THE SEX LIFE OF MILTON BERLE
EDDIE
MILTON BERLE: "UNCLE MILTIE", "MISTER TELEVISION"
(JULY 12, 1908- MARCH 27, 2002)
MILTON BERLE WAS TELEVISION'S FIRST SUPERSTAR.
HE WAS, UNEQUIVOCALLY, THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT STAR IN THE EARLY
YEARS OF TELEVISION.
KNOWN AS "MR. TELEVISION", HIS TUESDAY NIGHT TV SHOW "THE TEXACO STAR
THEATER" RAN FROM 1948 TO 1956.
IT WAS ROUTINELY WATCHED BY ABOUT 80% OF THE VIEWING AUDIENCE.
BERLE REACHED HIS GREATEST HEIGHTS IN TELEVISION, BUT HE WAS ALSO VERY
SUCCESSFUL AND POPULAR AS A NIGHTCLUB, RADIO & VAUDEVILLE PERFORMER.
ALTHOUGH NEVER A "MOVIE STAR" HIMSELF, BERLE APPEARED IN MANY POPULAR
FILMS INCLUDING THE COMEDY CLASSIC "IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD
WORLD"(1963).
BUT UNCLE MILTIE IS ALSO A SHOW BUSINESS LEGEND AS A "LADIES' MAN" AND
"CASANOVA".
HE GOT AN EARLY START.
IN 1920, AT AGE 12, MILTON MADE HIS FIRST BROADWAY APPEARANCE IN
"FLORADORA".
ONE AFTERNOON, HE WAS ASCENDING A STAIRCASE TO HIS DRESSING ROOM WHEN
HE STOPPED TO OGLE A SCANTILY CLAD FLORADORA SHOWGIRL.
SPOTTING THE WIDE-EYED BOY, THE "FRIENDLY" GIRL TOOK HIM TO HER
DRESSING ROOM.
WHEN HE EMERGED, WE WAS A MAN.
"THE WHOLE THING TOOK A FEW SECONDS", MILTON WAS TO RECALL.
HIS SECOND SEXUAL ENCOUNTER WAS WITH A MEMBER OF THE "MOLLIE WILLIAMS
BEEF TRUST" BURLESQUE SHOW.
WITH THIS GIRL, HE USED A PROPHYLACTIC FOR THE FIRST TIME, WHICH A
FRIEND HAD GIVEN HIM.
"EVERY TIME YOU GO OUT, USE THEM", ADVISED HIS PRACTICAL STAGE MOTHER,
MUCH TO MILTON'S SURPRISE AND RELIEF AFTER SHE SAW HIS TIN OF
PROPHYLACTICS ONE DAY.
THANKS TO HIS "UNDERSTANDING" MOM, HE DID NOT ALWAYS HAVE TO GO OUT.
ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, SEXUAL OPPORTUNITY KNOCKED ON HIS DRESSING ROOM
DOOR WHEN HIS MOTHER BROUGHT GIRLS FROM THE AUDIENCE BACKSTAGE TO MEET
HER TALENTED SON.
MOM WOULD INTRODUCE THEM AND THEN DISCREETLY SLIP OUT OF THE ROOM,
LEAVING THE TWO YOUNG PEOPLE TO THE MERCY OF THEIR HORMONES.
"WHO CAN SAY WHAT CAN GO WRONG IF THE BODY DOESN'T GET WHAT IT
WANTS?", BERLE'S MOTHER EXPLAINED TO HIM (BOY, AND I THOUGHT I HAD A
NICE MOM!!!!)
WHEN BERLE WENT HUNTING ON HIS OWN, HIS TASTE IN WOMEN PROVED TO BE
VERY ECLECTIC AND VARIED.
HE HAD A BRIEF AFFAIR WITH LOUISE COOK, A BLACK BELLY DANCER, AND
SEVERAL ENCOUNTERS WITH AIMEE SEMPLE MCPHERSON, A WORLD-FAMOUS
EVANGELIST.
HE CUT A WIDE SWATH THROUGH SHOW-BIZ WOMANHOOD.
BERLE QUICKLY BECAME A HOLLYWOOD LEGEND AS A LADIES' MAN.
