She overhears Milton rehearsing a torrid love scene, thinks that the comedian is cheating on his wife and plots a suitable comeuppance.
- published: 11 Apr 2013
- views: 1
The Rosary (Bishop Fulton J. Sheen) audio
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 47:35
- Updated: 27 Apr 2013
From 1951 -- 1965, Fulton Sheen served as the Auxiliary Bishop of New York. Concurrently, he began a catholic television program entitled Life is Worth Livin...
http://wn.com/The_Rosary_Bishop_Fulton_J_Sheen_audio
From 1951 -- 1965, Fulton Sheen served as the Auxiliary Bishop of New York. Concurrently, he began a catholic television program entitled Life is Worth Livin...
- published: 18 Jun 2011
- views: 30967
- author: SandritaRowan26
Catholics 1973 - Starring Martin Sheen
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 73:33
- Updated: 20 Mar 2013
The theological, liturgical, and disciplinary crisis caused by Vatican II led many concerned Catholics to believe that this is what the Catholic Church would...
http://wn.com/Catholics_1973_Starring_Martin_Sheen
The theological, liturgical, and disciplinary crisis caused by Vatican II led many concerned Catholics to believe that this is what the Catholic Church would...
- published: 06 Oct 2012
- views: 1571
- author: HetmanWojtek
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A Rare Interview: Tom Snyder with Milton Berle - 1998! Pt. 1 of 3
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:57
- Updated: 29 Apr 2013
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder interviewing "Mr. Television," Milton Berle. This was from Tom's Lat...
http://wn.com/A_Rare_Interview_Tom_Snyder_with_Milton_Berle_1998!_Pt_1_of_3
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder interviewing "Mr. Television," Milton Berle. This was from Tom's Lat...
- published: 06 Sep 2009
- views: 10202
- author: videoholic90sA
Part 2 - Milton Berle: Mr. Television
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:54
- Updated: 13 Jul 2012
"A Museum of Broadcasting Tribute - Milton Berle: Mr. Television" is a one-hour public television special produced in 1985, chronicling the comedian's long c...
http://wn.com/Part_2_Milton_Berle_Mr_Television
"A Museum of Broadcasting Tribute - Milton Berle: Mr. Television" is a one-hour public television special produced in 1985, chronicling the comedian's long c...
- published: 16 Jul 2011
- views: 404
- author: Milton Berle
Marilyn Monroe - Milton Berle interview(with interruptions brought to you by Mickey Rooney)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:51
- Updated: 21 Apr 2013
On larry king Live 1997 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD201F8670CBF4012.
http://wn.com/Marilyn_Monroe_Milton_Berle_interviewwith_interruptions_brought_to_you_by_Mickey_Rooney
On larry king Live 1997 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD201F8670CBF4012.
- published: 06 Jun 2012
- views: 1606
- author: SGTG77
Milton Berle Roasts Jack Benny
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:14
- Updated: 01 May 2013
Milton Berle Roasts Jack Benny.
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Roasts_Jack_Benny
Part 1 - Milton Berle: Mr. Television
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:52
- Updated: 13 Mar 2013
"A Museum of Broadcasting Tribute - Milton Berle: Mr. Television" is a one-hour public television special produced in 1985, chronicling the comedian's long c...
http://wn.com/Part_1_Milton_Berle_Mr_Television
"A Museum of Broadcasting Tribute - Milton Berle: Mr. Television" is a one-hour public television special produced in 1985, chronicling the comedian's long c...
- published: 16 Jul 2011
- views: 1112
- author: Milton Berle
Milton Berle has problems with the censors!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:51
- Updated: 23 Apr 2013
hilarious comedy sketch from a 1949 episode of "Texaco Star Theater".
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_has_problems_with_the_censors!
hilarious comedy sketch from a 1949 episode of "Texaco Star Theater".
- published: 07 Aug 2012
- views: 3521
- author: MattTheSaiyan
Bob Hope, with Milton Berle & Danny Thomas, 1990
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:47
- Updated: 23 Apr 2013
Bob jokes with Milton Berle and Danny Thomas about early television. From a Bob Hope special, based on his book "Don't shoot, it's only me" Sept. 15, 1990.
http://wn.com/Bob_Hope,_with_Milton_Berle_Danny_Thomas,_1990
Bob jokes with Milton Berle and Danny Thomas about early television. From a Bob Hope special, based on his book "Don't shoot, it's only me" Sept. 15, 1990.
- published: 11 May 2011
- views: 12094
- author: LPXI
Henny Youngman heckles Milton Berle 1966
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:09
- Updated: 24 Apr 2013
Henny Youngman, king of the one-liners, heckles Uncle Miltie on The Hollywood Palace, 1966.
http://wn.com/Henny_Youngman_heckles_Milton_Berle_1966
Henny Youngman, king of the one-liners, heckles Uncle Miltie on The Hollywood Palace, 1966.
- published: 15 Jan 2012
- views: 42536
- author: Milton Berle
Milton Berle on his rumored endowment - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:36
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
Full interview at http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/milton-berle.
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_on_his_rumored_endowment_EMMYTVLEGENDSORG
Full interview at http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/milton-berle.
- published: 05 Sep 2012
- views: 1083
- author: TVLEGENDS
Milton Berle Roasts Jerry Lewis
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:59
- Updated: 26 Apr 2013
Milton Berle Roasts Jerry Lewis.
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Roasts_Jerry_Lewis
Rupaul and Milton Berle at vma93.mp4
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:05
- Updated: 20 Apr 2013
RuPaul and Milton Berle at the Video Music Awards (vma) '93. Hilarious.
http://wn.com/Rupaul_and_Milton_Berle_at_vma93mp4
RuPaul and Milton Berle at the Video Music Awards (vma) '93. Hilarious.
- published: 09 Jan 2012
- views: 9493
- author: ejetsam
A Rare Interview: Tom Snyder with Milton Berle - 1998! Pt. 3 of 3
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:43
- Updated: 15 Apr 2013
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder interviewing "Mr. Television," Milton Berle. This was from Tom's Lat...
http://wn.com/A_Rare_Interview_Tom_Snyder_with_Milton_Berle_1998!_Pt_3_of_3
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder interviewing "Mr. Television," Milton Berle. This was from Tom's Lat...
- published: 06 Sep 2009
- views: 2022
- author: videoholic90sA
Milton Berle Roasts Don Rickles
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:12
- Updated: 28 Apr 2013
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Roasts_Don_Rickles
Milton Berle's Mad Mad World of Comedy
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 65:56
- Updated: 03 Apr 2013
This 1974 hour-long show features host Milton Berle interviewing Dick Martin (of Rowan & Martin), silent film actor Eddie Quillan, satirist Mort Sahl, and co...
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle's_Mad_Mad_World_of_Comedy
This 1974 hour-long show features host Milton Berle interviewing Dick Martin (of Rowan & Martin), silent film actor Eddie Quillan, satirist Mort Sahl, and co...
- published: 27 Sep 2012
- views: 942
- author: Milton Berle
A Rare Interview: Tom Snyder with Milton Berle - 1998! Pt. 2 of 3
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:55
- Updated: 12 Mar 2013
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder interviewing "Mr. Television," Milton Berle. This was from Tom's Late Late Show on CBS in the 90s....
http://wn.com/A_Rare_Interview_Tom_Snyder_with_Milton_Berle_1998!_Pt_2_of_3
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder interviewing "Mr. Television," Milton Berle. This was from Tom's Late Late Show on CBS in the 90s....
- published: 06 Sep 2009
- views: 3033
- author: videoholic90sA
Milton Berle roasts Lucille Ball
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:03
- Updated: 30 Apr 2013
Dean Martin Roast.
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_roasts_Lucille_Ball
Milton Berle on Elvis Presley - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:25
- Updated: 24 Apr 2013
Full interview at http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/milton-berle.
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_on_Elvis_Presley_EMMYTVLEGENDSORG
Full interview at http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/milton-berle.
- published: 05 Sep 2012
- views: 769
- author: TVLEGENDS
Milton Berle Vs. Statler & Waldorf
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:50
- Updated: 30 Apr 2013
This is a video from the Muppet Show where Milton Berle the best comedian the television knew failed to compete with the well known Statler & Waldorf, very f...
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Vs_Statler_Waldorf
This is a video from the Muppet Show where Milton Berle the best comedian the television knew failed to compete with the well known Statler & Waldorf, very f...
- published: 05 Dec 2007
- views: 1073770
- author: Nawar Nory
Milton Berle Interview (1956)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 28:36
- Updated: 17 Aug 2012
Milton Berle Interview (1956)
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle_Interview_1956
Paula Stewart's Comic Giants: Milton Berle's Funeral - Don Rickles Eulogy
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:10
- Updated: 11 Apr 2013
From Paula Stewart's Comic Giants Series: Tribute to Milton Berle. Don Rickles Eulogy is Hilarius, irreverent and just what you'd expect from this exclusive,...
http://wn.com/Paula_Stewart's_Comic_Giants_Milton_Berle's_Funeral_Don_Rickles_Eulogy
From Paula Stewart's Comic Giants Series: Tribute to Milton Berle. Don Rickles Eulogy is Hilarius, irreverent and just what you'd expect from this exclusive,...
- published: 24 Apr 2011
- views: 25126
- author: VictoriaWarrior
Henny Youngman Roasts Milton Berle
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:18
- Updated: 25 Apr 2013
Henny Youngman Roasts Milton Berle.
http://wn.com/Henny_Youngman_Roasts_Milton_Berle
Milton Berle--UNCUT--plus a Milton B. OUT Take
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:53
- Updated: 23 Sep 2011
Allen Stewart Interviews legendary comic Milton Berle at VSDA in Las vegas,the show was from New Orleans and ran for about 5 years, from the late 80's till t...
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle--UNCUT--plus_a_Milton_B_OUT_Take
Allen Stewart Interviews legendary comic Milton Berle at VSDA in Las vegas,the show was from New Orleans and ran for about 5 years, from the late 80's till t...
- published: 20 Apr 2011
- views: 182
- author: allen stewart
What's my Line? Milton Berle
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:42
- Updated: 13 Apr 2013
What's my Line? Milton Berle.
http://wn.com/What's_my_Line?_Milton_Berle
59:08
The Milton Berle Show 3 April 1956 with Elvis Presley
NO WHERE ELSE ON YOUTUBE Entire episode of the comedy-variety series "The Milton Berle Sho...
published: 22 Jun 2012
The Milton Berle Show 3 April 1956 with Elvis Presley
NO WHERE ELSE ON YOUTUBE Entire episode of the comedy-variety series "The Milton Berle Show". Milton's guests in this episode are: Esther Williams, Harry James, Buddy Rich, and Elvis Presley. (note: this is a B&W; copy of a color telecast, with the color version being lost).Best copy I could find, And this show is VERY OFFENCIVE.Crude humor,tasteless stupid even.
- published: 22 Jun 2012
- views: 18103
58:58
THE MILTON BERLE TV SHOW - 1956
Starring Milton Berle with guests Mickey Rooney and Peggy King - Complete with original co...
published: 21 Jan 2013
THE MILTON BERLE TV SHOW - 1956
Starring Milton Berle with guests Mickey Rooney and Peggy King - Complete with original commercials - Higher quality 480P upload
- published: 21 Jan 2013
- views: 173
59:01
The Milton Berle Show - Rudy Vallee
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 19...
published: 02 Oct 2012
author: AudioAndVisualClub
The Milton Berle Show - Rudy Vallee
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successf...
- published: 02 Oct 2012
- views: 696
- author: AudioAndVisualClub
20:08
MIlton Berle's 90th Birthday at Radio City Music Hall
Billy Crystal, Whoopie Goldberg and Robin Williams pay tribute to Milton Berle on his 90th...
published: 27 Sep 2012
author: Milton Berle
MIlton Berle's 90th Birthday at Radio City Music Hall
Billy Crystal, Whoopie Goldberg and Robin Williams pay tribute to Milton Berle on his 90th birthday at NY's Radio City Music Hall in 1998.
- published: 27 Sep 2012
- views: 408
- author: Milton Berle
59:41
The Milton Berle Show - Jackie Cooper
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 19...
published: 29 Sep 2012
author: OldMoviesRadioAndTV
The Milton Berle Show - Jackie Cooper
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successf...
- published: 29 Sep 2012
- views: 714
- author: OldMoviesRadioAndTV
42:31
The Milton Berle Show - Mickey Rooney
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 19...
published: 30 Jan 2013
author: TonightOnTheRadio
The Milton Berle Show - Mickey Rooney
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successf...
- published: 30 Jan 2013
- views: 220
- author: TonightOnTheRadio
29:40
Jackpot Bowling with Milton Berle January 1961
Here's an installment of Jackpot Bowling which aired on NBC television in January 1961. Th...
published: 27 Mar 2013
author: irishpogi
Jackpot Bowling with Milton Berle January 1961
Here's an installment of Jackpot Bowling which aired on NBC television in January 1961. The players here included Fred Lening, Al Thompson, and Jim St. John.
- published: 27 Mar 2013
- views: 383
- author: irishpogi
65:56
Milton Berle's Mad Mad World of Comedy
This 1974 hour-long show features host Milton Berle interviewing Dick Martin (of Rowan & M...
published: 27 Sep 2012
author: Milton Berle
Milton Berle's Mad Mad World of Comedy
This 1974 hour-long show features host Milton Berle interviewing Dick Martin (of Rowan & Martin), silent film actor Eddie Quillan, satirist Mort Sahl, and co...
- published: 27 Sep 2012
- views: 942
- author: Milton Berle
51:43
Bing Crosby hosts Milton Berle & Jimmy Durante - Hollywood Palace.9-5-67
Bing Crosby hosts Milton Berle & Jimmy Durante Season 5, Episode 1 -- Aired: 9/5/1967 Host...
published: 14 Sep 2011
author: dentelTV2
Bing Crosby hosts Milton Berle & Jimmy Durante - Hollywood Palace.9-5-67
Bing Crosby hosts Milton Berle & Jimmy Durante Season 5, Episode 1 -- Aired: 9/5/1967 Host: Bing Crosby --Bing Crosby (host) - "When We All Get Together" --R...
- published: 14 Sep 2011
- views: 8966
- author: dentelTV2
28:36
Milton Berle Interview (1956)
Milton Berle Interview (1956)...
published: 17 Aug 2012
author: documentariesfootage
Milton Berle Interview (1956)
Milton Berle Interview (1956)
- published: 17 Aug 2012
- views: 57
- author: documentariesfootage
59:43
Milton Berle hosts Hollywood Palace with Nanette Fabray and Burns & Schreiber
Season 5, Episode 11 -- Aired: 11/28/1967 Host: Milton Berle / Nanette Fabray Host: Milton...
published: 25 Jun 2011
author: dentelTV2
Milton Berle hosts Hollywood Palace with Nanette Fabray and Burns & Schreiber
Season 5, Episode 11 -- Aired: 11/28/1967 Host: Milton Berle / Nanette Fabray Host: Milton Berle --Milton Berle - "Comedy Tonight" --Nanette Fabray - "Toot, ...
- published: 25 Jun 2011
- views: 931
- author: dentelTV2
29:12
Milton Berle Salutes Winter Sports 1948
Milton Berle Show Salutes Winter Sports. Original Air Date Was 01/06/1948....
published: 07 Jan 2013
author: OTR HALLOWEENHOLIDAZE
Milton Berle Salutes Winter Sports 1948
Milton Berle Show Salutes Winter Sports. Original Air Date Was 01/06/1948.
- published: 07 Jan 2013
- views: 23
- author: OTR HALLOWEENHOLIDAZE
29:55
Milton Berle Salute To Christmas 1947
Milton Berle Salute To Christmas. Original Air Date Was 12/23/1947. Believe it or not, Ber...
published: 19 Dec 2011
author: OTR HALLOWEENHOLIDAZE
Milton Berle Salute To Christmas 1947
Milton Berle Salute To Christmas. Original Air Date Was 12/23/1947. Believe it or not, Berle was on the same night- in the same time period- he later became ...
- published: 19 Dec 2011
- views: 131
- author: OTR HALLOWEENHOLIDAZE
56:19
Texaco Star Theater- November 29, 1949
An episode of the hugely popular comedy-variety series "Texaco Star Theater". Hosted by Mi...
published: 27 Jan 2013
author: ClassicTV789
Texaco Star Theater- November 29, 1949
An episode of the hugely popular comedy-variety series "Texaco Star Theater". Hosted by Milton Berle, this was one of the first "hit" television series. Plea...
- published: 27 Jan 2013
- views: 371
- author: ClassicTV789
Vimeo results:
30:27
Milton Berle: Mr. Television - Part 1
One-hour Public Television special tribute to comedian Milton Berle, whose career spans si...
published: 10 Jul 2011
author: Gary Kaskel
Milton Berle: Mr. Television - Part 1
One-hour Public Television special tribute to comedian Milton Berle, whose career spans silent films, vaudeville, nightclubs, radio and, finally, television, where his Texaco Star Theater made Berle TV's first superstar in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Interviews include Berle, Bob Hope, Sid Caesar, Danny Thomas, Steve Allen, Arnold Stang, Barbara Walters, Sammy Davis Jr., Alan King, writer Buddy Arnold, writer-producer Hal Kantor, director Greg Garrison, and former NBC president Sylvester "Pat" Weaver.
Produced in 1985 in conjunction with the Museum of Television in NYC. Co-produced and Directed by Gary Kaskel.
7:14
Milton Berle, Jayne Mansfield and Martha Raye
Clip from "The Milton Berle Show," in 1966 featuring a hilarious medley with Jayne Mansfie...
published: 23 Apr 2012
author: Danny Proctor
Milton Berle, Jayne Mansfield and Martha Raye
Clip from "The Milton Berle Show," in 1966 featuring a hilarious medley with Jayne Mansfield and Martha Raye.
6:04
Highlights from "Milton Berle: Mr. Television"
Director / Lighting Cameraman (1985)
Highlights from the one-hour Public Television broad...
published: 11 Jan 2010
author: Gary Kaskel
Highlights from "Milton Berle: Mr. Television"
Director / Lighting Cameraman (1985)
Highlights from the one-hour Public Television broadcast of the Museum of Broadcasting tribute to comedian Milton Berle.
(Note: archive tape quality compromised.)
(c) WNYC Foundation, used with permission.
1:07
"Jerry Lewis Roast": Milton Berle dies.
Excerpted clip from "The Friars Club Roasts Jerry Lewis" for purposes of commentary and cr...
published: 27 Jun 2012
author: Sherilyn Connelly
"Jerry Lewis Roast": Milton Berle dies.
Excerpted clip from "The Friars Club Roasts Jerry Lewis" for purposes of commentary and criticism on sfweekly.com. This qualifies as Fair Use under section Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law.
Youtube results:
25:05
Jack Benny Program Featuring Milton Berle Comedy Full Episode
Jack Benny Program Featuring Milton Berle Comedy Full Episode....
published: 07 Apr 2013
author: OldiesClassicTV
Jack Benny Program Featuring Milton Berle Comedy Full Episode
Jack Benny Program Featuring Milton Berle Comedy Full Episode.
- published: 07 Apr 2013
- views: 47
- author: OldiesClassicTV
22:53
Let's Make A Deal (Milton Berle Guest Stars) (1975)
with Monty Hall....
published: 09 May 2012
author: MatchGameProductions
Let's Make A Deal (Milton Berle Guest Stars) (1975)
with Monty Hall.
- published: 09 May 2012
- views: 2937
- author: MatchGameProductions
29:28
Milton Berle Salutes The New Year 1947
Milton Berle Show Titled Salutes The New Year. Original Air Date Was 12/30/1947. Milton, b...
published: 10 Sep 2012
author: OTR HALLOWEENHOLIDAZE
Milton Berle Salutes The New Year 1947
Milton Berle Show Titled Salutes The New Year. Original Air Date Was 12/30/1947. Milton, believe it or not, was on Tuesday nights at 8pm(et). By the fall of ...
- published: 10 Sep 2012
- views: 99
- author: OTR HALLOWEENHOLIDAZE
23:58
The Lucy Show - Lucy Meets the Berles
The Lucy Show features Lucille Ball, the "First Lady of Television" at her best. Throughou...
published: 07 Jan 2013
author: AllegroMediaMovies
The Lucy Show - Lucy Meets the Berles
The Lucy Show features Lucille Ball, the "First Lady of Television" at her best. Throughout the many shows, look for guest appearances by Carol Burnett, John...
- published: 07 Jan 2013
- views: 5157
- author: AllegroMediaMovies
9:57
A Rare Interview: Tom Snyder with Milton Berle - 1998! Pt. 1 of 3
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder i...
published: 06 Sep 2009
author: videoholic90sA
A Rare Interview: Tom Snyder with Milton Berle - 1998! Pt. 1 of 3
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder interviewing "Mr. Television," Milton Berle. This was from Tom's Lat...
- published: 06 Sep 2009
- views: 10202
- author: videoholic90sA
14:54
Part 2 - Milton Berle: Mr. Television
"A Museum of Broadcasting Tribute - Milton Berle: Mr. Television" is a one-hour public tel...
published: 16 Jul 2011
author: Milton Berle
Part 2 - Milton Berle: Mr. Television
"A Museum of Broadcasting Tribute - Milton Berle: Mr. Television" is a one-hour public television special produced in 1985, chronicling the comedian's long c...
- published: 16 Jul 2011
- views: 404
- author: Milton Berle
4:51
Marilyn Monroe - Milton Berle interview(with interruptions brought to you by Mickey Rooney)
On larry king Live 1997 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD201F8670CBF4012....
published: 06 Jun 2012
author: SGTG77
Marilyn Monroe - Milton Berle interview(with interruptions brought to you by Mickey Rooney)
On larry king Live 1997 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD201F8670CBF4012.
