SUNDAY NIGHT WITH ED SULLIVAN

On July 21, Netflix debuted a new documentary, Sunday Best:  The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan.  I still remember growing up of watching the Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights.  So, as last night was Sunday night, I watched this new production.

• This all began as a radio program, Summer Silver Theater, that first aired on CBS in 1932, then in 1941, hosted by Ed Sullivan.
• This was first 15-minute gossipy talk-and-interview shows of Jack Benny Irving Berlin, Florenz Ziegfeld, etc.
• When it returned in 1941, it was called the Ed Sullivan Variety on CBS.
• From 1943-1944 as Ed Sullivan Entertains, a variety show on CBS.
• Then in 1946 as Ed Sullivan's Pipelines, a 15-minute program on the Blue Network.

• 
  Finally, television.
• Toast of the Town on 20June1948.
• This first program featured comedians Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, singer Monica Lewis and Broadway composers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II previewing the score to their then-new show, South Pacific.

• 
  This Broadway show opened in 1949 with Enzio Pinza and Mary Martin.  South Pacific won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950.
• Toast of the Town was in the 9-10PM slot Eastern Time in Year One on CBS every Sunday night.
• Moved to 8-9PM from 1949 to 1955.

• 
  Name change to The Ed Sullivan Show on 25September1955.
• In 1968,  on the 20th anniversary, the TV home of the show on 1697 Broadway, at 53rd Street, was renamed the Ed Sullivan Theater.

• 
  The final show, number 1068, was on 20March1971.
• The theater was later used by the Late Show, now with Stephen Colbert.
• Sunday night with Ed Sullivan became the family ritual of gathering around the television for many, including mine.

Ed Sullivan had a conscience and morality, especially on civil rights, that defied the norms of the day.

• Born Edward Vincent Sullivan on 28September1901 in Harlem, New York City of Irish descent.
• Was a star athlete in High school, playing halfback on the football team, guard in basketball, catcher in baseball and sprinter with track team.  Won 12 athletics letters.
• Sometimes his team played away in Connecticut, which used black players.  This is where he found out how gifted they were.
• Went straight from high school into newspaper work, later into sports writing, then joined the city's largest tabloid, the New York Daily News when he was 28 years old.
• At 34 wrote and starred in the film, Mr. Broadway.  Click on that to see the only surviving 5-minutes of this lost film.  You'll see him, also Bert Lahr and Jack Benny.
• This experience made him a competitor to Walter Winchell.

About Ed Sullivan and his shows.

• Television critics gave his shows poor reviews.
• 1948:  Harriet Van Horne alleged that "he got where he is not by having a personality, but by having no personality." (The host wrote to the critic, "Dear Miss Van Horne: You bitch. Sincerely, Ed Sullivan.")

• 
  Time magazine was especially critical.
• In 1955:  Sullivan resembled "a cigar-store Indian, the Cardiff Giant and a stone-faced monument just off the boat from Easter Island.
• Then in 1967:   His mannerisms on camera were so awkward that some viewers believed the host suffered from Bell's palsy.^[14]  He moves like a sleepwalker; his smile is that of a man sucking a lemon; his speech is frequently lost in a thicket of syntax; his eyes pop from their sockets or sink so deep in their bags that they seem to be peering up at the camera from the bottom of twin wells."^[15]

• 
  "Yet," the magazine concluded, "instead of frightening children, Ed Sullivan charms the whole family."
• Read this article today released by Time mgazine about The True Story Behind Netflix's Ed Sullivan Documentary, Sunday Best.
• 
  Said frequent guest Alan King, "Ed does nothing, but he does it better than anyone else in television."^[16]
• A typical show would feature a vaudeville act (such as acrobats, jugglers or magicians), one or two popular comedians, a singing star, a figure from the legitimate theater, an appearance by puppet Topo Gigio or a popular athlete. The bill was often international in scope, with many European performers appearing along with the American artists.
• Missed scooping him, but had Elvis on his show in 1956 three times.

• 
  Witnessed Beatlemania on TV, so signed the group for an appearance on 9February1964.  Became the most-watched program in TV history to that point.  Beatles returned 3 more times.
• The Dave Clark Five, a "cleaner" Beatles group from the UK, appeared 13 times on Sullivan's show.
• Color came in 1965.

• 
  Maybe most significantly, he had a special appreciation for Black entertainers, and from the early 1950s, long before it became fashionable, brought in Black legends you never heard of, like Peg Leg Bates, Pigmeat Markham and Tim Moore, and, of course, those you did, like Louis Armstrong, Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis Jr, Bo Diddley, the Platters, Fats Domino and numerous Motown acts, including the Supremes 17 times.

• 
  He dared to shake hands with Nat King Cole  and kiss Pearl Bailey on her cheek.
• Got a lot of heat from the South, especially auto dealers selling Ford Lincolns, who sponsored him.
• Sullivan survived.

• 
  Also embraced something the nation had not early on, country and western music, paving the way for Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell and other CW singers.
• Brought in performers from throughout the world.  Canadian comedy duo Wayne and Shuster make the most appearances of any act, 67 times.

• 
  Had a difficult early marriage (with her family) because he was Catholic and his wife Sylvia was Jewish, but she became his closest critic and partner, and they had a daughter Betty, who married Bob Precht, the show's producer.  Sylvia passed away in 1973.
• He began to suffer from dementia in his later years and became forgetful.  Passed away from esophageal cancer in 1974.  Was a lifelong smoker.
• Many friends, including U.S. presidents, and had audiences with popes.

Following up on the feud between Stephen Colbert and Donald Trump (you need to go to the end of this posting), according to Time magazine:  

Stephen Colbert Is Practically Daring CBS to Shut Him Down Early

A tropical depression formed just south of Hawaii yesterday.  Today we have Hurricane Iona at 75 MPH, but expected to strengthen into a Category 2 later tomorrow.  Thankfully, Iona is sufficiently south of Honolulu, and is scheduled to keep moving east and away from the state.

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