text:
She's Gotta Have It
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For the television show based on this film, see She's Gotta Have It (TV series).
She's Gotta Have It
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Spike Lee
Produced by
Spike Lee
(credited as Shelton J. Lee)
Written by
Spike Lee
Starring
Tracy Camilla Johns
Redmond Hicks
John Canada Terrell
Spike Lee
Raye Dowell
Music by
Bill Lee
Cinematography
Ernest Dickerson
Edited by
Spike Lee
Production
company
40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
Distributed by
Island Pictures
Release date
August 8, 1986 (1986-08-08)
Running time
84 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$175,000
Box office
$7.1 million[1]
She's Gotta Have It is a 1986 American black-and-white comedy-drama film written, edited and directed by Spike Lee.[2] Filmed on a small budget and Lee's first feature-length film, it earned positive reviews and launched Lee's career.
The film stars Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell and Lee himself in a supporting role. Also appearing are cinematographer Ernest Dickerson as a Queens, New York resident and, in an early appearance, S. Epatha Merkerson as a doctor. The plot concerns a young woman (Johns) who is seeing three men, and the feelings this arrangement provokes.
In 2017 Lee adapted the film into a Netflix series.
Contents
[hide]
1 Plot
2 Themes
3 Cast
4 Background
4.1 Filming
5 Release
5.1 Box office
5.2 Critical reception
5.3 Awards and nominations
5.4 Home media
6 TV series
7 References
8 External links
Plot[edit]
Nola Darling is a young, attractive Brooklynite who juggles three suitors: the polite and well-meaning Jamie Overstreet; the self-obsessed model Greer Childs; and the immature, motor-mouthed Mars Blackmon. Nola is attracted to the best in each of them, but refuses to commit to any of them, cherishing her personal freedom instead, while each man wants her for himself.
Her carefree, sexually liberated lifestyle ultimately comes to an end when her three male suitors meet and compare notes on Nola. While Greer justifies Nola's callous behavior by claiming that she sees the three not as individuals but as a collective, Jamie and Mars become bitter over how little Nola cares for all three men.
Realizing that Mars and Greer are too scared of losing Nola to force her to choose one of them, Jamie tells her that she must choose a single lover. Nola scoffs at this, and visits him several days later at his apartment for casual sex. Jamie rapes Nola, while mockingly asking her if he's as good sexually as Greer or Mars. Nola has an epiphany: realizing that her choices have turned Jamie against her, she decides to call his bluff. Nola dumps Greer and Mars and tells Jamie that she is ready for a monogamous relationship. Believing that her sexual activity has prevented her from committing to a single guy, Nola tells Jamie their relationship has to be celibate for the time being. After at first rejecting Nola's "no sex" decree, Jamie agrees to it.
Nola and Jamie's reunion, however, is followed by a coda which dismantles the "happy ending" of the couple coming together. In a monologue delivered to the camera, Nola reveals that her vow of celibacy and her decision to be with Jamie exclusively was "a moment of weakness". She says that she soon began to cheat on Jamie and their relationship collapsed. Nola proudly proclaims that monogamy is a form of slavery and that her lifestyle is freedom in its purest form. The film closes with a view of Nola going to bed alone.
Themes[edit]
Nola idealizes the freedom to have multiple sex partners that men have typically enjoyed. “A woman (or, at least Nola) can be a sexual being, doesn’t have to belong to a man, and perhaps shouldn’t even wish for such a thing.”[3] Nola’s voice has been described as the most revolutionary element in the film, a representation of the struggle African American women faced in society at the time.[4]
Cast[edit]
Tracy Camilla Johns as Nola Darling
Tommy Redmond Hicks as Jamie Overstreet
John Canada Terrell as Greer Childs
Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon
Raye Dowell as Opal Gilstrap
Joie Lee as Clorinda Bradford
Dennis Karika as The Trainer
S. Epatha Merkerson as Dr. Jamison
Bill Lee as Sonny Darling
Erik Dellums as Dog 3
Reginald Hudlin as Dog 4
Ernest Dickerson as Dog 8
Fab Five Freddy as Dog 10
Scott Sillers as Dog 11
Geoffrey L. Garfield as Dog 12
Background[edit]
She's Gotta Have It was Lee's first feature-length motion picture as a writer/director and is a landmark independent film of American cinema. He was initially inspired by viewing Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon in film school.[5]
The New York Times wrote that the film
"ushered in (along with Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise) the American independent film movement of the 1980s. It was also a groundbreaking film for African-American filmmakers and a welcome change in the representation of blacks in American cinema, depicting men and women of color not as pimps and whores, but as intelligent, upscale urbanites."[6]
Filming[edit]
Filming was completed in twelve days during the summer of 1985 on a budget of $175,000.