- published: 06 Jun 2012
- views: 1606
- author: SGTG77
7:14
Milton Berle Roasts Jack Benny
Milton Berle Roasts Jack Benny....
published: 29 Dec 2011
author: LaughVids2
Milton Berle Roasts Jack Benny
Milton Berle Roasts Jack Benny.
- published: 29 Dec 2011
- views: 50284
- author: LaughVids2
14:52
Part 1 - Milton Berle: Mr. Television
"A Museum of Broadcasting Tribute - Milton Berle: Mr. Television" is a one-hour public tel...
published: 16 Jul 2011
author: Milton Berle
Part 1 - Milton Berle: Mr. Television
"A Museum of Broadcasting Tribute - Milton Berle: Mr. Television" is a one-hour public television special produced in 1985, chronicling the comedian's long c...
- published: 16 Jul 2011
- views: 1112
- author: Milton Berle
6:51
Milton Berle has problems with the censors!
hilarious comedy sketch from a 1949 episode of "Texaco Star Theater"....
published: 07 Aug 2012
author: MattTheSaiyan
Milton Berle has problems with the censors!
hilarious comedy sketch from a 1949 episode of "Texaco Star Theater".
- published: 07 Aug 2012
- views: 3521
- author: MattTheSaiyan
7:47
Bob Hope, with Milton Berle & Danny Thomas, 1990
Bob jokes with Milton Berle and Danny Thomas about early television. From a Bob Hope speci...
published: 11 May 2011
author: LPXI
Bob Hope, with Milton Berle & Danny Thomas, 1990
Bob jokes with Milton Berle and Danny Thomas about early television. From a Bob Hope special, based on his book "Don't shoot, it's only me" Sept. 15, 1990.
- published: 11 May 2011
- views: 12094
- author: LPXI
4:09
Henny Youngman heckles Milton Berle 1966
Henny Youngman, king of the one-liners, heckles Uncle Miltie on The Hollywood Palace, 1966...
published: 15 Jan 2012
author: Milton Berle
Henny Youngman heckles Milton Berle 1966
Henny Youngman, king of the one-liners, heckles Uncle Miltie on The Hollywood Palace, 1966.
- published: 15 Jan 2012
- views: 42536
- author: Milton Berle
1:36
Milton Berle on his rumored endowment - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG
Full interview at http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/milton-berle....
published: 05 Sep 2012
author: TVLEGENDS
Milton Berle on his rumored endowment - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG
Full interview at http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/milton-berle.
- published: 05 Sep 2012
- views: 1083
- author: TVLEGENDS
5:59
Milton Berle Roasts Jerry Lewis
Milton Berle Roasts Jerry Lewis....
published: 31 May 2012
author: LaughVids2
Milton Berle Roasts Jerry Lewis
Milton Berle Roasts Jerry Lewis.
- published: 31 May 2012
- views: 14807
- author: LaughVids2
4:05
Rupaul and Milton Berle at vma93.mp4
RuPaul and Milton Berle at the Video Music Awards (vma) '93. Hilarious....
published: 09 Jan 2012
author: ejetsam
Rupaul and Milton Berle at vma93.mp4
RuPaul and Milton Berle at the Video Music Awards (vma) '93. Hilarious.
- published: 09 Jan 2012
- views: 9493
- author: ejetsam
9:43
A Rare Interview: Tom Snyder with Milton Berle - 1998! Pt. 3 of 3
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder i...
published: 06 Sep 2009
author: videoholic90sA
A Rare Interview: Tom Snyder with Milton Berle - 1998! Pt. 3 of 3
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder interviewing "Mr. Television," Milton Berle. This was from Tom's Lat...
- published: 06 Sep 2009
- views: 2022
- author: videoholic90sA
5:12
Milton Berle Roasts Don Rickles
...
published: 20 May 2012
author: LaughVids2
Milton Berle Roasts Don Rickles
- published: 20 May 2012
- views: 57352
- author: LaughVids2
65:56
Milton Berle's Mad Mad World of Comedy
This 1974 hour-long show features host Milton Berle interviewing Dick Martin (of Rowan & M...
published: 27 Sep 2012
author: Milton Berle
Milton Berle's Mad Mad World of Comedy
This 1974 hour-long show features host Milton Berle interviewing Dick Martin (of Rowan & Martin), silent film actor Eddie Quillan, satirist Mort Sahl, and co...
- published: 27 Sep 2012
- views: 942
- author: Milton Berle
Vimeo results:
30:27
Milton Berle: Mr. Television - Part 1
One-hour Public Television special tribute to comedian Milton Berle, whose career spans si...
published: 10 Jul 2011
author: Gary Kaskel
Milton Berle: Mr. Television - Part 1
One-hour Public Television special tribute to comedian Milton Berle, whose career spans silent films, vaudeville, nightclubs, radio and, finally, television, where his Texaco Star Theater made Berle TV's first superstar in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Interviews include Berle, Bob Hope, Sid Caesar, Danny Thomas, Steve Allen, Arnold Stang, Barbara Walters, Sammy Davis Jr., Alan King, writer Buddy Arnold, writer-producer Hal Kantor, director Greg Garrison, and former NBC president Sylvester "Pat" Weaver.
Produced in 1985 in conjunction with the Museum of Television in NYC. Co-produced and Directed by Gary Kaskel.
7:14
Milton Berle, Jayne Mansfield and Martha Raye
Clip from "The Milton Berle Show," in 1966 featuring a hilarious medley with Jayne Mansfie...
published: 23 Apr 2012
author: Danny Proctor
Milton Berle, Jayne Mansfield and Martha Raye
Clip from "The Milton Berle Show," in 1966 featuring a hilarious medley with Jayne Mansfield and Martha Raye.
6:04
Highlights from "Milton Berle: Mr. Television"
Director / Lighting Cameraman (1985)
Highlights from the one-hour Public Television broad...
published: 11 Jan 2010
author: Gary Kaskel
Highlights from "Milton Berle: Mr. Television"
Director / Lighting Cameraman (1985)
Highlights from the one-hour Public Television broadcast of the Museum of Broadcasting tribute to comedian Milton Berle.
(Note: archive tape quality compromised.)
(c) WNYC Foundation, used with permission.
1:07
"Jerry Lewis Roast": Milton Berle dies.
Excerpted clip from "The Friars Club Roasts Jerry Lewis" for purposes of commentary and cr...
published: 27 Jun 2012
author: Sherilyn Connelly
"Jerry Lewis Roast": Milton Berle dies.
Excerpted clip from "The Friars Club Roasts Jerry Lewis" for purposes of commentary and criticism on sfweekly.com. This qualifies as Fair Use under section Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law.
Youtube results:
9:55
A Rare Interview: Tom Snyder with Milton Berle - 1998! Pt. 2 of 3
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder i...
published: 06 Sep 2009
author: videoholic90sA
A Rare Interview: Tom Snyder with Milton Berle - 1998! Pt. 2 of 3
From July of 1998, here is a rare video with two of television's late greats: Tom Snyder interviewing "Mr. Television," Milton Berle. This was from Tom's Late Late Show on CBS in the 90s....
- published: 06 Sep 2009
- views: 3033
- author: videoholic90sA
2:03
Milton Berle roasts Lucille Ball
Dean Martin Roast....
published: 16 Nov 2009
author: LaffTherapy
Milton Berle roasts Lucille Ball
Dean Martin Roast.
- published: 16 Nov 2009
- views: 62922
- author: LaffTherapy
4:25
Milton Berle on Elvis Presley - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG
Full interview at http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/milton-berle....
published: 05 Sep 2012
author: TVLEGENDS
Milton Berle on Elvis Presley - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG
Full interview at http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/milton-berle.
- published: 05 Sep 2012
- views: 769
- author: TVLEGENDS
3:50
Milton Berle Vs. Statler & Waldorf
This is a video from the Muppet Show where Milton Berle the best comedian the television k...
published: 05 Dec 2007
author: Nawar Nory
Milton Berle Vs. Statler & Waldorf
This is a video from the Muppet Show where Milton Berle the best comedian the television knew failed to compete with the well known Statler & Waldorf, very f...
- published: 05 Dec 2007
- views: 1073770
- author: Nawar Nory
photo: AP / Igor Kovalenko
03 May 2013
. Share. 0. A U.S. military plane crashed in Kyrgyzstan today, shortly after taking off from the Manas Transit Center. The aircraft was believed to be a KC-135, a refueling tanker based on the Boeing 707. It is not immediately clear how many passengers were on board, but such tankers usually carry only a handful of crew members. Col ... Blind Veteran Uses Military Training to Subdue Attacker Watch Video ... ....(size: 2.1Kb)
photo: AP / Charles Krupa
03 May 2013
The two brothers suspected of carrying out the deadly attacks on the Boston Marathon had originally planned to set off their bombs on 4 July, a law enforcement official said. The official said the suspects, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, advanced the date of their attack because they completed building bombs more quickly then they originally anticipated. The official declined to be identified and did not offer more details ... Reuters ....(size: 4.6Kb)
photo: AP
02 May 2013
SEOUL, South Korea - An American detained for nearly six months in North Korea has been sentenced to 15 years of labor for crimes against the state, the North's state media said Thursday, a development that further complicates already strained ties between Pyongyang and Washington ... North Korea had been warning of nuclear war and missile strikes, an angry response to U.N ... In Washington, the U.S. State Department had no immediate comment....(size: 5.4Kb)
photo: AP / Carl Court
01 May 2013
By Mike Corderand Toby Sterling Associated Press Comments. King Willem-Alexander, 46, arrives with his wife, Queen Maxima, for his inauguration in Amsterdam. He is the youngest monarch in Europe. (Frank Van Beek / Getty Images). Amsterdam — Millions of Dutch people dressed in orange flocked to celebrations around the Netherlands Tuesday in honor of a once-in-a-generation milestone for the country's ruling House of Orange-Nassau ... 24....(size: 7.1Kb)
Stockhouse
02 May 2013
Premium TV network EPIX unveiled a new lineup of comedy specials including a new summer season of the Comedy Unbound showcase, Fridays at 10 pm and The Improv ... The Improv ... Executive producers are Budd Friedman, Mark Lonow and Spotted Dog Entertainment ... Jim Breuer. And Laughter For All — June 7 @10PM ET. ... Tom Papa ... Older comics from earlier days who performed at the club included Sid Caeser, Milton Berle, Red Buttons and many others....(size: 6.9Kb)
The Los Angeles Times
01 May 2013
A Panel" (Thursday, 6 p.m ... ET). ... Centering on his TV work, it includes pilots for "Get Smart!" and the 1963 boy-in-New-York pilot "Inside Danny Baker" (based on the "Dreams of Glory" cartoons of William Steig), talk show appearances, commercials for Frito-Lay, his Emmy-winning guest work on "Mad About You," his television debut in a 1951 episode of Milton Berle's "Texaco Star Theater," cartoons, promotional films and much more ... "Short ... ....(size: 7.2Kb)
New York Daily News
29 Apr 2013
The late Milton Berle’s legendary joke file, chock-full of vintage one-liners and wisecracks delivered across the decades, hits the auction block May 5 ... The lot offered by the Los Angeles branch of Bonhams auction house also includes six additional boxes of material from Berle’s storied past ... Some of the jokes and gibes date to the 1920s, when Berle (his career began at age 5) was still a child star....(size: 2.3Kb)
Huffington Post
29 Apr 2013
There should be so mMch more... Do you ever think that? Are you feeling content and grateful, but wish there was more going on in your life? You may be, but perhaps you can't put your finger on just what that might be or should be. You look at your family, your job, and it's all good ... You're not alone! ... or both! This nagging feeling is common with so many as we evolve as individuals and years tick by ... In one column ... - Milton Berle ... TWITTER....(size: 4.2Kb)
The New York Times
29 Apr 2013
Dashboard. A weekly roundup of small-business developments. What’s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week. Must Reads. Mark Suster shares a favorite story about an entrepreneur. Jason Zweig maintains there are five compelling reasons the United States is a hot emerging market. The Economy. Increased Tonnage. Growth fails to meet expectations ... Washington ... Entrepreneurs ... Milton Berle’s joke files go up for sale ... ....(size: 18.5Kb)
noodls
26 Apr 2013
(Source. The Library of Congress). Press contact. Gayle Osterberg (202) 707-0020. Press contact. Sheryl Cannady (202) 707-6456 April 26, 2013. Library Acquires Sportscaster Bob Wolff's Rare Audiovisual Recordings ... Billington ... In addition to major sports figures, Wolff also talked sports with other notables in the booth, including Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis and Richard Nixon ... Frick Award ... # # #. distributed by....(size: 7.5Kb)
The Examiner
26 Apr 2013
Didn't get a chance to make it down to Cabo for Spring Break? No worries ... Together they have the perfect recipe for restaurant success ... Once home to legendary Chadney's restaurant and jazz club, which was a regular hangout for the likes of Burt Reynolds, Tommy Lee Jones, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, and Milton Berle, Casa Cabo has now been revived into a prime entertainment venue, this time with a Latin twist.View slideshow ... Tweet. 0 Email ... ....(size: 8.7Kb)
The Examiner
24 Apr 2013
Milton Berle’s legacy could be yours. The Bonhams auction scheduled for May 5 in Los Angeles includes Berle’s incredible library of original working scipts ... Berle’s private joke file is also up for sale ... Kennedy to Milton Berle (est ... $1,500-2,000); and a sterling silver cigarette case given to Milton Berle by Frank Sinatra on the occasion of President Kennedy's Inauguration (est....(size: 6.0Kb)
North Jersey
19 Apr 2013
The curtains may not be coming down on Rambo's Saloon after all. BERNADETTE MARCINIAK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER. The site of the former Rambo's Saloon, a Civil War-era structure, that has become a relic of the borough's filmmaking past, faces the possibility of being razed, to make way for a two-family house in its place ... The comedian Milton Berle made his film debut in after attending a casting call at Rambo's as a child ... ....(size: 2.4Kb)
The Washington Post
19 Apr 2013
It wasn’t the house that most attracted Brian Hannigan to Dominion Hills. In fact, his Colonial Revival-style red-brick home looks a whole lot like those of his neighbors ... (Gene Thorp/The Washington Post) ... Claim to fame ... The Beatys, according to the book, were among the first families in the neighborhood to get a television, and Warren would tune in weekly to the “Texaco Star Theater” to follow his idol, Milton Berle ... ....(size: 3.5Kb)
Huffington Post
16 Apr 2013
Plays conjuring Manhattan in the 1930s often take on the look of a live-action Edward Hopper painting. Not a bad thing ... The one whose face has been hidden lowers the paper he's reading and turns out to be Nathan Lane ... They're certainly an informative survey of burlesque jokes and situations that audiences perhaps not old enough to recall burlesque but perhaps able to pull up images of Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater will recognize ... ....(size: 6.5Kb)
Huffington Post
16 Apr 2013
Also on HuffPost. Loading Slideshow. Martini Bar At The Raleigh ... Imbibe where stars from the silver screen -- Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Judy Garland, Milton Berle, Jerry Lewis, Marlene Dietrich, Debbie Reynolds -- sipped high balls at <a href=""http.//www.fontainebleau.com/web/nightlife/bleau_bar"" target="_hplink">Bleau Bar</a>, the renovated lobby bar at the Fontainebleau Hotel ... live blog ... ....(size: 41.8Kb)
The Examiner
15 Apr 2013
The improv-style comic genius of Jonathan Winters seemed to be more successful on the small screen than the big ... Winters worked alongside the likes of Oscar winners Spencer Tracy & Mickey Rooney, comic legends Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers & Milton Berle, Oscar nominee Peter Falk, and featured cameos from Jerry Lewis, Buster Keaton & the Three Stooges ... The Movie, and even headlined his own documentary in Certifiably Jonathan ... ....(size: 7.4Kb)
| Milton Berle | |
|---|---|
 circa 1950 |
|
| Born | Milton Berlinger (1908-07-12)July 12, 1908 New York, New York, U.S. |
| Died | March 27, 2002(2002-03-27) (aged 93) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Colon Cancer |
| Residence | Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Mr. Television, Uncle Miltie |
| Alma mater | Professional Children's School |
| Occupation | Actor/Comedian |
| Years active | 1914–2000 |
| Influenced by | Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx |
| Influenced | Don Rickles, Johnny Carson, Larry the Cable Guy, Nipsey Russell |
| Home town | New York City, New York |
| Religion | Judaism and Christian Science |
| Spouse | Joyce Mathews (1941–1947;1949–1950) Ruth Cosgrove (1953–1989) Lorna Adams (1991–2002) |
| Children | 3 |
Milton Berle (born Milton Berlinger, July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American comedian and actor. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), he was the first major American television star[1] and was known to millions of viewers as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television" during TV's golden age.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Milton Berlinger was born into a Jewish family in a five-story walkup at 68 W. 118th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. He chose Milton Berle as his professional name when he was 16. His father, Moses Berlinger (1873–1938), was a paint and varnish salesman. His mother, Sarah (Sadie) Glantz Berlinger (1877–1954),[2] eventually became stagestruck and changed her name to Sandra Berle when Milton became famous.
Child actor[link]
Berle entered show business at the age of five when he won an amateur talent contest.[3] He appeared as a child actor in silent films, beginning with The Perils of Pauline, filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey.[4] The director told Berle that he would portray a little boy who would be thrown from a moving train. In Milton Berle: An Autobiography, he explained, "I was scared shitless, even when he went on to tell me that Pauline would save my life. Which is exactly what happened, except that at the crucial moment they threw a bundle of rags instead of me from the train. I bet there are a lot of comedians around today who are sorry about that."
By Berle's account, he continued to play child roles in other films: Bunny's Little Brother, Tess of the Storm Country, Birthright, Love's Penalty, Divorce Coupons and Ruth of the Range. Berle recalled, "There were even trips out to Hollywood—the studios paid—where I got parts in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, with Mary Pickford; The Mark of Zorro, with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., and Tillie's Punctured Romance, with Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand and Marie Dressler."
However, Berle's claims to have appeared in many of these films, particularly the 1914 Chaplin Keystone comedy Tillie's Punctured Romance, are hotly disputed by some,[citation needed] who cite the lack of supporting evidence that Berle even visited the West Coast until much later. The newsboy role often claimed by Berle in Tillie was unquestionably played by resident Keystone child actor Gordon Griffith. In 1916, Berle enrolled in the Professional Children's School.
Career[link]
Vaudeville[link]
Around 1920, at age 12, Berle made his stage debut in a production of the musical comedy Florodora. After four weeks in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the show moved to Broadway. It catapulted him into a comedic career that spanned eight decades in nightclubs, Broadway shows, vaudeville, Las Vegas, films, television, and radio. By the early 1930s, he had become a successful stand-up comedian.
In the late 1940s, he canceled well-paying nightclub appearances in favor of doing a radio program.[5] Berle would revive the structure and routines of his vaudeville shows for his debut on TV.[6][7][8]
Rising star[link]
File:Berle33.jpg
In Poppin' the Cork, 1933
In 1933, he was hired by producer Jack White to star in the theatrical featurette Poppin' the Cork, a topical musical comedy concerning the repealing of Prohibition. Berle also co-wrote the score for this film, which was released by Educational Pictures.
Berle continued to dabble in songwriting. With Ben Oakland and Milton Drake, Berle wrote the title song for the RKO Radio Pictures release Li'l Abner (1940), an adaptation of Al Capp's comic strip, featuring Buster Keaton as Lonesome Polecat.[9] Berle wrote a Spike Jones B-side, "Leave the Dishes in the Sink, Ma."
Radio[link]
In 1934–36, Berle was heard regularly on The Rudy Vallee Hour, and he got much publicity as a regular on The Gillette Original Community Sing, a Sunday night comedy-variety program broadcast on CBS from September 6, 1936 to August 29, 1937. In 1939, he was the host of Stop Me If You've Heard This One with panelists spontaneously finishing jokes sent in by listeners.[5]
Three Ring Time, a comedy-variety show sponsored by Ballantine Ale, was followed by a 1943 program sponsored by Campbell's Soups. The audience participation show Let Yourself Go (1944–1945) could best be described as slapstick radio[citation needed] with studio audience members acting out long suppressed urges (often directed at host Berle). Kiss and Make Up, on CBS in 1946, featured the problems of contestants decided by a jury from the studio audience with Berle as the judge. He also made guest appearances on many comedy-variety radio programs during the 1930s and 1940s.[5]
Scripted by Hal Block and Martin Ragaway, The Milton Berle Show brought Berle together with Arnold Stang, later a familiar face as Berle's TV sidekick. Others in the cast were announcer Frank Gallop, Pert Kelton, Mary Schipp, Jack Albertson, Arthur Q. Bryan, Ed Begley and Brazilian singer Dick Farney. Sponsored by Philip Morris, it aired on NBC from March 11, 1947 until April 13, 1948. Berle's desire to succeed on radio was strong enough to cause him to cancel well-paying nightclub appearances in favor of doing the radio program.[5]
His last radio series was The Texaco Star Theater, which began September 22, 1948 on ABC and continued until June 15, 1949, with Berle heading the cast of Stang, Kelton and Gallop, along with Charles Irving, Kay Armen, and double-talk specialist Al Kelly. It employed top comedy writers (Nat Hiken, brothers Danny and Neil Simon, Leo Fuld, Aaron Ruben), and Berle later recalled this series as "the best radio show I ever did... a hell of a funny variety show". It served as a springboard for Berle's rise as television's first major star.[5]
Mr. Television[link]
File:Berleberman.jpg
Caricature of Milton Berle by Sam Berman from 1947 NBC promotional book
In 1948, NBC decided to bring Texaco Star Theater from radio to television, with Berle as one of the show's four rotating hosts. For the fall season, NBC named Berle the permanent host. His highly visual style,[citation needed] characterized by vaudeville slapstick and outlandish costumes, proved ideal for the burgeoning[citation needed] new medium.[10] Berle modeled the show structure and acts directly from his vaudeville shows, and hired writer Hal Collins to revive his old successful routines.[6][7]
Berle and Texaco owned Tuesday nights for the next several years, reaching the number one slot in the Nielsen ratings and keeping it, with as much as an 80% share of the recorded viewing audience. Berle and the show each won Emmy Awards after the first season. Fewer movie tickets were sold on Tuesdays. Some theaters, restaurants and other businesses shut down for the hour or closed for the evening so their customers would not miss Berle's antics.[4] Berle's autobiography notes that in Detroit, "an investigation took place when the water levels took a drastic drop in the reservoirs on Tuesday nights between 9 and 9:05. It turned out that everyone waited until the end of the Texaco Star Theater before going to the bathroom".[11][12]
Berle's 1949 television appearance[4][13] was only experimental. Berle is credited for the huge spike in the sale of TV sets. (Other comedians turned this into a punchline: "I sold mine, my uncle sold his...") After Berle's show began, set sales more than doubled, reaching two million in 1949. His stature as the medium's first superstar earned Berle the sobriquet "Mr. Television".[4] He also earned a slightly more familiar nickname after ending a 1949 broadcast with a brief ad-libbed remark to children watching the show: "Listen to your Uncle Miltie and go to bed."[4]
Berle asked NBC to switch from live broadcasts to filmed shows, to make possible future reruns and residuals, and he was not happy when NBC showed little interest. NBC did consent to make a kinescope of each show — a reference copy filmed directly off a TV screen.
