Milton Berle Dies At 93

Milton Berle, the cigar-chomping comedian whose domination of television in the early '50s as the host of NBC's "Texaco Star Theatre" earned him the title "Mr. Television," died Wednesday after a lengthy illness. He was 93. Berle died in his sleep at 2:45 p.m. at his home in Los Angeles with his wife, Lorna, and other family members at his side, Berle's longtime publicist Warren Cowan said. Berle had been diagnosed with colon cancer last year and had been under hospice care for the past few weeks.

Elvis appeared on the Milton Berle Show on April 3 (from the deck of the aircraft carrier, the USS Hancock.) and June 5 1956. Among his selections on his second appearance was a playfully sensuous performance of "Hound Dog" that drove the kids in the audience wild, and, the next day, has the press and some of the adult viewers appalled. It is one of his most controversial performances.