Top-rated
Tue, Jan 12, 1954
Berle's guests this week are Basil Rathbone, comedienne Dagmar, author Mickey Spillane, Walter Greaza as "The Chief" from Treasury Men in Action (1950), Latin vocalist Jose Duval, and vocal group The Hilltoppers. The search is on for a new 1954 Buick that has disappeared from the stage.
Tue, Feb 2, 1954
Berle's guests include singer Jane Froman. Berle is talked into buying a nightclub, unaware that there's an illegal casino being run in the back. Gangsters and gamblers come and go through the nightclub in various disguises. The club acts as a setting for numerous musical numbers during the episode.
Tue, Feb 23, 1954
Milton's guest is musical comedy star Kaye Thompson. With Jack Collins, Charlie Applewhite, Arnold Stang, and Ruth Gilbert. Berle, fed up with his disrespectful staff, fires the whole bunch and replaces them with the show's new choreographer, Kay Thompson. Thompson's dating the sponsor's rep who decides Kay can also star. Now show-less, Berle visits Max's home to woo her back to his side and finds her family members are bigger goof-balls than she is. Thompson performs "I Won't Dance," "I Love a Violin," and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love." Applewhite sings "My Secret Love" to Max.
Tue, Mar 9, 1954
Berle's guests are Eddie "Rochester" Anderson from The Jack Benny Program (1950) and comedian Jack Carson. Uncle Miltie's having problems with his taxes.
Tue, Mar 23, 1954
Berle's guests this week are Gertrude Berg and Arlene McQuade from TV's The Goldbergs (1949), and comic actor Bob Cummings. Molly's daughter Rosalie wants to move away and joining the theater. It's up to Berle and Cummings to persuade the star-struck teen that show biz isn't all it's cracked up to be
Tue, Mar 30, 1954
Milton's guests include The Will Mastin Trio (starring Sammy Davis, Jr.), Charlie Applewhite, and jockey Sam Renick, plus regulars Arnold Stang and Ruth Gilbert. With the start of racing season, Berle buys a horse and names it after himself, "Mr. Television," and enters it in a race. In the process, he has a run-in with gangsters. The Will Maston Trio perform a song and dance segment with Sammy doing impressions of vocalists Nat "King" Cole, Billy Eckstine, and Vaughn Monroe.
Tue, May 4, 1954
Berle's guests include Vivian Vance and William Frawley from I Love Lucy (1951) and singer/actress Janet Blair. Miltie rents a new rehearsal hall from landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz.
Tue, Sep 21, 1954
In this seventh season premiere, Berle's guests include Mickey Rooney, Connie Russell, columnist and quiz show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen, television critic Jack O'Brien, Joey Foreman, and Nancy Walker. With Mickey's help, Milton schemes to get free publicity by faking a broken leg.
Tue, Nov 2, 1954
Berle's guests include Martha Raye. Being election night, Max plays a newscaster who brings the latest vote totals--from a Paris precinct. Charlie Applewhite performs "Stars Never Cry." Milton and Martha appear as famous couples Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Columbus, a pharaoh and his queen, and Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.