He also risked his newfound TV stardom at its zenith to challenge Texaco when the sponsor tried to prevent black performers from appearing. In his autobiography, Berle recalled the incident:
| “ | Another thing that was a constant anger to me was that I didn't have approval on the acts and performers I wanted on the show. I remember clashing with the sponsor and the advertising agency and the sponsor over my signing the Four Step Brothers for an appearance on the show. The only thing I could figure out was that there was an objection to black performers on the show, but I couldn't even find out who was objecting. "We just don't like them," I was told, but who the hell was "we"? Because I was riding high in 1950, I sent out the word: "If they don't go on, I don't go on." At ten minutes of eight — ten minutes before show time — I got permission for the Step Brothers to appear. If I broke the color-line policy or not, I don't know, but later on I had no trouble booking Bill Robinson or Lena Horne." | ” |
Berle's mother Sadie was often in the audience for his broadcasts; she had long served as a "plant" to encourage audiences for his stage shows to laugh.[3] Her unique, "piercing, roof-shaking laugh"[3][14] would stand out, especially when he would walk onstage in an outrageous costume. He would feign being startled by her laugh, and would pretend she was a stranger or a heckler, then come up with a response. Example: "Lady, you've got all night to make a fool of yourself. I've only got an hour!"
Berle was offered the use of a new device, the teleprompter, and 25% of the company by its inventor, Irving Kahn, if he would simply begin using the new gadget. He turned the offer down.[15]
Francis Craig and Kermit Goell's Near You became the theme song that closed Berle's TV comedy shows.[16]
Berle's TV decline[link]
NBC signed him to an exclusive, unprecedented 30-year television contract in 1951. The problem with Berle's 30-year deal was that NBC could not have realized the relatively short lifespan of a comedian on television, compared to radio, where some careers had thrived for two decades. In part, this was due to the more ephemeral nature of visual comedy (those who do not adapt quickly do not survive), and a single television appearance could equal years of exposure on the nightclub circuit. It has also been said that Berle had less appeal with audiences outside the Borscht Belt as television expanded from big East Coast markets to smaller cities. It is also possible that the positioning of the television set itself was a factor. When Berle's program first hit the airwaves, so few people owned the apparatus that many audiences watched it in public places such as bars, clubs and even in appliance store windows; these were perfect venues for Berle's out-sized personality. However, as more and more people acquired their own televisions, they may have adjusted their tastes to suit the privacy of home.[citation needed]
Texaco pulled out of sponsorship of the show in 1953. Buick picked it up, prompting a renaming to The Buick-Berle Show, and the program's format was changed to show the backstage preparations to put on a variety show. Critics generally approved of the changes, but Berle's ratings continued to fall and Buick pulled out after two seasons.[17] By the time the again-renamed Milton Berle Show finished its only full season, Berle was already becoming history — though his final season was host to two of Elvis Presley's earliest television appearances, April 3 and June 5, 1956.[18] The final straw during that last season may have come from CBS scheduling The Phil Silvers Show (aka You'll Never Get Rich and Sergeant Bilko) opposite Berle. Ironically, Silvers was one of Berle's best friends in show business and had come to CBS' attention in an appearance on Berle's program. Bilko's creator-producer, Nat Hiken, had been one of Berle's radio writers.
Berle knew that NBC had already decided to cancel his show before Presley appeared.[19] Berle later appeared in the Kraft Music Hall series from 1958 to 1959,[20] but NBC was finding increasingly fewer showcases for its one-time superstar. By 1960, he was reduced to hosting a bowling program, Jackpot Bowling, delivering his quips between the efforts of bowling contestants.[21]
[edit] Life after The Milton Berle Show
In Las Vegas, Berle played to packed showrooms at Caesars Palace, the Sands, the Desert Inn and other casino hotels. Berle had appeared at the El Rancho, one of the first Vegas hotels, in the late 1940s. In addition to constant club appearances, Berle performed on Broadway in Herb Gardner's The Goodbye People in 1968. He also became a commercial spokesman for the thriving Lums restaurant chain.
He appeared in numerous films, including Always Leave Them Laughing with Virginia Mayo and Bert Lahr, Let's Make Love with Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Loved One, The Oscar, Who's Minding the Mint?, Lepke, Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose and Driving Me Crazy.
Freed in part from the obligations of his NBC contract, Berle was signed in 1966 to a new, weekly variety series on ABC. The show failed to capture a large audience and was cancelled after one season. He later appeared as guest villain Louie the Lilac on ABC's Batman series. Other memorable guest appearances included stints on The Barbara Stanwyck Show, The Lucy Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, Get Smart, Laugh-In, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Hollywood Palace, Ironside, F Troop, Fantasy Island, and The Jack Benny Show.
Like his contemporary Jackie Gleason, Berle proved a solid dramatic actor and was acclaimed for several such performances, most notably his lead role in "Doyle Against The House" on The Dick Powell Show in 1961, a role for which he later received an Emmy nomination. He also played the part of a blind survivor of an airplane crash in Seven in Darkness, the first in ABC's popular Movie of the Week series. (He also played it straight as an agent in The Oscar (1966), and was one of the few actors in that infamous flop to get good notices from critics.)
During this period, Berle was named to the Guinness Book of World Records for the greatest number of charity performances made by a show-business performer. Unlike the high-profile shows done by Bob Hope to entertain the troops, Berle did more shows, over a period of 50 years, on a lower-profile basis. Berle received an award for entertaining at stateside military bases in World War I as a child performer, in addition to traveling to foreign bases in World War II and Vietnam. The first charity telethon (for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation[22]) was hosted by Berle in 1949.[23] A permanent fixture at charity benefits in the Hollywood area, he was instrumental in raising millions for charitable causes.
Late career[link]
On April 14, 1979, Berle guest-hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live. Perhaps the comedian saw this as a chance to revisit his live-TV glories of three decades before. Whatever his intention, he seemed to spend as much time trying to upstage the show's youthful cast members as he did trying to work with or complement them. Berle's long reputation for taking control of an entire television production—whether invited to do so or not—was a cause of stress on the set. One of the show's writers, Rosie Shuster, described the rehearsals for the Berle SNL show and the telecast as "watching a comedy train accident in slow motion on a loop." Upstaging, camera mugging, inserting old comedy bits, and climaxing the show with a maudlin performance of "September Song" complete with pre-arranged standing ovation (something producer Lorne Michaels had never sanctioned), resulted in Berle being banned from the show.
As a guest star on The Muppet Show, Berle was memorably upstaged by the heckling theatre critics Statler and Waldorf.[24] The Statler and Waldorf puppets were inspired by a character named Sidney Spritzer, played by comedian Irving Benson, who regularly heckled Berle from a box seat during episodes of the 1960s ABC series.
Another well-known incident of upstaging occurred during the 1982 Emmy Awards, when Berle and Martha Raye were the presenters of the Emmy for Outstanding Writing. Berle was reluctant to give up the microphone to the award's recipients, from Second City Television, and interrupted actor Joe Flaherty's acceptance speech several times. After Flaherty would make a joke, Berle would reply sarcastically "Oh, that's funny". However, the kindly, smiling Flaherty's response of "Go to sleep, Uncle Miltie" flustered Berle, who could only reply with a stunned "What...?" SCTV later created a parody sketch of the incident, in which Flaherty beats up a Berle look-alike, shouting, "You'll never ruin another acceptance speech, Uncle Miltie!"
One of his most popular performances in his later years was guest starring in 1992 in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as womanizing, wise-cracking patient Max Jakey. Most of his dialogue was improvised and he shocked the studio audience by mistakenly blurting out a curse word. He also appeared in an acclaimed and Emmy-nominated turn on Beverly Hills, 90210 as an aging comedian befriended by Steve Sanders, who idolizes him but is troubled by his bouts of senility due to Alzheimer's Disease. He also appeared in 1995 as a guest star in an episode of The Nanny in the part of her lawyer and great uncle.
Berle appeared in drag in the video for "Round and Round" by the 1980s metal band Ratt (his nephew Marshall Berle was then their manager).
As "Mr. Television," Berle was one of the first seven people to be inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1984. The following year, he appeared on NBC's Amazing Stories (created by Steven Spielberg) in an episode called "Fine Tuning". In this episode, friendly aliens from space receive TV signals from the Earth of the 1950s and travel to Hollywood in search of their idols, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, The Three Stooges, Burns and Allen—and Milton Berle. (When he realizes the aliens are doing his old material, Uncle Miltie is thunderstruck: "Stealing from Berle? Is that even possible?") Speaking gibberish, Berle is the only person able to communicate directly with the aliens.
Berle was again on the receiving end of an onstage jibe at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards where RuPaul responded to Berle's reference of having once worn dresses himself (during his old television days) with the quip that Berle now wore diapers. A surprised Berle replied, "Oh, we're going to ad lib? I'll check my brain and we'll start even".
Uncle Miltie offstage[link]
In 1947, Milton Berle founded the Friars Club of Beverly Hills at the old Savoy Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. Other founding members included Jimmy Durante, George Jessel, Robert Taylor, and Bing Crosby. In 1961, the club moved to Beverly Hills. The club is a private show business club famous for its celebrity members and roasts, where a member is mocked by his club friends in good fun.
Unlike many of his peers, Berle's off-stage lifestyle did not include drugs or drinking, but did include cigars, a "who's who" list of beautiful women, and a lifelong addiction to gambling, primarily horse racing. Some felt his obsession with "the ponies" was responsible for Berle never amassing the wealth or business success of others in his position.
Berle was also famous within show business for the rumored size of his penis. Phil Silvers once told a story about standing next to Berle at a urinal, glancing down, and quipping, "You'd better feed that thing, or it's liable to turn on you!" In the short story 'A Beautiful Child', Truman Capote wrote Marilyn Monroe as saying: "Christ! Everybody says Milton Berle has the biggest schlong in Hollywood." Saturday Night Live writer Alan Zweibel, who had written many Friars Club jokes about Berle's penis for other comedians, described being treated to a private showing: "He just takes out this— this anaconda. He lays it on the table and I'm looking into this thing, right? I'm looking into the head of Milton Berle's dick. It was enormous. It was like a pepperoni. And he goes, 'What do you think of the boy?' And I'm looking right at it and I go, 'Oh, it's really, really nice.'" At a memorial service for Berle at the New York Friars' Club, Freddie Roman solemnly announced, "On May 1st and May 2nd, his penis will be buried."[25] Radio shock jock Howard Stern also barraged Berle with an endless array of penis questions when the comedian appeared on Stern's morning talk show on Aug 5, 1988[26] (Berle was also a guest on the Stern show on Oct 30, 1996[27]). In Berle's 1988 appearance, when fielding phone calls, Stern purposely asked his producer to only air callers whose questions dealt with Berle's penis.[28]
Berle was known to have a colorful vocabulary and few limits on when it was used. Surprisingly, however, he "worked clean" for his entire onstage career, except for the infamous Friars Club all-male, private celebrity roasts. Berle often criticized younger comedians like Lenny Bruce and George Carlin about their X-rated humor, and challenged them to be just as funny without the four-letter words.
Hundreds of younger comics, including several comedy superstars, were encouraged and guided by Berle. Despite some less than flattering stories told about Berle being difficult to work with, his son, Bill, maintains that Berle was a source of encouragement and technical assistance for many new comics. Uncle Miltie's son Bob backs up his brother's statement. He was present many times during Berle's Las Vegas shows and television guest appearances. Milton aided Fred Travalena, Ruth Buzzi, John Ritter, Marla Gibbs, Lily Tomlin, Dick Shawn and Will Smith. At a taping of a Donny & Marie, for example, Donny and Marie Osmond recited a scripted joke routine to a studio audience, to little response. The director asked for a retake, and the Osmonds repeated the act, word for word, to even less response. A third attempt, with no variation, proved dismal — until Milton Berle, off-camera, went into the audience, pantomiming funny faces and gestures. Ever the professional, Berle timed each gesture to coincide with an Osmond punchline, so the dialogue seemed to be getting the maximum laughs.
Personal life[link]
After twice marrying and divorcing Joyce Mathews, a showgirl, Berle married Ruth Cosgrove, a onetime publicist on December 9, 1953; she died in 1989.[14][29] In 1989, Berle stated that his mother was behind the breakup of his marriage to Mathews. He also said that she managed to damage his previous relationships: "My mother never resented me going out with a girl, but if I had more than three dates with one girl, Mama found some way to break it up."[30] He was married for a fourth time in 1992 to Lorna Adams, a fashion designer 30 years younger than he was, whom he credited for 'keeping him young'. He had two children, Victoria (adopted by Berle and Mathews) and William (adopted by Berle and Cosgrove).[31] Berle also had two stepdaughters from his marriage to Lorna Adams—Leslie and Susan Brown, who is married to actor Richard Moll.[32] He also had three grandsons, James and Mathew, the sons of his daughter, Vicki,[29] and Sgt. Tyler Roe (US Army Iraq/Afghanistan wars), the son of his son, William.
In later life, Berle found solace in Christian Science and called himself a Jew and a Christian Scientist.[33] Oscar Levant, commenting to Jack Paar about Berle's conversion, quipped, "Our loss is their loss."
Death[link]
In April 2001, Berle announced that he was suffering from a cancerous tumor in his colon, but would not undergo surgery.[34] At the time of the announcement, Berle's wife said the tumor was growing so slowly that it would take ten to twelve years to affect him in any significant or life-threatening way. Less than one year after the announcement, Berle died on March 27, 2002 in Los Angeles, California from colon cancer.[32][35]
Berle left detailed arrangements to be buried with his second wife, Ruth, at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Burbank. However, his last wife, Lorna Adams, altered the plan so that he was cremated and interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. In addition to his wife, Berle was survived by a daughter, Victoria, born in 1945; son, William, born in 1961; and Bob Williams, a son, born in 1951.[36]
Other awards[link]
- On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Berle into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.[37]
Broadway[link]
- Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1932 (1932) - revue — in the roles of "Mortimer" in the sketch "Mourning Becomes Impossible", "Joe Miller, Jr." in "What Price Jokes", "Frank" in "Two Sailors", "Paul" in "The Cabinet of Doctor X", the "Announcer" in "Studio W.M.C.A." the "Defendant" in "Trial by Jury" and "Milton" in "The Bar Relief"
- Saluta (1934) — musical, co-lyricist and performer cast in the role of "'Windy' Walker"
- See My Lawyer (1939) — play — performer cast in the role of "Arthur Lee"
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1943 (1943) — revue — performer in the role of "Cecil" in Counter Attack, "J. Pierswift Armour" in The Merchant of Venison, "Perry Johnson" in Loves-A-Poppin, "Escamillio" in Carmen in Zoot, "Charlie Grant" Mr Grant Goes To Washington, "'The Micromaniac' Singer" and "'Hold That Smile' Dancer"
- I'll Take the High Road (1943) — play — co-producer
- Seventeen (1951) — musical — co-producer
- The Goodbye People (1968) — performer cast in the role of "Max Silverman"
In popular culture[link]
In the episode titled "The One with the 'Cuffs" of the sitcom Friends, Rachel promises Chandler that she will make him "This generation's Milton Berle", hinting that he had a large penis but "not compared to (Chandler)". In the Family Guy episode "Fifteen Minutes of Shame", Lois describes her perfect man as having (among other male celebrities' features) "Milton Berle's legendary genitals".
For the initial production of Robert Sherwood's Idiot's Delight starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in 1936, Lunt went to see Berle perform many times and took lessons from him in joke delivery and soft shoe for his characterization of tenth rate vaudeville performer Harry Van. After Lunt had seen Berle perform numerous times and went backstage to meet him, before any introductions could be made, Berle snapped, "Now look here, nobody steals from me. That's my line of work!" After finding out that his fan was none other than the American stage's most gifted and prestigious actor, Berle was flattered and showed Lunt everything he knew. - From Design for Living, Margot Peters' biography of the Lunts.
Filmography[link]
- 1914: The Perils of Pauline
- 1917: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
- 1920: The Mark of Zorro (uncredited), Birthright
- 1921: Little Lord Fauntleroy (uncredited)
- 1922: Tess of the Storm Country (uncredited)
- 1923: Ruth of the Range (uncredited)
- 1933: Poppin' the Cork
- 1937: New Faces of 1937
- 1938: Radio City Revels
- 1940: Li'l Abner (title song with Ben Oakland and Milton Drake)
- 1941: Tall, Dark and Handsome, The Great American Broadcast, Sun Valley Serenade, Rise and Shine
- 1942: A Gentleman at Heart, Whispering Ghosts, Over My Dead Body
- 1943: Margin for Error
- 1949: Always Leave Them Laughing
- 1960: The Bellboy
- 1960: Let's Make Love
- 1963: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
- 1965: The Loved One
- 1966: The Oscar, Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title
- 1967: The Happening, Who's Minding the Mint?
- 1968: Silent Treatment, Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows, For Singles Only
- 1969: Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?, Seven in Darkness
- 1972: Evil Roy Slade
- 1974: Journey Back to Oz (voice)
- 1975: Lepke
- 1976: Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood
- 1976: Let's Make a Deal (playing for a home viewer)
- 1979: The Muppet Movie
- 1985: Pee-wee's Big Adventure
- 1983: Cracking Up
- 1984: Broadway Danny Rose
- 1988: Side by Side
- 1989: Going Overboard
- 1991: Driving Me Crazy
- 1992: Fresh Prince of Bel Air
- 1995: Sister, Sister
- 1995: The Nanny
- 1995: Beverly Hills, 90210
- 1995: Storybook
- 1999: Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
- 2000: Two Heads Are Better Than None
References[link]
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) |
- ^ "Broadcast pioneer NBC prepares for cable takeover" Miami Herald, Nov. 16, 2009
- ^ "Milton Berle's Mother Dies". The Tuscaloosa News. 1 June 1954. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2CQeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NpgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5278,3741070&dq=milton+berle+son&hl=en. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
- ^ a b c "The Child Wonder". Time, 16 May 1949.
- ^ a b c d e www.museum.tv
- ^ a b c d e "The Milton Berle Show". RadioArchives. http://www.radioarchives.com/Milton_Berle_Show_p/ra017.htm. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
- ^ a b Epstein, Lawrence J. (2002) The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America, ch.6 The Magic Box, pp.86-7, quotation:
Berle had hired the writer Hal Collins to revive old vaudeville, burlesque and radio routines that Berle has used successfully. ... The shows were clearly vaudeville brought into the home. ... Berle was the ringmaster, the master of ceremonies who did his opening monologue and introduced each new act. Keeping to his own vaudeville tradition of entering into the acts of other performers, Berle often interrupted or joined in the act. When "Buffalo Bob" Smith came on, Berle appeared dressed as Howdy Doody.
- ^ a b Madigan, S.P. Texaco Star Theater entry in Browne, Pat (2001) The guide to United States popular culture, p.833, quotation:
Texaco Star emulated a vaudeville variety hour, with several guests each week, including singers, comedians, ventriloquists, acrobats, dramatic performances, and so forth.
- ^ Sackett, Susan (1993) p.1954 quotation:
When "Texaco" premiered on Tuesday, June 8, 1948, the format was strictly vaudeville, a bill of dancers, jugglers, acrobats, guest stars, and sketches-in short, it was simply a video version of the already successful radio show that Berle had been doing for ABC on Wednesday nights.
- ^ Entertainment Magazine: Astor Pictures, Li'l Abner (1940)
- ^ Young, William H. and Young, Nancy K. (2010) World War II and the Postwar Years in America: A Historical and Cultural Encyclopedia, Volume 1, p.706 quotation: Template:Quoation
- ^ Sackett, Susan (1993) Prime-time hits: television's most popular network programs, 1950 p.1954 quotation:
The city of Detroit was baffled when the reservoir water levels dropped each Tuesday evening shortly after 9:00 pm An investigation revealed that Detroit's citizens were waiting until Berle was off the air to go to the bathroom; the simultaneous flushing of thousands of toilets created havoc with Detroit's water works.
