Join Milton Berle and the cast of his popular TV show as Mr. Television sings the praises of the 1953 Buick.

This kinescope comes to us from the golden age of television, when the entertainment and the commercial messaging were often blended together into a single unit. Performers might be doing a sketch one moment and pitching a product the next, as comedian Milton Berle, then known as “Mr. Television,” does here with his guest Peter Lawford. From 1953 through 1954, Buick was the presenting sponsor of Berle’s popular NBC variety show, when it was renamed The Buick Berle Show.  In the weekly opening sequence, Berle takes a carload of ladies for a cruise in a snappy Buick Super convertible, and in the setup bit with Lawford in this episode (aired Dec. 8, 1953) the Buick sales pitch is tongue-in-cheek but straight to the point.

From there, announcer Vinton Hayworth and actress Jan Sherwood detail the features of the 1953 Buick Special, the division’s price leader. The cost, they note, was the same or less than many mid-priced cars, and they have a point. At $2,197, the Special was priced lower than a Pontiac Chieftain 8 or an Oldsmobile 88. Of course, the Special was still powered by the trusty straight eight that year, rather than the new Fireball V8 (see our feature on the famous Nailhead here). Buick was in tall cotton in those days, holding down fourth overall in U.S. sales and moving more cars than any other General Motors division except Chevrolet. Video below.