Recently I
watched one of the best documentaries I have seen in years. I knew very little
about Ed Sullivan and his show, since he went off the air 2 years after I was
born. When I think of his show, I think of the iconic appearances by The
Beatles in the 1960s and Elvis in the 1950s. I have seen clips of The Doors and
The Rolling Stones appearing on his show as well. Censorship played a role on
this show. Elvis was to be shot only from the waist up, due to his gyrating
hips. The Doors were instructed to change the lyric “Girl we couldn’t get much
higher” to “Girl, we couldn’t get much better.” Jim Morrison originally said he
would do this, but on the show he sang the original lyric, which was viewed as
a drug reference. The Doors were banned from doing the show again. The Rolling
Stones were told not to sing “Let’s spend the night together” and change it to “Let’s
spend some time together.” Mich Jagger gave in, but he rolled his eyes as he
sang the sanitized lyrics. For 23 years,
from 1948 to 1971, The Ed Sullivan Show yielded high ratings for CBS, every
Sunday night.
Sullivan was
born in Harlem New York in 1901. At that point, the neighborhood was largely
Jewish and Irish, with Sullivan being the latter. These groups faced
discrimination, and Sullivan was one who wanted to stick up for the underdog
during his lifetime.
He worked as
a newspaper columnist and a radio host before getting into television. His
delivery on television was awkward, but he gained a following as someone who provided
a forum for all people via his variety show. Many comedians did impressions of
his unique posture and peculiar way of talking, including John Byner, Rich
Little, Johnny Carson and Joan Rivers.
Even when it
was controversial in the 1950s, especially in the Southern states, Sullivan
welcomed many black performers to his stage. Over the years, his show featured Bo
Diddley, Fats Domino, Nat King Cole, Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey and Motown
artists such as Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five and The Supremes. Sullivan said
he despised intolerance since as an Irish Catholic he had faced that in his
life. So, Sullivan was an important figure in the civil rights movement.
Sullivan’s
show went off the air in 1971 and he died in 1974. His venue was named the Ed
Sullivan Theater and was the home of David Letterman and Stephen Colbert’s late-night
programs.