- ^ Milton Berle, Haskel Frankel (1974) Milton Berle: an autobiography, with Haskel Frankel p.271
- ^ Berle, Milton; Frankel, Haskel, eds. (1974). Milton Berle: An Autobiography. Delacorte Press. pp. 337. ISBN 0-440-05609-8. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0440056098. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
- ^ a b Kamm, Herbert (27 August 1958). "'Mr. TV' Is Coming Back". Schenectady Gazette. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zVQuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4H4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=695,3891050&dq=goodman+ace&hl=en. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
- ^ Humphrey, Hal (13 June 1968). "Berle Recalls Beginning of TV". Toledo Blade. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SWcxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mwEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7291,3455107&dq=milton+berle+son&hl=en. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
- ^ Texaco Star Theater (comedy-variety hosted by Milton Berle) [1]
- ^ "Berle Traded For Gleason". Prescott Evening Courier. 20 December 1954. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7ecKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CVADAAAAIBAJ&pg=2406,1249723&dq=milton+berle+son&hl=en. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
- ^ Milton Berle — Milton Berle Show
- ^ The Blue Moon Boys — The Story of Elvis Presley's Band. Ken Burke and Dan Griffin. 2006. Chicago Review Press. page 52. ISBN 1-55652-614-8
- ^ Torre, Marie (11 March 1959). "Milton Berle Not Moping". Lawrence Journal-World. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zTwyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-eQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6842,4109474&dq=milton+berle+son&hl=en. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
- ^ Ashe, Isobel (27 November 1960). "Berle's 'Jackpot Bowling' Is A Really Striking Series". Reading Eagle. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LBIrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YpwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4633,5663479&dq=goodman+ace&hl=en. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ [2] damonrunyon.org
- ^ www.imdb.com
- ^ Milton Berle Vs. Statler & Waldorf - YouTube
- ^ Men In Dresses Dept.: Remembering Milton Berle: The New Yorker
- ^ MarksFriggin.com - Stern Show News - Archive
- ^ Mark's Friggin' Stern Show News - October 1996
- ^ Stern, Howard. Howard Stern Miss America, 1995.
- ^ a b "Milton Berle's Wife Dies". Merced Sun-Star. 20 April 1989. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xJNcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-lcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4327,3990991&dq=milton+berle&hl=en. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
- ^ "Milton had to prove his manhood". The Spokesman-Review. 18 March 1989. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=N1xWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1e8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6863,1231529&dq=milton+berle&hl=en. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
- ^ "Comedian Ernie Kovacs Is Killed In Traffic Accident". Victoria Advocate. 14 January 1962. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HSMcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vFgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6745,1128022&dq=ernie+kovacs&hl=en. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
- ^ a b "Milton Berle, 'Mr. Television,' Dies at 93". Washington Post. March 28, 2002. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28744-2002Mar27?language=printer. Retrieved 2009-01-27. "Milton Berle, 93, the old-time vaudeville comic who earned the nickname "Mr. Television" for introducing millions of Americans to the electronic medium during its infancy and thereby helping to change the country forever, died yesterday at his home in Los Angeles. Berle, who had been under hospice care in recent weeks, learned last year that he had colon cancer, the Associated Press reported."
- ^ Adherents World Religion Statistics: Obituary: Milton Berle
- ^ archives.cnn.com
- ^ "'Mr. Television,' Milton Berle, dead at 93". CNN. March 28, 2002. http://edition.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/News/03/27/milton.berle.obit/index.html. Retrieved 2009-01-27. "Berle, who had been in failing health in recent years, died in his sleep while taking a nap, publicist Roger Neale said. His wife, Lorna, was at home with him when he died. Berle is also survived by a son and a daughter. Funeral arrangements are pending."
- ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (28 March 2002). "Milton Berle, TV's First Star As 'Uncle Miltie,' Dies at 93". New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 March 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5xGILoM5M. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
- ^ Berle inducted into California Hall of Fame, California Museum, Accessed 2007
Further reading[link]
- Berle, Milton with Haskel Frankel. Milton Berle, an Autobiography. New York: Dell, 1975. ISBN 0-440-15626-2
- Dunning, John. On The Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8
- McNeil, Alex. Total Television. New York: Penguin Books, 1996. ISBN 0-14-004911-8
- Shales, Tom and James Andrew Miller. Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. New York: Little, Brown, 2002. ISBN 0-316-78146-0
- Berle, William and Lewis, Brad. "My Father, Uncle Miltie". New York: Barricade Books, 1999. ISBN 1-56980-149-5
External links[link]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Milton Berle |
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Milton Berle |
- Milton Berle at the Internet Movie Database
- Milton Berle Interview at Archive of American Television
- Milton Berle at AllRovi
- Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time
- Milton Berle Internet archive Several entries for free stream or download including Texaco Star Theater and Buick Berle Show.
- Museum of Broadcast Communications: Milton Berle
- Museum of Broadcast Communications: The Milton Berle Show
- Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
- Milton 'Berlinger' Berle's birth certificate
- Milton Berle at Find a Grave
- Lum's TV Commercial with Milton Berle
- Literature on Milton Berle
Listen to[link]
- Free OTR: Milton Berle Show (two episodes)
- Episodes of the 'Milton Berle Show' on Radio at Internet Archive
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Berle, Milton |
| Alternative names | Berlinger, Milton |
| Short description | Comedian, actor |
| Date of birth | July 12, 1908 |
| Place of birth | Manhattan, New York |
| Date of death | March 27, 2002 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles, California |
http://wn.com/Milton_Berle
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is about the village in Norway. For other uses, see Berle (disambiguation).
| Berle | |
|---|---|
| — Village — | |
 Berle
|
|
| Coordinates: 61°49′52″N 05°07′04″E / 61.83111°N 5.11778°E / 61.83111; 5.11778Coordinates: 61°49′52″N 05°07′04″E / 61.83111°N 5.11778°E / 61.83111; 5.11778 | |
| Country | Norway |
| Region | Western Norway |
| County | Sogn og Fjordane |
| District | Nordfjord |
| Municipality | Bremanger |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+01) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+02) |
| Post Code | 6719 |
Berle is a village on the west coast of Norway. It is located on the eastern coast of Bremangerlandet island in the municipality of Bremanger, Sogn og Fjordane county. The village lies along the Berlepollen fjord, about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the cliff Hornelen. Berle is about a 20-kilometre (12 mi) drive west from the village of Bremanger. Berle Church is located in the village, just across the Frøysjøen (strait) from the mainland. The population (2001) of the village is 135.[1]
Name[link]
The name of the village comes from the name of the small river nearby (Old Norse: Berðla). The small Berlepollen fjord nearby is similarly named. The name Berðla comes from the Old Norse word barð, meaning "edge", possibly since it is on the edge of the island. The village's name is mentioned as early as in the Egils saga.[2]
History[link]
Berle has a rich history, which goes back to the year 750. Berle was then populated by Vikings. The best known Viking who lived there was Berle Kåre. Snorri Sturluson, the Icelandic historian, writes about the King in Berle, and his sons were a central subject in the histories of Harald Fairhair.[3]
During World War II, German soldiers built a defense station there to prevent the allies from entering Frøysjøen, as part of Festung Norwegen.
References[link]
- ^ Statistisk sentralbyrå (2001) (in Norwegian) (PDF). Folke- og boligtellingen 2001, kommune- og bydelshefter 1438 Bremanger. http://www.ssb.no/fob/kommunehefte/1438/fob_1438_tabeller.pdf.
- ^ Rygh, Oluf (1919) (in Norwegian). Norske gaardnavne: Nordre Bergenhus amt (12 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 418. http://www.dokpro.uio.no/perl/navnegransking/rygh_ng/rygh_visetekst.prl?s=n&Vise=Vise&KRYSS198246%4044164=on.
- ^ "Viking kings from Berle" (in Norwegian). NRK Sogn og Fjordane. http://nrk.no/sf/leksikon/index.php/Vikinghovdingane_fr%C3%A5_Berle. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
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This Sogn og Fjordane location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
http://wn.com/Berle
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berle
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
 |
This article, from "Characters" on down, is written like a personal reflection or essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (January 2010) |
| Jack Benny | |
|---|---|
 Jack Benny in 1958 |
|
| Birth name | Benjamin Kubelsky[1] |
| Born | (1894-02-14)February 14, 1894 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Died | December 26, 1974(1974-12-26) (aged 80) Beverly Hills, California United States |
| Show | The Jack Benny Program |
| Network | NBC, CBS |
| Style | Comedian |
| Country | United States |
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American comedian, vaudevillian, radio, television, and film actor, and also a notable violinist. Widely recognized as one of the leading American entertainers of the 20th century, Benny played the role of the comic penny-pinching miser, insisting on remaining 39 years old on stage despite his actual age, and often playing the violin badly.
Benny was known for his comic timing and his ability to get laughs with either a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated "Well!" His radio and television programs, tremendously popular from the 1930s to the 1960s, were a foundational influence on the situation comedy genre. Dean Martin, on the celebrity roast for Johnny Carson in November 1973, introduced Benny as "the Satchel Paige of the world of comedy".
Contents |
Biography[link]
Early life[link]
Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky on February 14, 1894, in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in neighboring Waukegan, Illinois.[2] He was the son of Meyer Kubelsky and Emma Sachs Kubelsky. Meyer was a Jewish saloon owner, later to become a haberdasher, who had emigrated to America from Poland.[3][4][5][6][7] Emma had emigrated from Lithuania. Benny began studying the violin, an instrument that would become his trademark, when he was just six, with his parents' hopes that he would be a great classical violinist. He loved the violin, but hated practice. By age 14, he was playing in local dance bands as well as in his high school orchestra. Benny was a dreamer and a poor student and he was expelled from high school. He did equally badly in business school and at his father's trade. At age 17, he began playing the instrument in local vaudeville theaters for $7.50 a week.[8] He was joined by Ned Miller, a young composer and singer, on the vaudeville circuit.[9] They became life-long friends and Miller eventually joined the cast of The Jack Benny Program in the 1960s.
In 1911, Benny was playing in the same theater as the young Marx Brothers, whose mother Minnie was so enchanted with Benny's musicianship that she invited him to be their permanent accompanist. The plan was foiled by Benny's parents, who refused to let their son, then 17, go on the road, but it was the beginning of his long friendship with Zeppo Marx. Benny's future wife Mary Livingstone was a distant cousin of the Marx Brothers.
The following year, Benny formed a vaudeville musical duo with pianist Cora Salisbury, a buxom 45-year-old widow who needed a partner for her act. This provoked famous violinist Jan Kubelik, who thought that the young vaudeville entertainer with a similar name (Kubelsky) would damage his reputation. Under pressure from Kubelik's lawyer, Benjamin Kubelsky agreed to change his name to Ben K. Benny (sometimes spelled Bennie). When Salisbury left the act, Benny found a new pianist, Lyman Woods, and renamed the act "From Grand Opera to Ragtime". They worked together for five years and slowly added comedy elements to the show. They even reached the Palace Theater, the "Mecca of Vaudeville", but bombed. Benny left show business briefly in 1917 to join the U.S. Navy during World War I, and he often entertained the troops with his violin playing. One evening, his violin performance was booed by the troops, so with prompting from fellow sailor and actor Pat O'Brien, he ad-libbed his way out of the jam and left them laughing. He got more comedy spots in the revues and was a big hit, and earned himself a reputation as a comedian as well as a musician.
Shortly after the war, Benny started a one-man act, "Ben K. Benny: Fiddle Funology".[8] But then he heard from another lawyer, this time that of Ben Bernie, another patter-and-fiddle performer who also threatened to sue. So Benny adopted the common sailor's nickname Jack. By 1921, the fiddle became more of a prop and the low-key comedy took over.
Benny had several romantic encounters, including one with a dancer, Mary Kelly, whose devoutly Catholic family forced her to turn down Benny's proposal because he was Jewish. Benny was introduced to Mary Kelly by Gracie Allen. Some years after their split, Kelly resurfaced as a dowdy fat girl and Jack gave her a part in an act of three girls: one homely, one fat and one who couldn't sing. This lasted until, at Mary Livingstone's request, Mary Kelly was let go.
In 1922, Jack accompanied Zeppo Marx to a Passover seder where he met Sadye (Sadie) Marks, whom he married in 1927 after meeting again on a double-date. She was working in the hosiery section of the Hollywood Boulevard branch of the May Company and Benny would court her there.[8] Called on to fill in for the "dumb girl" part in one of Benny's routines, Sadie proved a natural comedienne and a big hit. Adopting Mary Livingstone as her stage name, Sadie became Benny's collaborator throughout most of his career. They later adopted a daughter, Joan.
In 1929, Benny's agent Sam Lyons convinced MGM's Irving Thalberg to catch Benny's act at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Benny was signed to a five-year contract and his first film role was in The Hollywood Revue of 1929. His next movie, Chasing Rainbows, was a flop and after several months, Benny was released from his contract and returned to Broadway in Earl Carroll's Vanities. At first dubious about the viability of radio, Benny was eager to break into the new medium. In 1932, after a four-week nightclub run, he was invited onto Ed Sullivan's radio program, uttering his first radio spiel "This is Jack Benny talking. There will be a slight pause while you say, 'Who cares?'..."[8]
Radio[link]
History[link]
Benny had been only a minor vaudeville performer, but he became a national figure with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show that ran from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1949 to 1955 on CBS. It was consistently among the most highly rated programs during most of that run.[10][11]
On April 6, 1932, the NBC Commercial Program Department arranged for an audition of Jack Benny for Ayer and its client Canada Dry, after which its head, Bertha Brainard made an assessment of this new comic: "We think Mr. Benny is excellent for radio, and while the audition was unassisted as far as orchestra was concerned, we believe he would make a great bet for an air program." With Canada Dry Ginger Ale as a sponsor, Benny came to radio on The Canada Dry Program, beginning May 2, 1932, on the NBC Blue Network and continuing there for six months until October 26, moving the show to CBS on October 30. With Ted Weems leading the band, Benny stayed on CBS until January 26, 1933. The commercial ran twice a week from 9:30 to 10:00, it ran for almost a year.[12]
Arriving at NBC on March 17, Benny did The Chevrolet Program until April 1, 1934. He continued with sponsor General Tire through the end of the season. In October, 1934, General Foods, the makers of Jell-O and Grape-Nuts, became the sponsor most identified with Jack, for the next ten years. American Tobacco's Lucky Strike was his longest-lasting radio sponsor, from October, 1944, through the end of his original radio series.
The show switched networks to CBS on January 2, 1949, as part of CBS president William S. Paley's notorious "raid" of NBC talent in 1948–49. There it stayed for the remainder of its radio run, which ended on May 22, 1955. CBS aired repeats of old radio episodes from 1956 to 1958 as The Best of Benny.
Characters[link]
 |
This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (December 2010) |
File:Jack Benny Cast.jpg
Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, and Eddie Anderson (Rochester) in a group portrait.
Benny's comic persona changed in the course of his career. At some time he developed the tightwad/cheapskate persona.[13] This stage character was just about everything the actual Jack Benny was not: cheap, petty, vain, and self-congratulatory. His comic rendering of these traits became the linchpin to the Benny show's success. Benny set himself up as the comedic foil, allowing his supporting characters to draw laughs at the expense of his character's flaws. By allowing such a character to be seen as human and vulnerable, in an era where few male characters were allowed such obvious vulnerability, Benny made what might have been a despicable character into a lovable Everyman character. Benny said on several occasions: "I don't care who gets the laughs on my show, as long as the show is funny." Jack felt he got the credit or blame either way, not the actor saying the lines, so it had better be funny.
The supporting characters who amplified that vulnerability only too gladly included wife Mary Livingstone as his wisecracking and not especially deferential female friend (not quite his girlfriend, since Benny would often try to date movie stars like Barbara Stanwyck, and occasionally had stage girlfriends such as "Gladys Zybisco"); rotund announcer Don Wilson (who also served as announcer for Fanny Brice's hit, Baby Snooks); bandleader Phil Harris as a jive-talking, wine-and-women type whose repartee was rather risqué for its time; boy tenor Dennis Day, who was cast as a sheltered, naïve youth who still got the better of his boss as often as not (this character was originated by Kenny Baker who was replaced by Day); and Eddie Anderson as valet-chauffeur Rochester van Jones. Singer Larry Stevens was Dennis Day's replacement from 11-5-44 to 3-10-46 while Day was in the Navy.
Rochester was allowed to one-up his vain, skinflint boss. In more ways than one, with his mock-befuddled one-liners and his sharp retorts, he broke a comedic racial barrier. Unlike many black supporting characters of the time, Rochester was depicted and treated as a regular member of Benny's fictional household. Benny, in character, tended if anything to treat Rochester more like an equal partner than as a hired domestic, even though gags about Rochester's flimsy salary were a regular part of the show.
Rochester seemed to see right through his boss's vanities and knew how to prick them without overdoing it, often with his famous line "Oh, Boss, come now!" Benny deserves credit for allowing this character and the actor who played him (it is difficult, if not impossible, to picture any other performer giving Rochester what Anderson gave him) to transcend the era's racial stereotype and for not discouraging his near-equal popularity. A New Year's Eve episode, in particular, shows the love each performer had for the other, quietly toasting each other with champagne. That this attention to Rochester's race was no accident became clearer during World War II, when Benny would frequently pay tribute to the diversity of Americans who had been drafted into service.
After the war, once the depths of Nazi race hatred had been revealed, Benny made a conscious effort to remove the most stereotypical aspects of Rochester's character. In 1948, it became apparent to Benny how much the times had changed when a 1941 script for "The Jack Benny Program" was re-used for one week's show. The script included mention of several African-American stereotypes (i.e. a reference to Rochester carrying a razor), and prompted a number of listeners, who didn't know the script was an old one, to send in angry letters protesting the stereotypes. Thereafter, Benny insisted that his writers should make sure that no racial jokes or references should be heard on his show. Benny also often gave key guest-star appearances to African-American performers such as Louis Armstrong and The Ink Spots.
File:Jack Benny group photo.jpg
Group photograph of Eddie Anderson, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, Mary Livingstone, Jack Benny, Don Wilson, and Mel Blanc.
The rest of Benny's cast included character actors and comedians:
- Sheldon Leonard (later a hugely successful television producer and creator) as a tight-lipped racetrack tout
- Joseph Kearns (best remembered as cantankerous Mr. Wilson on the television version of Dennis the Menace) as Ed, the superannuated guard to Jack's money vault
- Verna Felton as Dennis Day's mother
- Frank Nelson, usually as an oily desk clerk or floorwalker, always greeting Benny with an eager Yeeeeeeesss?;
- singer/bandleader Bob Crosby (who succeeded Phil Harris in the early 1950s);
- Artie Auerbach as the Yiddish-accented Mr. Kitzel ("hoo, hoo, hoo!");
- Bea Benaderet, as Gertrude the switchboard operator;
- Mel Blanc, who provided several characters' voices, including the railroad station announcer who said, "Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa and Cu... camonga!". This running gag became so well known (including use in several Bugs Bunny cartoons (which Mel Blanc also voiced)) that it eventually led to a statue of Benny in Cucamonga. Blanc also was featured with Benny in the classic Si-Sy routine and on radio as the sound of Benny's Maxwell automobile. Blanc is perhaps best remembered as Benny's perpetually frustrated violin teacher, Professor LeBlanc, who was as likely to throw his own and Benny's instrument into the fireplace as he was to have a nervous breakdown before he was out the door.
Other musical contributions came starting in 1946 from the singing quartet the Sportsmen (members: Bill Days, Max Smith, Marty Sperzel and Gurney Bell) singing the middle Lucky Strike commercial. In the early days of the program, the supporting characters were often vaudevillian ethnic stereotypes whose humor was grounded in dialects. As the years went by, the humor of these figures became more character-based.
Benny's method of bringing a character into a skit, by announcing his name, also became a well-known Benny shtick: "Oh, Dennis ..." or "Oh, Rochester ..." typically answered by, "Yes, Mr. Benny (Boss)?"
Situations[link]
File:Bennystatue.jpg
This statue of Jack Benny in Rancho Cucamonga, located inside the Epicenter Stadium at Jack Benny Way and Rochester Avenue, commemorates the program's famed running gag: "Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa and Cu-ca-monga!"
The Jack Benny Program evolved from a variety show blending sketch comedy and musical interludes into the situation comedy form we know even now, crafting particular situations and scenarios from the fictionalization of Benny the radio star. Any situation from hosting a party to income tax time to a night on the town was good for a Benny show, and somehow the writers and star would find the right ways and places to insert musical interludes from Phil Harris and Dennis Day. With Day, invariably, it would be a brief sketch that ended with Benny ordering Day to sing the song he planned to do on that week's show.
One extremely popular scenario that became an annual tradition on The Jack Benny Program was the "Christmas Shopping" episode, in which Benny would head to a local department store. Each year, Benny would buy a ridiculously cheap Christmas gift for Don Wilson from a store clerk played by Mel Blanc. Benny would then have second (then third, and even fourth) thoughts about his gift choice, driving Blanc (or, in two other cases, his wife and his psychiatrist, as well) to hilarious insanity by exchanging the gift, pestering about the Christmas card or wrapping paper countless times throughout the episode: in many cases, the clerk would commit suicide, or attempt and fail to commit suicide ("Look what you done! You made me so nervous, I missed!") as a result.
In the 1946 Christmas episode, for example, Benny buys shoelaces for Don, and then is unable to make up his mind whether to give Wilson shoelaces with plastic tips or shoelaces with metal tips. After Benny exchanges the shoelaces repeatedly, Mel Blanc is heard screaming insanely, "Plastic tips! Metal tips! I can't stand it anymore!" A variation in 1948 concerned Benny buying an expensive wallet for Don, but repeatedly changing the greeting card inserted—prompting Blanc to shout: "I haven't run into anyone like you in 20 years! Oh, why did the governor have to give me that pardon!?" – until Benny realizes that he should have gotten Don a wallet for $1.98, whereupon the put-upon clerk immediately responds by committing suicide. Over the years, in these Christmas episodes, Benny bought and repeatedly exchanged cuff links, golf tees, a box of dates, a paint set (water colors or oils), and even a gopher trap.