The film catalyzed the Fort Greene, Brooklyn neighborhood where it was shot. Lee portrayed the neighborhood as a vibrant cosmopolitan community where successful African Americans thrived, focusing not only on Nola and her struggles, but also on local children, residents, and graffiti. Fort Greene Park was the setting of much of the movie, and is portrayed as a comfortable place for the characters. People were encouraged to investigate the area's public spaces and viewers in other places investigated similar thriving public spaces of community importance.[4]
Following the film's release, media attention was drawn to Brooklyn, and to its artists and musicians.[7]
Release[edit]
Box office[edit]
She's Gotta Have It opened in one theater on August 8, 1986, and earned $28,473 on its opening weekend.[8] The film ultimately grossed $7,137,503 in the United States.[1]
Critical reception[edit]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2017)
The film was very well received by critics and audiences. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 93% score based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10.[9] It holds a 79/100 average on Metacritic.[10]
Awards and nominations[edit]
1986 Cannes Film Festival
"Award of the Youth" Foreign Film — Spike Lee (won)
1986 Los Angeles Film Critics Awards
"New Generation Award" — Spike Lee (won)
1987 Independent Spirit Awards
Best First Feature — Spike Lee (won)
Best Female Lead — Tracy Camilla Johns (nominated)
In 2014, Lee said that his one regret as a filmmaker was the rape scene in She's Gotta Have It:
"If I was able to have any do-overs, that would be it. It was just totally ... stupid. I was immature. It made light of rape, and that’s the one thing I would take back. I was immature and I hate that I did not view rape as the vile act that it is. I can promise you, there will be nothing like that in 'She's Gotta Have It,' the TV show [that will air on Netflix], that's for sure."[11]
Home media[edit]
She's Gotta Have It was first released on VHS; on January 15, 2008, it was released on DVD in North America by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment through United Artists and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Despite its availability on DVD in the United Kingdom, the DVD release for Region 1 took longer than expected.[citation needed]
In the mid-1990s, The Criterion Collection released the film on laserdisc. According to Lee's agent, the film was to be eventually released on DVD. Jonathan Turell of The Criterion Collection ended that rumor, saying "No for She's Gotta Have It. We don't have DVD rights."[12] This laserdisc is the only release of the film that has the NC-17-rated director's cut, including sexual content that was cut to obtain an R rating. This release also contains an exclusive commentary by Spike Lee.
In 2010, the film was digitized in High Definition (1080i) and broadcast on MGM HD.
TV series[edit]
Main article: She's Gotta Have It (TV series)
On September 15, 2016, Netflix announced a deal to produce a series based on the film, with Lee returning to direct the first season and serve as executive producer.[13] Ten 30-minute episodes were ordered. Netflix released the series in November 2017.
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b She's Gotta Have It". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 30, 2006.
Jump up ^ Lee, Spike (1987). Spike Lee's Gotta Have It: Inside Guerrilla Filmmaking. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-64417-3.
Jump up ^ “She’s Gotta Have It” PopMatters
^ Jump up to: a b Diawara, Manthia: "Homeboy Cosmopolitan", in Search of Africa. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998, pp. 237-76.
Jump up ^ Fresh Air, December 14, 2017
Jump up ^ Scott, A. O. (February 7, 2005). "We're Sorry". The New York Times. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
Jump up ^ E.R. Shipp (December 4, 1988). "Their Muse was Malcolm X". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
Jump up ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for August 8-10, 1986". Box Office Mojo. August 11, 1986. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
Jump up ^ "She's Gotta Have It". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 28, 2017
Jump up ^ She's Gotta Have It, retrieved 2017-11-21
Jump up ^ The Huffington Post
Jump up ^ "• View topic - Criterion Random Speculation Vol.3". Criterionforum.org. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
Jump up ^ Andreeva, Nellie (15 September 2016). "Netflix Orders 'She's Gotta Have It' Spike Lee Series Based On His Landmark Movie". Deadline.
External links[edit]
She's Gotta Have It on IMDb
She's Gotta Have It at AllMovie
She's Gotta Have It at Box Office Mojo
She's Gotta Have It at Rotten Tomatoes
Reelblack TV interview with John Canada Terrell
[hide]
v
t
e
Spike Lee
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Feature films
directed
She's Gotta Have It (1986)
School Daze (1988)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Mo' Better Blues (1990)
Jungle Fever (1991)
Malcolm X (1992)
Crooklyn (1994)
Clockers (1995)
Girl 6 (1996)
Get on the Bus (1996)
He Got Game (1998)
Summer of Sam (1999)
Bamboozled (2000)
25th Hour (2002)
She Hate Me (2004)
Inside Man (2006)
Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
Red Hook Summer (2012)
Oldboy (2013)
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014)
Chi-Raq (2015)
Black Klansman (2018)
Documentaries
directed
4 Little Girls (1997)
Freak (1998)
The Original Kings of Comedy (2000)
A Huey P. Newton Story (2001)
The Concert for New York City (2001, "Come Rain or Come Shine")
Jim Brown: All-American (2002)
When the Levees Broke (2006)
Kobe Doin' Work (2009)
Passing Strange (2009)
If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010)
Bad 25 (2012)
Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall (2016)
Other films
directed
Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983)
Lumière and Company (1995)
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002, segment "We Wuz Robbed")
All the Invisible Children (2005, segment "Jesus Children of America")
Television
Sucker Free City (2004)
She's Gotta Have It (2017)
Related articles
40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks
Bill Lee
Joie Lee
David Lee
Cinqué Lee
Malcolm D. Lee
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Milton Berle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Milton Berle
Berle, c. 1950
Born
Mendel Berlinger[1][2][3]
(1908-07-12)July 12, 1908
New York, New York, U.S.
Died
March 27, 2002(2002-03-27) (aged 93)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death
Colon cancer
Resting place
Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names
Mr. Television, Uncle Miltie
Education
Professional Children's School
Occupation
Actor, comedian
Years active
1914–2000
Spouse(s)
Joyce Mathews (1941–1947; 1949–1950)
Ruth Cosgrove Rosenthal (1953–1989)
Lorna Adams (1991–2002; his death)
Children
3
Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American comedian and actor. Berle’s career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and television. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), he was the first major American television star[4] and was known to millions of viewers as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television" during TV's golden age.
Contents
[hide]
1 Early life
2 Child actor
3 Career
3.1 Vaudeville
3.2 Rising star
3.3 Radio
3.4 Mr. Television
3.5 TV decline
3.6 Life after The Milton Berle Show
3.7 Late career
4 Berle offstage
5 Personal life
6 Final role and death
7 Honors and awards
8 Broadway
9 Selected filmography
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
12.1 Listen to
Early life[edit]
Milton Berle was born into a Jewish[5] family in a five-story walkup at 68 W. 118th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. His given name was Mendel Berlinger.[2][3] He chose Milton Berle as his professional name when he was 16. His father, Moses Berlinger (1873–1938), was a paint and varnish salesman. His mother, Sarah (Sadie) Glantz Berlinger (1877–1954),[6] changed her name to Sandra Berle when Milton became famous.
