Berle, Milton (1908—)
Milton Berle, a former vaudevillian, film actor, and radio comedian, was television's first real star. Credited with selling over a million television sets during his first years hosting the weekly Tuesday night NBC program Texaco Star Theatre, Berle became post war America's beloved "Uncle Miltie." Since Texaco Star Theatre first aired in 1948, only a year after the three major networks first began broadcasting programming on the new medium, much of Berle's urban audience was watching television in communal environs—in neighbors' homes, in taverns, and in community centers. A 1949 editorial in Variety magazine heralded the performer for his impact on the lives of city viewers: "When, single handedly, you can drive the taxis off the streets of New York between 8 and 9 on a Tuesday night; reconstruct neighborhood patterns so that stores shut down Tuesday nights instead of Wednesdays, and inject a showman-ship in programming so that video could compete favorably with the more established show biz media—then you rate the accolade of 'Mr. Television."'
Yet, the brash, aggressive, ethnic, and urban vaudeville style that made him such a incredible phenomenon during television's early years were, ironically, the very traits that lead to his professional decline in the mid-1950s.
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