Bio comedian milton berle

BORN: July 12, • New York, New York

DIED: March 27, • Beverly Hills, California

American comedian

Milton Berle was the first superstar of the television age.

His variety show (a program that features many different types of entertainment), Texaco Star Theater, was a huge hit in the late s and early s, attracting up to 75 percent of American TV audiences each week. Berle's brand of outrageous physical humor took full advantage of the visual element that television made possible.

In the earliest years of TV, friends and neighbors gathered around their sets to watch him wear ridiculous costumes, tell bad jokes, and appear on stage with trained animals and jugglers. Although the popularity of Texaco Star Theater helped promote the tremendous growth of television, Berle's appeal faded as the new technology developed beyond its novelty stage.

"I learned quickly that I couldn't do anything small, because the studio audience couldn't see it, and if the studio