Texaco Star Theater
Episode 1
TV Flash files “Episode 1” as a desk essential hour — Texaco Star Theater (1948–1956) on NBC, season 5, episode 1, aired 1952-09-16, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E01: listed hour 159 of 247 in the Texaco Star Theater guide, first listed hour of season 5. It aired 1952-09-16 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Episode 39” (S04E39). Next is “Episode 2” (S05E02).
Essential hour: “Episode 1”. Mid-decade restart under the Texaco banner: guest-stack variety after the first ratings fever had already minted Mr. Television.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Episode 1 sit in the Texaco Star Theater guide?
S05E01 is listed hour 159 of 247 — first listed hour of season 5, season 5 episode 1.
When did Texaco Star Theater S05E01 air?
Episode 1 aired 1952-09-16 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Berle in full costume-mania mode from the peak Tuesday-night years, when guest-stack variety and drag bits were the national habit.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Texaco Star Theater made Milton Berle Mr. Television: costume mania, Tuesday-night monopoly, and ratings so huge cities emptied restaurants. Watch it now as variety's first national addiction — the show credited with selling sets as hard as jokes, and the cautionary ego of a host who owned a night.
The first thing you see is the trunk. Not a desk, not a tag, not whatever the timeline decided was mid: Milton Berle walking a costume change into a living room that had just bought its first set. *Texaco Star Theater* (later *The Milton Berle Show*) on NBC, 1948 to 1956, eight seasons and 247 episodes of guest-stack variety, drag-costume chaos, and an iron-willed silhouette that treated Tuesday as private property. Uncle Miltie didn't host a night. He dressed it.
Filed against
- Milton Berle as Host
Milton Berle’s Texaco Star Theater made Tuesday-night monopoly feel like a civic habit — 1950s costume mania, ratings so huge cities emptied restaurants, variety’s first national addiction. The show credited with selling sets as hard as…
- Arnold Stang as Sidekick / regular
Arnold Stang worked Texaco Star Theater as Milton Berle’s sidekick weather — costume mania, Tuesday-night monopoly, ratings so huge cities emptied restaurants. Variety’s first national addiction, a show credited with selling sets as hard…