HIS AFFAIRS INCLUDED ACTRESSES VERONICA LAKE, LUCILLE BALL, HEDY
LAMARR AND NANCY DAVIS (LATER MRS. RONALD REAGAN).
HE ALSO HAD A TORRID AFFAIR WITH A GLAMOROUS SILENT MOVIE ACTRESS, WHO
HE DOES NOT NAME IN HIS MEMOIRS.
MILTON HAD A MEMORABLE RELATIONSHIP WITH A VERY YOUNG MARILYN MONROE
IN THE LATE 1940'S.
THE TWO HAD A VERY HAPPY TIME TOGETHER AND BERLE DISCOVERED A STRANGE
PASSION MARILYN HAD- SHE LIKED TO SMOKE THE LITTLE CIGARS HE HAD (MILTON
WAS A PROLIFIC LIFETIME CIGAR SMOKER).
YEARS LATER, WHEN MILTON WAS HIRED TO APPEAR IN MARILYN'S MOVIE "LET'S
MAKE LOVE" IN 1960, HE REMEMBERED HER HABIT AND BROUGHT HER A BOX OF HER
FAVORITE LITTLE CIGARS.
WHEN THEY DATED, MILTON TOOK HER TO TRENDY HOLLYWOOD HOT SPOTS,
REMEMBERING "IT WAS LIKE TAKING A HUNGRY KID INTO A BAKERY".
HE WAS ALWAYS TO FONDLY REMEMBER MARILYN AND REMEMBERED THEIR
RELATIONSHIP AS SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL.
SERIOUS ROMANCE ELUDED MILTON UNTIL HE MET AN ACTRESS HE CALLED "LINDA
SMITH" IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
HE AND LINDA HAD A VERY PASSIONATE AFFAIR, DESPITE THEIR DIFFERENCES-
HE WAS A LIFELONG TEETOTALER, SHE WAS A HEAVY DRINKER.
MILTON GOT LINDA PREGNANT AND ASKED HER TO MARRY HIM, BUT SHE REFUSED,
CHOOSING TO MARRY INSTEAD AN OLDER MAN, A PRODUCER, WHO COULD HELP HER
CAREER.
ALTHOUGH HE WAS IMPOTENT, LINDA SOMEHOW CONVINCED THE MAN THE BABY
WAS, INDEED, HIS.
A BOY WAS BORN AND GREW UP NEVER KNOWING THAT MILTON BERLE WAS HIS
FATHER.
BECAUSE MILTON OFTEN DRESSED IN DRAG IN HIS SLAPSTICK COMEDY SKETCHES
ON TELEVISION, A CERTAIN SEGMNENT OF THE PUBLIC HAS QUESTIONED HIS
MASCULINITY.
HE IRONY OF THE QUESTION IS OBVIOUS, CONSIDERING MILTON'S RECORD WITH
THE LADIES.
STILL, MILTON'S SEXUAL PREFERENCE WAS QUESTIONED ENOUGH FOR HIM TO
ADDRESS IT IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY......
"WAS UNCLE MILTIE A CLOSET GAY?"
MILTON WROTE: "TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE, MILTON ISN'T. AND SO WHAT?
TO ME GAY IS JUST ANOTHER WAY OF LIFE, NOT BETTER, NOT WORSE. JUST
DIFFERENT".
ANY ARTICLE ON "THE SEX LIFE OF MILTON BERLE" WOULD BE INCOMPLETE AND
UNTRUTHFUL IF ONE OTHER FACET WAS NOT LOOKED INTO- AT LEAST BRIEFLY.
MILTON BERLE IS NOT ONLY A HOLLYWOOD LEGEND" BECAUSE OF HIS AMAZING
CAREER, HE IS A "LEGEND" BECAUSE OF HIS LEGENDARY ANATOMICAL WELL-
ENDOWMENT.
SUPPOSEDLY, MILTON WAS SO WELL-ENDOWED, HE WAS ALMOST A FREAK.
HIS MANHOOD HAS BEEN VARIOUSLY DESCRIBED AS A "PEPPERONI" AND AN
"ANACONDA" BY SHOCKED MEN AND SATISFIED WOMEN.
