The Ed Sullivan Show is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan . It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie .
119-464: In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked No. 15 on TV Guide ' s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time . In 2013, the series finished No. 31 in TV Guide Magazine's 60 Best Series of All Time. From 1948 until its cancellation in 1971, the show ran on CBS every Sunday night from 8–9 p.m. Eastern Time , and it is one of the few entertainment shows to have run in the same weekly time slot on
238-498: A Saturday in 1968. When CBS bought the film back from NBC in 1976, it again began to beat episodes of Disney in the ratings. It pre-empted Disney on one more occasion, after the series moved to that network in the early 1980s. In 2006, the first year it was shown on TV in high-definition , the film placed No. 11 in the Nielsen ratings among cable television programs for the week of November 11. From 1968 to 1984, minor cuts were made to
357-428: A blue card featuring a painting of a rainbow and the title The Wizard of Oz was shown on the screen while the night's pre-empted programs or programs to be shown at regular time following the movie and the sponsors were being announced, and immediately before and after commercial breaks. In the 1980s clips from the film shown on a red background with title was shown at the start, while a still of Emerald City with title
476-458: A complete version of " For Sentimental Reasons ". Cooke had been cut off four weeks earlier during a live performance of " You Send Me " as the show's allotted time expired, causing an outrage among television audiences. Sullivan rebooked Cooke for the December 1 show to overwhelming success. Between 1966 and 1971, Jim Henson performed some of his Muppet characters on the show. The characters made
595-507: A demanding rider . In late 1963, Sullivan and his entourage happened also to be passing through Heathrow and witnessed how the Beatles ' fans greeted the group on their return from Stockholm, where they had performed a television show as warmup band to local stars Suzie and Lill Babs . Sullivan was intrigued, telling his entourage it was the same thing as Elvis all over again. He initially offered Beatles manager Brian Epstein top dollar for
714-480: A modern living room as himself. Danny Kaye reassured viewers not to panic when the film began in black-and-white rather than in color, and encouraged young viewers not to be afraid of the roaring MGM lion at the beginning of the film. No directors or writers were credited for the hosting sequences, just as none are credited for hosting segments prior to films on Turner Classic Movies. The Wizard of Oz did not become an annual television tradition immediately — only after
833-441: A note which the host read live on air. The group's last appearance on Sullivan's program was via prerecorded promotional clips of their songs " Two of Us " and " Let It Be ", broadcast on the show on the first day of March in 1970. Although both videos were recorded in late January 1969, the delay was due to the band's dissatisfaction with the tedious Let It Be album sessions and the group's impending break-up . In all probability,
952-480: A single show but the Beatles manager had a better idea – he wanted exposure for his clients: the Beatles would instead appear three times on the show, for only a minimal fee, but receive top billing and two spots (opening and closing) on each show. The Beatles appeared on three consecutive Sundays in February 1964 to great anticipation and fanfare as " I Want to Hold Your Hand " had swiftly risen to No. 1 in
1071-599: A slow demise for a generation, Sullivan presented many ex-vaudevillians on his show. Originally co-created and produced by Marlo Lewis , the show was first titled Toast of the Town , but was widely referred to as The Ed Sullivan Show for years before September 25, 1955, when that became its official name. In the show's June 20, 1948, debut, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis performed along with singer Monica Lewis and Broadway composers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II previewing
1190-439: A sponsor paid for a film or program to be shown in color. During this period, the competing network NBC was owned by RCA , which by 1960 manufactured 95% of the color sets sold in the U.S. Hence, CBS perceived that increased use of color broadcasting would primarily benefit its rival by promoting sales of RCA color television sets. Not until the fall of 1965 did color broadcasts play a major role at CBS and ABC, at which time half
