Toast of the Town

"THE TOAST OF THE TOWN"-aka-"THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW"-Produced by CBS-TV. First Telecast of the Series: June 20, 1948; Last Telecast of the Series: June 6, 1971 The Black and White Episodes: 1948-1965; The Color Episodes(Telecast): 1965-1971. *** This was television's longest-running variety show that was in fact a Sunday Night institution for the 23 years that it ran for the CBS Television Network. This was a hugely successful variety program that really put the spotlight on some of the greatest entertainment acts of the 20th Century. In other words,the ultimate variety show and this was the show that set the standard for other variety-oriented shows that were to follow,and to put it bluntly,Ed Sullivan was one of the founding forefathers of the variety show concept,and he was not only the master of his craft,but a living legend in the history of television. This was the program that was the family get-together every Sunday evening and this was a show that had it all....where you saw a mixture of variety acts which consisted of comedy,music,drama,and animal acts and not to mention poetry,all in one brilliant hour-long show. From its premiere episode on June 20,1948,Ed Sullivan's first television program consisted a headliner-which featured the comedy duo of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin(making their television debut)along with composers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The format for the show was soon established and it would set the standard for his show for the next three decades. Sullivan would tried to present something to please everyone each week. Thus a typical evening's fare might include an "acrobatic act","a couple of comics","a recording star","an aria by an operatic performer",and "the best of Broadway" not to mention ballet and folk tunes from other countries.

In perspective,Ed Sullivan knew talent when he saw it and did his best to promote it that is if you made a big impression and if you did that,he would have you on his own show. From some of the thousands of performers who would make their mark on his show that would appear from time to time,ranging from Bob Hope to Frank Sinatra to Albert Schweitzer and other notables making their television debuts on The Ed Sullivan Show were Irving Berlin,Cab Calloway,Louis Armstrong,Nat King Cole, Victor Borge,Hedy Lamarr,Walt Disney,Fred Astaire and Jane Powell not to mention Hollywood greats like Peter O'Toole,Clark Gable,and John Wayne. Two acts however,deserve special attention,for they attracted some of the largest television audiences of the time:Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Elvis Presley made three appearances on Ed Sullivan's show and the ratings were the highest ever recorded for a weekly variety show in the history of television. His first appearance on September 9,1956,featured Presley singing the hits,"Don't Be Cruel","Love Me Tender",and "Hound Dog". He appeared again in two more shows on October 28,1956 and his last appearance on the show was January 6, 1957. Also it should be noted that Ed Sullivan was the first television host to feature African-American performers on his program,which at a time when network programming would not allow. It was during the decade of the 1950's and throughout the 1960's that Ed Sullivan introduced a lot of African-American talent on his show,especially during the early years of his show where he brought on such greats as Louis Armstrong,Cab Calloway,Nat King Cole,and such great rock and roll legends as Fats Domino,Little Richard,Chuck Berry,and not to mention some of the greatest groups of all time like The Five Satins, The Platters featuring Tony Williams,and newcomers at the time like Sam Cooke,Jackie("Mr. Excitement")Wilson,and Frankie Lymon. But the most famous of all of the talented African-American groups came from Motown,and Ed Sullivan during the 1960's had a lot of them on his show. The most successful of the Motown groups of the era consisted of Diana Ross and The Supremes,whom by the way made four appearances on Ed's show not to mention others like The Temptations,Stevie Wonder,The Jackson Five,The Four Tops,Martha and The Vandellas,The Miracles featuring Smokey Robinson,Marvin Gaye,and so much more. And lets not forget some famous performers that became famous almost overnight,thanks to Ed Sullivan. Other talented African-American performers included Della Reese,Ray Charles,James Brown,Pearl Bailey,opera singer Leontyne Price,and other groups like The Fifth Dimension and along with Broadway sensation Leslie Uggams,and singers Dionne Warwick,Aretha Franklin,Gladys Knight and so many more.

The biggest event of The Ed Sullivan Show came on February 9,1964. On that magical night,73 million viewers,and the ratings soared overnight,the highest ratings ever recorded in the history of the program and to the executives over at CBS,saw one of the breathtaking events ever presented in the history of television. On the magical night audiences saw for the first time four young individuals from Liverpool, England change the course of music history. On the television sets,audiences were tuned in when Ed Sullivan utter these words:

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN..................THE BEATLES!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The rest they say is history. However,The Beatles would make three appearances on Ed's show from their first appearance in February of 1964 to the last appearance in March of 1965. This was the start of the British Invasion,and his show had them all....From The Rolling Stones, Garry and the Pacemakers,The Zombies,The Animals,The Kinks,to legends like Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield were making their mark on the Ed Sullivan Show,and it opened the floodgates for more British rock groups,and more important,rock acts became a regular feature of the show for the remainder of its run. This was also the setting for its non-British acts too like The Girl Groups like The Ronettes,to Lesley Gore and not to mention others like The Beach Boys and country music singers was added in some of the segments. There was also some controversial groups as well that appear on the show. In 1967,Jim Morrison's The Doors make an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and the censors and studio executives at CBS were watching. In 1971,due to low ratings,The Ed Sullivan Show was cancelled.

