We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
He Says He Turned Dow Deal Taken By Gleason Copyright, 19 55, Triangle Publications, Inc. Milton Berle has told TV GUIDE: 1. That he was offered, but turned down, a bid to do the Buick show dur¬ ing the 1955-56 season, an offer which resulted, ultimately, in Gleason’s get¬ ting a combined Buick-CBS deal that may bring him a total of $16,000,000. 2. That Berle withheld the story until now out of friendship for Glea¬ son. He didn’t want initial news of the big contract Gleason landed to be soured by giving viewers the mis¬ taken impression that Gleason was the sponsor’s second choice. When the news broke last winter that Berle’s sponsor, Buick, was switching to Gleason, it appeared that Uncle Miltie had been given a not- too-polite brush. Newspapers and wire services deluged him with phone calls, asking him what had happened, and how did it feel to have the rug pulled out from under him after six years as “Mr. Television.” Berle had one pat answer: “I think Gleason is a great comic and I wish him a lot of luck.” Now embarked on a series of 13 elab¬ orate color shows for RCA-Victor, Sunbeam and Whirlpool, Berle at first was reluctant to be quoted on details of what happened last winter. His de¬ tails, and those related by Myron Kirk, executive vice president for television of the Kudner agency, which handles Buick’s TV business, were at direct variance. Said Kirk: “It was felt that a weekly performance was needed, and Jackie Gleason was the first and only man approached to do a weekly series of shows for Buick. As for ever offering Berle a job or a Buick renewal—we never approached him at any time.” Replied Berle: “Sure, they’ll deny that I was offered the contract, be¬ cause they are a big organization, but let’s not get dirty. But—if they want to play dirty, I can play dirty, too. “Those agency guys back there in New York have charcoal gray hearts!” Whether Berle’s version, or Kirk’s, is to be accepted, Gleason certainly wasn’t —and isn’t—concerned. With the con¬ tract terms he got, he had no reason to think any other comedian had been approached. Here’s the story as told by Berle: Shortly after his second show last Friendship for Gleason is reason cited for Berle's failure to set the record straight.