1309-504: A temporary "fad" of mostly live family-oriented specials based on fantasy tales, such as Aladdin (1958), Alice in Wonderland (1955) (a live-action version), Rodgers and Hammerstein 's Cinderella (1957), The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957), and Pinocchio (1957, no relation to the Disney film). As part of this trend, CBS bought the rights from MGM to telecast The Wizard of Oz . For
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#17328450055641428-452: A total of 25 appearances. Henson's Muppets were introduced on The Ed Sullivan Show on September 18, 1966. Sullivan introduced the characters as "Jim, uh ... Newsom's puppets." The act featured a small ball of fur growing into the Rock and Roll Monster (performed by Jim Henson , Jerry Nelson , and Frank Oz ) with three heads and six arms lip-syncing to the unreleased song "Rock It to Me" by
1547-473: A two-hour running time without cutting it. However, The Wizard of Oz is now always shown complete and at its regular speed on television, both with and without commercials. When shown with ads, the film now runs about two hours and fifteen minutes, simply because of the increase in commercial time. The March 1991 showing was the first showing after the film gained protected status from the Library of Congress and
1666-498: A variety of advertisers. The first telecast of "Oz" was a presentation of Ford Star Jubilee and thus sponsored by Ford Motor Company and its dealers. In the ensuing years of 1959 thru 1967, the yearly telecast was sponsored by one primary sponsor with a co-sponsor. Perhaps the best remembered examples were the telecasts sponsored by Procter and Gamble and promoted when the company gave free premiums of hand puppets with packages of some of its most popular products. Many also remember
1785-404: Is the only one still being shown regularly. Following the 1956 premiere, there were no rebroadcasts of the film until 1959. The 1959–1962 broadcasts occurred during autumn, between Thanksgiving and Christmas . Beginning with the 1963–64 season, these special presentations were seen in the first quarter of the year as well as around Easter and Passover . The film was not broadcast in the U.S. in
1904-612: The Ed Sullivan Show . Chris remained the lead trumpet player with The Ed Sullivan show from the first show in 1948 to the last show in 1971. Trumpets : Chris Griffin, Bernie Privin, Jimmy Nottingham , and Thad Jones ; Chris's son Paul Griffin was a regular substitute trumpeter Trombones : Roland Dupont, Morton Bullman, Frank Rehak , and Cliff Heather Saxophones : Toots Mondello, Hymie Schertzer, Ed Zuhlke, et al Piano : Hank Jones Drums : Specs Powell /Howard Smith Percussion : Milton Schlesinger, who similarly played from
2023-488: The National Film Preservation Board . Networks opted to discontinue shortening the film by "micro-cutting" a few individual moments throughout the movie as they had done from the late 1960s to the early 1980s in order to make room for commercials and keep it in a two-hour broadcast. This extended the running time of the film from 8 P.M to 10:07 p.m. and sometimes it was extended even longer, depending on
2142-574: The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA): The chief difference is mostly one of pace. In those days, we had maybe six acts. Now we have 11 or 12. Then, each of our acts would do a leisurely ten minutes or so. Now they do two or three minutes. And in those early days I talked too much. Watching these kines I cringe. I look up at me talking away and I say "You fool! Keep quiet!" But I just keep on talking. I've learned how to keep my mouth shut. The show enjoyed phenomenal popularity in
2261-493: The Prime Time Access Rule taking effect that fall. Repeats were scheduled through June 6, 1971. Along with the new talent Sullivan booked each week, he also had recurring characters appear many times a season, such as his "Little Italian Mouse" puppet sidekick Topo Gigio , who debuted December 9, 1962, and ventriloquist Señor Wences debuted December 31, 1950. While most of the episodes aired live from New York City,
2380-405: The 1950s and early 1960s. As it had occurred with the annual telecasts of The Wizard of Oz in the 1960s and the 1970s, the family ritual of gathering around the television set to watch Ed Sullivan became almost a U.S. cultural universal. He was regarded as a kingmaker , and performers considered an appearance on his program as a guarantee of stardom, although this sometimes did not turn out to be
2499-540: The 1959 showing because of the earlier hour at which it was shown (6:00 P.M., E.S.T.). More children tuned into the broadcast, and it gained an even larger television audience than before with a Nielsen rating of 36.5 and an audience share of 58%. The 1959 telecast was especially welcomed by media critic John Crosby , who commented in the New York Herald Tribune , "Television — any television — looks awfully ordinary after The Wizard of Oz ". From 1959 until 1991,
