Editing Milton Berle (section)

===TV decline===
In 1951, NBC signed Berle to an unprecedented 30-year exclusive television contract at a million dollars a year.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/19/archives/30year-contract-is-signed-by-berle-nbc-to-have-first-call-on.html|title=30-YEAR CONTRACT IS SIGNED BY BERLE; N.B.C. to Have First Call on Services as Actor, Director, Writer or Producer|date=March 19, 1951|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 22, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1953, Texaco pulled out of sponsorship of the show but [[Buick]] picked it up, prompting a renaming as ''The Buick-Berle Show''. The program's format was changed to include the backstage preparations for the variety show. Critics generally approved of the changes, but Berle's ratings continued to fall, and Buick pulled out after two seasons.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7ecKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CVADAAAAIBAJ&pg=2406,1249723&dq=milton+berle+son&hl=en|title=Berle Traded For Gleason|date=December 20, 1954|newspaper=Prescott Evening Courier|access-date=January 23, 2011}}</ref> In addition, "Berle's [[persona]] had shifted from the impetuous and aggressive style of the ''Texaco Star Theater'' days to a more cultivated but less distinctive personality, leaving many fans somehow unsatisfied."<ref name=Newcomb/>

By the time the again-renamed ''Milton Berle Show'' finished its only full season (1955&ndash;56), Berle was already becoming history—though his final season was host to two of [[Elvis Presley]]'s earliest television appearances, April 3 and June 5, 1956.<ref>[http://www.elvispresleynews.com/MiltonBerle.html Milton Berle — Milton Berle Show<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070123000046/http://www.elvispresleynews.com/MiltonBerle.html |date=January 23, 2007 }}</ref> The final straw during that last season may have come from CBS scheduling ''[[The Phil Silvers Show]]'' opposite Berle. Silvers was one of Berle's best friends in show business and had come to CBS's attention in an appearance on Berle's program. ''Bilko's'' creator-producer, Nat Hiken, had been one of Berle's radio writers.

Berle knew that NBC had already decided to cancel his show before Presley appeared.<ref>The Blue Moon Boys — The Story of Elvis Presley's Band. Ken Burke and Dan Griffin. 2006. Chicago Review Press. page 52. {{ISBN|1-55652-614-8}}</ref> He later hosted the first television version of the popular radio variety series, The ''[[Kraft Music Hall]]'' from 1958 to 1959,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zTwyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-eQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6842,4109474&dq=milton+berle+son&hl=en|title=Milton Berle Not Moping|author=Torre, Marie|date=March 11, 1959|newspaper=Lawrence Journal-World|access-date=January 23, 2011}}</ref> but NBC was finding increasingly fewer showcases for its one-time superstar. By 1960, he was reduced to hosting a [[Ten-pin bowling|bowling]] program, ''[[Jackpot Bowling]]'', delivering his quips and interviewing celebrities between the efforts of that week's bowling contestants.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LBIrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YpwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4633,5663479&dq=goodman+ace&hl=en|title=Berle's 'Jackpot Bowling' Is A Really Striking Series|author=Ashe, Isobel|date=November 27, 1960|newspaper=Reading Eagle|access-date=May 8, 2011}}</ref>