September 10, 1950-December 25, 1955.
 Most shows were comedy-variety hours with guest hosts Martin & Lewis, Abbott & Costello, Eddie Cantor, Donald O'Connor, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, & Gordon MacRae. Starting in the Fall of 1952, occasional revues and musicals were broadcast. In the summer of 1955, the name of the series was changed to "Colgate Variety Hour," and when Colgate dropped its sponsorship, the show continued in January 1956 for one half season as the "NBC Comedy Hour." Woody Allen was one of the writers. 

Milton Berle is host at the Diamond Jubilee Celebration of the Friar's Club, a fraternal organization of men in show business.


                                       

September 27, 1954 - January 25, 1957. This broadcast was the last from Hollywood which was the home of Tonight! Starring Steve Allen from June 27 to August 26, 1955. It was also the last time Hy Averback appeared as announcer.

The basic format of The Tonight Show was established during Allen's tenure: an opening monologue, a segment involving the studio audience (through interviews or games such as "Stump the Band"), and a simple set (a desk and chair for the host, a couch for the guests) were all trademarks of the Allen era. Allen inaugurated the out-of-town broadcast (the first one was done from Miami), the one guest show (Carl Sandburg was the first solo guest), and the one topic show (entire programs were devoted to such subjects as narcotics, civil rights, and black music). Allen also established the practice of paying his guests only "scale," the minimum fee required by union-network contract (this practice led to a highly publicized  feud between Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan and later between Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan, as Sullivan paid top dollar for his guests). Though Allen's Tonight! show closely resembled the shows of his successors, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, it was a more musical show; Allen himself was an accomplished musician and composer (he wrote his theme, "This Could Be The Start of Something"), and he employed a nucleus of musical regulars on his show. In addition to announcer – sidekick Gene Rayburn, the show featured singers Steve Lawrence (who was only seventeen when he began singing on Allen's local show), Eydie Gormé (who subsequently married Steve Lawrence), Andy Williams (who later hosted several series of his own), and Pat Marshall (who was succeeded by Pat Kirby).  Skitch Henderson led the Orchestra.                                                                              

HY GARDNER CALLING - Sunday Night, half hour broadcast, weekly, WRCA Ch. 4 New York City - 11:30pm - 12:30am  April 29, 1956-January 13, 1957

HY GARDNER - Mon-Fri, weekdays, WRCA CH. 4 New York City 11:15-11:25pm, 11:20-11:30pm, 11:15-11:30pm September 10, 1956-January 25, 1957

TONIGHT: AMERICA AFTER DARK Hy Gardner ten minute segments "Face to Face" (New format replacing Steve Allen's TONIGHT!,
revised format series hosted by Jack Lescoulie.Last broadcast January 28, 1957 - July 26, 1958 (M-F 11:15pm - 1:00am).   

HY GARDNER CALLING - February 12, 1958 - September 3, 1958
WABD (Dumont). 30 minute broadcast Wednesday evenings 8:30-9:00pm.

HY GARDNER CALLING - September 10, 1958 - January 14, 1959 
WNEW. 30 minute broadcast Wednesday evenings 8:30 - 9:00pm

HY GARDNER SHOW - October 25, 1959-August 14, 1960 WNEW 45 minute and 60 minute broadcast, Sunday evenings 10-11pm.

HY GARDNER SHOW - September 24, 1960 - September 29, 1962 WOR one hour weekly broadcast, Saturday evenings 12am-1am.

HY GARDNER SHOW - October 21, 1962 - April 4, 1964 WOR one hour weekly broadcast Saturdays or Sundays 7:00pm-8:00pm.

HY GARDNER SHOW - September 26, 1964-January 10, 1965 WOR one hour weekly broadcast Saturday 11:30pm-12:30am or 12:00am-1:00am.


Hy Gardner was a well-known New York Herald-Tribune columnist.  He  appeared regularly on Tonight! and America After Dark, a short-term substitute for Tonight! after Steve Allen abandoned it early in 1957. Gardner specialized in profiling show business celebrities and other news makers, and he hosted a nightly ten-minute TV interview program in New York called Face to Face. His weekly Sunday-night show, Hy Gardner Calling!, also aired only in the New York area and consisted of interviews conducted by telephone, with the subject seemingly at home, but actually seated in one studio, while Gardner sat at his desk in another. The telephone hook-up was real, and there was no physical proximity between host and guest. The show premiered in 1954 ? on New York City’s NBC affiliate station WRCA-TV, Channel 4, and ran until 1965. 