Child actor[edit]
Berle entered show business at the age of five when he won an amateur talent contest.[7] He appeared as a child actor in silent films, beginning with The Perils of Pauline, filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey.[8] The director told Berle that he would portray a little boy who would be thrown from a moving train. In Milton Berle: An Autobiography, he explained, "I was scared shitless, even when he went on to tell me that Pauline would save my life. Which is exactly what happened, except that at the crucial moment they threw a bundle of rags instead of me from the train. I bet there are a lot of comedians around today who are sorry about that."
By Berle's account, he continued to play child roles in other films: Bunny's Little Brother, Tess of the Storm Country, Birthright, Love's Penalty, Divorce Coupons and Ruth of the Range. Berle recalled, "There were even trips out to Hollywood—the studios paid—where I got parts in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, with Mary Pickford; The Mark of Zorro, with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., and Tillie's Punctured Romance, with Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand and Marie Dressler."[9] In 1916, Berle enrolled in the Professional Children's School.[9]
Career[edit]
Vaudeville[edit]
Around 1920, at age 12, Berle made his stage debut in a revival of the musical comedy Florodora in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which later moved to Broadway. By the time he was 16, he was working as a Master of Ceremonies in Vaudeville. By the early 1930s he was a successful stand-up comedian, patterning himself after one of Vaudeville's top comics, Ted Healy.
Rising star[edit]
In Poppin' the Cork, 1933
In 1933, he was hired by producer Jack White to star in the theatrical featurette Poppin' the Cork, a topical musical comedy concerning the repealing of Prohibition. Berle also co-wrote the score for this film, which was released by Educational Pictures. Berle continued to dabble in songwriting. With Ben Oakland and Milton Drake, Berle wrote the title song for the RKO Radio Pictures release Li'l Abner (1940), an adaptation of Al Capp's comic strip, featuring Buster Keaton as Lonesome Polecat.[10] Berle wrote a Spike Jones B-side, "Leave the Dishes in the Sink, Ma."
Radio[edit]
From 1934–36, Berle was heard regularly on The Rudy Vallee Hour, and he attracted publicity as a regular on The Gillette Original Community Sing, a Sunday night comedy-variety program broadcast on CBS from September 6, 1936 to August 29, 1937. In 1939, he was the host of Stop Me If You've Heard This One with panelists spontaneously finishing jokes sent in by listeners.[11]
Berle in 1943
In the late 1940s, he canceled well-paying nightclub appearances to expand his radio career.[11] Three Ring Time, a comedy-variety show sponsored by Ballantine Ale, was followed by a 1943 program sponsored by Campbell's Soups. The audience participation show Let Yourself Go (1944–1945) could best be described as "slapstick radio"[citation needed] with studio audience members acting out long suppressed urges—often directed at host Berle. Kiss and Make Up, on CBS in 1946, featured the problems of contestants decided by a jury from the studio audience with Berle as the judge. Berle also made guest appearances on many comedy-variety radio programs during the 1930s and 1940s.[11]
Scripted by Hal Block and Martin Ragaway, The Milton Berle Show brought Berle together with Arnold Stang, later a familiar face as Berle's TV sidekick. Others in the cast were Pert Kelton, Mary Schipp, Jack Albertson, Arthur Q. Bryan, Ed Begley, Brazilian singer Dick Farney, and announcer Frank Gallop. Sponsored by Philip Morris, it aired on NBC from March 11, 1947 until April 13, 1948.
Berle later described this series as "the best radio show I ever did ... a hell of a funny variety show". It served as a springboard for Berle's emergence as television's first major star.[11]
Mr. Television[edit]
Berle would revive the structure and routines of his vaudeville act for his debut on TV.[12][13][14] His first TV series was The Texaco Star Theatre, which began September 22, 1948 on ABC and continued until June 15, 1949 with cast members Stang, Kelton and Gallop, along with Charles Irving, Kay Armen, and double-talk specialist Al Kelly. Writers included Nat Hiken, brothers Danny and Neil Simon, Leo Fuld and Aaron Ruben.
The show began with Berle rotating hosting duties with three other comedians, but in October he became the permanent host. Berle's highly visual style, characterized by vaudeville slapstick and outlandish costumes, proved ideal for the new medium.[15] Berle modeled the show's structure and skits directly from his vaudeville shows, and hired writer Hal Collins to revive his old routines.[12][13]
When the show moved to NBC, it dominated Tuesday night television for the next several years, reaching the number one slot in the Nielsen ratings with as much as an 80% share of the viewing audience. Berle and the show each won Emmy Awards after the first season. Fewer movie tickets were sold on Tuesdays. Some theaters, restaurants and other businesses shut down for the hour or closed for the evening so their customers would not miss Berle's antics.[8] Berle's autobiography notes that in Detroit, "an investigation took place when the water levels took a drastic drop in the reservoirs on Tuesday nights between 9 and 9:05. It turned out that everyone waited until the end of the Texaco Star Theatre before going to the bathroom."[16][17]
Television set sales more than doubled after Texaco Star Theatre's debut, reaching two million in 1949. Berle's stature as the medium's first superstar earned him the sobriquet "Mr. Television".[8] He also earned another nickname after ending a 1949 broadcast with a brief ad-libbed remark to children watching the show: "Listen to your Uncle Miltie and go to bed."[18] Francis Craig and Kermit Goell's Near You became the theme song that closed Berle's TV shows.[19]
Berle risked his newfound TV stardom at its zenith to challenge Texaco when the sponsor tried to prevent black performers from appearing on his show:
I remember clashing with the advertising agency and the sponsor over my signing the Four Step Brothers for an appearance on the show. The only thing I could figure out was that there was an objection to black performers on the show, but I couldn't even find out who was objecting. "We just don't like them," I was told, but who the hell was "we"? Because I was riding high in 1950, I sent out the word: "If they don't go on, I don't go on." At ten minutes of eight—ten minutes before showtime—I got permission for the Step Brothers to appear. If I broke the color-line policy or not, I don't know, but later on I had no trouble booking Bill Robinson or Lena Horne.[20]
Berle's mother Sadie was often in the audience for his broadcasts; she had long served as a "plant" to encourage laughter from his stage show audiences.[7] Her unique, "piercing, roof-shaking laugh"[7][21] would stand out, especially when Berle made an entrance in an outrageous costume. After feigning surprise he would "ad lib" a response; for example: "Lady, you've got all night to make a fool of yourself. I've only got an hour!"
