Fortunate have I been to meet and talk with a vast array of people who were responsible for work I've loved — movies, TV shows, comic books, cartoons, novels, plays, etc. I have been fascinated to hear their stories and pleased to sometimes share them with others.
As interesting as most of the anecdotes are, I just might find it more interesting to gauge the truth or falsity of some of the stories. Needless to say, I have listened politely to a lot of stories that I thought were somewhere between about a 50 all the way up to about 100 on the Bullshit Meter.
Plucking one example out of many that come to mind in the 100 category, a TV writer you've never heard of once cornered me and told me how he really was the brains behind All in the Family and in a more just world would have received most of the profits and accolades from that, one of the most honored and successful TV shows of all time.
Well over 99% of you would not know this person's name. It appeared nowhere in connection with that program and once when I had a brief opportunity to talk with Norman Lear, I asked him if he knew the guy and he only vaguely recalled it from somewhere. I have the feeling that if the writer had really suggested Lear import the British antecedent of his biggest hit show and told him Carroll O'Connor would be perfect for the lead, Mr. Lear might have shown a bit more recognition.
That writer's name not only didn't appear on All in the Family, it didn't appear on much of anything throughout his career. His IMDB listing lists a few credits for things I don't think were ever produced or if they were, were barely seen. So I can kind of understand why he might make up something to tell himself or tell others. Everyone needs something to be proud of and it doesn't always have to be true.
What intrigues me are the people I sometimes encounter who have plenty to be proud of…but they still make shit up anyway. I'm thinking now of another TV writer I knew — someone whose name you might know but I won't mention it here. This guy had plenty to be proud of…awards, credits on hit shows, lots of critical praise, etc. But he still made things up, still claimed credit for the works of others.
He was one of at least a dozen people I've encountered who had a long, well-constructed, oft-told tale of how he came up with the idea for The Flintstones and gave the idea to Hanna and Barbera. He didn't write for them. He was not in their employ at the time. But he met them at what would have been the appropriate time for his story to have even a scintilla of credibility and he said, "Hey, here's this idea I've been kicking around for a while…"
Understand: This was not a man of no accomplishment. He had plenty to brag about. He could have told you stories for an hour that would have impressed you with his success and they'd all have been well below 10 on the aforementioned Bullshit Meter. He exaggerated a bit but not a whole lot. And then he'd seamlessly segue to one that was above 90.
And now, as they say in sportscasting, let's go to the videotape. In my life, I encountered Milton Berle about ten times and had at least four good, long conversations — one for over an hour. I also got to spend an hour or two with George Burns, who was more or less a contemporary of Berle's and someone often mentioned in the same category. George's stories were wildly entertaining, in part because he was telling them to me in private and had no problem with telling me that Al Jolson was an asshole or George Jessel was a bigger one. At least in his opinion.
I believe Mr. Burns's stories were largely true. I'm sure he condensed here and there to make them more tellable and exaggerated somewhat to make them more humorous. But he did not seem to condense or exaggerate to make himself look better. Berle, on the other hand…
Milton Berle had plenty of true accomplishments. The guy practically owned prime-time television for many years and he had a long, glorious career. The times I spoke to him, he was quite aware that I thought he was terrific in my favorite movie — need I tell any reader of this blog what it was? — and then I knew a lot about that long, glorious career. Still, much of what he told me was like the story he tells in this clip, claiming some credit for Woody Allen's success. Watch this and then we'll discuss it…
Okay. Now, let's consider how much of this might be true. He says, speaking of his Texaco Star Theater show, the sponsor had given them enough money to hire some writers and the William Morris Office sent over this kid named Woody Allen.
Berle went on the air for Texaco in June of 1948 and was a smash hit. He did the first season with little or no writing staff but started hiring writers in 1949. Woody Allen was 14 years old in 1949. Texaco dropped sponsorship of Berle in 1953 when Allen was 19, which might have been old enough to get an agent…although Woody was never represented by William Morris.
All right, so maybe Berle was misremembering the date and the agency. That doesn't mean the main claim — that it was his idea for Mr. Allen to stop writing for others and to perform his own material — is or isn't true. What suggests the claim is not true is that in Allen's recently-released autobiography, he goes into some detail about making that transition and there is no mention of Milton Berle having anything to do with it.
For that matter, there's no mention of Woody Allen in Mr. Berle's autobiography. There are however a lot of stories that are of questionable accuracy and I really don't understand why a man with so many genuine accomplishments felt the need to make up stuff to impress people. Especially a man who was known for having the largest penis in all of show business.