Back when television was in diapers, Milton Berle was in a dress. It was a kinder world then; despite his wardrobe, he became known as "Mr. Television."
Forty-one years after the debut of "Texaco Star Theater," Berle didn't anticipate such success when he moved from the movies (remember "Sun Valley Serenade"?) to the small screen on June 8, 1948.
"The power? Nobody knew the power of television. I didn't. I swear I didn't, sid the man known to millions as Uncle Miltie when he was television's undisputed king, holding millions of Americans hostage in their living rooms each Tuesday night.
"The Texaco show of 40 years ago, there were not laugh machines. If the joke bombed, you died," recalled Berle, in town to pitch "Milton Berle: The Second Time Around," a three-tape video collection of "Texaco" clips.
"That's why I used to say, `Leave a 9 o'clock wakeup call for the audience.' Or, `Here's another one you may not care for.' but that's all gone. Unfortunate.'
While Berle was television's first major star - Time called him "a strange new phenomenon" - modesty (and the chance for a cheap joke) prevents him from claiming he was the one behind its creation.
"I didn't start it all," Berle said in an interview.
Pause. Remove cigar. Punchline.
"It had to be invented first."
Da-dum-dum.
Uncle Miltie at 80 may wear thick pancake makeup and pitch underwear on television , but he still has a keen mind and an incredible recall of names, dates and places.
An hourlong chat with Berle includes tales of hsi days and nights in the Havan Madrid ("51st betweeen Seventh and Broadway"), Dave's Blue Room ("right on 52nd Street") and the 500 Club ("in Atlantic City - owned by a guy named D'Amato").
And he can drop some names: Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Danny Thomas, Walter Huston, Talullah Bankhead, Basil Rathbone. Berle's worked with them all; he also remembers working with a guy named Dino Crosetti from Stubenville, Ohio.
"I said, `Dino's a good name, but there's go to be an easier name. Something like Dean Kramer or Dean Morton or Dean Martin," said Berle. "That's how he got the name."
Martin and Lewis were later guests on "Texaco Star Theater," which dominated all competition in the late 1940s and early '50s. An estimated 90 percent of American's sets were tuned to Uncle Miltie when he was on.
Berle began his career at age 5, starting out in a silent movie dubbed "Tillie's Punctured Romance." Even then, he worked with the big names; the film starred Charlie Chaplin.
By age 12, Berle was on Broadway. He appeared in more than 50 silent films. he did vaudeville, he played the Catskills. And then after 35 years in business, Berle went video.
He later went on to other variety shows, appearing on "The Kraft Music Hall" in the late '50s and serving as host for "The Milton Berle Show" in the '60s.
He never gave up live performing: after years of playing in Las Vegas, he now plays twice a year in Atlantic City and Lake Tahoe.
Last year, he starred with fellow veterans Danny Thomas and Sid Caesar in a made-for-television flick called "Side by Side."
His current TV spots are as a pitchman for underwear in which he confesses, "At my age, I've done just about everything in my BVDs."
He's also written a couple a books: self-titled 1974 autobiography and "B.S. I Love You," a collection of jokes and gags picked up during his long association with the Friar's Club.
"I get interviews where people say, `Milton, that's a helluva risk you took.' I said, `I said, `It was, but it wasn't. Not with the acts I had. I used to book the best acts available," Berle recalled. "An I told'em, `Don't worry about the cameras. They'll catch you.'"
But with television marking its 50th anniversary, Berle's role in the medium has agai been spotlighted.
Along with his dress-wearing antics, the Berle legacy includes a reputation as a joke-snatcher - "The Thief of Bad Gags," the great columnist Walter Winchell once called him. Berle maintains he started this himself as a publicity scam.
And the dresses?
"Too long a story on that," said Berle, glancing quickly at two female publicists in the room. "I'll tell you alone."
Berle is winding down when he's asked about the first night of "Texaco" - who was on the show?
He pauses, removes his wellchewed stogie and looks straight ahead, going back 41 years in 15 seconds.
"June 8, 1948," said Uncle Miltie, pausing again. "Sophie Tucker. And a dance team. They were wonderful. Don't know if you ever saw them: the Zoneys. A brother-sister team. Didn't speak to each other; fought like cats and dogs. A great harmonica artist, Stan Fihser. And(bandleader - `Is Everybody Happy?) Ted Lewis."
Berle remembers all the guests; he also remembers the immediate, overwhelming reaction his show produced.
"The next day I walked out of my house on 88th Street, took a cab to the Friars for lunch. I decided to walk the last few blocks. I walked a couple of blocks, and the people were all following me," the great entertainer said.