Berle asked NBC to switch from live broadcasts to film, which would have made possible reruns (and residual income from them); he was angered when the network refused. However, NBC did consent to make a kinescope of each show. Later, Berle was offered 25% ownership of a company manufacturing the teleprompter by its inventor, Irving Berlin Kahn, if he would simply use the new gadget on his program. He turned the offer down.[22]
For Berle's contribution to television, he was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
TV decline[edit]
At one million dollars a year, NBC signed him to an exclusive, unprecedented 30-year television contract in 1951.
Texaco pulled out of sponsorship of the show in 1953. Buick picked it up, prompting a renaming to The Buick-Berle Show, and the program's format was changed to show the backstage preparations to put on a variety show. Critics generally approved of the changes, but Berle's ratings continued to fall, and Buick pulled out after two seasons.[23] In addition, "Berle's persona had shifted from the impetuous and aggressive style of the Texaco Star Theater days to a more cultivated, but less distinctive personality, leaving many fans somehow unsatisfied."[9]
By the time the again-renamed Milton Berle Show finished its only full season (1955–56), Berle was already becoming history—though his final season was host to two of Elvis Presley's earliest television appearances, April 3 and June 5, 1956.[24] The final straw during that last season may have come from CBS scheduling The Phil Silvers Show opposite Berle. Ironically, Silvers was one of Berle's best friends in show business and had come to CBS's attention in an appearance on Berle's program. Bilko's creator-producer, Nat Hiken, had been one of Berle's radio writers.
Berle knew that NBC had already decided to cancel his show before Presley appeared.[25] Berle later appeared in the Kraft Music Hall series from 1958 to 1959,[26] but NBC was finding increasingly fewer showcases for its one-time superstar. By 1960, he was reduced to hosting a bowling program, Jackpot Bowling, delivering his quips and interviewing celebrities between the efforts of that week's bowling contestants.[27]
Life after The Milton Berle Show[edit]
In Las Vegas, Berle played to packed showrooms at Caesars Palace, the Sands, the Desert Inn, and other casino hotels. Berle had appeared at the El Rancho, one of the first Vegas hotels, in the late 1940s. In addition to constant club appearances, Berle performed on Broadway in Herb Gardner's The Goodbye People in 1968. He also became a commercial spokesman for the thriving Lum's restaurant chain.
He appeared in numerous films, including Always Leave Them Laughing (released in 1949, shortly after his TV debut) with Virginia Mayo and Bert Lahr, Let's Make Love with Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Loved One, The Oscar, Who's Minding the Mint?, Lepke, Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose and Driving Me Crazy.
Freed in part from the obligations of his NBC contract, Berle was signed in 1966 to a new, weekly variety series on ABC. The show failed to capture a large audience and was cancelled after one season. He later appeared as guest villain Louie the Lilac on ABC's Batman series. Other memorable guest appearances included stints on The Barbara Stanwyck Show, The Lucy Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, Get Smart, Laugh-In, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Hollywood Palace, Ironside, F Troop, Fantasy Island, I Dream of Jeannie, CHiPs, The Muppet Show and The Jack Benny Program.
Like his contemporary Jackie Gleason, Berle proved a solid dramatic actor and was acclaimed for several such performances, most notably his lead role in "Doyle Against the House" on The Dick Powell Show in 1961, a role for which he received an Emmy nomination. He also played the part of a blind survivor of an airplane crash in Seven in Darkness, the first in ABC's popular Movie of the Week series. (He also played it straight as an agent in The Oscar (1966) and was one of the few actors in that infamous flop to get good notices from critics.)
During this period, Berle was named to the Guinness Book of World Records for the greatest number of charity performances made by a show-business performer. Unlike the high-profile shows done by Bob Hope to entertain the troops, Berle did more shows, over a period of 50 years, on a lower-profile basis. Berle received an award for entertaining at stateside military bases in World War I as a child performer, in addition to traveling to foreign bases during World War II and the Vietnam War. The first charity telethon (for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation[28]) was hosted by Berle in 1949.[29] A permanent fixture at charity benefits in the Hollywood area, he was instrumental in raising millions for charitable causes.
Late career[edit]
On April 14, 1979, Berle guest-hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live. Berle's long reputation for taking control of an entire television production—whether invited to do so or not—was a cause of stress on the set. One of the show's writers, Rosie Shuster, described the rehearsals for the Berle SNL show and the telecast as "watching a comedy train accident in slow motion on a loop." Upstaging, camera mugging, doing spit-takes, inserting old comedy bits, and climaxing the show with a maudlin performance of "September Song" complete with a pre-arranged standing ovation (something producer Lorne Michaels had never sanctioned) resulted in Berle being banned from hosting the show again. The episode was also barred from being rerun until surfacing in 2003, because Michaels thought it brought down the show's reputation.[30][31]
As a guest star on The Muppet Show,[32] Berle was memorably upstaged by the heckling theatre critics Statler and Waldorf.[33] The Statler and Waldorf puppets were inspired by a character named Sidney Spritzer, played by comedian Irving Benson, who regularly heckled Berle from a box seat during episodes of the 1960s ABC series. Milton Berle also made a cameo appearance in The Muppet Movie as a used car dealer, taking Fozzie Bear's 1951 Studebaker in trade for a station wagon.