Hy Gardner interviews Elvis Presley, hours after he appeared on The Sunday Night STEVE ALLEN SHOW, singing "HOUND DOG."
This short interview would be the only one that Presley would agree to do on television. Milton Berle was the catalyst for making this appearance happen.                                                                                                                   

September 25, 1962-June 23, 1970. One of television's most inventive and popular comedians, Red Skelton hosted his own series for twenty years, seven of them in a one-hour format, "The Red Skelton Hour" on CBS. Skelton began his television career on NBC September 30, 1951 with a half-hour filmed variety series lasting until June 21, 1953. He then began his CBS affiliation, and began hosting "The Red Skelton Show," a half-hour variety show broadcast live until October 18, 1960, and subsequently on videotape. This series aired from October 13, 1953, continuing until June 26, 1962. From July 21, 1954 through September 8, 1954, "The Red Skelton Revue" was broadcast live on CBS in a one-hour format. Red Skelton returned to NBC in a half-hour taped format for his final series. "Red" as the show was known, premiered September 14, 1970. The first four broadcasts included introductions by Vice President Spiro T. Agnew (September 14, 1970), Dean Martin (September 21, 1970), Jack Benny (September 28, 1970), and Johnny Carson (October 5, 1970) who got his big break writing for Skelton in the early 1950's. Red Skelton's last first-run regularly scheduled television program aired on March 15, 1971. 

Milton Berle fills in for Red Skelton as host due to the death of Skelton's son Richard, who died two days earlier from Leukemia. 



                                                                                                                                                         

June 24, 1956-December 27, 1961.
The multi-talented Steve Allen- musician, composer, singer, comedian,author- was the star of this live weekly variety series that bore a strong resemblance to his informal, late-night Tonight! Show. Although the program had elements of music and serious aspects, comedy was far and away its major component. Steve had with him one of the most versatile and talented collections of improvisational comics ever assembled. Among the features that were used at one time or another on a semi-regular basis were: "Letters to the Editor," "The Allen Report to the Nation," "Mad-Libs," "Crazy Shots," "Where Are They Now," "The Question Man," "The Allen Bureau of Standards," and "The Allen All Stars." The most frequently used feature, and by far the most memorable, was the "Man on the Street Interview." It was here that the comics on the show developed their  best-remembered characters: Louis Nye as suave, smug Gordon Hathaway, Tom Poston as the man who can't remember his own name, Skitch Henderson as Sidney Ferguson, Don Knotts as the extremely nervous and fidgety Mr Morrison, Pat Harrington as Italian golf pro Guido Panzini, and Bill Dana as shy Jose Jimenez.    

                                                            

October 8, 1958 - May 20, 1959

Return to television by Milton Berle after an absence of two years.

Milton Berle returns to television in a half-hour weekly series. He'll offer comedy, performances by guest stars and music by an orchestra under the direction of Billy May, sometime actor who will also do an occasional comedy turn with Berle.

Uncle Miltie's guests on the opening show are the Dunhills, a trio of precision dancers made up of Walter Long, Art Stanley and Bob Roberts. When Berle performed in night clubs this past summer, the Dunhills were also on the bill, along with Bob Hope.
Bob Hope trades quips during Milton's opening monologue referencing Bing Crosby. 

A feature of tonight's show will be Billy May conducting his own composition, a "60 -second symphony." Producing the series is Hal Kanter, creator-producer-writer of the first George Gobel TV show. 

Series Debut.                                                

October 8, 1958 - May 20, 1959

Return to television by Milton Berle after an absence of two years.

Milton Berle returns to television in a half-hour weekly series. He'll offer comedy, performances by guest stars and music by an orchestra under the direction of Billy May, sometime actor who will also do an occasional comedy turn with Berle.

Producing the series is Hal Kanter, creator-producer-writer of the first George Gobel TV show. 

  Only Harpo's guest appearance has been archived.                                          

October 8, 1958 - May 20, 1959

Return to television by Milton Berle after an absence of two years.

Milton Berle returns to television in a half-hour weekly series. He'll offer comedy, performances by guest stars and music by an orchestra under the direction of Billy May, sometime actor who will also do an occasional comedy turn with Berle.