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#17328450055642618-467: The 1970 telecast presented on NBC by Singer Manufacturing Company as a tribute to Judy Garland, who had died in June 1969. In later years, several different advertisers shared sponsorship; no one advertiser predominated. The showing in 1983 was the 25th network prime-time showing, a record then for any film or television special. In the first nine showings, all on CBS, The Wizard of Oz gained at least 49% of
2737-464: The 50th-anniversary telecast, CBS chose its hosts from its then-current prime time line-up. In 1959, the host was Red Skelton ( The Red Skelton Show ); in 1960 it was Richard Boone ( Have Gun – Will Travel ), in 1961 and 1962 it was Dick Van Dyke ( The Dick Van Dyke Show ), and from 1964 through 1967, it was Danny Kaye ( The Danny Kaye Show ). Skelton, Boone and Van Dyke brought their then-young children along to appear with them. Although
2856-765: The 5th Dimension , Ella Fitzgerald , the Four Tops , Dick Gregory , W. C. Handy , Lena Horne , the Jackson 5 , Mahalia Jackson , Louis Jordan , Bill Kenny , B. B. King , George Kirby , Eartha Kitt , Gladys Knight & the Pips , Little Anthony and the Imperials , Moms Mabley , Johnny Mathis , the Miracles , Melba Moore , the Platters , Leontyne Price , Richard Pryor , Lou Rawls , Della Reese , Nipsey Russell , Nina Simone , Sly and
2975-503: The American television network on which The Wizard of Oz has been aired most often, when the film had its 32nd showing on that channel, finally breaking CBS' record 31 showings. As of January 13, 2024, Turner Classic Movies has shown the film 32 times. In addition to the frequent cable showings, another difference between showings on NBC, CBS, the WB network, and cable channels is that when the film
3094-961: The Beatles , the Supremes , the Dave Clark Five , the Animals , Creedence Clearwater Revival , Dusty Springfield , the Beach Boys , the Jackson 5 , Stevie Wonder , Buddy Holly , Janis Joplin , the Rolling Stones , the Mamas and the Papas , the Lovin' Spoonful , Herman's Hermits , the Doors , Dionne Warwick , Barbra Streisand , Petula Clark , Vanilla Fudge , and the Band . The Canadian comedy duo Wayne and Shuster appeared on
3213-468: The Bruthers. After the act was done, the Rock and Roll Monster shrunk back into the ball of fur which is then eaten by Sour Bird (who was previously used in a commercial for Royal Crown Cola ). The show is also noteworthy for showcasing performances from numerous classic Broadway musicals of the era, often featuring members of the original Broadway casts. These include: Most of these artists performed in
3332-498: The Ed Sullivan Show , Ed Sullivan's Rock 'n Roll Classics , and 115 half-hour The Best of The Ed Sullivan Show specials, among others. Performances of this show are also available as video and audio downloads and as an app on iTunes ." In 2021, MeTV began airing on Sunday nights half hour packages of performances from the show. In the early years of television, both CBS and NBC networks had their own symphony orchestras. NBC's
3451-535: The Ed Sullivan Show Orchestra was a specialist and more than capable of covering the complete spectrum of music. The lead trumpet player is the "concert master" of a studio orchestra. Chris Griffin (formerly with the trumpet section of Harry James , Ziggy Elman and the Benny Goodman Band) was Ray Bloch 's lead trumpet player for the many radio and television shows that he conducted, including
3570-561: The Family Stone , The Talbot Brothers , the Temptations , Martha and the Vandellas , Ike & Tina Turner , Leslie Uggams , Sarah Vaughan , William Warfield , Dionne Warwick , Dinah Washington , Ethel Waters , Flip Wilson , Jackie Wilson , Nancy Wilson , and Stevie Wonder . Before his death in a plane crash in December 1967, soul singer Otis Redding had been booked to appear on
3689-548: The Kansas and tornado scenes until 1989, the film's 50th anniversary). However, one NBC telecast featured an on-screen host: the 1970 showing, which opened with veteran actor Gregory Peck paying tribute to the recently deceased Judy Garland (a segment directed by Oz producer Mervyn LeRoy , marking his first TV work), although this segment consisted of only a few brief remarks, while the opening hosting segments on CBS had gone on for about three minutes or so. The NBC Oz telecasts began