In 1974, Berle had a minor altercation with younger actor/comedian Richard Pryor when both appeared as guests on The Mike Douglas Show. At the time, Berle was discussing the emotional fallout from an experience he had with impregnating a woman he was not married to, and having to decide whether or not they would keep the child. During his talk, Pryor let out a laugh, to which Berle took exception and confronted him, stating, "I wish, I wish, Richard, that I could have laughed at that time at your age, when I was your age, the way you just laughed now, but I just couldn't... I told you this nine years ago, and now I'll tell you on the air in front of millions of people: Pick your spots, baby." This prompted Pryor to mockingly quip back, "All right, sweetheart."[34]
Berle at the 41st Primetime Emmy Awards in 1989
Another well-known incident of upstaging occurred during the 1982 Emmy Awards, when Berle and Martha Raye were the presenters of the Emmy for Outstanding Writing. Berle was reluctant to give up the microphone to the award's recipients, from Second City Television, and interrupted actor/writer Joe Flaherty's acceptance speech several times. After Flaherty made a joke, Berle replied sarcastically "That's funny!" However, Flaherty's response of "Sorry, Uncle Miltie... go to sleep" flustered Berle.[35] SCTV later created a parody sketch of the incident, in which Flaherty beats up a Berle look-alike, shouting, "You'll never ruin another acceptance speech, Uncle Miltie!"
One of his most popular performances in his later years was guest starring in 1992 in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as womanizing, wise-cracking patient Max Jakey. Most of his dialogue was improvised and he shocked the studio audience by mistakenly blurting out a curse word. He also appeared in an acclaimed and Emmy-nominated turn on Beverly Hills, 90210 as an aging comedian befriended by Steve Sanders, who idolizes him, but is troubled by his bouts of senility due to Alzheimer's disease. He also voiced the Prince of Darkness, the main antagonist in the Canadian animated television anthology special The Real Story of Au Clair De La Lune. He also appeared in 1995 as a guest star in an episode of The Nanny in the part of her lawyer and great uncle.
Berle appeared in drag in the video for "Round and Round" by the 1980s metal band Ratt (his nephew Marshall Berle was then their manager).
In 1985, he appeared on NBC's Amazing Stories (created by Steven Spielberg) in an episode called "Fine Tuning". In this episode, friendly aliens from space receive TV signals from the Earth of the 1950s and travel to Hollywood in search of their idols, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, The Three Stooges, Burns and Allen, and Milton Berle. (When he realizes the aliens are doing his old material, Uncle Miltie is thunderstruck: "Stealing from Berle? Is that even possible?") Speaking gibberish, Berle is the only person able to communicate directly with the aliens.
Berle was again on the receiving end of an onstage jibe at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards where RuPaul responded to Berle's reference of having once worn dresses himself (during his old television days) with the quip that Berle now wore diapers. A surprised Berle replied by recycling a line he had delivered to Henny Youngman on his Hollywood Palace show in 1966: "Oh, we're going to ad lib? I'll check my brain and we'll start even."
Berle offstage[edit]
In 1947, Milton Berle founded the Friars Club of Beverly Hills at the old Savoy Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. Other founding members included Jimmy Durante, George Jessel, Robert Taylor, and Bing Crosby. In 1961, the club moved to Beverly Hills. The Friars is a private show business club famous for its celebrity members and roasts, where a member is mocked by his club friends in good fun.
Unlike many of his peers, Berle's offstage lifestyle did not include drugs or drinking, but did include cigars, a "who's who" list of beautiful women, and a lifelong addiction to gambling, primarily horse racing. Some felt his obsession with "the ponies" was responsible for Berle never amassing the wealth or business success of others in his position.
Berle was famous within show business for the rumored size of his penis.[36][37][38][self-published source][39][40] Phil Silvers once told a story about standing next to Berle at a urinal, glancing down, and quipping, "You'd better feed that thing, or it's liable to turn on you!"[citation needed] In the short story 'A Beautiful Child', Truman Capote wrote Marilyn Monroe as saying: "Christ! Everybody says Milton Berle has the biggest schlong in Hollywood."[41] At a memorial service for Berle at the New York Friars' Club, Freddie Roman solemnly announced, "On May 1st and May 2nd, his penis will be buried."[42] Radio shock jock Howard Stern also barraged Berle with an endless array of penis questions when the comedian appeared on Stern's morning talk show on Aug 5, 1988[43] (Berle was also a guest on the Stern show on Oct 30, 1996[44]). In Berle's 1988 appearance, when fielding phone calls, Stern purposely asked his producer to only air callers whose questions dealt with Berle's penis.[45][46] In his autobiography, Berle tells of a man who accosted him in a steam bath and challenged him to compare sizes, leading a bystander to remark, "go ahead, Milton, just take out enough to win".[47] Berle attributed this line to comedian Jackie Gleason and said: "It was maybe the funniest spontaneous line I ever heard".[48]
Though he "worked clean" for his entire onstage and onscreen career, except for the infamous Friars Club private celebrity roasts, Berle was known offstage to have a colorful vocabulary and few limits on when it was used. He often criticized younger comedians like Lenny Bruce and George Carlin for their X-rated humor, and challenged them to be just as funny without the four-letter words.
