LOS ANGELES -- Milton Berle, the acerbic, cigar-smoking vaudevillian who eagerly embraced a new medium and became "Mr. Television" in the dawn of the video age, died Wednesday, a spokesman said. He was 93..."Uncle Miltie" was the king of Tuesday nights, and store owners put up signs: "Closed tonight to watch Milton Berle." The program's popularity spurred sales of television sets and helped make the new technology a medium for the masses...
In later years, Berle also said he found much solace in Christian Science, and called himself a Jew and a Christian Scientist.