‘Mr. Television’ Milton Berle’s Passing - Cause for Reflection

by Alan Sheckter, SmartTV & Sound news editor

In today’s fast-paced world, we’ve come to expect new TV-enhancing gadgets and services almost weekly. Sometimes, we are so busy discovering and embracing the new frontiers of viewing technologies, we neglect to pause and remember the past.

March 27, 2002, America paused to reflect on a man that paved the way for the future of TV, when “Mr. Television,” Milton Berle died at his Beverly Hills, Calif. home at 93.

More than a half-century before WebTV, TiVo and ReplayTV, not to mention satellite, cable or even color TV, Milton Berle stood as a fixture to an emerging technology — television.

Debuting on TV with The Texaco Star Theater June 8, 1948, Berle, a former vaudeville and radio star, dominated the new medium in a way that will never be duplicated.

It is said that every Tuesday night, when the show would air, U.S. movie theaters would close and shop owners would put up signs announcing, “Closed tonight to watch Milton Berle.” Some say that four out of every five American televisions tuned Berle in, and one report said that water pressure would visibly drop in New York City during the TV show’s commercial breaks, presumably due to thousands of toilets flushing at the same time.

His legendary status was cemented in 1951, when NBC gave him a “lifetime contract” of 30 years, paying him an unprecedented $200,000 a year whether he worked or not. He later appeared in scores of TV shows and movies, but it was his starring role as a pioneer in television’s early years that people cherish most.

Berle won an Emmy award in 1949 and was given another Emmy for lifetime achievement in 1979. He was one of the first members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame and president of the Friars Club for more than a decade. In 1991, he was among the first inductees into the International Comedy Hall of Fame.