Hundreds of younger comics, including several comedy superstars, were encouraged and guided by Berle. Despite some less than flattering stories told about Berle being difficult to work with, his son, Bill, maintains that Berle was a source of encouragement and technical assistance for many new comics. Berle's son Bob backs up his brother's statement. He was present many times during Berle's Las Vegas shows and television guest appearances. Milton aided Fred Travalena, Ruth Buzzi, John Ritter, Marla Gibbs, Lily Tomlin, Dick Shawn and Will Smith. At a taping of a Donny & Marie show episode, for example, Donny and Marie Osmond recited a scripted joke routine to a studio audience, to little response. The director asked for a retake, and the Osmonds repeated the act, word for word, to even less response. A third attempt, with no variation, proved dismal—until Milton Berle, off-camera, went into the audience, pantomiming funny faces and gestures. Ever the professional, Berle timed each gesture to coincide with an Osmond punchline, so the dialogue seemed to be getting the maximum laughs.
Personal life[edit]
Milton Berle and Ruth Cosgrove Berle, 1979.
After twice marrying and divorcing showgirl Joyce Mathews, Berle married publicist Ruth Cosgrove in 1953; she died in 1989.[21][49] In 1989, Berle stated that his mother was behind the breakup of his marriages to Mathews. He also said that she managed to damage his previous relationships: "My mother never resented me going out with a girl, but if I had more than three dates with one girl, Mama found some way to break it up."[50] He married a fourth time in 1992 to Lorna Adams, a fashion designer 30 years his junior. He had three children, Victoria (adopted by Berle and Mathews), William (adopted by Berle and Cosgrove) and a biological son, Bob Williams, with showgirl Junior Standish.[51] Berle had two stepdaughters from his marriage to Adams, Leslie and Susan Brown.[52] He also had three grandchildren: Victoria's sons James and Mathew,[49] and William's son Tyler Roe, who died in 2014.[53]
Berle's autobiography contains many tales of his sexual exploits. He claimed relationships with numerous famous women, including actresses Marilyn Monroe and Betty Hutton, columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, and evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.[54] The veracity of some of these claims has been questioned.[55] The McPherson story, in particular, has been challenged by McPherson's biographer[56] and her daughter, among others.[57]
In later life, Berle found comfort in Christian Science, and subsequently characterized himself as "a Jew and a Christian Scientist".[58] Oscar Levant, when queried by Jack Paar about Berle's conversion, quipped, "Our loss is their loss."[59]
Final role and death[edit]
Crypt of Milton Berle, at Hillside Memorial Park
On July 15, 2000, Berle guest-starred as Uncle Leo in the Kenan & Kel special "Two Heads Are Better than None". This would be his last acting role.
In April 2001 Berle announced that a malignant tumor had been found in his colon, but he had declined surgery.[60] Berle's wife said the tumor was growing so slowly that it would take 10 to 12 years to affect him in any significant or life-threatening way. One year after the announcement, on March 27, 2002, Berle died in Los Angeles from colon cancer. He died on the same day as Dudley Moore and Billy Wilder.[52][61]
Berle reportedly left arrangements to be buried with his second wife, Ruth, at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Burbank, but his body was cremated and interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City. (Warren Cowan, Berle's publicist, told The New York Times, "I only know he told me he bought plots at Hillside, and it was his idea.")[62] In addition to his third wife, Lorna Adams, Berle was survived by his adopted daughter Victoria, his biological son Bob Williams, and his adopted son Bill.[63][64][65]
Honors and awards[edit]
Berle won the Emmy for Most Outstanding Kinescoped Personality in 1950, the same year his show, the Texaco Star Theater, won the Emmy for Best Kinescope Show.[66] He was twice nominated for Emmys for his acting, in 1962 and 1995.[67][68] In 1979, Berle was awarded a special Emmy Award, titled “Mr. Television.”[69]
The Hollywood Walk of Fame, on February 8, 1960, inducted Berle with two stars, for television and radio.[70]
Berle was in the first group of inductees into the Television Hall of Fame in 1984.[71]
On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Berle into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.[72]
Broadway[edit]
Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1932 (1932) – revue – in the roles of "Mortimer" in the sketch "Mourning Becomes Impossible", "Joe Miller, Jr." in "What Price Jokes", "Frank" in "Two Sailors", "Paul" in "The Cabinet of Doctor X", the "Announcer" in "Studio W.M.C.A." the "Defendant" in "Trial by Jury" and "Milton" in "The Bar Relief"
Saluta (1934) – musical, co-lyricist and performer cast in the role of "'Windy' Walker"
See My Lawyer (1939) – play – performer cast in the role of "Arthur Lee"
Ziegfeld Follies of 1943 (1943) – revue – performer in the role of "Cecil" in Counter Attack, "J. Pierswift Armour" in The Merchant of Venison, "Perry Johnson" in Loves-A-Poppin, "Escamillio" in Carmen in Zoot, "Charlie Grant" Mr Grant Goes To Washington, "'The Micromaniac' Singer" and "'Hold That Smile' Dancer"
I'll Take the High Road (1943) – play – co-producer
Seventeen (1951) – musical – co-producer
The Goodbye People (1968) – performer cast in the role of "Max Silverman"
Selected filmography[edit]
1914: The Perils of Pauline
1915: Fanchon the Cricket as Bit Role (uncredited)
1917: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm as Bit Part (uncredited)
1920: Birthright
1920: The Mark of Zorro as Boy (uncredited)
1921: Little Lord Fauntleroy as Boy (uncredited)
1922: Tess of the Storm Country as Bit Role (uncredited)
1923: Ruth of the Range as Bit Role (uncredited)
1933: Poppin' the Cork as Elmer Brown
1937: New Faces of 1937 as Wallington Wedge
1938: Radio City Revels as Teddy Jordan
1940: Li'l Abner (title song with Ben Oakland and Milton Drake)