UPON SEEING MILTON'S MALE "EQUIPMENT" WHILE THE TWO WERE URINATING IN
A MEN'S ROOM, PHIL SILVERS SAID, "YOU BETTER FEED THAT THING, IT'S
LIABLE TO TURN ON YOU!"
BERLE BECAME SO FAMOUS FOR HIS MANHOOD, PEOPLE OF BOTH SEXES BECAME
CURIOUS AND SKEPTICAL.
ONCE A $100.00 BET WAS MADE BETWEEN A QUESTIONING MALE CHALLENGER AND
MILTON TO SEE WHO WAS THE MORE WELL-ENDOWED.
"JUST TAKE OUT ENOUGHT TO WIN", A FRIEND TOLD MILTON.
AT A COMIC MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR MILTON AT THE FRIAR'S CLUB, A COMEDIAN
QUIPPED THAT "MILTON'S P***S WILL BE BURIED ON MAY 1ST AND 2ND".
MILTON MARRIED A SHOWGIRL NAMED JOYCE MATTHEWS IN 1941, BUT A HAPPY
RELATIONSHIP STILL ELUDED HIM.
HIS WORK DOMINATED THEIR LIFE TOGETHER AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS
FURTHER STRAINED BY THEIR FRUITLESS EFFORTS TO HAVE A CHILD.
THEY FINALLY ADOPTED A BABY GIRL, VICTORIA, IN 1947, BUT THEIR SPELL
OF HAPPINESS WAS BRIEF AND THEY DIVORCED IN 1947.
JOYCE SUBSEQUENTLY ATTEMPTED SUICIDE WITH AN OVERDOSE OF SLEEPING
PILLS.
IN 1949, WITH BERLE THE HOTTEST TV STAR IN AMERICA, THEY DECIDED TO
RE-MARRY.
BUT IT WAS AN ILL-FATED TRY, JOYCE AGAIN ATTEMPTING SUICIDE.
AFTER ANOTHER DIVORCE, BERLE MARRIED RUTH COSGROVE, WHO WORKED IN
SAMUEL GOLDWYN'S PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT, IN 1953.
THEY HAD ONE CHILD, A SON NAMED WILLIAM, TOGETHER.
AFTER MARRYING RUTH, MILTON SEEMED TO "SETTLE DOWN" AFTER SO MANY
YEARS OF "SOWING HIS WILD OATS" WITH DOZENS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS OF EVERY
DESCRIPTION.
THIS MARRIAGE WAS A VERY HAPPY ONE, LASTING UNTIL RUTH'S DEATH IN
1989.
IN 1991, MILTON MARRIED FOR A FOURTH AND FINAL TIME, TO LORNA ADAMS, A
FASHION DESIGNER.
MILTON'S MARRIAGE TO LORNA WAS, INDEED, A SUCCESSFUL ONE.
THE TWO OFTEN MADE PERSONAL APPEARANCES TOGETHER.
HE ALSO BECAME A PROUD STEP-FATHER TO LORNA'S TWO DAUGHTERS, LESLIE
AND SUSAN.
MILTON AND LORNA SPENT HIS LAST TEN YEARS TOGETHER, MILTON PERFORMING,
MAKING LIVE APPEARANCES, DOING TV GUEST SPOTS, SMOKING HIS DAILY CIGARS
AND FINDING RELIGIOUS CONTENTMENT IN CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
TO THE END OF HIS LIFE, HE REFERRED TO HIMSELF AS "A JEW AND A
CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST".
"UNCLE MILTIE" PASSED AWAY AT THE RIPE AGE OF 93 IN 2002.
MILTON BERLE, WHO GAVE THE WORLD SO MUCH LAUGHTER AND HAPPINESS, DIED
IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY- IN HIS SLEEP WHILE TAKING A NAP.
HE PROBABLY HAD A SMILE ON HIS FACE.
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Geez
>
> --
> AnneJ
Is your question supposed to interest us?
Whom?
Charlie
charlo...@gmail.com
Correction needed: William (Bill) Berle was adopted, not Milton Berle's natural child.
