14 Things You Didn’t Know About Milton Berle
Some of these things aren’t funny.
Milton Berle’s heyday precedes even my recollection of TV. I did see Berle do various Dean Martin roasts. Generally speaking, he did ok on those. He did host SNL, and it was legendarily disastrous. Berle did have a reputation of being one of the greatest forces in early TV. Other aspects of his reputation weren’t so rosy. So here are some things you might not have known about “Uncle Miltie.”
1: Early on, Milton was a model.
I know, I’m as surprised as you are. He actually won a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest, child’s division. After that, at the age of five he was a model for Buster Brown shoes.
2: His movie career was a rags to riches story.
At the age of five he appeared in “The Perils of Pauline.” He was initially disturbed when learning his character was to fall off a moving train. He asked about his stunt double and was shown a pile of rags.
3: Milton started in in Vuadville at the age of 12 and was acting as a MC at the age of 16.
Hmm. MC, just like Master Card, which was pretty much what he was for his mother.