1941: Tall, Dark and Handsome as Frosty Welch
1941: The Great American Broadcast as Radio Announcer (scenes deleted)
1941: Sun Valley Serenade as Nifty Allen
1941: Rise and Shine as Seabiscuit
1942: A Gentleman at Heart as Lucky Cullen
1942: Whispering Ghosts as H.H. Van Buren
1942: Over My Dead Body as Jason Cordry
1943: Margin for Error as Moe Finkelstein
1949: Always Leave Them Laughing as Kipling 'Kip' Cooper
1959: Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour � "Milton Berle Hides Out at The Ricardo's" � Himself[73]
1960: The Bellboy as Himself / Bellboy (uncredited)
1960: Let's Make Love as Himself (uncredited)
1961: The Ladies Man (1961) as Himself (scenes deleted)
1963: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as J. Russell Finch
1965: The Loved One as Mr. Kenton
1966: The Oscar as Kappy Kapstetter
1966: Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title as Bookstore Customer with Rope (uncredited)
1967: The Happening as Fred
1967: Who's Minding the Mint? as Luther Burton
1968: Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows as The Movie Director: The 'In' Group
1968: For Singles Only as Mr Parker
1969: Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? as Goodtime Eddie Filth
1969: Seven in Darkness as Sam Fuller
1972: Evil Roy Slade as Harry Fern
1972: Journey Back to Oz as The Cowardly Lion (voice)
1975: Lepke as Mr. Meyer
1976: Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood as Blind Man
1976: Let's Make a Deal (playing for a home viewer)
1978: Hey, Abbott! as Himself (voice)
1979: The Muppet Movie as Mad Man Mooney
1983: Cracking Up as Ms. Sultry
1984: Broadway Danny Rose as Himself
1984: The 1st TV Academy Hall of Fame as Himself � Winner
1985: Pee-wee's Big Adventure as Himself (uncredited)
1988: Side by Side as Abe Mercer
1989: Going Overboard as Himself (uncredited)
1991: Trabbi Goes to Hollywood as Hotel Clerk
1991: Shakes the Clown as Male Clown Barfly (uncredited)
1992: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as Max Jakey
1993: Matlock "The Last Laugh" as Harvey Chase
1995: Beverly Hills, 90210 as Saul Howard
1995: The Nanny as Uncle Manny
1995: Roseanne as Transvestite at Wedding (uncredited)
1996: Storybook as Illuzor
2000: Two Heads Are Better Than None as Uncle Leo (final film role)
References[edit]
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^ Jump up to: a b Museum of Broadcast Communications. "Milton Berle (1908 – 2002)". Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b Gluck, Robert. "How Jewish television pioneer Milton Berle inspired modern comedy stars". JNS.org. Jewish and Israel news. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
Jump up ^ "Broadcast pioneer NBC prepares for cable takeover" Miami Herald, Nov. 16, 2009
Jump up ^ Gary Baum (June 23, 2011). "L.A.'s Power Golf Clubs: Where the Hollywood Elite Play". The Hollywood Reporter.
Jump up ^ "Milton Berle's Mother Dies". The Tuscaloosa News. 1 June 1954. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c "The Child Wonder". Time, 16 May 1949.
^ Jump up to: a b c "The Museum of Broadcast Communications – Encyclopedia of Television". museum.tv.
^ Jump up to: a b c Newcomb, Horace. Editor, Encyclopedia of Television, vol. I, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, (1997) pp. 163-165
Jump up ^ Entertainment Magazine: Astor Pictures, Li'l Abner (1940) Archived 2007-02-28 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "The Milton Berle Show". RadioArchives. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b Epstein, Lawrence J. (2002) The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America, ch.6 The Magic Box, pp. 86–7, quotation:
Berle had hired the writer Hal Collins to revive old vaudeville, burlesque and radio routines that Berle has used successfully. ... The shows were clearly vaudeville brought into the home. ... Berle was the ringmaster, the master of ceremonies who did his opening monologue and introduced each new act. Keeping to his own vaudeville tradition of entering into the acts of other performers, Berle often interrupted or joined in the act. When "Buffalo Bob" Smith came on, Berle appeared dressed as Howdy Doody.
^ Jump up to: a b Madigan, S.P. Texaco Star Theatre entry in Browne, Pat (2001) The guide to United States popular culture, p.833, quotation:
Texaco Star emulated a vaudeville variety hour, with several guests each week, including singers, comedians, ventriloquists, acrobats, dramatic performances, and so forth.
Jump up ^ Sackett, Susan (1993) p.1954 quotation:
When "Texaco" premiered on Tuesday, June 8, 1948, the format was strictly vaudeville, a bill of dancers, jugglers, acrobats, guest stars, and sketches-in short, it was simply a video version of the already successful radio show that Berle had been doing for ABC on Wednesday nights.
Jump up ^ Young, William H. and Young, Nancy K. (2010) World War II and the Postwar Years in America: A Historical and Cultural Encyclopedia, Volume 1, p.706 quotation:
Radio exists as an aural medium, and no matter how physically animated a performer may be or how clownish his or her costume ... Berle's comedic gift shone in slapstick, something he had mastered in his vaudeville experiences. Many radio stars found it difficult to make the transition to TV ... Not so Berle. Radio had confined the comedian, making him reliant on his wealth of jokes and little else. ... Berle clearly considered no costume too outlandish, no stunt too foolish.
Jump up ^ Sackett, Susan (1993) Prime-time hits: television's most popular network programs, 1950 p.1954 quotation:
The city of Detroit was baffled when the reservoir water levels dropped each Tuesday evening shortly after 9:00 pm An investigation revealed that Detroit's citizens were waiting until Berle was off the air to go to the bathroom; the simultaneous flushing of thousands of toilets created havoc with Detroit's water works.
Jump up ^ Milton Berle, Haskel Frankel (1974) Milton Berle: an autobiography, with Haskel Frankel p.271
Jump up ^ Berle, Milton; Frankel, Haskel, eds. (1974). Milton Berle: An Autobiography. Delacorte Press. p. 337. ISBN 0-440-05609-8.
Jump up ^ "Texaco Star Theater / The Milton Berle Show". classicthemes.com.
