The thing about Milton Berle was that he had an enormous impact on the televison audiences of the late 40's and 50's, and on that medium's emergence. But since his shows were done live with no taped record whatsoever, he fell out of familiarity with succeeding generations, unlike Jack Benny and others who resonated as icons for decades after their careers peaked, because reruns of their taped shows were replayed for generations of new fans. Same thing happened with Your Show of Shows, with Sid Cesar and Imogene Coca (and written by such future illuminaries in comedy as Woody Allen, Neil Simon, and Mel Brooks)...most of the shows aired live. So all that great work is lost forever. There was also a historic sitcom that predated I Love Lucy, that was lost due to no taped record. (I just read this article recently...this show was BIG, but I'll have to LIU...it's the "short-term" that goes first, you know...[sigh-e])