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3808-473: The Metropolitan Opera and the staff orchestra would accompany divas such as Eileen Farrell , Maria Callas or Joan Sutherland . The musicians needed to be prepared to switch gears for Ella Fitzgerald , Diahann Carroll or Sammy Davis Jr. . and then onto The Jackson Five , Stevie Wonder or Tom Jones or Itzhak Perlman . They also needed to perform with some of the greatest dancers and ballerinas of
3927-565: The South. Never had a bit of trouble. The show included entertainers such as Frankie Lymon , The Supremes , Marian Anderson , Louis Armstrong , Pearl Bailey , LaVern Baker , Harry Belafonte , Brook Benton , James Brown (and the Famous Flames ), Cab Calloway , Godfrey Cambridge , Diahann Carroll , Ray Charles , Nat King Cole , Bill Cosby , Count Basie , Dorothy Dandridge , Sammy Davis Jr. , Bo Diddley , Duke Ellington , Lola Falana ,
4046-433: The U.S. on commercial broadcast television. After the film went to cable, TV showings of the movie became increasingly more frequent. At this point, the tradition of televising the film only once per year was ceased in the U.S. The Wizard of Oz has become perhaps the most famous and cherished film to be shown regularly on U.S. television. Of the many family-oriented musical fantasies broadcast after 1955, The Wizard of Oz
4165-542: The Wind . In 1991, the film was shown twice a year for the first time. 1991 also marked the first time since 1956 that the film was shown in November. This also happened in 1993, when the film was telecast in February and November. The film was not aired in 1992, 1995 and 1997, marking the first time since 1963 that a year was skipped in showings of the film. Turner, which owned most of the pre-May 1986 MGM film and television library at
4284-405: The amount of time which was spent on commercials. It was one of the first 50 films to be selected for this protection. In the 1980s, Ted Turner purchased the film from MGM, alongside Gone with the Wind . Because both films were still licensed to CBS, Turner and the network negotiated a deal that extended CBS' license for The Wizard of Oz in exchange for relinquishing its rights to Gone with
4403-465: The camera faded out on her, television viewers once again saw CBS's own title card The Wizard of Oz , this time accompanied by some of the film's end title music, exactly as heard on the soundtrack , and the announcer's voice saying that the host for that year would return in a moment. After a final commercial, the host was then seen once again, to bid farewell to the TV audience, and CBS showed its own version of
4522-529: The case. The show's status at the turn of the decade is illustrated by its use as the backdrop of the 1960 musical Bye Bye Birdie . The musical's plot revolves around an ordinary teen girl's chance to kiss a rock star live on the Sullivan show, and in the song "Hymn for a Sunday Evening," her family expresses their regard for the program in worshipful tones. Sullivan appeared as himself in the musical's 1963 film adaptation . In September 1965, CBS started televising
4641-428: The cast list that appears during the film's end credits. At the end, referring to both the film and the hosting segments, the same announcer declared that "This has been a film and videotape presentation." From the beginning The Wizard of Oz was telecast in color, although few people owned color television sets in 1956. Except for 1961, all U.S. telecasts have been in color, an effect that seemed much more striking in
4760-503: The charts. Their first appearance on February 9 is considered a milestone in American pop culture, and furthermore the beginning of the British Invasion in music. The broadcast drew an estimated 73 million viewers, a record for US television at the time (broken three years later by the series finale of The Fugitive ). The Beatles followed Ed's show opening intro, performing " All My Loving "; " Till There Was You ", which featured
4879-400: The documentary's director, was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work. When shown on Turner Classic Movies, The Wizard of Oz was usually hosted by TCM host Robert Osborne . On June 3, 2007, Tom Kenny , the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants , hosted a telecast of the film on Turner Classic Movies, as part of Essentials, Jr. , a special summer series of family movies. On July 27, 2008,
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4998-498: The early 1960s, when there were still relatively few color programs on television. It was not televised in color in 1961 because color telecasts had to be paid for by their sponsors, who declined to do so that year. Between 1956 and 1965, the Wizard of Oz showings were rare exceptions to the black and white program schedule at CBS. During this period, CBS had the ability to broadcast programs in color, but generally chose not to do so unless
