While the Howdy Doody Show was responsible for the sale of television sets to families with children, Milton Berle was the most popular show on NBC in the late 1940's/early 1950's. Berle's show, The Texaco Star Theater premiered on NBC on June 8, 1948. Berle was called "Mr. Television," and sold more sets television than any sponsor campaign. Texaco changed its sponsorship to another night in 1953 and Buick signed on to sponsor the show. In these early days of television, most of the programs were done live and out of New York. Hollywood had yet to become a player in the world of television. Most actors and actresses of the day lived in California and had no desire to move to New York to do a live television program. Initially, Berle was extremely popular to those who had tv sets, and those who didn't bought one just to find out what this crazy guy was doing on Tuesday nights. Berle was so popular that NBC delayed its coverage of the 1948 elections one hour so they could air his program. "Berle, more than any other individual, had helped to launch the long awaited television boom. The percentage of households with televisions increased from .4 percent in 1948, the year of Berle's debut, to 2.3 percent in 1949, 9 percent in 1950, and 23.5 percent in 1951. By 1952, roughly one-third of all American homes had a tv." (from Same Time, Same Station, by James Baughman). While purchasing a television was similar to buying a car, at least, and finally, there was something on tv to watch...
Author: drapersmokes
Keywords: Milton Berle Buick Sponsor Texaco Star Theater Classic Live Television
Added: May 28, 2008
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