Milton Berle (left) and Frank Sinatra chowed down on fried chicken at a 1959 SHARE hospital costume party fundraiser. That year, Sinatra had his longest-charting hit with “High Hopes,” but Berle was struggling. After his TV show dropped in the ratings and was canceled in 1956, he was reduced to hosting the short-lived Kraft Music Hall.
Bill Cosby sported a paisley-and-ruffle tuxedo as he attended the 1970 Grammy Awards with wife Camille. The comedian had formed his own record label, Tetragrammaton Records, in 1968. Despite signing the hard rock act Deep Purple, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1971.
Milton Berle and actress Myrna Dell did the Charleston at a 1950 party. The comedian was at the height of his fame as his NBC show, Texaco Star Theater, was the top-rated program on the young medium.
Darryl Zanuck was captured dancing with French actress Bella Darvi at a costume party in 1952. According to Dallinger, the 50-year-old movie mogul was the hit of the party when he stripped to the waist in the middle of the bash to demonstrate a trick on a trapeze that was set up in the room (he failed to complete the maneuver).
Rock Hudson, 25, and Piper Laurie, 18, got creative for a 1950 costume ball, which were all the rage in Hollywood at the time. Hudson is dressed as the Wild Man of Borneo and Laurie as Circe, the mythical character who turned humans into beasts. The photo was taken the year Laurie claimed she lost her virginity to Ronald Reagan, 21 years her senior, during the filming of Louisa.
In 1959, a young Burt Reynolds (just 23) and Lori Nelson (How to Marry a Millionaire) attended clothier Sy Devore’s costume ball as infants. Reynolds made his television debut in Riverboat that year.