75 YEARS AGO: The Ed Sullivan Show

I've dabbled on Edward Vincent Sullivan in the past, so for nostalgic Tuesday will feature him. To begin, did you know this stiff, dour and awkward host was kind of good looking when younger? Said Alan King: Ed Sullivan can't sing, can't dance and can't tell a joke, but he does it better than anyone else.

Actually, he was quite an athlete in high school and went on to become a sportswriter in Philadelphia, then moved to New York to cover Broadway and entertainment, transitioning to radio. His first TV show was Toast of the Town in 1948, where he introduced a concert pianist, boxing referee, singing fireman, Richard Rogers/Oscar Hammerstein II and Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis.

Later called the Ed Sullivan Show, it had a 23-year run when many families spent Sunday nights, including mine, watching his acts. Became known to highlight black performers, but the primary attraction was a hodge-podge of Elvis, Señor Wences, Beatles (appeared 4 separate times) and Topo Gigio and the like.

Said Harriet Van Horne of a local newspaper in New York: Sullivan got to where he is by having no personality; he is the commonest common denominator. He responded: Dear Miss Van Horne. You Bitch. Sincerely. Ed Sullivan.

Nearly a decade ago I said today is the 50th Anniversary of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. In that article I showed a photo of screaming girls. I then followed with what two of them looked like in 2014. They are now almost ten years older.

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Finally, it's summer! Here from Rolling Stone are the 50 Best Summer Songs of All Time:

#21 is Eddie Cochran's Summertime Blues, from 1958 when I left Hawaii for the first time for college.
#1 is Chic's Good Times, from 1979. Did you know this was an 8m 20s song? Disco was at a peak that year with up to 20,000 disco nightclubs in the U.S., while I went off to work for the U.S. Senate. Wow, 44 years ago.

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