.The Nostalgia Merchant is your source for rare, hard to find, out of print, Classic TV shows and Movies on DVD

Ruth Gilbert played Berle's secretary, Max

Milton Berle - Mr. Televison

His show The Texaco Star Theater went on the air in 1948 and remained on (with some changes in title and sponsorship) until 1956. Tuesday night was known as Berle Night, and in the early days of television owners of tv sets could usually expect lots of neighbors to drop by for a Tuesday-night visit. Crowds would also gather outside the local TV-Appliance store on the sidewalk to watch Uncle Miltie through the plate-glass window. (I watched many a tv show like this myself as a kid since we had no TV.) Berle was a major factor in establishing the popularity of this new medium. He was probably responsible for the purchase of the first television set in many households. We are currently looking for VHS or 16 mm film of this rare title. Please contact us if you have either of these sources.

Uncle Miltie on stage

Jackie Gleason

Jackie Gleason was a performer in the theater, nightclubs, and motion pictures as well as television. Gleason's first big break arrived in 1949, when he landed the role of the bumbling softhearted aircraft worker Chester A. Riley for the first television version of radio hit The Life of Riley. (William Bendix originated the role on radio, but was unable to take the television role, at first, due to film commitments.) The Gleason version of The Life of Riley lasted only one season. (The Life of Riley finally became a television hit in the early 1950s–with William Bendix in the role he popularized on radio.)

Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows in The Honeymooners

Red Skelton

Red Skelton first appeared on television in 1951 on NBC as a weekly program and then moved to CBS in 1953 where the show was expanded to a full hour. In 1964 The Red Skelton Hour was one of the first network show to air in color. Over the years Skelton developed dozens of characters he played in vignettes on his shows. Skelton was considered a clown rather than a comic and as such, his fellow professionals rated him the master. Audiences loved him and awarded him top ratings for many seasons. Some of his best loved characters included: Clem Kadiddlehopper, Junior, The Mean Widdle Kid, Sheriff Deadeye, Willie Lump Lump, Cauliflower McPugg and Freddie The Freeloader.

Red as Clem Kaddiddlehopper with Janis Paige as Hatti Mari, a glamorous spy

Red Skelton on Radio

Long before his television career, Red Skelton was on radio. He made guest appearances on The Rudy Vallee Show beginning inn 1937 and then became a regular in 1939 on Avalon Time, sponsored by Avalon Cigarettes. On October 7, 1941, Skelton premiered his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, where he began developing some of his most famous recurring characters. Strangely the radio recordings are much easier to find that film or video of his TV shows. We are currently looking for VHS or 16 mm film of these rare shows. If you have access to any of his shows please contact us.

Jack Benny

Jack Benny was already a star of radio when he came to television in 1952. The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show which ran from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1948 to 1955 on CBS, and was consistently among the most highly rated programs during most of that run. Jack brought to television the family of players long familiar to radio audiences: Don Wilson, Dennis Day, rochester, Mary Livingston, and Mel Blanc. Also, seen for the first time was his celebrated old Maxwell, and his violin._B

Jack Benny with Marily Monroe who made her television debut on Benny's show in 1953