In 1936, after a few years broadcasting from New York, Benny moved the show to Los Angeles, allowing him to bring in guests from among his show business friends — such as Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, Judy Garland, Barbara Stanwyck, Bing Crosby, Burns and Allen (George Burns was Benny's closest friend), and many others. Burns and Allen and Orson Welles guest hosted several episodes in March and April 1943 when Benny was seriously ill with pneumonia, while Ronald Colman and his wife Benita Hume appeared frequently in the 1940s as Benny's long-suffering neighbors.
On the broadcast of January 8, 1950, journalist Drew Pearson was the subject of a joke gone wrong. Announcer Don Wilson was to say he heard Jack bought a new suit on Drew Pearson, but said Pearson's name wrong; Don said "Drear Pewson". Later on in the show, comedic actor Frank Nelson was asked by Benny if he was the doorman. Changing the script (by suggestion of the writers), Nelson said, "Well who do you think I am ... Drear Pewson?" The audience laughed for almost 30 seconds.
Sponsors[link]
In the early days of radio (and in the early television era, often as not), the airtime was owned by the sponsor, and Benny made a point of incorporating the commercials into the body of the show. Sometimes the sponsors were the butt of jokes, though Benny did not deploy this device as frequently as his friend and "rival" Fred Allen did at the time, or as his cast member Phil Harris later did on his own successful radio sitcom. Nevertheless, for many years Benny insisted in contract negotiations that his writers pen the sponsor's commercial in the middle of the program (leaving the sponsor to provide the opening and closing spots) and the resulting ads were cleverly and wittily worked into the storyline of the show. For example, on one program, Don Wilson accidentally misread Lucky Strike's slogan ("Be happy, go Lucky") as "Be Lucky, go happy", prompting a story arc over several weeks that had Wilson unable to attend the show due to being severely traumatized by the error.
In fact, the radio show was generally not announced as The Jack Benny Program. Instead, the primary name of the show tied to the sponsor. Benny's first sponsor was Canada Dry Ginger Ale from 1932 to 1933. Benny's sponsors included Chevrolet from 1933 to 1934, General Tire in 1934, and Jell-O from 1934 to 1942. The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny was so successful in selling Jell-O, in fact, that General Foods could not manufacture it fast enough when sugar shortages arose in the early years of World War II, and the company had to stop advertising the popular dessert mix. General Foods switched the Benny program from Jell-O to Grape-Nuts from 1942 to 1944, and it became, naturally, The Grape Nuts Program Starring Jack Benny. Benny's longest-running sponsor, however, was the American Tobacco Company's Lucky Strike cigarettes, from 1944 to 1955, when the show was usually announced as The Lucky Strike Program starring Jack Benny.
Writers[link]
Benny was notable for employing a small group of writers, most of whom stayed with him for many years. This was very much in contrast to other successful radio or television comedians, such as Bob Hope, who would change writers frequently. Historical accounts (like those by longtime Benny writer Milt Josefsberg) indicate that Benny's role was essentially that of both head writer and director of his radio programs, though he was not credited in either capacity. In contrast to Fred Allen, who initially personally wrote all of his own radio scripts (and continued to extensively rewrite scripts produced in later years by a writing staff), Jack Benny was often described by his writers as a consummate comedy editor rather than a writer per se. He would often debate the precise wording of jokes, and always sought to ensure the preservation of the integrity of the show's characters above easy gags.[citation needed]
Jack Benny has a reputation for being a master of timing. Since his days at the radio, he often explored the limits of timing for comedic purposes, like pausing a disproportionate amount of time before answering a question.[13][14]
Theme music[link]
During his early radio shows, there was no recurring theme, the program instead opening each week with a different then-current popular song. Throughout the Jello and Grapenuts years, announcer Don Wilson would announce the name of the show, some of the cast, and then state "The orchestra opens the program with [name of song]." The orchestra number would continue softly as background for Don Wilson's opening commercial.
Starting in the Lucky Strike era, Benny adopted a medley of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "Love in Bloom" as his theme music, opening every show. "Love in Bloom" later became the theme of his television show as well. His radio shows often ended with the orchestra playing "Hooray for Hollywood". The TV show ended with one of two bouncy instrumentals written for the show by his musical arranger and conductor, Mahlon Merrick.
Benny would sometimes joke about the propriety of "Love in Bloom" as his theme song. On a segment often played in Tonight Show retrospectives, Benny talks with Johnny Carson about this. Benny says he has no objections to the song in and of itself, only as his theme. Proving his point, he begins reciting the lyrics slowly and deliberately: "Can it be the trees. That fill the breeze. With rare and magic perfume. Now what the hell has that got to do with me?"
"Your money or your life"[link]
In an episode that was broadcast March 28, 1948, Benny borrowed neighbor Ronald Colman's Oscar, and was returning home when he was accosted by a mugger (voiced by comedian Eddie Marr). After asking for a match to light a cigarette, the mugger demands, "Don't make a move, this is a stickup. Now, come on. Your money or your life." Benny paused, and the studio audience—knowing his skinflint character—laughed. The robber then repeated his demand: "Look, bud! I said your money or your life!" Benny snapped back, without a break, "I'm thinking it over!" This time, the audience laughed louder and longer than they had during the pause.
The punchline came to Benny staff writers John Tackaberry and Milt Josefsberg almost by accident. Writer George Balzer described the scene to author Jordan R. Young, for The Laugh Crafters, a 1999 book of interviews with veteran radio and television comedy writers:
- ... they had come to a point where they had the line, "Your money or your life." And that stopped them... Milt is pacing up and down, trying to get a follow... And he gets a little peeved at Tack, and he says, "For God's sakes, Tack, say something." Tack, maybe he was half asleep—in defense of himself, says, "I'm thinking it over." And Milt says, "Wait a minute. That's it." And that's the line that went in the script... By the way, that was not the biggest laugh that Jack ever got. It has the reputation of getting the biggest laugh. But that's not true.
The actual length of the laugh the joke got was five seconds when originally delivered and seven seconds when the gag was reprised on a follow-up show. In fact, the joke is probably not so memorable for the length of the laugh it provoked, but because it became the definitive "Jack Benny joke"—the joke that best illustrated Benny's "stingy man" persona. The punchline—"I'm thinking it over!"—simply would not have worked with any other comedian but Benny.
The actual longest laugh known to collectors of The Jack Benny Program lasted in excess of 32 seconds. The International Jack Benny Fan Club[15] reports that, at the close of the program broadcast on December 13, 1936, sponsored by Jell-O, guest Andy Devine says that it is the "last number of the eleventh program in the new Jelly series." The audience, who loved any sort of accidental flub in the live program, is still laughing after 32 seconds, at which point the network cut off the program to prevent it from running overtime.
According to Jack himself, Mary Livingstone got the biggest laugh he ever heard on the show, on the April 25, 1948 broadcast. The punchline was the result of the following exchange between Don Wilson and noted opera singer Dorothy Kirsten:
- Don Wilson: Oh, Miss Kirsten, I wanted to tell you that I saw you in "Madame Butterfly" Wednesday afternoon, and I thought your performance was simply magnificent.
- Dorothy Kirsten: Well, thanks, awfully. It's awfully nice and kind of you, Mr. Wilson. But, uh, who could help singing Puccini? It's so expressive. And particularly in the last act, starting with the allegro vivacissimo.
- Don Wilson: Well, now, that's being very modest, Miss Kirsten. But not every singer has the necessary bel canto and flexibility or range to cope with the high tessitura of the first act.
- Dorothy Kirsten: Thank you, Mr. Wilson. And don't you think that in the aria, "Un bel dì vedremo", that the strings played the con molto passione exceptionally fine and with great sostenuto?
- Jack Benny: Well, I thought—
- Mary Livingstone (to Jack): Oh, shut up!
According to Jack, the huge laugh resulted from the long buildup, and the audience's knowledge that Jack, with his pompous persona, would have to break into the conversation at some point.
A nearly identical exchange occurred over a year earlier, among renowned violinist Isaac Stern, actor Ronald Colman, Jack Benny, and Mary Livingstone. The quartet's back-and-forth, which centered on Stern's recent public performance of a Mendelssohn piece, was heard on an episode first broadcast on February 16, 1947. The resulting laughter lasted some 18 seconds, after which Jack retorted, "Mary, that's no way to talk to Mr. Stern."
Later in life, when performing as a stand-up comedian in Las Vegas, Jack had just begun to tell an old joke about the salesman, the farmer and the farmer's daughter: "So the salesman and the farmer's daughter come to the front door, and the farmer opens the door." At this point, Sammy Davis, Jr. walks onstage behind Jack, the audience screams, and Sammy proceeds to speak and sing and dance about 25 minutes or so, while Jack continues to stand at center stage, quietly watching the spectacle. When Davis finally walks offstage and the audience's applause dies down, Jack continues to watch Davis offstage for a few moments, then as the audience is finally quiet continues: "... So the farmer said—" And that's about as far as that joke got, because the audience laughed for minutes afterward.
The Benny-Allen "feud"[link]
In 1937 Benny began his famous radio "feud" with rival Fred Allen. Allen kicked the "feud" off on his own show, after child violinist Stewart Canin gave a performance credible enough that Allen wisecracked about "a certain alleged violinist" who should by comparison be ashamed of himself. Benny, who either listened to the Allen show or was told about the crack, answered in kind on his own show. And the two comedians were off and running.
For a decade, the two went at it back and forth, so convincingly that fans of either show could have been forgiven for believing they had become blood enemies. In fact, the two men were good friends and each other's greatest admirers. Benny and Allen often appeared on each other's show during the thick of the "feud"; numerous surviving episodes of both comedians' radio shows feature each other, in both acknowledged guest spots and occasional cameos. Benny in his eventual memoir (Sunday Nights at Seven) and Allen in his Treadmill to Oblivion later revealed that each comedian's writing staff often met together to plot future takes on the mock feud. If Allen zapped Benny with a satirisation of Benny's show ("The Pinch Penny Program"), Benny shot back with a parody of Allen's early favourite, Town Hall Tonight. Benny's parody? "Clown Hall Tonight." And their playful sniping ("Benny was born ignorant, and he's been losing ground ever since") was also advanced in the films Love Thy Neighbor and It's in the Bag!.
Perhaps the climax of the "feud" came during Fred Allen's parody of popular quiz-and-prize show Queen for a Day, which was barely a year old when Allen decided to have a crack at it on The Fred Allen Show—an episode that has survived for today's listeners to appreciate. Calling the sketch "King for a Day", Allen played the host and Benny a contestant who sneaked onto the show using the alias Myron Proudfoot. Benny answered the prize-winning question correctly and Allen crowned him "king" and showered him with a passel of almost meaningless prizes. Allen proudly announced, "Tomorrow night, in your ermine robe, you will be whisked by bicycle to Orange, New Jersey, where you will be the judge in a chicken-cleaning contest," to which Benny joyously declared, "I'm king for a day!" At this point a professional pressing-iron was wheeled on stage, to press Benny's suit properly. It didn't matter that Benny was still in the suit. Allen instructed his aides to remove Benny's suit, one item at a time, ending with his trousers, each garment's removal provoking louder laughter from the studio audience. As his trousers began to come off, Benny howled, "Allen, you haven't seen the end of me!" At once Allen shot back, "It won't be long now!"
The laughter was so loud and chaotic at the chain of events that the Allen show announcer, Kenny Delmar, was cut off the air while trying to read a final commercial and the show's credits. (Allen was notorious for running overtime often enough, largely thanks to his ad-libbing talent, and he overran the clock again this time.)
Benny was profoundly shaken by Allen's sudden death of a heart attack in 1956. In a statement released on the day after Allen's death, Benny said, "People have often asked me if Fred Allen and I were really friends in real life. My answer is always the same. You couldn't have such a long-running and successful feud as we did, without having a deep and sincere friendship at the heart of it."
The CBS talent raid[link]
On the advice of MCA's Lew Wasserman, Jack Benny formed a holding company, "Amusement Enterprises" (a tax break major entertainers usually enjoyed in those years), which allowed him to bundle his entire program and personnel into a single commodity. The company also gave Benny the opportunity to produce and package other radio programs (including his 1947 summer replacement series starring Jack Paar), and invest in other entertainment ventures, including the production of a 1949 feature film, The Lucky Stiff, starring Dorothy Lamour, and as a key financial backer of the 1948 Broadway version of Mister Roberts, starring Henry Fonda. While Benny was top of the proverbial heap on NBC, CBS czar William S. Paley cast a hungry eye upon the comedian. Paley apparently had good reason to believe Benny could be had. In the summer of 1948, he successfully negotiated a deal with Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, buying their holding company, which owned the Amos 'n' Andy radio show (and the rights to those characters), moving the entire "package" from NBC to CBS that fall: he then learned that NBC balked at buying a "Jack Benny" package deal when "Jack Benny" was not the star's real name. Paley reached out to Benny and offered him a deal that would allow that package-buy.
But Paley, according to CBS historian Robert Metz, also learned that Benny chafed under NBC's almost indifferent attitude toward the talent that attracted the listeners. NBC, under the leadership of David Sarnoff, seemed at the time to think that listeners were listening to NBC because of NBC itself. To Paley, according to Metz, that was foolish thinking at best: Paley believed listeners were listening because of the talent, not because of which platform hosted them. When Paley said as much to Benny, the comedian agreed. Because Paley took a personal interest in the Benny negotiations, as opposed to Sarnoff who had never met his top-rated star, Benny was convinced to make the jump. He convinced a number of his fellow NBC performers (notably Burns and Allen, Edgar Bergen, Red Skelton and Kate Smith) to join him.
To sweeten the deal for a very nervous sponsor, Paley also agreed to make up the difference to American Tobacco if Benny's Hooper rating (the radio version of today's Nielsen ratings) on CBS fell to a certain level below his best NBC Hooper rating. Benny's CBS debut on January 2, 1949 bested his top NBC rating by several points while also pumping up the ratings of the show that followed, Amos 'n' Andy. NBC, with its smash Sunday night lineup now broken up, offered lucrative new deals to two of those Sunday night hits, The Fred Allen Show and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. Benny's bandleader and his singing actress wife now starred in their own hit sitcom, meaning Harris was featured on shows for two different networks.
Benny and Sarnoff eventually met several years later and became good friends. Benny said that if he had had this kind of relationship with Sarnoff earlier, when he was Sarnoff's number-one radio star, he never would have left NBC.
Television[link]
Benny first appeared on television in a brief appearance on the inaugural broadcast of Los Angeles station KTTV (Channel 11) on January 1, 1949. KTTV was the Los Angeles CBS Television outlet at the time.[citation needed]
The television version of The Jack Benny Program ran from October 28, 1950 to 1965. Initially scheduled as a series of five "specials" during the 1950–1951 season, the show appeared every six weeks for the 1951–1952 season, every four weeks for the 1952–1953 season and every three weeks in 1953–1954. For the 1953–1954 season, half the episodes were live and half were filmed during the summer, to allow Benny to continue doing his radio show. From the fall of 1954 to 1960, it appeared every other week, and from 1960 to 1965 it was seen weekly.
In September 1954, CBS premiered Chrysler's Shower of Stars co-hosted by Jack Benny and William Lundigan. It enjoyed a successful run from 1954 until 1958. Both television shows often overlapped the radio show. In fact, the radio show alluded frequently to its television counterparts. Often as not, Benny would sign off the radio show in such circumstances with the line "Well, good night, folks. I'll see you on television."
When Benny moved to television, audiences learned that his verbal talent was matched by his controlled repertory of dead-pan facial expressions and gesture. The program was similar to the radio show (several of the radio scripts were recycled for television, as was somewhat common with other radio shows that moved to television), but with the addition of visual gags. Lucky Strike was the sponsor. Benny did his opening and closing monologues before a live audience, which he regarded as essential to timing of the material. As in other TV comedy shows, canned laughter was sometimes added to "sweeten" the soundtrack, as when the studio audience missed some close-up comedy because of cameras or microphones in their way. The television viewers learned to live without Mary Livingstone, who was afflicted by a striking case of stage fright. Livingstone appeared rarely if at all on the television show (for the last few years of the radio show, she pre-recorded her lines and Jack and Mary's daughter, Joan, stood in for the live broadcast as the pre-recordings were played), and finally retired from show business permanently in 1958, as her friend Gracie Allen had done.
Benny's television program relied more on guest stars and less on his regulars than his radio program. In fact, the only radio cast members who appeared regularly on the television program as well were Don Wilson and Eddie Anderson. Day appeared sporadically, and Harris had left the radio program in 1952, although he did make a guest appearance on the television show (Bob Crosby, Phil's "replacement", frequently appeared on television through 1956). A frequent guest was the Canadian born singer-violinist Gisele Mackenzie.
Benny was able to attract guests who rarely, if ever, appeared on television. In 1953, both Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart made their television debuts on Benny's program.[16][17]
Canadian singer Gisele MacKenzie, who toured with Benny in the early 1950s, guest starred seven times on The Jack Benny Program. Benny was so impressed with MacKenzie's talents that he served as co-executive producer and guest starred on her 1957–1958 NBC variety show, The Gisele MacKenzie Show.[18]
In 1964, Walt Disney was a guest, primarily to promote his production of Mary Poppins. Benny persuaded Disney to give him over 100 free admission tickets to Disneyland for his friends, but later in the show Disney apparently sent his pet tiger after Benny as revenge, at which point Benny opened his umbrella and soared above the stage like Mary Poppins.[19]
In due course the ratings game finally got to Benny, too. CBS dropped the show in 1964, citing Benny's lack of appeal to the younger demographic the network began courting, and he went to NBC, his original network, in the fall, only to be out-rated by CBS's Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. The network dropped Benny at the end of the season. He continued to make occasional specials into the 1970s. His last television appearance was in 1974, on a The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast for Lucille Ball. The videotaped show was telecast just a few weeks after his death.
In his unpublished autobiography, I Always Had Shoes (portions of which were later incorporated by Jack's daughter, Joan, into her memoir of her parents, Sunday Nights at Seven), Benny said that he, not NBC, made the decision to end his TV series in 1965. He said that while the ratings were still very good (he cited a figure of some 18 million viewers per week, although he qualified that figure by saying he never believed the ratings services were doing anything more than guessing, no matter what they promised), advertisers were complaining that commercial time on his show was costing nearly twice as much as what they paid for most other shows, and he had grown tired of what was called the "rate race". Thus, after some three decades on radio and television in a weekly program, Jack Benny went out on top. In fairness, Benny himself shared Fred Allen's ambivalence about television, though not quite to Allen's extent. "By my second year in television, I saw that the camera was a man-eating monster...It gave a performer close-up exposure that, week after week, threatened his existence as an interesting entertainer."[8]
In a joint appearance with Phil Silvers on Dick Cavett's show, Benny recalled that he had advised Silvers not to appear on television. However, Silvers ignored Benny's advice and proceeded to win several Emmy awards as Sergeant Bilko on the popular series The Phil Silvers Show, while Benny claimed he never won any of the television honors.
Filmography[link]
Movies[link]
Benny also acted in movies, including the Academy Award-winning The Hollywood Revue of 1929, Broadway Melody of 1936 (as a benign nemesis for Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor), George Washington Slept Here (1942), and notably, Charley's Aunt and To Be or Not to Be. He and Livingstone also appeared in Ed Sullivan's Mr. Broadway (1933) as themselves. Benny often parodied contemporary movies and movie genres on the radio program, and the 1940 film Buck Benny Rides Again features all the main radio characters in a funny Western parody adapted from program skits. The failure of one Benny vehicle, The Horn Blows at Midnight, became a running gag on his radio and television programs, although contemporary viewers may not find the film as disappointing as the jokes suggest.
Benny may have had an unbilled cameo role in Casablanca (claimed by a contemporary newspaper advertisement[20] and reportedly in the Casablanca press book[21]). When asked in his column "Movie Answer Man", critic Roger Ebert first replied, "It looks something like him. That's all I can say."[21] In response to a follow-up question in his next column, he stated, "I think you're right."[22]
Benny also was caricatured in several Warner Brothers cartoons including Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939, as Casper the Caveman), I Love to Singa, Slap Happy Pappy, and Goofy Groceries (1936, 1940, and 1941 respectively, as Jack Bunny[23]), Malibu Beach Party (1940, as himself),[24] and The Mouse that Jack Built (1959). The last of these is probably the most memorable: Robert McKimson engaged Benny and his actual cast (Mary Livingstone, Eddie Anderson, and Don Wilson) to do the voices for the mouse versions of their characters, with Mel Blanc—the usual Warner Brothers cartoon voicemeister—reprising his old vocal turn as the always-aging Maxwell, always a phat-phat-bang! away from collapse. In the cartoon, Benny and Livingstone agree to spend their anniversary at the Kit-Kat Club, which they discover the hard way is inside the mouth of a live cat. Before the cat can devour the mice, Benny himself awakens from his dream, then shakes his head, smiles wryly, and mutters, "Imagine, me and Mary as little mice." Then, he glances toward the cat lying on a throw rug in a corner and sees his and Livingstone's cartoon alter egos scampering out of the cat's mouth. The cartoon ends with a classic Benny look of befuddlement. It was rumored that Benny requested that, in lieu of monetary compensation, he receive a copy of the finished film.
Running gags[link]
Benny teamed with Fred Allen for the best-remembered running gag in classic radio history, in terms of character dialogue. But Benny alone sustained a classic repertoire of running gags in his own right, including a skinflint radio and television persona; a perpetual listed age of 39; and ineptitude at violin playing, most frequently demonstrated by futile attempts to perform Rodolphe Kreutzer's Etude No. 2 in C major.
A skit heard numerous times on radio, and seen many times on television, had Mel Blanc as a Mexican in a sombrero and serape sitting on a bench. Jack Benny sits down and begins a conversation. To each question asked by Benny, Blanc replies Si. When Benny asks his name, Blanc replies Sy, which would prompt the exchange, Sy?, Si. And when Benny asks where Blanc is going, Blanc replies, "to see his sister", Sue (Sue?, Si.), who of course sews for a living (Sew?, Si.).
