A former boxer, Sullivan began his media work as a newspaper
sportswriter. When
Walter Winchell, one of the original gossip columnists and the most powerful entertainment reporter of his day, left the newspaper for the Hearst syndicate, Sullivan took over as theater columnist for
The New York Graphic
</bgref> and later for
The New York Daily News. His column concentrated on
Broadway shows and gossip, as Winchell's had and, like Winchell, he also did show business news broadcasts on radio. Sullivan soon became a powerful starmaker in the entertainment world himself, becoming one of Winchell's main rivals, setting the
El Morocco nightclub in New York as his unofficial headquarters against Winchell's seat of power at the nearby
Stork Club. Sullivan continued writing for
The News throughout his broadcasting career and his popularity long outlived that of Winchell.
In 1948, the CBS network hired Sullivan to do a weekly Sunday night TV
variety show, Toast of the Town, which later became
The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was broadcast from CBS Studio 50 on Broadway in New York City, which in 1967 was renamed the
Ed Sullivan Theater (and is now the home of
The Late Show with David Letterman).
Sullivan himself had little acting ability; his mannerisms on camera were somewhat awkward and often caricatured by comedians who called him "Old Stone Face," owing to his deadpan delivery. Columnist
Harriet Van Horne alleged that "he got where he is not by having a personality, but by having no personality."
Somehow, Sullivan still seemed to fit the show; he appeared to the audience as an average guy who brought the great acts of show business to their home televisions. ("He will last," comedian and frequent guest
Alan King was quoted as saying, "as long as someone else has talent.") Sullivan had a healthy sense of humor about himself and permitted—even encouraged—impersonators such as
John Byner, Frank Gorshin, Rich Little and especially
Will Jordan to imitate him on his show.
Johnny Carson also did a fair impression. The impressionists exaggerated his stiffness, raised shoulders, and nasal tenor phrasing, along with some of his commonly used introductions, such as "And now, right here on our stage..." and "For all you youngsters out there...". Will Jordan has portrayed Sullivan in
I Wanna Hold Your Hand, The Buddy Holly Story, The Doors, Mr. Saturday Night, Down With Love, and in the 1979 TV Movie "Elvis"
In the 1950s and 1960s, Sullivan was a respected starmaker because of the number of performers that became household names after appearing on the show. He had a knack for identifying and promoting top talent and paid a great deal of money to secure that talent for his show.
There was another side to Sullivan: he could be very quick to take offense if he felt he had been crossed and could hold a grudge for a long time. This could unfortunately be seen as a T.V personality. Jackie Mason, Bo Diddley, and The Doors became intimately familiar with Sullivan's negative side, as did Buddy Holly.
On November 20, 1955, Bo Diddley was asked by Sullivan to sing Tennessee Ernie Ford's hit "Sixteen Tons." Come air time, Diddley sang his #2 hit song "Bo Diddley." He was banned from the show.
Jackie Mason was banned from the series in 1962. Sullivan gestured that Mason should wrap things up and Sullivan believed Mason replied on live television with the finger. (Videotapes of the incident are inconclusive as to whether Mason's waving hand was intended to be the gesture, but Sullivan's body language immediately afterward made it clear that he was convinced of it.)<bgref>CBS special, <i>The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show</bgref>
The Doors were banned in
1967 after they were asked to remove the lyric "Girl, we couldn't get much higher" from their song "
Light My Fire" (CBS censors believed that it was too overt a reference to
drug use.) but sang the song with the lyrics intact.
On January 26, 1958, in their second appearance on </i>The Ed Sullivan Show
, Buddy Holly and the Crickets were scheduled to perform two songs. During the afternoon they were summoned to rehearsal at short notice, but only Buddy Holly was in their dressing room at the time and when asked where the others were, replied 'I don't know. No telling'. Sullivan took offence, cut them from two songs to one, and when introducing them mispronounced Holly's name as 'Hollard'. In addition, during their one song, "Oh Boy," the sound from Holly's electric guitar was turned down. Holly got his own back by playing a dramatic but quite inaudible guitar solo, making clear to the audience that the show had, at the least, technical problems. The band was not invited back. Film of the performance survives.
The Rolling Stones were a different story; they were forced to change the chorus of "Let's Spend the Night Together" to "Let's Spend Some Time Together." Lead singer Mick Jagger deliberately called attention to this censorship by rolling his eyes and mugging when he uttered the new words.
Moe Howard of the Three Stooges recalled in 1975 that Sullivan had a memory problem of sorts:
<blockquote>
Ed was a very nice man, but for a showman, quite forgetful. On our first appearance, he introduced us as the Three
Ritz Brothers. He got out of it by adding, "who look more like the Three Stooges to me."
</blockquote>
Unlike many shows of the time, Sullivan asked that musical acts perform their music live, rather than lip-synching to their recordings. Some of these performances have recently been issued on CD.
The act that appeared most frequently through the show's run was the comedy duo of
Wayne & Shuster making a total of sixty-seven appearances between 1958 and 1969.
In
1961, Sullivan was asked by
CBS to fill in for an ailing
Red Skelton on
The Red Skelton Show. He performed some of Skelton's characters successfully. One character was renamed "Eddie the Freeloader" (normally "Freddie the Freeloader").
In August of
1956, Sullivan was injured in an automobile accident that occurred near his country home in
Southbury, Connecticut. Sullivan had to take a medical leave from the show, missing the
September 8 appearance of
Elvis Presley (something he earlier had stated never would happen; on a later Presley appearance, Sullivan made amends by telling his audience, "This is a real decent fine boy.") The fact he had to play catch-up to featuring such a star on his show made him determined to get the next big sensation first. In
1964, he achieved that with the first live American appearance of
The Beatles, on
February 9, 1964, the most-watched program in TV history to that point, and remains one of the most-watched programs of all time. The Beatles appeared several more times on the Sullivan show; Sullivan struck up such a rapport with the Beatles that he agreed to introduce them at their
Shea Stadium concerts in August 1965.
In the fall of 1965, CBS began televising the weekly programs in RCA's compatible color process. Although the show was seen live in the Central and Eastern time zones, it was taped for airing in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. Fortunately, most of the taped programs (as well as some early kinescopes) have been preserved and excerpts have been released on home video, taken from specials hosted by
Carol Burnett.
Sullivan paid for the funeral of dancer
Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson out of his own pocket. He also defied pressure to exclude
African American musicians from appearing on his show. In 1969, Sullivan presented the
Jackson 5 with their first single "
I Want You Back", which ousted
B. J. Thomas's "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" from the top spot of Billboard's pop charts.
At a time when television had not yet embraced
country and western music, Sullivan was adamant about featuring
Nashville performers on his program. This insistence paved the way for shows such as "
Hee Haw" and variety shows hosted by country singers like
Johnny Cash and
Glen Campbell.
By
1971, the show was no longer in television's top 20. New CBS executives, who wanted to attract younger viewers, canceled the show along with virtually all of the network's oldest shows. Sullivan was so upset and angry he refused to do a final show, although he did return to CBS for several TV specials and a 25th anniversary show in 1973. One year later, the man known as "Old Stone Face" died of
esophageal cancer at age 73 at New York's
Lenox Hill Hospital, coincidentally on a Sunday night. His funeral was attended by 3,000 at
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York on a cold, rainy day. Sullivan is interred in a crypt at the
Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
Sullivan was married to the former Sylvia Weinstein from
April 28, 1930, until her death on
March 16, 1973. They had a daughter. Sullivan was in the habit of calling Sylvia after every program to get her immediate critique.
Sullivan has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Blvd.
rss feed