Milton Berle : Berle's nastiness

Berle's nastiness

It was reported that he was nasty to Bela Lugosi. He was apparently nasty to many others as well. A lot of comedians have repressed hostility that frequently surfaces in their behavior.
Bela Lugosi had parkenson's disease late in life, and he was addicted to opiates. This might have caused him to mess up the delivery that incensed Berle.
Also, I've heard that rumor about his "size" is supposed to be true; thus you could say he was a 2000 big prick in more ways than one!

Re: Berle's nastiness

Think i have seen a clip of this on youtube, Lugosi fluffs a line and Berle quips "You kill people on screen, and you kill jokes too" Seemed to be taken quite light hearted but from what i have read about Berle it wouldn't suprise me if he was nasty to the kindly Bela.

Apparently Berle made a enemy of Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels when he hosted in the late 70's. His behaviour behind the scenes prompted Michaels to shelve the episode after its initial transmission never to be repeated again.

Re: Berle's nastiness

Read George Burns' book 'All My Best Friends' in which Milton Berle features. He writes about Berle's personality and how difficult he was to work with, but he does present it in a funny way (the title is, after all, 'All My Best Friends') and Berle was a close friend.

Re: Berle's nastiness

If you get a chance, watch the interviews included in the dvd of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. There is some hilarious stuff about Berle's notorious scene stealing and general insecurity. Edie Adams tells a particularly funny story about Phil Silvers playing a practical on Berle that only worked because of Berle's vanity.

Re: Berle's nastiness


There is some hilarious stuff about Berle's notorious scene stealing and general insecurity. Edie Adams tells a particularly funny story about Phil Silvers playing a practical on Berle that only worked because of Berle's vanity.
And what's ironic is that Phil Silvers' reputation as being a unpleasant egomaniac to work with is at least as strong as Berle's. It seems a lot of the big 50's tv male stars have that reputation even someone with a "warm" public image like Arthur Godfrey.

Re: Berle's nastiness

Think i have seen a clip of this on youtube, Lugosi fluffs a line and Berle quips "You kill people on screen, and you kill jokes too" Seemed to be taken quite light hearted but from what i have read about Berle it wouldn't suprise me if he was nasty to the kindly Bela.

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Alex Gordon, a writer and friend of Lugosi's denied that there was any tension between Lugosi and Milton Berle. Arthur Lennig [Lugosi's biographer] asked Berle about the incident in 1974. Berle had a clear memory of working with Lugosi and had a favorable impression of him and had no idea that Lugosi had been upset.

But Lugosi was unhappy with Red Skelton's add-libbing when he worked on Skelton's tv show. A version of this is depicted in ED WOOD [1994].

Re: Berle's nastiness

I'm reading the Mary Wickes biography at the moment and there is a truly ugly anecdote about the lovely Ms. Wickes (soulwise if not quite facewise) being the victim of a very crude "joke" by Mr. Television (who reigned for what, two years?) about her lack of beauty. Fortunately, he did not tell this "gag" to Miss Wickes' face but the way people like to gossip in show business it wouldn't surprise me if it got back to her. Berle is historically important to the television industry but he seems to have been a rather nasty piece of work.

Re: Berle's nastiness

I'm aware of Berle's many faults, but I'll always admire him for standing up to a repugnant Mickey Rooney on LARRY KING LIVE in their discussion on Marilyn Monroe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TweqbfFqueA

Berle was popular on television from 1948 to 1956.

Re: Berle's nastiness

Actually, Berle and Mickey Rooney are almost two of a kind to me, both had a habit of telling whoppers to get more press in their later years but I'll admit Rooney had few rivals for sleaziness with the very ugly stories he concocted about Marilyn and others.

Re: Berle's nastiness

It's sad that Berle had to attack Mary Wickes and her looks. He wasn't exactly handsome himself.

Re: Berle's nastiness

Yeah, it's a toss up to me who was the worst SNL host Berle or Zappa.

Re: Berle's nastiness


Bela Lugosi had parkenson's disease late in life, and he was addicted to opiates. This might have caused him to mess up the delivery that incensed Berle.


I don't want to go too far OT, but as a huge fan of Bela Lugosi, I have to correct some of the serious whoppers in that statement.

First off, Lugosi did not have Parkinson's; I've never even heard that before.

Second, he didn't 'mess up the delivery.' He stuck to the script exactly, and that's what went wrong. Aside from English remaining a second language to Lugosi all his life, in his later years he was hard of hearing. So he was seriously thrown by Berle's constant ad-libbing, and Berle was frustrated that Lugosi wasn't playing along, and you can see the tension between the two when you watch the footage.

Lastly, the extent of Lugosi's drug dependency has been seriously exaggerated over the years. He did develop a medical addiction to morphine based on the very real pain he experienced due to war injuries, as well as a problem with alcohol. But the idea of Lugosi as a confused junkie is false and an insult to this brave man who sought help for a problem years before it was fashionable to do so.


Arthur Lennig [Lugosi's biographer] asked Berle about the incident in 1974. Berle had a clear memory of working with Lugosi and had a favorable impression of him and had no idea that Lugosi had been upset.


I've read that too; I don't buy it. He might not have noticed if Lugosi was upset, but he made Lugosi know that HE was upset, live on the air. Lugosi was not the type of man to show his emotions, and even if he had I doubt Berle would have cared much.

Re: Berle's nastiness

I've read that too; I don't buy it. He might not have noticed if Lugosi was upset, but he made Lugosi know that HE was upset, live on the air. Lugosi was not the type of man to show his emotions, and even if he had I doubt Berle would have cared much.
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Yeah, you may have a point there. Read 'All My Best Friends' by George Burns to get an idea of what Berle could be like to work with. Burns writes it with affection and humor, but it's still clear that Berle could be a terror to work with. He was also a very generous and supportive man.

Bela Lugosi also had problems with Red Skelton's ad-libs.
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