A running gag in Benny's private life concerned George Burns. To Benny's eternal frustration, he could never get Burns to laugh. Burns, on the other hand, could crack Benny up with the least effort. An example of this occurred at a party when Benny pulled out a match to light a cigar. Burns announced to all, "Jack Benny will now perform the famous match trick!" Benny had no idea what Burns was talking about, so he proceeded to light up. Burns observed, "Oh, a new ending!" and Benny collapsed in helpless laughter.
Benny even had a sound-based running gag of his own: his famous basement vault alarm, allegedly installed by Spike Jones, ringing off with a shattering cacophony of whistles, sirens, bells, and blasts, before ending invariably with the sound of a foghorn. The alarm rang off even when Benny opened his safe with the correct combination. The vault also featured a guard named Ed (voiced by Joseph Kearns) who had been on post down below before, apparently, the end of the Civil War, the end of the Revolutionary War, the founding of Los Angeles, on Jack's 38th birthday, and even the beginning of humanity. In one appearance, Ed asked Benny, "By the way, Mr. Benny...what's it like on the outside?" Benny responded, "...winter is nearly here, and the leaves are falling." Ed responded, "Hey, that must be exciting," to which Benny replied (in a stunningly risqué joke for the period), "Oh, no—people are wearing clothes now." In one episode of the Benny radio show, Ed the Guard actually agreed when Jack invited him to take a break and come back to the surface world, only to discover that modern conveniences and transportation, which hadn't been around the last time he'd been to the surface, terrorized and confused him. (Poor Ed thought a crosstown bus was "a red and yellow dragon".) Finally, Ed decides to return to his post fathoms below and stay there. The basement vault gag was also used in the cartoon The Mouse that Jack Built and an episode[25] of The Lucy Show.
A separate sound gag involved a song Benny had written, "When You Say I Beg Your Pardon, Then I'll Come Back to You". Its inane lyrics and insipid melody guaranteed that it would never be published or recorded, but Benny continued to try to con, extort, or otherwise inveigle some of his musical guests (including The Smothers Brothers and Peter, Paul and Mary) to perform it. None ever made it all the way through.
In keeping with his "stingy" schtick, on one of his television specials he remarked that, to his way of looking at things, a "special" is when the price of coffee is marked down.
The explanation usually given for the "stuck on 39" running joke is that he had celebrated his birthday on-air when he turned 39, and decided to do the same the following year, because "there's nothing funny about 40". Upon his death, having celebrated his 39th birthday 41 times, some newspapers continued the joke with headlines such as "Jack Benny Dies – At 39?"[citation needed]
Another popular running gag concerned the social habits of Benny's on-air orchestra, who were consistently portrayed as a bunch of drunken ne'er-do-wells. Led first by Phil Harris and later by Bob Crosby, the orchestra, and in particular band member Frank Remley, were jokingly portrayed as often being too drunk to play properly, using an overturned bass drum to play cards on just minutes before a show, and so enamored by liquor that the sight of a glass of milk would make them sick. Remley was portrayed in various unflattering situations, such as being thrown into a garbage can by a road sweeper who had found him passed out in the street at 4 am, and on a wanted poster at the Beverly Hills police station.
One Christmas program had Crosby agonizing over what to get Remley:
Benny: "Well, why don't you get him a cordial; like a bottle of Drambuie?" Crosby: "That's a nice thought, Jack, but Drambuie's an after-dinner drink." Benny: "So?" Crosby: "So Remley never quite makes it 'til after dinner."
Crosby also got consistent laughs by frequently joking about his more famous brother Bing's vast wealth.
The Maxwell[link]
Starting on the radio show, a running joke was that Benny drove a Maxwell automobile, a brand that went out of business in 1925. Benny's old car was so worn out that it would barely run, but the miserly Benny insisted he could get a few more miles out of it. When a sound effects man missed a cue for the automobile engine, Mel Blanc quickly improvised a vocal imitation of a sputtering car engine that was so funny it became a regular feature of the show. By 1943, Jack Benny's Maxwell had become such a well known aspect of popular culture that it was referenced in the Spike Jones record "The Sound Effects Man".
When the Jack Benny Program began appearing on television in 1950, a 1916 Maxwell Model 25 Tourer became one of the production's standard props. Benny's Maxwell later became a 1923 Tourer. In addition to on the program, Benny would often make public appearances in Maxwells. He appeared behind the wheel of one in the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and drove a Maxwell onto the stage in one of his last television specials. Benny and his archaic auto were featured in a series of television and print ads for Texaco from the 1950s through the 1970s. A series of gags were built around the premise that Benny appreciated the value of "Sky Chief" brand gasoline in keeping his car running smoothly, but was too cheap to buy more than one gallon at a time.
Final years[link]
After his broadcasting career ended, Benny performed live as a stand up comedian and returned to films in 1963 with a cameo appearance in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Benny was preparing to star in the film version of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys when his health failed. In fact, he prevailed upon his longtime best friend, George Burns, to take his place on a nightclub tour while preparing for the film. (Burns ultimately had to replace Benny in the film as well and went on to win an Academy Award for his performance).
Benny made one of his final television appearances in the fall of 1972 on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson when Carson celebrated his 10th anniversary. (An audio recording featuring highlights of Benny's appearance is featured on the album Here's Johnny: Magic Moments From The Tonight Show released in 1973.) During this appearance, he stated that he loved the violin so much, "if God came to me and said 'Jack, starting tomorrow I will make you one of the world's great violinists, but no more will you ever be able to tell a joke', I really believe that I would accept that." He also related something Isaac Stern once told him: "You know, Jack, when you walk out in front of a symphony orchestra in white tie and tails and your violin, you actually look like one of the world's great violinists. It's a damned shame you have to play!" Jokes aside, Benny was a serious, dedicated violinist who could play aside Stern and not embarrass himself.[26]
Death[link]
In October 1974, Benny canceled a performance in Dallas after suffering a dizzy spell, coupled with numbness in his arms. Despite a battery of tests, Benny's ailment could not be determined. When he complained of stomach pains in early December, a first test showed nothing, but a subsequent one showed he had inoperable pancreatic cancer. Choosing to spend his final days at home, he was visited by close friends including George Burns, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson and John Rowles. He died on December 26, 1974. George Burns, Benny's best friend for more than fifty years, attempted to deliver a eulogy. He broke down shortly after he began and was unable to continue. Bob Hope also delivered a eulogy in which he stated, "This is the only time Jack's timing was all wrong. He left us much too soon." Two days after his death, he was interred in a crypt at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. Benny's will arranged for flowers, specifically a single long-stemmed red rose, to be delivered to his widow, Mary Livingstone, every day for the rest of her life. Livingstone died nine years later on June 30, 1983.
In trying to explain his successful life, Benny summed it up by stating "Everything good that happened to me happened by accident. I was not filled with ambition nor fired by a drive toward a clear-cut goal. I never knew exactly where I was going."[8]
Upon his death, his family donated to UCLA his personal, professional, and business papers, as well as a collection of his television shows. The university established the Jack Benny Award in his honor in 1977 to recognize outstanding people in the field of comedy. Johnny Carson was the first award recipient.[27] Benny also donated a Stradivarius violin purchased in 1957 to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.[28][29] Benny had commented, "If it isn't a $30,000 Strad, I'm out $120."[30]
Honors[link]
Jack Benny has one star each on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for TV, film, and radio.
Posthumous tributes[link]
When the price of a standard first-class U.S. postal stamp was increased to 39 cents in 2006, fans petitioned for a Jack Benny stamp to honor his stage persona's perpetual age. The U.S. Postal Service had issued a stamp depicting Jack Benny in 1991, as part of a booklet of stamps honoring comedians; however, the stamp was issued at the then-current rate of 29 cents.[31]
Jack Benny Middle School in Waukegan, Illinois, is named after the famous comedian. Its motto matches his famous statement as "Home of the '39ers".
See also[link]
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References[link]
- ^ Mikkelson, Barbara. "Posthumous Roses" Snopes.com; February 13, 2010
- ^ Benny, Joan; Benny, Jack (1996) Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story Warner Books p. 6 "There are a few things you should know in advance. In the first place, I was not born in Waukegan. I was born at the Mercy Hospital in Chicago..."
- ^ Jack Benny appearance on The Lawrence Welk Show, episode 1025: "Academy Awards" (1971)
- ^ Dunning, Jack. Tune in yesterday: the ultimate encyclopedia of old-time radio, 1925–1976. p. 315.
- ^ Benny, Mary Livingstone, Hilliard Marks, & Marcia Borie. Jack Benny New York: Doubleday, 1978. pp. 8–10
- ^ United States 1900 Census
- ^ The Jack Benny Times, September – December 2008, Volume XXIII Numbers 5–6, Page 9., The International Jack Benny Fan Club.
- ^ a b c d e f Jack Benny and Joan Benny, Sunday Nights At Seven: The Jack Benny Story, Warner Books, ISBN 0-446-51546-9, 1990, p. 11
- ^ Fein, Irving, Jack Benny: An Intimate Biography, Putnam, ISBN 978-0-671-80917-1, OCLC 3694842, 1976
- ^ Vintage Library.com
- ^ Garrett, Eddie (2005). I Saw Stars in the 40's and 50's. ISBN 1-4120-5838-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=TDbGVZj5qzgC&pg=PA26&dq=jack+benny+%22most+popular+radio+show%22&lr=&ei=VNdNSYTGKoiUzAS5z6G0CA. "In a short time, Benny became the most popular radio show in America in the 1930's and 1940's"
- ^ Hilmes, M. (1997). Radio voices American broadcasting, 1922–1952. Minnesota Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
- ^ a b Berger, Arthur Asa (2001) Jewish jesters: a study in American popular comedy p. 41
- ^ Norman R. Shapiro - (2009) Labiche & co: fourteen one-acts by a French comic master p. 475
- ^ "The Longest Laugh". Jackbenny.org. http://www.jackbenny.org/biography/other/longest_laugh.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
- ^ McMahon, Ed & David Fisher. When Television Was Young: Live, Spontaneous, and In Living Black and White. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2007. p. 103.
- ^ Becker, Christine. It's the Pictures That Got Small: Hollywood Film Stars in 1950s Television. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2008. p. 35.
- ^ Stanley, Alessandra. "Gisele MacKenzie Show". The New York Times. http://tv.nytimes.com/show/155939/Gisele-MacKenzie-Show/overview. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
- ^ video on youtube.com Jack ends TV episode as Mary Poppins
- ^ "Special Contest / Find Jack Benny in "Casablanca"". The Evening Independent. February 4, 1943. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19430204&id=DRoOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f30DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5078,4032886.
- ^ a b Roger Ebert (December 9, 2009). "Movie Answer Man". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091209/ANSWERMAN/912099991. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
- ^ Roger Ebert (December 23, 2009). "Movie Answer Man". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091223/ANSWERMAN/912239981. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
- ^ I Love to Singa. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akAEIW3rmvQ#t=04m24s. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
- ^ Malibu Beach Party. 1940. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH6AWh64lOc.
- ^ Lucy Gets Jack Benny's Account (1967)
- ^ Violinists: Jack Benny and Isaac Stern and Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy (27th September 1961). "Carnegie Hall Salutes Jack Benny". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKGSU_ByWyM&t=04m27s. Retrieved 2010-11-18.
- ^ Brent Lang, Apatow to Receive Jack Benny Award, TheWrap.com, Map 19, 2010
- ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qKwwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pPoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5498,7923419&dq=benny+stradivarius+philharmonic&hl=en
- ^ Watkins, Nancy (February 13, 2005). "Now cut that out!". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7chOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kEkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4277,2931739&dq=benny+stradivarius&hl=en
- ^ Stamp Title: 29c Jack Benny. Comedians Issue 1991 Issue Year: 1991 Date of Issue: 29th August, 1991 Face Value: 29c Stanley Gibbons Catalogue No: 2607 Scott Catalogue No: 2564 Printer: The Bureau of Engraving and Printing Issue Copies: 139,995,600 Designer(s):Al Hirshfeld Theme(s):Cartoon/Animation Description:29c Jack Benny. Comedians Issue 1991
Further reading[link]
- The New York Times, April 16, 1953, p. 43, "Jack Benny plans more work on TV"
- The New York Times, March 16, 1960, p. 75, "Canned laughter: Comedians are crying on the inside about CBS rule that public know of its use"
- Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone Benny, Hilliard Marks with Marcia Borie, Doubleday & Company, 1978, 322 p.
- Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story, Jack Benny and Joan Benny, Warner Books, 1990, 302 p.
- CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye, by Robert Metz, New American Library, 1978.
- The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio and TV's Golden Age, by Jordan R. Young; Past Times Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-940410-37-0
- Well! Reflections on the Life and Career of Jack Benny, edited by Michael Leannah, BearManor Media, 2007.
- Jack Benny v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 25 T.C. 197 (1955).
- Hilmes, M. (1997). Radio voices American broadcasting, 1922–1952. Minnesota Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Further reading[link]
- Benny, Jack; Benny, Joan. (1990) Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story. Warner Books.
- Josefsberg, Milt. (1977) The Jack Benny Show. New Rochelle: Arlington House. ISBN 0-87000-347-X
- Leannah, Michael, editor. (2007) Well! Reflections on the Life and Career of Jack Benny. BearManor Media. Contributing authors: Frank Bresee, Clair Schulz, Kay Linaker, Janine Marr, Pam Munter, Mark Higgins, B. J. Borsody, Charles A. Beckett, Jordan R. Young, Philip G. Harwood, Noell Wolfgram Evans, Jack Benny, Michael Leannah, Steve Newvine, Ron Sayles, Kathryn Fuller-Seeley, Marc Reed, Derek Tague, Michael J. Hayde, Steve Thompson, Michael Mildredson.
External links[link]
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- Jack Benny Hour (1965 NBC hour-long special) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
- Jack Benny at the Internet Movie Database
- Jack Benny at the Internet Broadway Database
- Jack Benny at TVGuide.com
- Jack Benny at AllRovi
- The Jack Benny Program at TV.com
- Jack Benny at the National Radio Hall of Fame
- Jack Benny Fred Allen Feud
- Jack Benny Audio History
- International Jack Benny Fan Club
- In-depth interview with Laura Leff, Founder and President of the International Jack Benny Fan Club (2011)
- Online audio and video of Jack Benny
- Copies of Jack Benny's Radio and TV scripts, with handwritten edits
- Free 2 minute download of Humphrey Bogart on the Jack Benny Show
- Jack Benny Middle School
- Jack Benny Center for the Cultural Arts
- "The Friars Club"
- Jack Benny papers at the University of Wyoming—American Heritage Center
- FBI file on Jack Benny
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Benny, Jack |
| Alternative names | Kubelsky, Benjamin |
| Short description | comedian, vaudeville performer, and radio, television, and film actor |
| Date of birth | February 14, 1894 |
| Place of birth | Chicago, Illinois |
| Date of death | December 26, 1974 |
| Place of death | Beverly Hills, California |
http://wn.com/Jack_Benny
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Benny
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
For the baseball player of the same name, see Henry Youngman (baseball).
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010) |
| Henny Youngman | |
|---|---|
| File:Henny Youngman.jpg | |
| Born | (1906-03-16)March 16, 1906 Liverpool, England |
| Died | February 24, 1998(1998-02-24) (aged 91) Manhattan, New York |
| Medium | stand-up |
| Nationality | British-born American |
| Genres | one-liners |
| Influenced | Rodney Dangerfield, Mitch Hedberg |
| Spouse | Sadie Cohen |
Henry "Henny" Youngman (originally German surname Junggman) (March 16, 1906 – February 24, 1998) was a British-American comedian and violinist famous for "one-liners", short, simple jokes usually delivered rapid-fire. His best known one-liner was "Take my wife—please."
In a time when many comedians told elaborate anecdotes, Youngman’s comedy routine consisted of telling simple one-liner jokes, occasionally with interludes of violin playing. These gags depicted simple, cartoon-like situations, eliminating lengthy build-ups and going straight to the punch line. He was known as the King of the One Liners, a title bestowed upon him by columnist Walter Winchell. A typical stage performance by Youngman lasted only fifteen to twenty minutes, but contained dozens of jokes, delivered in rapid-fire fashion.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Youngman was born to a Jewish[1] family in Liverpool,[dubious – discuss] England, and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, when he was young. He grew up in New York City, and his career as a comedian began after he had worked for a number of years at a print shop, where he penned and published a large number of “comedy cards”—cards containing one-line gags that were sold at the shop. The comedy cards were discovered by up-and-coming professional comedian Milton Berle, who encouraged Youngman and formed a close working friendship with him. Berle quipped about his friend, "The only thing funnier than Henny's jokes is his violin playing."
Career[link]
Encouraged by his family to learn the violin, Youngman’s start in show business was as an orchestra musician. He led a small jazz band called the "Swanee Syncopaters," and during the band's performances, Youngman often told jokes to the audience. One night, the regular comedian didn't show for his performance, and the club owner asked Youngman to fill in. Youngman was a success, and he began a long career of stand-up, telling one-line jokes and honing his act to razor sharpness. His generally inoffensive, friendly style of comedy kept his audiences in stitches for decades. He started his career playing in clubs and speakeasies, but his big break came on the Kate Smith radio show in 1937. His manager, Ted Collins, booked him on the popular show, where he was a great success; he made many return appearances to the radio.
During the 1940s Youngman tried to break into the movies and become an actor, but he was unsuccessful in Hollywood. He returned to the nightclub scene and worked steadily with his stand-up act, performing as many as 200 shows a year. Working with writer/producer Danny Shapiro, Youngman recorded a "live" album for National Recording Corporation in 1959 at the Celebrity Club in St. Louis. The album is still popular today in CD, and is a frequent iTunes download.
Like many comedians, Henny Youngman treated his profession as a working job, one where it is difficult to make a living, and getting paid for the work is all-important. In numerous interviews, Youngman’s advice to other entertainers was to "nem di gelt" (Yiddish for “get the money”).
He was quoted in an interview with the Web-based magazine Eye: "I get on the plane. I go and do the job, grab the money and I come home and I keep it clean. Those are my rules. Sinatra does the same thing, only he has a helicopter waiting. That's the difference."
When the New York Telephone Company started its Dial-a-Joke line in 1974, over three million people called in one month to hear 30 seconds of Youngman's material—the most ever for a comedian.
Youngman never retired, and he performed his stage act in venues worldwide until his final days. As his fame passed into legendary status, he never considered himself aloof or above others, and he never refused to perform a show in a small venue or unknown club. In a tribute to Youngman, TV and animation producer Mark Evanier described Youngman in a way that emphasized both his money consciousness and his love of performing:
- He would take his fiddle and go to some hotel that had banquet rooms. He'd consult the daily directory in the lobby and find a party—usually a Bar Mitzvah reception—and he would go up to the room and ask to speak to whoever was paying for the affair. "I'm Henny Youngman," he would tell that person. "I was playing a date in another banquet room here and one of the waiters suggested you might want to have me do my act for your gathering here." He would negotiate whatever price he could get—$200, $500, preferably in cash—and he would do his act for them.[2]
Roger Ebert described a similar episode in a 2011 movie review:
- I once observed Henny Youngman taping a TV show in the old NBC studios at the Merchandise Mart. We got into an elevator together. It stopped at the second floor, a private club. A wedding was under way. Youngman got off the elevator, asked to meet the father of the bride and said, "I'm Henny Youngman. I'll do 10 minutes for $100."[3]
Youngman made numerous appearances on television, including a long-running stint on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. In 1955 he was host of a TV series titled The Henny and Rocky Show, appearing with champion boxer Rocky Graziano. He had cameo appearances in several movies, including History of the World, Part I and Goodfellas.
He had a larger role as the strip club owner in Herschell Gordon Lewis's The Gore Gore Girls,[4] a fact he denied vehemently.[citation needed] He made a few recordings, most notably The Primitive Side of Henny Youngman, recorded "live" in St. Louis and released by National Recording Corporation on the NRC label. The CD is still in print.
His published autobiography is entitled Take My Life, Please!.
Youngman's last movie appearance before his death was in the Daniel Robert Cohn film Eyes Beyond Seeing, in which he has a cameo as a mental patient claiming to be Henny Youngman.
Personal life[link]
Youngman's wife, Sadie Cohen, was often the butt of his jokes ("My wife said to me, 'For our anniversary I want to go somewhere I've never been before.' I said, 'Try the kitchen!'", or "my wife's cooking is fit for a king. (gesturing as if feeding an invisible dog) Here King, here King!" Also, "Last night my wife said the weather outside was fit for neither man nor beast, so we both stayed home.") but in reality the two were very close, with Sadie often accompanying her husband on his tours. Youngman remained married for over sixty years until his wife's death in 1987, after a prolonged illness. While she was ill, Henny had an ICU built in their bedroom, so she could be taken care of at home, rather than in the hospital (Sadie was terrified of hospitals).
Henny explained the origin of his classic line "Take my wife, please" as a misinterpretation: in the mid-1930s he took his wife to a show and asked the usher to escort his wife to a seat. But his request was taken as a joke, and Youngman used the line countless times ever after.
Youngman had two children, son Gary and daughter Marilyn. Gary started his career screenwriting and directing, and thereafter continued to work in the film industry in various capacities. Gary is best known for his 1976 film Rush-It!, which introduced the filmgoing public to a number of soon to be very famous actors and actresses (John Heard, Jill Eikenberry, Tom Berenger [in his debut part], others).[5] After Rush-It's lukewarm reception, Gary removed himself from the public eye—he then lived a quiet life in California.
