Enough about Ed Sullivan, he couldn’t sing dance or tell jokes, and he certainly couldn’t act! Now his show is another story. Recently I was watching a Channel 13 fund raising attempt, where they make you feel guilty if you don’t join, then play something you really like, stop it for a while and bore you with another endless appeal. The people who do the appeal are usually old news who like to reminisce about what is being featured, will talk like an authority on it, and I miss it all, because I went to the bathroom!
Thank God for picture-in-picture! I usually put on something else while the appeal is being made, then when they return to the good part, I return through the miracle of picture-in-picture. Life is good!
I always hated the Ed Sullivan show because it was part of my Sunday evening blues. The thought that the weekend was over, school or work was within hours, and if it was winter, that made it even worse. I usually stayed until the final roll of credits faded to black, then and only then did I cede that the weekend was over.
There were some acts that I enjoyed however, Topo Gigio the mouse, The Beatles when they appeared or some of the Rock AND Roll bands of the 60’s. All entertained me, and of course there was Stiller and Meara, a great team if ever there was one. Funny how acts like Jonathan Winters, Shelly Berman, Tony Bennett and such all owe their success in part to Ed Sullivan. Yet in spite of Ed’s liberal attempts at introducing controversial acts like the doors and Jim Morrison, the show still adhered to such craziness as demanding that Jim Morrison NOT use the word “Higher” in his lyrics, because of the prevailing drug culture! Censorship was not dead on the Ed Sullivan show.
Old Ed had a running feud with Walter Winchell, and in 1932 as a New York newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan became a show business personality, he was hired by the CBS network as a potential rival for radio and newspaper commentator Walter Winchell, Sullivan took to the air with a heady combination of gossip and entertainment. Among the future radio luminaries introduced on Sullivan's program were Jack Benny and Jack Pearl (aka Baron Munchhausen). So, the switch from radio to TV was a seamless transition!
1 comment:
Ed's show was a Sunday night institution. Besides great acts like the ones you mentioned, he also threw in bizzare acts like Polish acrobats, fat opera singers, and Canadian comics Sandler and Young who never once made me laugh. His critics said Ed had no talent, but his real talent was showcasing the talents of others.
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