Producing the series is Hal Kanter, creator-producer-writer of the first George Gobel TV show. 

Guests are Joan Davis and Bob Crosby.
Host: Milton Berle.                                                                         

 October 8, 1958-May 20, 1959

Guest is actress Yvonne DeCarlo

In 1958 Milton Berle, after a two year departure from his hour long Tuesday night series, returned to prime time television  with a half-hour variety series on NBC for Kraft, performing more as a host than the central focus of the show as he had done on his Texaco Star Theater and Buick shows (June 1948-June 956). Each telecast began with an opening monologue. On occasion Berle would would perform in skits with his guests.  
                                                                                                               

September 19, 1960-March 13, 1961

A half-hour sports series broadcast live from Legion Lanes in Hollywood.   Veteran sportscaster Chick Hearn handled the play by play, and Milton Berle added comedy bits between frames.  
26 broadcasts in the series.           

October 28, 1950 - September 10, 1965
From September 13, 1953 to June 1960,  The Jack Benny Program aired every other week.

Jack Benny's guest is Milton Berle.             

September 19th, 1960-March 13th,1961 (NBC)

Half-hour sports series starring Milton Berle. Bowlers would compete in two nine-frame matches and would earn a cash bonus for bowling six straight strikes. Sportscaster Chick Hearn would call the matches with Berle doing comedy between frames. The show lasted for twenty-six weeks before being canceled by NBC.                          

Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford star-studded gala and party fundraiser staged at the national Armory in Washington DC on the night before JFK's formal inauguration.                                       

October 5th, 1956-May 12th, 1963. 

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show was an American Variety Series, hosted by Dinah Shore and broadcast on NBC from October 5th, 1956- May 12th,1963.

Guests: Milton Berle, Nelson Eddy. 

Milton and Dinah sing "Don't Talk About Me when I'm Gone."                                                         

September 27, 1962-September 3, 1967 (NBC); September 20, 1969-July 17, 1971 (NBC); 1976 (Syndicated). In 1962, Williams was finally given a fall series on NBC; the hour show lasted five seasons and featured The New Christy Minstrels and the Osmond Brothers. His third NBC series, which premiered in 1969, featured comics Charlie Callas and Irwin Corey, along with Janos Prohaska; the hour show lasted another two seasons. In 1976, Williams hosted a syndicated series, entitled "Andy." The half-hour show featured puppeteer Wayland Flowers. 

Milton Berle celebrates his 50th year in show business. 

 

                                                                

September 21st, 1962- September 10th, 1965 (NBC)

A Friday night variety series starring Jack Paar. Jonathan Winters was a frequent guest on the show.

Jack's guests are Liberace and Milton Berle.




                                      

Hosts for the sixteenth annual Emmy Awards are Joey Bishop in Hollywood and E.G. Marshall in New York. Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore introduce this special telecast. Humorous excerpts from past Emmy Award telecasts are played. A galaxy of celebrities appear including Danny Kaye, Hugh Downs, Chet Huntley, Rod
Serling, Patty Duke, Jane Wyatt, Carl Reiner, David Janssen, Jerry Paris, James Franciscus, Dean Jagger, David Frost, John Daly, Don Defore, Shirley Booth, Tom Gries, James Drury, Roberta Shore, Polly Bergen, and Mel Brooks who with Reiner does a "2000 Year Old Man" skit. Other personalities appearing include Inger Stevens, Richard Deacon, Gene Barry, Ruth White, Zina Bethune, Shirl Conway, Garry Moore, Jack Klugman, Vince Edwards, Shelley Winters, Nat King Cole, Johnny Carson, Milton Berle, Lorne Greene. The cast from "That Was The Week That Was," Elliot Reid, Nancy Ames, Pat Englund, and David Frost satirize the 1963-64 television season. Jack Benny presents the Emmy Award for Program of the Year, "The Making of the President." Mel Stuart and David L. Wolper accept the award.             

A variety show presented as monthly specials on NBC.

Bob's guests are Dean Martin, Jack Benny, Phyllis Diller, and Milton Berle.

Bob Hope presents Dean Martin with a gold record for "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime." 

                                                                                                                              

Chase and Sanborn's 100th Anniversary Show, starring Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. A special retrospective of radio highlights.                      

January 4, 1964-February 7, 1970. This hour-long variety series was a mid-season replacement for "The Jerry Lewis Show." 