Henny had a grandson of note: Lawrence ["Larry"] Michael Kelly. Kelly spent much of his youth with Henny on the road following the death of Larry's father at an early age. While Kelly tried for many years to follow in his grandfather's footsteps he never managed to attain a following. Kelly struggled with a severe weight problem for his entire life regularly fluctuating between 250 to over 500 pounds. Despite not achieving fame for himself, he was a very astute judge of talent in others, and through his connections in Henny's world, Kelly was able to help promote the early careers of Sam Kinison, Louie Anderson, Roseanne Barr, and several other notable personalities.[citation needed] Larry's numerous and ever changing enterprises included the running of one of the first computer bulletin boards in the world ("Modem Over Manhattan", a/k/a "M*O*M"),[citation needed] as well as obtaining Henny's partnership with the nascent [owner-profit shared] "Dial-A-Joke" telephone service.[citation needed] Kelly's last venture was a small banana bread business in Woodstock called "Top Banana". From 1992 until his death, Kelly co-hosted a local Public-access television show called "The Village Green," with then future Woodstock councilman Gordon Wemp. The cause of Kelly's death remains unknown today.[citation needed]
With the exception of a week following his wife's death, and the month he was in his final hospital stay, Henny was renowned for having worked almost every day for over 70 years without vacations or other breaks.
Death[link]
Youngman developed pneumonia and died on February 24, 1998, at the age of 91. He is interred in the Mount Carmel Cemetery, Glendale, New York, next to his wife, Sadie.
References[link]
- ^ http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/7721/henny-youngman-kept-them-laughing-until-the-end/
- ^ Mark Evanier’s home page, April 3, 1998
- ^ Conan O'Brien Can't Stop (Review), June 22, 2011
- ^ Newt Briggs (28 October 2004). "Gore Gore Girls: Butts and gore". Las Vegas Mercury. http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2004/MERC-Oct-28-Thu-2004/25096536.html.
- ^ Rush-It! at the Internet Movie Database
External links[link]
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Henny Youngman |
- Henny Youngman, King of the One-Liners, Is Dead at 91 After 6 Decades of Laughter
- Henny Youngman at the Internet Movie Database
- One-liners attributed to Henny Youngman
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Youngman, Henny |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American comedian |
| Date of birth | March 16, 1906 |
| Place of birth | Liverpool, England |
| Date of death | February 24, 1998 |
| Place of death | Manhattan, New York |
http://wn.com/Henny_Youngman
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henny_Youngman
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Lucille Ball | |
|---|---|
 Pin-up photo from Yank, the Army Weekly |
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| Born | Lucille Désirée Ball (1911-08-06)August 6, 1911 Jamestown, New York |
| Died | April 26, 1989(1989-04-26) (aged 77)[1] Los Angeles, California |
| Cause of death | dissecting aortic aneurysm |
| Other names | Lucille Ball Morton[2] |
| Occupation | Actress, comedian, model, film executive |
| Years active | 1932-1986 |
| Spouse | Desi Arnaz (m.1940-1960; divorced) Gary Morton (m.1961-1989; her death) |
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 - April 26, 1989) was an American comedienne, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy. One of the most popular and influential stars in the United States during her lifetime, with one of Hollywood's longest careers,[3] especially on television, Ball began acting in the 1930s, becoming both a radio actress and B-movie star in the 1940s, and then a television star during the 1950s. She was still making films in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1962, Ball became the first woman to run a major television studio, Desilu, which produced many successful and popular television series.[4]
Ball was nominated for an Emmy Award thirteen times, and won four times.[5] In 1977 Ball was among the first recipients of the Women in Film Crystal Award.[6] She was the recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1979,[7] the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986[8] and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1989.[9]
In 1929, Ball landed work as a model and later began her performing career on Broadway using the stage name Diane Belmont. She appeared in many small movie roles in the 1930s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures. Ball was labeled as the "Queen of the Bs" (referring to her many roles in B-films). In 1951, Ball was pivotal in the creation of the television series I Love Lucy. The show co-starred her then-husband, Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo, Vivian Vance as Ethel Mertz and William Frawley as Fred Mertz. The Mertzes were the Ricardos' landlords and friends. The show ended in 1957 after 180 episodes. Then, some minor adjustments were made to the program's format – the time of the show was lengthened from 30 minutes to 60 minutes (the first show lasted 75 mins), some new characters were added, the storyline was altered, and the show was renamed The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, which ran for three seasons (1957–1960) and 13 episodes. Ball went on to star in two more successful television series: The Lucy Show, which ran on CBS from 1962 to 1968 (156 Episodes), and Here's Lucy from 1968 to 1974 (144 episodes). Her last attempt at a television series was a 1986 show called Life with Lucy – which failed after 8 episodes aired, although 13 were produced.
Ball met and eloped with Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz in 1940. On July 17, 1951, at almost 40 years old, Ball gave birth to their first child, Lucie Désirée Arnaz.[10] A year and a half later, Ball gave birth to their second child, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, known as Desi Arnaz, Jr.[11] Ball and Arnaz divorced on May 4, 1960.
On April 26, 1989, Ball died of a dissecting aortic aneurysm at age 77.[12] At the time of her death, she had been married to her second husband and business partner, standup comedian Gary Morton, for more than twenty-seven years.[13]
Early life[link]
Ball was born to Henry Durrell Ball (September 16, 1886 – February 19, 1915) and Desiree "DeDe" Evelyn Hunt (September 21, 1892 – July 20, 1977) in Jamestown, New York. Although Lucy was born in Jamestown, New York, she sometimes claimed that she was born in Butte, Montana.[14] At age 3, her family moved to Anaconda, Montana and then to Wyandotte, Michigan.[citation needed] Her family was Baptist; her father was of Scottish descent, and his mother was Mary Ball.[15] Her mother was of French, Irish and English descent.[16] Her genealogy can be traced back to the earliest settlers in the colonies, including Edmund Rice, an early immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony.[17][18]
Her father, a telephone lineman for Bell Telephone Company was frequently transferred because of his occupation, and within three years of her birth, Lucille had moved many times, from Jamestown to Anaconda, and then to Trenton.[19] While DeDe Ball was pregnant with her second child, Frederick, Henry Ball contracted typhoid fever and died in February 1915.[20] Ball recalled little from the day her father died, only fleeting memories of a picture falling and a bird getting trapped in the house. From that day forward, she suffered from Ornithophobia.[21][page needed]
After her father died, Ball and her brother Fred Henry Ball (July 17, 1915 – February 5, 2007) were raised by her mother and grandparents in Celoron, New York a summer resort village on Lake Chautauqua just west of Jamestown.[22] Her grandfather, Fred Hunt, was an eccentric who also enjoyed the theater. He frequently took the family to vaudeville shows and encouraged young Lucy to take part in both her own and school plays.[citation needed] Four years after the death of her father, Ball’s mother DeDe remarried. While her step-father, Edward Peterson, and mother went to look for work in another city, Ball was left in the care of her step-father’s parents. Ball’s new guardians were a puritanical Swedish couple who were so opposed to frivolity that they banished all mirrors from the house except for one over the bathroom sink. When the young Ball was caught admiring herself in it she was severely chastised for being vain.[23] This period of time affected Ball so deeply that in later life she claimed that it lasted seven or eight years, but in reality, it was probably less than one.[24] One good thing did come out of DeDe's new marriage. Edward was a Shriner. When his organization needed female entertainers for the chorus line of their next show, he encouraged his twelve-year-old stepdaughter to audition.[25] While Ball was onstage she began to realize that if one was seeking praise and recognition this was a brilliant way to receive it. Her appetite for recognition had thus been awakened at an early age.[26] In 1927 her family suffered misfortune when their house and furnishings were taken away in a legal judgement after a neighborhood boy was accidentally shot and paralyzed by someone target-shooting in their yard, under Ball's grandfather's supervision. The family then moved into a small apartment in Jamestown.[27]
Teenage years and early career[link]
In 1925 Ball, then only 14, started dating Johnny DeVita, a local hood who was 21. DeDe was unhappy with the relationship, but was unable to influence her daughter to end the relationship. She expected the romance to burn out in a few weeks but that didn't happen. After about a year, DeDe tried to separate them by using Lucille's desire to be in show business. Despite the family's meager finances, she arranged for Lucille to go to the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts in New York City[28][29] where Bette Davis was a fellow student. Ball later said about that time in her life "All I learned in drama school was how to be frightened."[30]
Ball was determined to prove her teachers wrong, and returned to New York City in 1928, among her other jobs she landed work as a fashion model for Hattie Carnegie.[31] Her career was thriving when she became ill, either with rheumatic fever, rheumatoid arthritis or some other unknown illness and was unable to work for two years.[32] She moved back to New York City in 1932 to resume her pursuit of a career as an actress, and supported herself by again working for Carnegie[33] and as the Chesterfield cigarette girl. As Diane Belmont she started getting some chorus work on Broadway[34] but the work wasn't lasting. Ball was hired – but then quickly fired – by theatre impresario Earl Carroll from his Vanities, by Florenz Ziegfeld from a touring company of Rio Rita,[35] and was let go from the Shubert brothers production of Stepping Stones.[citation needed]
Hollywood[link]
After an uncredited stint as one of the Goldwyn Girls in Roman Scandals (1933) she permanently moved to Hollywood to appear in films. She appeared in many small movie roles in the 1930s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures, including a two-reel comedy short with the Three Stooges (Three Little Pigskins, 1934) and a movie with the Marx Brothers (Room Service, 1938). She can also be seen as one of the featured models in the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film Roberta (1935) and briefly as the flower girl in Top Hat (1935), as well as a brief supporting role at the beginning of Follow the Fleet (1936),[36] another Astaire-Rogers film. Ginger Rogers was a distant maternal cousin of Ball's. She and Rogers played aspiring actresses in the hit film Stage Door (1937) co-starring Katharine Hepburn. In 1936 she also landed the role she hoped would lead her to Broadway, in the Bartlett Cormack play Hey Diddle Diddle, a comedy set in a duplex apartment in Hollywood. The play premiered in Princeton, New Jersey on January 21, 1937 with Ball playing the part of Julie Tucker, "one of three roommates coping with neurotic directors, confused executives, and grasping stars who interfere with the girls' ability to get ahead." The play received good reviews, but there were problems, chiefly with its star, Conway Tearle, who was in poor health. Cormack wanted to replace him, but the producer, Anne Nichols, said the fault lay with the character and insisted that the part needed to be reshaped and rewritten. The two were unable to agree on a solution. The play was scheduled to open on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theatre, but closed after one week in Washington, D.C. when Tearle suddenly became gravely ill.[37] Ball was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1940s, but she never achieved major stardom from her appearance in those films.[38]
She was known in many Hollywood circles as "Queen of the B's" – a title previously held by Fay Wray – starring in a number of B-movies, such as 1939's Five Came Back. Like many budding starlets Ball picked up radio work to earn side income as well as gain exposure. In 1937 she appeared as a regular on The Phil Baker Show. When that completed its run in 1938, Ball joined the cast of The Wonder Show, starring future Wizard of Oz tin man Jack Haley. It was here that she began her fifty year professional relationship with Gale Gordon, who served as the show's announcer. The Wonder Show only lasted one season, with the final episode airing on April 7, 1939.[39]
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In 1940, Ball met Cuban-born bandleader Desi Arnaz while filming the Rodgers and Hart stage hit Too Many Girls. When they met again on the second day, the two connected immediately and eloped the same year. Arnaz was drafted to the United States Army in 1942. He ended up being classified for limited service due to a knee injury. As a result, Arnaz stayed in Los Angeles, organizing and performing USO shows for wounded GIs being brought back from the Pacific. That same year, Ball appeared opposite Henry Fonda in The Big Street, in which she plays a paralyzed nightclub singer and Fonda portrays a busboy who idolizes her. The following year Ball appeared in DuBarry Was a Lady, a film for which the natural brunette first had her hair dyed the flaming red that would be her screen trademark.
Ball filed for a divorce in 1944. Shortly after Ball obtained an interlocutory decree of divorce, however, she reconciled with Arnaz.[40] Ball and Arnaz were only six years apart in age but apparently believed that it was less socially acceptable for an older woman to marry a younger man, and hence split the difference in their ages, both claiming a 1914 birth date until this was disproved.[41]
In 1946, Ball starred in Lover Come Back.[42]
[edit] I Love Lucy and Desilu
Main articles: I Love Lucy and Desilu Productions
In 1948, Ball was cast as Liz Cugat (later "Cooper"), a wacky wife, in My Favorite Husband, a radio program for CBS Radio. The program was successful, and CBS asked her to develop it for television. She agreed, but insisted on working with Arnaz. CBS executives were reluctant, thinking the public would not accept an All-American redhead and a Cuban as a couple. CBS was initially not impressed with the pilot episode produced by the couple's Desilu Productions company, so the couple toured the road in a vaudeville act with Lucy as the zany housewife wanting to get in Arnaz's show. The tour was a smash, and CBS put I Love Lucy on their lineup.[43] The I Love Lucy show was not only a star vehicle for Lucille Ball, but a way for her to try to salvage her marriage to Desi Arnaz, which had become badly strained, in part by the fact that each had a hectic performing schedule which often kept them apart.
Along the way, she created a television dynasty and reached several "firsts." Ball was the first woman in television to be head of a production company: Desilu, the company that she and Arnaz formed. After their divorce, Ball bought out Arnaz's share of the studio, and she proceeded to function as a very active studio head.[44] Desilu and I Love Lucy pioneered a number of methods still in use in television production today such as filming before a live studio audience with a number of cameras, and distinct sets adjacent to each other.[45] During this time Ball taught a thirty-two week comedy workshop at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute. Ball was quoted as saying, "You cannot teach someone comedy; either they have it or they don't."[46]
When the show premiered, most shows were aired live from New York City studios to Eastern and Central Time Zone audiences, and captured by kinescope for broadcast later to the West Coast. The kinescope picture was inferior to film, and as a result the West Coast broadcasts were inferior to those seen elsewhere in the country. Ball and Arnaz wanted to remain in their Los Angeles home, but the time zone logistics made that broadcast norm impossible. Prime time in L.A. was too late at night on the East Coast to air a major network series, meaning the majority of the TV audience would be seeing not only the inferior picture of kinescopes but seeing them at least a day later.[47]
Sponsor Philip Morris did not want to show day-old kinescopes to the major markets on the East Coast, yet neither did they want to pay for the extra cost that filming, processing and editing would require, pressuring Ball and Arnaz to relocate to New York City. Ball and Arnaz offered to take a pay cut to finance filming, on the condition that their company, Desilu, would retain the rights to that film once it was aired. CBS relinquished the show rights back to Desilu after initial broadcast, not realizing they were giving away a valuable and durable asset. Desilu made many millions of dollars on I Love Lucy rebroadcasts through syndication and became a textbook example of how a show can be profitable in second-run syndication. In television's infancy, the concept of the rerun hadn't yet formed, and many in the industry wondered who would want to see a program a second time.[48] In fact, while other celebrated shows of the period exist only in incomplete sets of kinescopes mostly too degraded to show to subsequent generations of television viewers, I Love Lucy has virtually never gone out of syndication since it began, seen by hundreds of millions of people around the world over the past half century. The success of Ball and Arnaz's gamble was instrumental in drawing television production from New York to Hollywood for the next several decades.[49]
Desilu hired legendary German cameraman Karl Freund as their director of photography. Freund had worked for F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang, shot part of Metropolis (1927) as well as the original Dracula (1931) with Bela Lugosi, and had directed a number of Hollywood films himself, including The Mummy (1932) with Boris Karloff. Freund used a three-camera setup, which became the standard way of filming situation comedies.[50] Shooting long shots, medium shots, and close-ups on a comedy in front of a live audience demanded discipline, technique, and close choreography. Among other non-standard techniques used in filming the show, cans of paint (in shades ranging from white to medium gray) were kept on set to "paint out" inappropriate shadows and disguise lighting flaws.[45][51] Freund also pioneered "flat lighting," in which everything is brightly lit to eliminate shadows and the need for endless relighting.
I Love Lucy dominated the weekly TV ratings in the United States for most of its run. (There was an attempt to adapt the show for radio; the cast and writers adapted the memorable "Breaking the Lease" episode—in which the Ricardos and Mertzes fall out over an argument, the Ricardos threaten to move, but they're stuck in a firm lease—for a radio audition disc that never aired but has survived.)[52] In the scene where Lucy and Ricky are practicing the tango in the episode "Lucy Does The Tango," the longest recorded studio audience laugh in the history of the show was produced. It was so long, in fact, that the sound editor had to cut that particular part of the soundtrack in half.[53] The strenuous rehearsals and demands of Desilu studio kept the Arnazes too busy to comprehend the show's success. During the show's production breaks they starred together in feature films: Vincente Minnelli's The Long, Long Trailer (1954) and Alexander Hall's Forever, Darling (1956).
Desilu produced several other popular shows, most notably Our Miss Brooks (starring Ball's 1937 Stage Door co-star Eve Arden), The Untouchables, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible. Many other shows, particularly My Three Sons in its first seven of twelve seasons, Sheldon Leonard-produced series like Make Room for Daddy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, and I Spy, were filmed at Desilu Studios and bear its logo. Desilu was eventually sold and merged into Paramount Pictures in 1967.
Testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities[link]
When Ball registered to vote in 1936, she listed her party affiliation as Communist.[54] (She was registered as a Communist in 1938 as well.)[55] In order to sponsor the Communist Party's 1936 candidate for the California State Assembly's 57th District, Ball signed a certificate stating "I am registered as affiliated with the Communist Party."[56] The same year, she was appointed to the State Central Committee of the Communist Party of California, according to records of the California Secretary of State. In 1937, Hollywood writer Rena Vale, a self-identified former Communist, attended a Communist Party new members' class at Ball's home, according to Vale's testimony before the United States House of Representatives' Special Committee on Un-American Activities, on July 22, 1940.[57] Two years later, Vale reaffirmed this testimony in a sworn deposition:
...within a few days after my third application to join the Communist Party was made, I received a notice to attend a meeting on North Ogden Drive, Hollywood; although it was a typed, unsigned note, merely requesting my presence at the address at 8 o'clock in the evening on a given day, I knew it was the long-awaited notice to attend Communist Party new members classes... on arrival at this address I found several others present; an elderly man informed us that we were the guests of the screen actress, Lucille Ball, and showed us various pictures, books and other objects to establish that fact, and stated she was glad to loan her home for a Communist Party new members class...[58]
In a 1944 British Pathe newsreel, titled Fund Raising For Roosevelt, Ball was featured prominently among several stage and film stars at a fund-raising event in support of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt's campaign for re-election.[59] She also stated that in the 1952 US Presidential Election, she voted for Republican Dwight Eisenhower.[60]
On September 4, 1953, Ball met privately with HUAC investigator William A. Wheeler in Hollywood and gave him sealed testimony. She stated that she had registered to vote as a Communist "or intended to vote the Communist Party ticket" in 1936 at her socialist grandfather's insistence.[61] She stated she "at no time intended to vote as a Communist."
Ball stated she has never been a member of the Communist Party "to her knowledge";... did not know whether or not any meetings were ever held at her home at 1344 North Ogden Drive; stated... [that if she had been appointed] as a delegate to the State Central Committee of the Communist Party of California in 1936 it was done without her knowledge or consent; [and stated that she] did not recall signing the document sponsoring EMIL FREED for the Communist Party nomination to the office of member of the assembly for the 57th District...
A review of the subject's file reflects no activity that would warrant her inclusion on the Security Index.[62]
J. Edgar Hoover, then director of the FBI, named "Lucy and Dezi" [sic] among his "favorites of the entertainment world."[63] Immediately before the filming of episode 68 ("The Girls Go Into Business") of I Love Lucy, Arnaz, instead of his usual audience warm-up, told the audience about Lucy and her grandfather. Arnaz quipped: "The only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that's not legitimate."[citation needed] Then, he presented his wife and she received a standing ovation from the audience.[64][not in citation given]
Children and divorce[link]
On July 17, 1951, one month before her fortieth birthday and after "several"[10] miscarriages, Ball gave birth to her first child, Lucie Désirée Arnaz.[10] A year and a half later, Ball gave birth to her second child, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, known as Desi Arnaz, Jr.[11] When he was born, I Love Lucy was a solid ratings hit, and Ball and Arnaz wrote the pregnancy into the show. (Ball's necessary and planned cesarean section in real life was scheduled for the same date that her television character gave birth.)[11] There were several challenges from CBS, insisting that a pregnant woman could not be shown on television, nor could the word "pregnant" be spoken on-air. After approval from several religious figures[65] the network allowed the pregnancy storyline, but insisted that the word "expecting" be used instead of "pregnant." (Arnaz garnered laughs when he deliberately mispronounced it as "'spectin'").[66] The episode's official title was "Lucy Is Enceinte," borrowing the French word for pregnant;[19] however, episode titles never appeared on the show. The birth made the first cover of TV Guide in January 1953.[67]
Ball was outspoken against the relationship that Desi Jr. had with Liza Minnelli. Talking about Liza Minnelli dating her son, she was quoted as saying, "I miss Liza, but you cannot domesticate Liza."[68] Her close friends in the business included Ginger Rogers, Vivian Vance, Mary Wickes and Carole Cook.
In October 1956, Ball, Vivian Vance, Desi Arnaz, and William Frawley all appeared on a Bob Hope special on NBC, including a spoof of I Love Lucy, the only time all four stars were together on a color telecast.