Jump up ^ Milton Berle, Haskel Frankel (1974) Milton Berle: an autobiography, with Haskel Frankel p.285
^ Jump up to: a b Kamm, Herbert (27 August 1958). "'Mr. TV' Is Coming Back". Schenectady Gazette. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
Jump up ^ Humphrey, Hal (13 June 1968). "Berle Recalls Beginning of TV". Toledo Blade. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
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Jump up ^ The Blue Moon Boys — The Story of Elvis Presley's Band. Ken Burke and Dan Griffin. 2006. Chicago Review Press. page 52. ISBN 1-55652-614-8
Jump up ^ Torre, Marie (11 March 1959). "Milton Berle Not Moping". Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
Jump up ^ Ashe, Isobel (27 November 1960). "Berle's 'Jackpot Bowling' Is A Really Striking Series". Reading Eagle. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
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Jump up ^ Milton Berle Vs. Statler & Waldorf on YouTube
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Jump up ^ "SCTV Wins 1982 Emmy For Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program". Retrieved 18 March 2016.
Jump up ^ Murray, Susan (2002). "Lessons from Uncle Miltie: Ethnic Masculinity and Early Television's Vaudeo Star", in Small Screens, Big Ideas: Television in the 1950s edited by Janet Thumin. New York: I.B.Tauris. p. 86. ISBN 978-1860646829.
Jump up ^ Misch, David (2012). Funny: The Book – Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Comedy. Milwaukee WI: Applause Theater & Cinema. ISBN 978-1557838292.
Jump up ^ Freden, Marc (2010). Really!?!: A Memoir and Observations From A Man Who's Lived Life 'Not Quite Famous Enough'. Xlibris. p. 154. ISBN 978-1450073660.
Jump up ^ Sacks, Mike (2009). And Here's the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers on their Craft. Cincinnati OH: Writers Digest. p. 107. ISBN 978-1582975054.
Jump up ^ Ross, Jeffrey (2009). I Only Roast the Ones I Love: Busting Balls Without Burning Bridges. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 106. ISBN 978-1439102794.
Jump up ^ Churchwell, Sarah (2005). The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe. New York: Macmillan. p. 329. ISBN 0312425651.
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Jump up ^ Stern, Howard. Howard Stern Miss America, 1995.
Jump up ^ Stern, Howard and John Simons (1997). Private Parts. New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. 492–493. ISBN 0-671-00944-3.
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^ Jump up to: a b "Milton Berle's Wife Dies". Merced Sun-Star. 20 April 1989. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
Jump up ^ "Milton had to prove his manhood". The Spokesman-Review. 18 March 1989. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
Jump up ^ After 42 year, Milton Berle and his secret lovechild – Scottsdale's Bob Williams – tell their story. Phoenix New Times archive. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b "Milton Berle, 'Mr. Television,' Dies at 93". Washington Post. March 28, 2002. Retrieved 2009-01-27. Milton Berle, 93, the old-time vaudeville comic who earned the nickname "Mr. Television" for introducing millions of Americans to the electronic medium during its infancy and thereby helping to change the country forever, died yesterday at his home in Los Angeles. Berle, who had been under hospice care in recent weeks, learned last year that he had colon cancer, the Associated Press reported.
Jump up ^ Tyler Daniel Roe obituary. http://www.cappadonafh.com/obits/obituary.php?id=445341. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
Jump up ^ Klein, Joe (14 February 1983). "But Seriously, Folks, It's Uncle Miltie". 16 (7): 56. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
Jump up ^ Cox, R.L. The Verdict Is In. Heritage Committee, California (1983), p. 241.
Jump up ^ Sutton, M.A. Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America. Harvard University Press (2009), p. 271.
Jump up ^ Cox (2008), pp. 240-1
Jump up ^ "The religion of Milton Berle, comedian, 'Mr. Television'". adherents.com.
Jump up ^ Amos, D. (September 16, 2010). More About Oscar Levant. SDJewishWorld.com archive. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
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Jump up ^ "'Mr. Television,' Milton Berle, dead at 93". CNN. March 28, 2002. Retrieved 2009-01-27. Berle, who had been in failing health in recent years, died in his sleep while taking a nap, publicist Roger Neale said. His wife, Lorna, was at home with him when he died. Berle is also survived by two sons and a daughter. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Jump up ^ Unrest Over Final Rest (March 29, 2002). New York Times archive. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
Jump up ^ Milton Berle, TV's First Star As 'Uncle Miltie,' Dies at 93
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Jump up ^ http://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1950
Jump up ^ http://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1962
Jump up ^ http://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1995/outstanding-guest-actor-in-a-drama-series
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Further reading[edit]
Berle, Milton with Haskel Frankel. Milton Berle, an Autobiography. New York: Dell, 1975. ISBN 0-440-15626-2
Dunning, John. On The Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8
McNeil, Alex. Total Television. New York: Penguin Books, 1996. ISBN 0-14-004911-8
Shales, Tom and James Andrew Miller. Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. New York: Little, Brown, 2002. ISBN 0-316-78146-0
Berle, William and Lewis, Brad. "My Father, Uncle Miltie". New York: Barricade Books, 1999. ISBN 1-56980-149-5
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Milton Berle.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Milton Berle
Milton Berle on IMDb
Milton Berle at the TCM Movie Database
Milton Berle interview video at the Archive of American Television
Milton Berle at AllMovie
Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time
Milton Berle Internet archive Several entries for free stream or download including Texaco Star Theater and Buick Berle Show.
Museum of Broadcast Communications: Milton Berle
Museum of Broadcast Communications: The Milton Berle Show
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
Milton 'Berlinger' Berle's birth certificate
Milton Berle at Find a Grave
Lum's TV Commercial with Milton Berle
Literature on Milton Berle
Listen to[edit]
Free OTR: Milton Berle Show (two episodes)
Episodes of the 'Milton Berle Show' on Radio at Internet Archive
Archival Television Audio on Milton Berle
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