Guest: Bill Dana

Host: Milton Berle. 





                                                                                                                    

January 4, 1964-February 7, 1970. This broadcast is the complete version of program #1045 which is a 44-minute version. This hour-long variety series was a mid-season replacement for "The Jerry Lewis Show."   

Host: Milton Berle. Opening only.                      

January 4, 1964-February 7, 1970. This broadcast is the complete version of program #1045 which is a 44-minute version. This hour-long variety series was a mid-season replacement for "The Jerry Lewis Show."   

Host: Milton Berle. Guests: Martha Raye, Henny Youngman, Adam (Batman) West.                     

January 4, 1964-February 7, 1970. This hour-long variety series was a midseason replacement for "The Jerry Lewis Show."   

Host: Milton Berle. Guests: Henny Youngman, Martha Raye, Sandler and Young, and Adam (Batman) West.                                                                         

The 38th Annual Academy Award ceremonies telecast live from the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. This was the first color broadcast of the award ceremonies.

Best Actor: Lee Marvin (Cat Ballou)
Best Actress: Julie Christie (Dr. Zhivago) 
Best Supporting Actor: Martin Balsam
Best Supporting Actress: Shelley Winters  
Best Film ( Sound Of Music)     
Best Musical Score: Dr. Zhivago 

William Wyler is awarded the Irving Thalberg Award.

Host: Bob Hope.                                        

Arthur Godfrey and Don Ameche are hosts for a nostalgic review of the great stars and favorite programs of radio and television history. 

This television special celebrates fifty years of radio and television broadcasting. Arthur Godfrey hosts this nostalgic look back at the stars and programs that catapulted radio and television to success. Highlights include: Ed Wynn's first radio show "The Perfect Fool," a 1922 variety show; how radio became network oriented in 1927 and began to change American lifestyles; the first coast-to-coast broadcast of a football game from the Rose Bowl; the Fireside Chats with Franklin D. Roosevelt; the comedy duo of Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, better known as "Amos 'n' Andy"; the Kraft Music Hall, hosted by Bing Crosby, which showcased the great singers of the 1930s and 40s such as Arthur Tracy, Morton Downy, Helen Morgan, and Kate Smith; Frank Sinatra, who was brought into the public eye through radio; Bing Crosby, who sings "Pennies From Heaven"; John Scott Trotter's reminiscences about the big bands such as those of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Spike Jones; how television began to make strides with the telecast of the New York Worlds Fair in 1939 until World War II put an abrupt stop to the advancement; how the very popular Milton Berle was responsible for the television revolution after the war was over; a survey of other pioneering programs including "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie," "Your Show of Shows," "I Remember Mama," and "Howdy Doody"; a day at the studio with big-time television producer Sheldon Leonard whose credits range from the slow-starting "Dick Van Dyke Show" to "The Gomer Pyle Show"; Godfrey, who sings "I'm in Love with You Honey"; a look at the great comedy teams and solo comedians such as Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, Jimmy Durante, Fred Allen, and W.C. Fields; the first lady of television, Lucille Ball, who is followed through a day of rehearsal for her show; how radio soap operas paved the way for the radio drama programs such as "Inner Sanctum," "Suspense," and "The Whistler"; how the live drama show became the first step in a new direction for television; Rod Serling's examination of the rise and somewhat quick fall of this form of programming; the We Five singing "Beyond the Sea"; and the great radio commentators such as Edward R. Murrow and Walter Winchell.

                        

Arthur Godfrey and Don Ameche are hosts for a nostalgic review of the great stars and favorite programs of radio and television history. Joining them in this special are Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball, Gale Gordon, Sheldon Leonard, Rod Serling, John Scott Trotter, and We Five, who sing "Beyond the Sea." Many others. Many archival transcripts are heard with Freeman Gosden, Charles Correll, Fanny Brice, Rudy Vallee, Milton Berle, and Fred Allen. 