By the end of the 1950s, Desilu had become a large company, causing a good deal of stress for both Ball and Arnaz; his increased drinking further compounded matters.[citation needed] On May 4, 1960, just two months after filming the final episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, the couple divorced. Until his death in 1986, however, Arnaz and Ball remained friends and often spoke very fondly of each other.[citation needed] Her real-life divorce indirectly found its way into her later television series, as she was always cast as an unmarried woman.[69][70]
The following year, Ball did a musical on Broadway, Wildcat, co-starring Paula Stewart. That marked the beginning of a thirty-year friendship between Lucy and Paula Stewart, who introduced her to second husband Gary Morton, a Borscht Belt stand-up comic who was thirteen years her junior.[13] According to Ball, Morton claimed he had never seen an episode of I Love Lucy due to his hectic work schedule.[71] Ball immediately installed Morton in her production company, teaching him the television business and eventually promoting him to producer. Morton also played occasional bit parts on Ball's various series.[72]
Later career[link]
The 1960 Broadway musical Wildcat ended its run early when Ball became too ill to continue in the show.[73] The show was the source of the song she made famous, "Hey, Look Me Over," which she performed with Paula Stewart on The Ed Sullivan Show. She made a few more movies including Yours, Mine, and Ours (1968), and the musical Mame (1974), and two more successful long-running sitcoms for CBS: The Lucy Show (1962–68), which costarred Vance and Gale Gordon, and Here's Lucy (1968–74), which also featured Gordon, as well Lucy's real life children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. Ball appeared on the Dick Cavett show in 1974 and spoke of her history and life with Arnaz. She revealed how she felt about other actors and actresses as well as her love for Arnaz. She continued by telling Cavett that the success to her life was, "getting rid of what was wrong and replacing it with what is right," talking about her divorce from Arnaz and marriage to Morton.
Ball also revealed in this interview that the strangest thing to ever happen to her was after she had some dental work completed and having lead fillings in her teeth, she started hearing radio stations in her head. She explained coming home one night from the studio and as she passed one area, she heard what she thought was morse code or a "tapping." She stated that "as I backed up it got stronger. The next morning, I reported it to the authorities and upon investigation, they found a Japanese radio transmitter that had been buried and was actively transmitting codes back to the Japanese."[74][75] The extraordinary theory that dental fillings could pick up radio signals would ultimately be tested and debunked on the TV show Mythbusters nearly thirty years later.
Ball was originally considered by Frank Sinatra for the role of Mrs. Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate. Director/producer John Frankenheimer, however, had worked with Angela Lansbury in a mother role in All Fall Down and insisted on having her for the part.[76]
During the mid-1980s, she attempted to resurrect her television career. In 1982, Ball hosted a two-part Three's Company retrospective, showing clips from the show's first five seasons, summarizing memorable plotlines, and commenting on her love of the show.[77] A 1985 dramatic made-for-TV film about an elderly homeless woman, Stone Pillow, received mixed reviews. Her 1986 sitcom comeback Life With Lucy, costarring her longtime foil Gale Gordon and co-produced by Ball, Gary Morton, and prolific producer/former actor Aaron Spelling was canceled less than two months into its run by ABC.[78] The failure of this series was said to have sent Ball into a serious depression, and other than a few miscellaneous awards show appearances, she was absent from the public eye for the last several years of her life. Her last public appearance, just one month before her death, was at the 1989 Academy Awards telecast in which she and fellow presenter, Bob Hope, were given a standing ovation.
Death[link]
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On April 18, 1989, Ball was at her home in Beverly Hills when she complained of chest pains. An ambulance was called and she was rushed to the emergency room of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She was diagnosed with dissecting aortic aneurysm and underwent heart surgery for nearly eight hours, receiving an aorta from a 27 year old male donor. The surgery was successful, and Ball began recovering very quickly , even walking around her room with little assistance. On April 26, shortly after dawn, Ball awoke with severe back pains. Her aorta had ruptured in a second location and Ball quickly lost consciousness. All attempts to revive her proved unsuccessful, and she died at approximately 05:47 PST. She was 77 years old. Her ashes were initially interred in Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, but in 2002 her children moved her remains to the family plot at Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown, New York, where Ball's parents, brother, and grandparents are buried.[79]
Legacy and posthumous recognition[link]
Ball received many prestigious awards throughout her career including some received posthumously such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H. W. Bush on July 6, 1989,[80] and The Women's International Center's Living Legacy Award.[81]
There is a Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center museum in Lucy's hometown of Jamestown, New York. The Little Theatre was renamed the Lucille Ball Little Theatre in her honor.[82] Ball was among Time magazine's 100 Most Important People of the Century.[83]
On August 6, 2001, which would have been her ninetieth birthday, the United States Postal Service honored her with a commemorative postage stamp as part of its Legends of Hollywood series.[84] Ball appeared on the cover of TV Guide more than any other person; she appeared on thirty-nine covers, including the very first cover in 1953, with her baby son Desi Arnaz, Jr.[85] TV Guide voted Lucille Ball as the Greatest TV Star of All Time and later it commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of I Love Lucy with eight collector covers celebrating memorable scenes from the show and in another instance they named I Love Lucy the second best television program in American history, after Seinfeld.[86] Because of her liberated mindset and approval of the women's movement, Ball was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[87]
She was awarded the Legacy of Laughter award at the fifth Annual TV Land Awards in 2007,[88] I Love Lucy was named the Greatest TV Series by Hall of Fame Magazine,[citation needed] and TV Guide voted her greatest TV star of all time[32] In November of that year, Lucille Ball was chosen as the second out of the 50 Greatest TV Icons, after Johnny Carson. In a poll done by the public, however, they chose her as the greatest icon.[89]
On August 6, 2011, which would have been her hundredth birthday, Google honored Ball with an interactive doodle on their homepage. This doodle displayed six classic moments from the I Love Lucy sitcom.[90] On the same day a total of 915 Ball look-alikes converged on Jamestown, New York to celebrate the birthday and set a new world record for such a gathering.[91]
On February 8, 1960, she was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one at 6436 Hollywood Boulevard for contributions to motion pictures, and one at 6100 Hollywood Boulevard for television.[92]
Filmography and television work[link]
Main article: Lucille Ball filmography and television work
References[link]
- ^ "Article: Lucille Ball, Pioneer of Television Comedy, Dies at 77". http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1187461.html. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
- ^ Lucille Ball Certificate of Death. Find a Grave. accessed August 7, 2011.
- ^ "Lucille Ball Bio". tv.com. http://www.tv.com/lucille-ball/person/10038/biography.html. Retrieved 2008-04-02. "Lucille Ball is one of the worlds favorite actresses"
- ^ "Arnaz Quits Presidency Of Desilu; Former Wife, Lucille Ball, Gets Post," Wall Street Journal, Nov. 9, 1962, p. 18.
- ^ "Lucille Ball – Biography". punoftheday.com. http://www.punoftheday.com/lucille-ball.html. Retrieved 2008-04-02. "Ball wins four Emmys and nominated for a total of 13"
- ^ "Past Recipients: Crystal Award". Women In Film. http://wif.org/past-recipients. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- ^ "The Cecil B. DeMille Award". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. http://www.goldenglobes.org/cecil70/. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
- ^ "List of Kennedy Center Honorees". Kennedy-center.org. http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/honors/history.cfm. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
- ^ "Hall of Fame Archives: Inductees". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. http://www.emmys.tv/awards/hall-fame/hall-fame-archives-honorees. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
- ^ a b c "Lucie Arnaz Filmography". Fandango. http://www.fandango.com/luciearnaz/filmography/p2323. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
- ^ a b c "Lucille Ball Timeline and Biography". twoop.com. http://www.twoop.com/people/lucille_ball.html. Retrieved 2008-04-05. "Ball gives birth to her children"
- ^ "Lucille Ball". Morbid Curiosity. http://www.morbid-curiosity.com/id125.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-06. "Lucille Ball is recovering and dies"
- ^ a b Sanders & Gilbert 1993, p. 216.
- ^ "Time Life". Time. Archived from the original on 2008-04-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20080406060542/http://www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/lucy_related2.html. Retrieved 2008-04-02About Lucille Ball's relatives.
- ^ Kanfer 2003, p. 10.
- ^ Ball 1997, pp. 168–169.
- ^ "Ancestry of Lucille Ball". Genealogy.com. http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/lucilleb/index.html. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
- ^ "Isaac Ball (1747- ?)". Edmund Rice (1638) Association. http://www.edmund-rice.org/era5gens/p3.htm#i334023. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
- ^ a b Interview with Lucille Ball on the Dick Cavett Show.[Full citation needed]
- ^ Herringshaw 2011, pp. 17–19.
- ^ Kanfer 2003.
- ^ "Lucille Ball Biography". Encyclopedia of World Biography. http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ba-Be/Ball-Lucille.html. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
- ^ Harris 1991, p. 23.
- ^ Harris 1991, p. 24.
- ^ Kanfer 2003, p. 16.
- ^ Kanfer 2003, p. 20.
- ^ Ball 1996, p. 41.
- ^ Brady 2001, p. 20.
- ^ Kanfer 2003, p. 24.
- ^ Kanfer 2003, p. 205.
- ^ Kanfer 2003, p. 30.
- ^ a b "Lucille Ball Trivia". NetGlimse. http://www.netglimse.com/celebs/pages/lucille_ball/index.shtml. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ Brady 2001, p. 33.
- ^ Kanfer 2003, p. 28.
- ^ "Lucille Ball at Hollywood.com". Hollywood.com. http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Lucille_Ball/199957. Retrieved 2008-04-02. "Lucille Ball's stage name"
- ^ "Lucille Ball". Everything2.com. http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=103863. Retrieved 2008-04-05. "Ball and Rogers are lifelong friends"
- ^ Brady 2001, p. 73–74.
- ^ Crouse, Richard J. (2003). The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen. Toronto: ECW Press. p. 196. ISBN 1-55022-590-1. ""Stage Door" gives Ball her big break"
- ^ ""The Wonder Show" – 1938 Radio Series – Starring Jack Haley, with Lucille Ball & Gale Gordon". The Wonder Show. http://www.lucyfan.com/wondershow.html. Retrieved 2008-04-09. "Lucy and The Wonder Show"
- ^ "Lucille Ball biography". Essortment.com. http://www.essortment.com/all/lucilleballbi_rtkn.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-05. "Ball and Arnaz patch things up before divorce became final"
- ^ "Lucille Ball: Biography and Much More from Answers.com". US Census Bureau. http://www.answers.com/topic/lucille-ball?cat=entertainment. Retrieved 2008-04-02. "Discrepancy in birthdates"
- ^ "Lover Come Back". TCM. http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/82077/Lover-Come-Back/. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
- ^ Silver, Allison (2009-07-16). "Sotomayor: More 'Splainin' to Do". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-silver/sotomayer-more-splainin-t_b_236347.html. Retrieved 2010-06-18. "CBS executives originally did not want Ball, a sassy redhead, married to a Latino on the program"
- ^ "American Masters "Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy"". PBS. http://www.pbs.org/previews/american_masters_lucy. Retrieved 2008-04-02. "Ball first woman to head a major studio"
- ^ a b "Desi Arnaz". Clown Ministry. http://www.clown-ministry.com/index_1.php?/site/articles/desi_arnaz_biography. Retrieved 2008-04-02. "Arnaz revolutionizes television"
- ^ Karol 2004, p. 201.
- ^ Gehring, Wes (2001). ""I Love Lucy" Turns 50 – Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, background info on influential, groundbreaking TV comedy". USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education). http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2676_130/ai_78256901. Retrieved 2008-04-05. "Arnaz did not want kinescope"
- ^ "Sitcoms Online – I Love Lucy". sitcomsonline.com. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ilovelucy.html. Retrieved 2008-04-05. "I Love Lucy was the first show to introduce reruns"
- ^ "Stars of the living room". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2008-06-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20080606034611/http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-ca-125tv21may21,0,5824081.htmlstory. Retrieved 2008-04-05. "Arnaz and Ball bring tv show to Los Angeles"
- ^ Adir, Karin (2001). The Great Clowns of American Television (McFarland Classics). Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Company. pp. 4–10. ISBN 0-7864-1303-4.
- ^ Sanders & Gilbert 2001, pp. 72–81.
- ^ [1](mp3) – archive.org
- ^ Hofstede, David (2006). 5000 Episodes and No Commercials: The Ultimate Guide to TV Shows on DVD 2007. New York: Back Stage Books. p. 149. ISBN 0-8230-8456-6. "Longest laugh in television history"
- ^ "Index to Register of Voters". Ancestry.com Blog. 1936. http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/bal-lucy-actress-cst-1936-la-co-highlight.jpg. Retrieved 2012-03-14. Copy of document from Los Angeles City Precinct No. 1598, Los Angeles County, CA
- ^ Ancestry.com (January 30, 2008). "New California Voter Registrations Reveal Celebrity Party Lines". Ancestry.com Blog. http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/01/30/new-california-voter-registrations-reveal-celebrity-party-lines/. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ Testimony of Lucille Désirée Ball Arnaz, September 4, 1953, Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, 83d Cong., 1st sess., Investigation of Communist Activities in the Los Angeles Area – Part 7, September 4, 1953 (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1953), p. 2567 (PDF p. 14)
- ^ FBI file, pp. 10–13: FBI memorandum: D.M. Ladd to Hoover, Subject: Lucille Ball, Dezi [sic] Arnaz, September 17, 1953.
- ^ Affidavit of Rena M. Vale, November 23, 1942. Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities in California, Report: Un-American Activities in California (Sacramento: California State Printing Office, 1943), pp. 127–128
- ^ Fundraising for Roosevelt (video newsreel film). Washington, DC: British Pathé. http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=55256. Retrieved 2011-06-14.
- ^ "Ball, Lucille". FunTrivia.com. http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Celebrities/Ball-Lucille-13852.html. Retrieved 2011-06-14.
- ^ Ball explained, "In those days that was not a big, terrible thing to do. It was almost as terrible to be a Republican in those days." Testimony of Lucille Désirée Ball Arnaz, September 4, 1953, Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, 83d Cong., 1st sess., Investigation of Communist Activities in the Los Angeles Area – Part 7, September 4, 1953 (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1953), p. 2571 (PDF p. 18)
- ^ FBI file, p. 24: FBI memorandum: SAC Los Angeles to Hoover, Subject: Lucille Ball, was., December 16, 1953. Cf. Sanders & Gilbert 2001, pp. 77–78.
- ^ FBI file, p. 32: copy of: Flaherty, Vincent X. (October 23, 1956). "Hoover Hits Crime Trends in Movies". Los Angeles Examiner.
- ^ Leibman, Nina. "Ball, Lucille". Museum of Broadcast Communications. http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/B/htmlB/balllucille/balllucille.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ^ "Radio: Birth of a Memo". Time. 26 January 1953. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,817789,00.html. Retrieved 2011-06-14.
- ^ "Celebrity Commercials in TV's Golden Age". Teletronic. Archived from the original on 2010-08-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20100819094937/http://www.teletronic.co.uk/ustvads.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
- ^ "Biography of Lucille Ball, famous TV clown". Clown Ministry. http://www.clown-ministry.com/index_1.php?/site/articles/biography_of_lucille_ball_famous_tv_clown. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
- ^ Kanfer 2003, pp. 35–37.
- ^ "Powell's Books – Review-a-Day – Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball by Stefan Kanfer". The New Republic Online. http://www.powells.com/review/2003_09_25.html. Retrieved 2008-04-05. "Ball's real life divorce makes it into her new shows as showing her as a single woman"
- ^ Kanfer 2003, pp. 72–84. "Ball and Arnaz remain friends".
- ^ Kanfer 2003, p. 94.
- ^ Kanfer 2003, p. 103.
- ^ Kanfer 2003, p. 220.
- ^ Karol 2004, p. 164.
- ^ "Brace Yourself". snopes.com. 5 August 2007. http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/fillings.asp. Retrieved 2011-06-14.
- ^ Frankenheimer's DVD audio commentary
- ^ "TV Land March 2007 --To Be Continued Free Fridays; Three's Company 30th Anniversary – Sitcoms Online Message Boards". TV Land. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=192779. Retrieved 2008-04-06. "Ball hosts Three's Company reflective"
- ^ "Life With Lucy". TV Party. http://www.tvparty.com/movlucy4.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06. ""Life With Lucy" turns out to be a flop"
- ^ Ball, Lucille. "Lucille Ball's Gravesite". Lucille Ball's Gravesite. The Lucy-Desi Center. http://www.lucy-desi.com/blog/. Retrieved 18 October 2011. [dead link]
- ^ "NATION : Lucille Ball Gets Medal of Freedom". Los Angeles Times. 1989-07-06. http://articles.latimes.com/1989-07-06/news/mn-4245_1_lucille-ball. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
- ^ "Welcome to Women's International Center". Women's International Center. http://www.wic.org. Retrieved 2008-04-09. "Living Legacy Award"
- ^ "The Lucille Ball Little Theater of Jamestown, Inc.". Designsmiths. http://www.designsmiths.net/lucilleball/index.html. Retrieved 2008-04-09. "Renaming of the "Little Theater" in Jamestown, New York"
- ^ "TIME 100 – People of the Century". Time Magazine. http://www.time.com/time/time100/index_2000_time100.html. Retrieved 2008-04-09.
- ^ "USPS – Stamp Release No. 01-057 – Legendary Hollywood Star Lucille Ball Honored on U.S. Postage Stamp". US Post Office. Archived from the original on 2008-01-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20080119012634/http://www.usps.com/news/2001/philatelic/sr01_057.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-09. "Ball honored on a Postage Stamp"
- ^ "Lucille Ball — Photos, Bio and News for Lucille Ball". TV Guide. http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/lucille-ball/163025#+http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/lucille-ball/163025#. Retrieved 2008-04-09. "Lucy appears on thirty-nine covers of TV guide"
- ^ "TiVo Community Forums Archives – TV Guide's 50 Best Shows of All Time". TV Guide. http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/topic/56036-1.html+http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/history/topic/56036-1.html. Retrieved 2008-04-09. "TV Guide's second greatest or most influential show of all time"
- ^ "National Women's Hall of Fame". Great Women Organization. http://www.greatwomen.org. Retrieved 2008-04-09. "Ball inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame"
- ^ "TV Land loves Lucy". Los Angeles Times. April 15, 2007. http://theenvelope.latimes.com/tv/la-env-tvland15apr15,0,2045170.story?coll=env-tv. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ^ Associated Press (November 16, 2007). "Carson tops list of 50 greatest TV icons". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21772917. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
- ^ Nancy Blair (August 6, 2011). "Google Doodle pays charming tribute to Lucille Ball on her 100th". USA Today. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/08/google-doodle-pays-charming-tribute-to-lucille-ball-on-her-100th/1. Retrieved 2011-08-06.
- ^ "915 Lucille Ball look-alikes set record" at upi.com
- ^ "Walk of Fame: Lucille Ball". http://www.walkoffame.com/lucille-ball.
- Citations – books
- Ball, Lucille (1996). Hoffman, Betty Hannah. ed. Love, Lucy. New York: Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-14205-5. OCLC 231698725. This autobiography covers Ball's life up to 1964. It was discovered by her children in 1989 ("Love, Lucy". WorldCat. http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=wikipedia&q=isbn%3A9780399142055. Retrieved 2011-11-19. )
- Ball, Lucille (1997). Hoffman, Betty Hannah. ed. Love, Lucy. New York: Berkly. ISBN 978-0-425-17731-0. OCLC 52255505.
- Brady, Kathleen (2001). Lucille: the life of Lucille Ball. New York: Billboard Books. p. 20. ISBN 0-8230-8913-4.
- Harris, Warren C (1991). Lucy and Desi: the legendary love story of television’s most famous couple. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-74709-1.
- Herringshaw, DeAnn (2011). Lucille Ball: Actress & Comedienne. Edina, MN: ABDO. ISBN 978-1-61787-664-6.
- Kanfer, Stefan (2003). Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-41315-4.
- Karol, Michael A. (2004). The Lucille Ball Quiz Book. United States: iUniverse. ISBN 978-0-595-31857-5.
- Sanders, Coyne Steven; Gilbert, Thomas W. (1993). Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-688-13514-0. http://books.google.com/?id=y1pXKrPW0DoC&pg=PA216&lpg=PA216&dq=Paula+Stewart+introduces+Lucille+BAll+to+Gary.
- Sanders, Coyne Steven; Gilbert, Thomas W. (2001). Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. New York: HarperEntertainment. ISBN 0-688-13514-5. OCLC 48543617.
- Web pages
- "FBI file: Lucille Ball, Part 1". FBI. October 18, 1994. Archived from the original on 2008-10-31. http://web.archive.org/web/20081031044236/http://foia.fbi.gov/ball/ball1.pdf. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
Further reading[link]
- Lucille Ball FAQ: Everything Left to Know About America's Favorite Redhead by James Sheridan and Barry Monush (2011) ISBN 978-1-61774-082-4
- The Comic DNA of Lucille Ball: Interpreting the Icon by Michael Karol (2005) ISBN 0-595-37951-6
- Lucy A to Z: The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia by Michael Karol (2004) ISBN 0-595-29761-7
- Lucy in Print by Michael Karol (2003) ISBN 0-595-29321-2
- Laughing With Lucy: My Life With America's Leading Lady of Comedy by Madelyn Pugh Davis with Bob Carroll Jr. (2005) ISBN 978-1-57860-247-6
- I Love Lucy: The Complete Picture History of the Most Popular TV Show Ever by Michael McClay (1995) ISBN 0-446-51750-X (hardcover)
- Young, Jordan R. (1999) The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio & TV's Golden Age. Beverly Hills: Past Times Publishing ISBN 0-940410-37-0 (interview with Bob Schiller)
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lucille Ball |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lucille Ball |
- Official website
- Lucille Ball at the Internet Broadway Database
- Lucille Ball at the Internet Movie Database
- Lucille Ball at AllRovi
- Lucille Ball at TV Guide
- Lucille Ball at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
- Flint, Peter B. "Lucille Ball, Spirited Doyenne Of TV Comedies, Dies at 77." The New York Times. April 27, 1989.
- Lucille Ball & several other actors participate on Orson Welles Radio Almanac 1944; recordings
- Celebrating Lucille Ball at 100: Unpublished Photos – slideshow by LIFE.com
- Lucille Ball Google doodle
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ball, Lucille Désirée |
| Alternative names | Lucy |
| Short description | American Actress |
| Date of birth | August 6, 1911 |
| Place of birth | Jamestown, New York, U.S. |
| Date of death | April 26, 1989 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
