Tue, Jun 8, 1948
Milton Berle is the host of the series premiere. Guests are comic ventriloquist Senor Wences, singer Pearl Bailey, harmonica player Stan Fisher, acrobatic act the Moroccans, double-talk comedian Al Kelly, flamenco dancers Rosario and Antonio, adagio dancers the Andreas, Betty Alexander (who welcomes viewers), pitchman Sid Stone and the Russ Case orchestra. Bailey sings "Tired" and "Good Enough For Me." Rosario and Antonio dance to "Capriccio Espagnol" and "Fire Dance," and Berle becomes the uncoordinated member of the Moroccans.
Tue, Jun 15, 1948
Harry Richman hosts. His Guests dancers Valerie Bettis and Duncan Noble, acrobatic dance team Costello Twins, musical quartet The Vagabonds, comedy team Willie Howard and Hal Gary, singer Betty Reilly, and tap dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. With Texaco pitchman Sid Stone and Russ Case and his orchestra.
Tue, Jun 22, 1948
Milton Berle welcome vaudeville comedian Bert Wheeler and singer Harry Richman to the program. Wheeler preforms some his venerable routines and Richman sings "Puttin' on the Ritz", the Irving Berlin song that he introduced in the film of the same name. The shows finale features Berle and Richman imitating Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson.
Tue, Sep 14, 1948
Peter Donald hosts with guests comic Sid Caesar, comic/singer Willie Howard, acrobatic team the Dewey Sisters, dance duo De Marios, and Gil Maison with his dog act. Caesar performs his airplane routine from "Tars and Spars" and appears in an U.N. sketch with Donald. Berle makes a brief cameo.
Tue, Sep 21, 1948
Milton Berle debuts as permanent host. Guests include big band singer Evelyn Knight, vaudeville comedy team Smith and Dale, roller skating team the Four Carters, singing acrobats Park and Clifford, and comic actor Phil Silvers. Smith and Dale perform their vaudeville restaurant routine with Berle as the waiter, and Milton turns Sid Stone's Texaco pitch into a Chinese comedy bit. Sid gives Milton a slapstick lesson on how to sing.
Tue, Sep 28, 1948
Milton Berle's guests are musical/comedy actress Mary McCarty, the Three Wiles, comedians Garry Moore and Lou Costello, hillbilly band Ozark Mountaineers, and dancers The Szonys. Berle joins the Mountaineers as dopey Cousin Elmer, and plays a French dame in the Texaco commercial with Sid Stone. McCarty sings a song about a taxi dancer and Moore does a comic poem about a cow.
Tue, Oct 5, 1948
Milton Berle's guests are comic song-and-dance trio the Slate Brothers, Carmen Miranda, skaters/acrobats Ronnie and May Norman, ballet dancers Paul Haakon and Barbara Carter, vocalists the Charioteers, and Chico Marx. Berle dresses in drag like Miranda and performs with her on a number, and joins in with the Charioteers for comic disruption. Chico plays piano in his TV debut.
Tue, Oct 12, 1948
Milton Berle's guests include comedian/impersonator Florence Desmond, comedian Joe Phillips, comedy entertainer Harry Richman, drummer Jack Powell, and boxer-turned-actor "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom. Berle plays Noel Coward and Desmond is Bankhead in a burlesque of Noel Coward's "Private Lives." Powell performs a drumming number while in blackface.
Tue, Oct 19, 1948
Berle's guests are singer/dancer Jules Munshin, Borrah Minevitch's Harmonica Rascals featuring Johnny Puleo, the Chee Heins Risley act, 70-year-old dancer Emma Francis, and dance team Marge and Gower Champion. The Champions spoof Broadway dancing styles and Munshin takes-off on singers auditioning for the Metropolitan Opera. Berle joins the Chee Heins Risley act and causes chaos with the Stooges. Francis does a soft shoe dance and joins with Berle for a big "cake walk" finish.
Tue, Oct 26, 1948
Berle's guests are Sid Caesar, child actress Verna Raymond, Apache dance trio the Appletons, radio actress Hope Miller, comic dancers/acrobats Dick and Dot Remy, George M. Cohan Jr., and Three Maestros. Berle opens with a patriotic production including the song "Stay Away From the USA." He trades quips with precocious kid performer Raymond following her song-and-dance. Caesar does a routine about movie trailers and joins Berle and Miller in a sketch. Cohan closes the show with a medley of songs made famous by his father.
Tue, Nov 2, 1948
Uncle Miltie is the host of this election night episode. His guests are singer Gertrude Niesen, comics the Calgary Brothers, jugglers the Pierro Brothers, singer/musician Louis Prima, and the Cossack Quartet. Berle is carried onstage by Truman and Dewey impersonators. The Cossack Quartet performs a Russian song before being joined by Berle for goofing. Prima sings "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and gags with Berle on trumpets for "Tiger Rag." Milton stages an old vaudeville "Western Union" comedy sketch. The Calgary Brothers do a slow-motion drunk routine. Niesen sings "Wha' Hoppen, Baby" and joins Berle for "You're the Top."
Tue, Nov 16, 1948
Berle welcomes singer Ella Logan, comic Red Buttons, magician Russell Swan, comics the Arnaut Brothers, and acrobat/dancers the Crackerjacks. Logan sings "Sunny Side of the Street" and "Little Bit of Heaven." In a sketch, Buttons tries to get money from loan shark Berle. Milton begs out of magician Swan's guillotine act.