Duplicate Of # 997.                                      

January 27, 1961-April 21, 1961; September 28, 1961-September 21, 1964. 
This was the first re-run broadcast of the series. Home viewers were able to participate in this hour-long musical series, as the lyrics to the songs were superimposed at the bottom of their screens; viewers were invited to "follow the bouncing ball" as it moved from one lyric to the next. Goateed composer-arranger Mitch Miller led the Sing-Along Gang, and on-stage aggregation of about two dozen. Among the featured vocalists were Leslie Uggams, Diana Trask, Barbara McNair, and Gloria Lambert. "Sing-Along with Mitch" was introduced on "Ford Startime" in 1960 and had a limited run in the spring of 1961, alternating with "The Bell Telephone Hour," before going weekly in the fall of that year. Reruns were exhumed in the spring of 1966 to replace the faltering "Sammy Davis Jr. Show." Bill Hobin produced and directed the series. 

Milton Berle guest stars.                          

September 9th, 1966-January 6th, 1967 (ABC)

A Friday night variety hour seen on ABC. It did not catch on with the viewing public and was canceled in January 1967 after just four months on the air. The show was produced by Bill Dana with Bobby Rydell, Irving Benson, and Donna Loren as regulars. Benson was seen as an offstage heckler.                                                            

September 9th, 1966-January 6th, 1967 (ABC)

A Friday night variety hour seen on ABC. It did not catch on with the viewing public and was canceled in January 1967 after just four months on the air. The show was produced by Bill Dana with Bobby Rydell, Irving Benson, and Donna Loren as regulars. Benson was seen as an offstage heckler.                                               

September 9th, 1966-January 6th, 1967 (ABC)

A Friday night variety hour seen on ABC. It did not catch on with the viewing public and was canceled in January 1967 after just four months on the air. The show was produced by Bill Dana with Bobby Rydell, Irving Benson, and Donna Loren as regulars. Benson was seen as an offstage heckler. 

Guests are Martha Raye and Jayne Mansfield.                                  

September 9th, 1966-January 6th, 1967 (ABC)

A Friday night variety hour seen on ABC. It did not catch on with the viewing public and was canceled in January 1967 after just four months on the air. The show was produced by Bill Dana with Bobby Rydell, Irving Benson, and Donna Loren as regulars. Benson was seen as an offstage heckler. 

Host: Milton Berle.                                           

September 9th, 1966-January 6th, 1967 (ABC)

A Friday night variety hour seen on ABC. It did not catch on with the viewing public and was canceled in January 1967 after just four months on the air. The show was produced by Bill Dana with Bobby Rydell, Irving Benson, and Donna Loren as regulars. Benson was seen as an offstage heckler. 

Milton's guests are Eddie Fisher and comedian Jan Murray.                                  

September 9th, 1966-January 6th, 1967 (ABC)

A Friday night variety hour seen on ABC. It did not catch on with the viewing public and was canceled in January 1967 after just four months on the air. The show was produced by Bill Dana with Bobby Rydell, Irving Benson, and Donna Loren as regulars. Benson was seen as an offstage heckler. 

Host: Milton Berle welcomes guest Jan Murray.                                                        

September 9th, 1966-January 6th, 1967 (ABC)

A Friday night variety hour seen on ABC. It did not catch on with the viewing public and was canceled in January 1967 after just four months on the air. The show was produced by Bill Dana with Bobby Rydell, Irving Benson, and Donna Loren as regulars. Benson was seen as an offstage heckler. 

Milton's guests are Tony Randall, Diahann Carroll, and Allen Ludden. .    

Duplicate of #15243.                                                     

September 9th, 1966-January 6th, 1967 (ABC)

A Friday night variety hour seen on ABC. It did not catch on with the viewing public and was canceled in January 1967 after just four months on the air. The show was produced by Bill Dana with Bobby Rydell, Irving Benson, and Donna Loren as regulars. Benson was seen as an offstage heckler. 

Milton's guest is Tony Randall.                                            

September 9th, 1966-January 6th, 1967 (ABC)

A Friday night variety hour seen on ABC. It did not catch on with the viewing public and was canceled in January 1967 after just four months on the air. The show was produced by Bill Dana with Bobby Rydell, Irving Benson, and Donna Loren as regulars. Benson was seen as an offstage heckler. 

Milton's guests are Tony Randall, Diahann Carroll, and Allen Ludden. .                                            

September 9th, 1966-January 6th, 1967 (ABC)

A Friday night variety hour seen on ABC. It did not catch on with the viewing public and was canceled in January 1967 after just four months on the air. The show was produced by Bill Dana with Bobby Rydell, Irving Benson, and Donna Loren as regulars. Benson was seen as an offstage heckler. 

Milton Berle welcomes guests Vincent Price and puppeteer Shari Lewis.