The Ed Sullivan Show

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The Dave Clark Five performed more times on the show than any other British act.
Cancelled in 1971 by CBS. The decision was a controversial one, since it was made at the end of the 1970-71 season and did not give Sullivan the opportunity to mount a farewell show after more than 20 years on the air. Sullivan would return for a few specials over the next year, however. The Canadian comedy duo of Johnny Wayne & Frank Shuster appeared on the show more often than any other act - nearly 80 appearances.
Elvis Presley made three appearances on the show. However, for the third and final one he was shot from the waist up to keep from showing his swiveling hips.
The series was re-titled "The Ed Sullivan Show" on 18 September 1955 (the beginning of the 9th season).
On 11 August 2009 the US Postal Service issued a pane of twenty 44¢ commemorative postage stamps honoring early USA television programs. A booklet with 20 picture postal cards was also issued. The stamp honoring "The Ed Sullivan Show" (which began as The Ed Sullivan Show) has a picture of its star/host, Ed Sullivan. Other shows honored in the Early TV Memories issue were: The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), "The Dinah Shore Show" (1951), Dragnet (1951), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Hopalong Cassidy, The Honeymooners, "The Howdy Doody Show" (original title: "Puppet Playhouse" (1947)), I Love Lucy, Kukla, Fran and Ollie, Lassie, The Lone Ranger (1949), Perry Mason, The Phil Silvers Show, The Red Skelton Show, "Texaco Star Theater" (titled The Milton Berle Show, 1954-1956), The Tonight Show (which began as "Tonight!" (1953)), The Twilight Zone (1959), and You Bet Your Life (1950).
This show was canceled, due to Fred Silverman's infamous "Rural Purge" in 1971. Silverman thought that the show, along with other sitcoms, such as The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and Hogan's Heroes only appealed to people who lived in rural areas as well as older audiences, especially senior citizens.
From 1950 until the end of its run in 1971, the show was always telecast in the same time slot, Sunday nights at 8:00 P.M. CBS broadcast it during its entire run.
Voted #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
Television debut of Mae West, who is among the celebrities introduced that are seated in the audience.
This marks the first US-American television appearance of British comedian Terry-Thomas.
The Honeymooners sketch, 'Ring Salesman', was originally performed on the 7 Dec 1951 episode of Cavalcade of Stars on the DuMont TV network.
The Honeymooners sketch, 'Ralph and Alice Get Dressed for a Date Last Night', was originally presented on the 30 Nov 1951 episode of Cavalcade of Stars on the DuMont TV Network. It would prove to be Pert Kelton's last performance as Alice.
Ed Sullivan did not appear this week. He was hospitalized for ulcers. CBS tapped 'Jackie Gleason' to appear as Guest Host.
The show was a celebration of MGM's 30th anniversary, and featured appearances by many past and present MGM stars and executives.
Lucy and Desi appeared live on this 8-9 PM Eastern CBS show, then appeared live on another CBS show, ''What's My Line?,'' an hour and a half later at 10:30 PM Eastern.
Orson Welles' production of King Lear had recently closed in New York City after only 21 performances. The production had many problems, not least Welles injuring both ankles and having to play the role in a wheelchair for most of the short run.
Goddard Lieberman, president of Columbia Records, appeared on stage to present Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe with gold record plaques commemorating the sale of 1.000.000 original cast "My Fair Lady" albums.
This episode includes one of the first televised performances of selections from "The Sound of Music", which had opened on Broadway about a month before the telecast.
This was the first episode of "See America with Ed Sullivan." It was planned to showcase a different city once a month, this episode focused on San Francisco. After the November 6, 1960 episode, which featured Chicago, Sullivan pulled the plug on the idea since he didn't feel they had enough time to properly exploit each city's attractions in the time allowed to prepare the telecasts.
Chita Rivera's TV debut.
This episode, a tribute to Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, featured a fifteen-minute sequence of songs from "Camelot", performed in full costume by the original Broadway cast, only three months after the show opened in New York. "Camelot", which had been failing because of mixed reviews, instantly became a smash hit after television audiences saw this Ed Sullivan episode and rushed out to buy tickets to the musical the next day.
Guest host Roberta Peters takes over for 'Ed Sullivan' who is sick with virus.
This Ed Sullivan Show (4/14/63) from London, featured British singer Sir Cliff Richard backed by The Shadows. Interestingly, The Beatles, possibly unknown to Ed at that time, would debut on The Ed Sullivan Show 10 months later. The Beatles had scheduled appearances at Albert Hall (4/18/63), Thank Your Lucky Stars (UK) (a British TV show) (4/20/63) and Wembley Arena (4/21/63).
All audience members that attended this performance were given a promotional copy of Connie Francis' record album "Award Winning Motion Picture Hits". This album became a rare collector's item as this promotional copy was packaged in a black and white album sleeve depicting Connie and commemorating her appearance on the show.
When the Beatles appeared on CBS on February 9, 1964 this episode became most watched episode or event of all time until eclipsed by the finale of The Fugitive (1963) in 1967. The episode was watched by 23.24 million households or 45.3% with a Neilsen share of 60%.
A segment of the National Public Radio series "This American Life" profiles the experiences of husband-and-wife team Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall who had had a struggling nightclub act when they were booked for this very show. McCall and Brill, who had never heard of the Beatles (and did not recognize John Lennon) found their opportunity to appear on national television overwhelmed by the Beatles' presence that same night. The episode of "This American Life" in which their story is recounted is entitled, appropriately, "My Big Break".
During one of their songs, the four members of The Beatles have their first names posted on-screen. After Paul, Ringo and George, John's name appears on screen as "John - Sorry girls, he's married".
As customary at the time, commercial breaks were much shorter at the time this program first aired. This may be seen on the DVD of the Beatles's appearances on the show, in which all of the original commercials are included. Only one commercial is shown on each break, not the multitude of commercials thrown at TV audiences today each time a program goes to a break.
73 million TVs were tuned in to watch.
Before The Beatles made their first appearance on the show (on their first visit to America, in early 1964), manager Brian Epstein and host Sullivan made some careful negotiations. Epstein wanted the show to cover the band's flight expenses to New York and back, and in return Sullivan wanted more than one appearance. In the end, the Beatles performed for three weeks running (two live and one pretaped), making visits to Washington DC and Miami in between.