Tue, Dec 7, 1948
Milton Berle's guests include comedian Buddy Lester, vaudeville singer Ted Lewis, actress Vivian Blaine, child performer Danny Richards Jr., singer Geraldine DuBois, and animal act Pallenberg's Bears. Blaine sings a medley of songs she introduced in her movies and is joined by Berle for a song-and-dance finish. Lester does a stand-up routine. Berle trades quips with precocious child Richards. In the finale, Lewis is joined by singer DuBois and the rest of the cast in top hat and tails for "When My Baby Smiles at Me."
Tue, Dec 14, 1948
Milton's guests include actor/vaudevillian James Barton, drummer Buddy Rich, Metropolitan Opera star Lauritz Melchior, teeterboard act The Christians, and comedian Lorraine Rognan. Melchior performs the song "Because" and then does "Figaro" in a "Barber of Seville" spoof while giving Berle a shave. Barton does a stand-up where he plays three drunks, and Rognan has Berle play straight man for her comedy routine. In another sketch, Berle and Barton are applying makeup on each other for a blackface routine; they're joined by Melchior for the number.
Tue, Dec 21, 1948
Milton Berle's guests are comedian Henny Youngman, boogie-woogie singer/pianist Maurice Rocco, singer/actress Gracie Fields, actor/announcer Jack La Rue, and child actress Verna Raymond. Youngman comes up through the audience as a concessioner and the pair exchange insults; they team on a ballet send-up. Fields sings "Green-Up Time" and does a comic version of "My Hero." Fields joins Berle and Youngman in a Western sketch, and in a sentimental bit with Raymond. LaRue plays a "tough guy" in a sketch.
Tue, Jan 25, 1949
Milton Berle's guests include dancers the Unger Twins (Gustaf and Bertil), singer Frances Faye, slapstick comics Low, Hite, and Stanley (one short, one average, one tall), dancers the Caites, and singer Julie Wilson. Berle replaces one of the Unger Twins in a comic mirror routine, and teams with Costello for the old A&C math routine. The finale is in a turn of the century beer garden with all the cast.
Tue, Feb 1, 1949
Comedian Jack Carter fills in for an ill Berle. Guests are comic actress Beatrice Lillie, ballet dancer Kathryn Lee, the Borrah Minevitch Harmonica Rascals, comic Johnny Burke, the Gauthier Steeplechase dog and pony act, and actor Cyril Ritchard. Lillie sings several novelty songs with Ritchard as her foil. Burke does a routine from WWI.
Tue, Mar 1, 1949
Milton Berle returns after an illness and exhaustion. His scheduled guests include: singer/comedienne Virginia O'Brien, acrobats The Gauchos, comic actor Billy Gilbert, singer/actor Robert Alda, and musical/comedy performer Pat Rooney Sr. Alda sings and joins Berle for in a sketch about the foreign legion; Gilbert and Berle do a routine; O'Brien performs "Go To Sleep My Baby" and joins in a parody of Hollywood movie-making; Berle joins Rooney for the closing song and dance.
Tue, Mar 15, 1949
Uncle Miltie's guests this week include: Peter Lorre, singer Phil Regan, Stewart Morgan Dancers, Irish-American Celtic musicians the McNulty Family and Broadway singer Joan Roberts. Roberts, from the original cast of "Oklahoma!" performs songs from the show; Lorre and Berle do a sketch about "The Cabinet of Dr. X"; Miltie spoofs musical recitals; and a St. Patrick's Day salute to Irish songs.
Top-rated
Tue, Mar 22, 1949
Milton Berle's guests include Ethel Merman, Teddy Hale, Keye Luke, acrobatic act Los Gattos, Teddy Hale, and composers Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer, Charles Tobias, Maud Nugent and Lou Brown. Berle opens dressed as a Roman riding in a chariot. He joins Merman for "The Varsity Drag" and "Friendship," and the two go for a drive. She solos on "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "I Got Rhythm." The finale is a salute to songwriters.
Tue, Mar 29, 1949
Berle's scheduled guests on this show include: band leader Desi Arnaz; the Beatrice Kraft Dancers; ex-boxer Jack Dempsey; comedian Jackie Miles; and actress June Havoc. Berle opens the show dressed as an organ grinder with a monkey; Desi closes the show with a South American production number.
Tue, Apr 12, 1949
Berle's scheduled line-up features: film actor Boris Karloff, opera singer Richard Tucker, harmonica player Stan Fisher, dancers Merle, Duval and Lee, and actress Peggy Ryan. Karloff and Berle do a mad scientist skit; Ryan tap dances; Tucker sings "La Donna E Mobile"; Fisher plays "Rumanian Rhapsody"; the cast performs in a take-off of opera.
Tue, Apr 26, 1949
Berle's guests include comedian/magician Carl Ballentine, comic actors Lew Hearn and Lou Sorin, Ethel Merman,and vaudevillian/songwriter Jack Norworth. Berle and Sorin join Hearn in his old "Belt to the Back" sketch. "The Amazing Mr. Ballentine's" magic tricks go awry. Norworth does a medley of his big songs.
Tue, May 17, 1949
Berle's guests this week include comedian Georgie Price, "mentalist" Dunninger, the Blackburn Twins, dancer Pat Rooney Jr., and actress/singer Janet Blair. Miltie opens dressed as Napoleon. Much of the program is devoted to the reopening of the famed vaudeville theater The Palace with cast members imitating many of its stars.