MILTON BERLE - CONTRACT SIGNED 03/28/1946 CO-SIGNED BY: ANNA SOSENKO - HFSID 76054

MILTON BERLE
Mr. Television signs a 1946 contract for a radio show.
Partly Printed Contract signed:"Milton Berle", 1 page, 8½x11. New York, 1946 March 28. Countersigned: "Anna Sosenko" as producer. In part:"I hereby agree to perform on the Hildegarde-Raleigh program to be broadcast from a studio in New York, N.Y. WEAF on April 3, 1946 from 8:30 PM to 9:00 PM...It is understood and agreed that you are to pay me and I shall receive as full compensation for the services rendered by me hereunder the sum of Two Thousand ($2,000.00) Dollars payable to the William Morris Agency, Inc., as my agent, within one (1) week following the broadcast...."In 1942, MILTON BERLE (born 1908) accepted an offer to star in a half-hour weekly radio show sponsored by Ballantine Beer over the NBC network. The show originated from NBC's new Hollywood radio broadcasting studios. After the Ballantine Radio Show was canceled in the spring of 1942, Berle accepted an offer to star in the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway and moved back to New York. After Follies closed, Berle appeared in nightclubs and guest starred on radio shows such as The Raleigh Room. In the spring of 1948, he received an offer to do a radio show sponsored by Texaco. He accepted reluctantly, preferring the newer medium of television. But the radio show, Texaco Star Theater, was a hit. The success on radio led Texaco to sponsor an hour-long television show for Berle that Fall on Tuesday nights on NBC. Berle signed for 39 television programs in addition to his 39 weekly radio broadcasts--78 live shows in one season. He soon became known as "Mr. Television". ANNA SOSENKO (1909-2000) produced The Raleigh Room radio show, sponsored by Raleigh cigarettes and hosted by the entertainer Hildegarde. The show's theme song, "Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup", was written by Sosenko, who was also Hildegarde's manager. Lightly creased. Fine condition.