I used to watch this program sometimes when I was growing up. Technically,of course, it is light years out of date--no flashy special effects, no elaborate staging, nothing except a host that acts like either a marble statue come to life, or a cold fish (take your choice!), and singers(pop and otherwise), actors, dancers, comedians, classical music virtuosos (such as then 13-year old Itzhak Perlman) and acrobats simply "doing their thing".

I took it for granted then. I didn't realize that we were sometimes seeing rare, priceless footage that we would seldom, if ever, see again in the future, and that it contained such gems as original cast performers singing the hit songs from legendary Broadway classics such as "My Fair Lady", "West Side Story", "Camelot", and "Man of La Mancha"-in full costume, yet. I always thought, "Well,we have the albums,and there's no reason these segments wouldn't be rerun someday. Besides,we'll have the film versions of the shows,so who needs to be so eager to catch the Broadway performers?"

How wrong I was.

Because, up until the advent of video remastering and restoration, and the invention of the VCR, these shows disappeared, apparently gathering dust in the CBS archives because modern-day programming and technology had made them seem so old-fashioned. Now they are back. Some years ago,Disney had the foresight to issue a video called "The Best of Broadway Musicals from the Ed Sullivan Show", and this priceless tape, which has since been transferred to DVD, contained Julie Andrews singing "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?", Andrews and Richard Burton singing "What Do The Simple Folk Do?", Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert singing "Tonight",Richard Kiley singing "The Impossible Dream",etc. And recently, when Ed Sullivan was broadcast on Nick-At-Nite,not only was Kiley shown singing this song, but we were also given the rare treat of seeing the original Aldonza/Dulcinea, Joan Diener, singing the lovely "What Does He Want of Me", a song omitted from the film version of "Man of La Mancha".

That is the kind of program this was.

What everyone remembers are the Beatles and Elvis. What they forget is what people were forced to sit through.

This was before Tivo, videotape, or streaming. The only way to see the classic performances was to sit through 40 minutes of tedious bad circus performers, over the hill vaudeville comics with jokes that were old before you were born, and corny schmaltzy over the top "singers."

If you had to work, or even ran to the bathroom, you missed it. This also means even the greatest performances on Sullivan became badly overrated. The Beatles were amazing songwriters, but as live performers were just slightly better than average. Elvis was amazing live, that is, before his Vegas days. But on Sullivan they notoriously censored him from the waist down.

So watch, but be prepared to fast forward a lot. A lot. You'll finish a 40 minute episode in seven minutes.

I watched a video of the Ed Sullivan show. It was entitled "Red, White, and Blue." It was a patriotic compiled tape which everybody in America should own. I was born after the show's cancellation so I never saw the original. But I can tell you after watching this tape, it was probably one of the best television shows of all time. In this tape, they have the great Henry Fonda doing the first Lincoln address. Dame Judith Anderson reciting the Gettysburg Address. Carl Sandburg offers the Lincoln Birthday address and the great Charlton Heston gives the second Lincoln inauguration speech. There are great musical numbers with Dale Evans, the West Point crew, and Kate Smith singing "God Bless America." They also have Joel Grey singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Grey's not James Cagney but it's worth seeing. This short video tape is only an hour long from Sofa Entertainment. Now if you are a history teacher, an American patriot, American lover, or just patriotic, this tape is worth the money. I bought 2 copies and gave it to history teachers that I know of. It's also worth buying for your home.

It was officially called "Toast of the Town", but to most of us it was simply "The Ed Sullivan Show." If I recall correctly, it came on Sunday nights, in glorious black and white. We always looked forward to seeing his show. Sullivan himself was not much to look at, in fact it is safe to say most would consider him 'funny looking.' Nor did he have a particularly good speaking voice. One of his catch phrases, 'we're going to have a really big show' came out 'a really big shoe.' That's the way he pronounced words. But regardless of his personal lack of charisma, Ed Sullivan knew how to bring in the big stars.

One of them was Elvis Presley before he became wildly popular. In fact, being on the Ed Sullivan show was perhaps the biggest springboard to his success. But there was a problem with Elvis, his hips moved just too much, were considered far too suggestive for this family program, so the TV cameras showed Elvis only above the waist.

Ed Sullivan also got the Beatles in the early 1960s, when they were still relatively unknown in the USA. I don't know if he was the first, but his show certainly went a long way towards introducing America to this group from England. And the rest, as they say, is 'history'!!