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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.
4: His mother threw him into show biz, sometimes literally.
On one occasion, he and his mother were watching Al Jolson perform. During Jolson’s performance, Berle’s mother threw him on the stage to perform with Jolson. Fortunately for Berle, Jolson took it well. That time Berle didn’t have a stunt double.
5: Berle was a notorious thief of other comedians’ material.
Walter Winchell actually called him the “Thief of Bad Gags.” Berle was fortunate his act didn’t require him to use images.
6: A cautionary tale for Don Rickles.
One time Berle was doing his act and started insulting a guy in the audience. That wasn’t an unusual thing for a comedian to do, but the response was. It turns out the guy Berle was targeting was a known gangster.
