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INDEX
People
Abravanel,
Don Isaac
Berg, Gertude (Molly Goldberg)
Berg, Moe
Berle, Milton
Berlin, Irving
Bernstein, Leonard
Brandeis, Louis D.
Cardozo, Benjamin
Einstein, Albert Elion, Gertrude
Frankel,Jacob
Gershwin, George
Ginsburg, Ruth Bader
Gompers, Samuel
Goode, Alexander Goodman, Benny
Gratz, Rebecca
Greenberg, Hank
Hillman, Sidney
Hoffman, Jeffrey
Houdini, Harry
Jefferson, Thomas
Karpeles,
Leopold Lamarr, Hedy
Lazarus, Emma
Lehman, Herbert H.
Levy, Asser
Levy, Uriah P.
Magnes, Judah L.
Meir, Golda
Miller, Arthur
Myerson, Bess
Noah, Mordecai.
Ochs, Adolph
Pulitzer, Joseph
Resnik, Judith
Rose, Ernestine
Rosenthal, Robert
Ross, Barney
Salk, Jonas
Salomon, Haym
Santangel, Luis de
Sarnoff, David
Schick, Bela
Seixas, Gershom M.
Singer, Isaac B.
Stern, Isaac
Straus, Isidor & Ida
Strauss, Levi
Streisand, Barbra
Szold, Henrietta
Torres, Dara
Torres, Luis de
Touro, Judah
Wacks, Mel
Wald, Lillian
Washington, George
Wiesel, Elie
Wise, Isaac Mayer Zacuto, Abraham
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Medal by Eugene Daub (2008), Milton Berle, star of vaudeville, radio, and pioneering super-star of television. |
Milton Berle (1908-2002)
“Mr. Television,” Milton Berle, was the
pioneering television star of the hugely popular Texaco
Star Theater, that garnered as much as an 80% share of the viewing audience
from 1948 to 1955. Berle’s theme song was “There’s
only one place for me – near you.”
Milton Berle’s (born Berlinger) birth certificate.
Milton
Berlinger was born in
New York City
on
July 12, 1908
,
His onstage antics got underway in 1913 when he won a look-alike contest with
his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. Berle appeared as a child actor in silent
films, beginning with The Perils of
Pauline (1914), filmed in
Fort Lee
,
New Jersey
with Pearl White.
In
1942, Milton Berle accepted an offer to star in the Ziegfeld Follies on
Broadway. To illustrate what a major box-office attraction Berle had become, the producers
agreed to put his name above the title of the show. This was a huge concession,
and Berle says it's the only time in the history of the Follies that a
performer saw his name above the title! The Ziegfeld Follies opened on
April 1, 1943
, and ran for
553 performances. As if that wasn't enough to keep Berle busy, he also found
the time to squeeze in camp shows for the GIs, benefits for the Red Cross,
appearances to help sell war bonds and broadcasts for Armed Forces Radio.
At the beginning of each show, a quartette sang:
"Oh, we're the men
of Texaco
We work from Maine to Mexico
There's nothing like this Texaco of ours!” … and so on.
In his first four seasons on the air, Berle reigned
throughout the country as "Mr. Television," and was fondly called
“Uncle Miltie.” In May 1949, he became the first comedian to appear
simultaneously on the covers of Time and Newsweek, with accompanying profile
stories. Milton Berle received one of the first Emmy Awards ever given for
starring in NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948), was the first person to be
inducted into the Television Hall of Fame (1984), the first inductee into the
Comedy Hall of Fame (1992), and the first to receive a Lifetime Achievement
Award from the
New York
Television
Academy
(1996).
The
May 16, 1949
issue of Time Magazine.
Milton Berle was also a songwriter and author, and appeared in dozens of motion pictures and television shows. He received an Emmy Nomination for his lead role in "Doyle Against The House" on The Dick Powell Show in 1961.
Berle was named to the Guiness Book of World Records for the greatest number of charity performances made by a show-business performer over a period of 50 years. 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 Runyan Cancer Fund) was hosted by Berle in 1949. A permanent fixture at charity benefits in the Hollywood / Los Angeles area, he was instrumental in raising millions for charitable causes.
Click Here to Take Milton Berle Quiz
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