5117-443: The editors of TV Guide , consist of regularly scheduled series spanning more than half a century of television. TV movies, miniseries and specials were not eligible. The special aired at 10:00 pm and was viewed by 8.9 million people, giving it a 6 rating and a 10 share. Considering the cover story for this special issue of TV Guide , it was the only one of the six to be presented on television. The earliest aired show appearing on
5236-516: The entire telecast out to two hours. The 1956 television debut of the film marked the only time any actor who had appeared in the movie was selected to host the broadcast: Bert Lahr , who played the Cowardly Lion (and his Kansas farmhand counterpart Zeke) in the film, appeared alongside the daughter of Judy Garland , a then 10 year-old Liza Minnelli , and young Oz expert Justin G. Schiller. Lorna Luft , Minnelli's half-sister, did not appear as she
5355-407: The exclusive rights to the complete library of The Ed Sullivan Show from Ed Sullivan 's daughter Elizabeth and her husband Bob Precht . The collection consists of 1,087 hours of kinescopes and videotapes broadcast by CBS on Sunday nights from 1948 to 1971. Since acquiring the rights to The Ed Sullivan Show library, SOFA Entertainment has catalogued, organized and cleared performance rights for
5474-494: The film could be telecast annually and at an earlier time. The film was a ratings success with a Nielsen rating of 33.9 and an audience share of 53%. The film was not rebroadcast in 1957 or 1958. For telecasts from 1959 (the year of its second telecast) up until 1998, the film was always shown as a stand-alone TV special instead of as part of an anthology or movie series. Between 1959 and 1968, and again in 1990 when Angela Lansbury , star of CBS' Murder, She Wrote , hosted
5593-496: The film had returned to CBS, a computer malfunction at the CBS owned-and-operated WBBM-TV in Chicago accidentally cut off most of the ending to that year's Oz telecast, interrupting the final minute with a commercial block that was not supposed to air until after the movie had ended. Because the break was only 42 seconds long, no attempt was made to override the computer, for fear of making
5712-416: The film has exclusively broadcast on TBS several times in a row on certain days around Thanksgiving weekend. Beginning and since 2014, the film has always been broadcast on TNT several times in a row on certain days either before or close to Christmas. 2000 marked the first time that the film was shown on U.S. television during the summer. In 2002, it was shown five times. On November 6, 2011, TBS became
5831-428: The film in order to make room for added commercial time and enable the film to "clock in" at two hours. No dialogue or singing was removed, only moments such as camera pans and establishing shots, as well as MGM's written foreword to the film were removed. On a few occasions beginning in 1985, again because of the increased time, which was spent on commercial breaks, the film was time-compressed in order to fit it into
5950-620: The film was shown twice in a row on Turner Network Television without a host, but with commercials, and with "pop-up" animated ads for other TNT programs at the bottom of the screen just before and after commercial breaks. On March 24 and 25, 2012, the film was hosted on Cartoon Network by television actor Robert Wu , who provides the voice of Mr. Washee Washee in the Family Guy episode, " Tiegs for Two ". This telecast ran two-and-a-half hours, longer than any CBS or NBC telecasts. On June 10, 2012, which would have been Judy Garland's 90th birthday,
6069-470: The film was telecast on Turner Classic Movies without commercials, and hosted by comedian Bill Hader , again as part of the Essentials, Jr. summer series of family films. Unlike the CBS hosting segments which were a part of the 1960s telecasts of the film, Hader's segment showed clips from the film before it actually began. Being a presentation of network TV, The Wizard of Oz was subject to sponsorship from
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#17328450055646188-488: The film was telecast once every year the one exception being 1963, when it was not telecast at all. WISN-TV in Milwaukee , Wisconsin, did not carry the network's yearly Oz telecast in 1961, the year WISN began its affiliation with CBS, running Green Bay Packers football instead. However, due to viewer outcry, WISN was able to get permission to run the film locally at 2:00 p.m. C.S.T., on Christmas Eve. In 1978 after
6307-628: The film's principal technical staff, exactly as MGM had created them, with the film's main title music heard. The host reappeared just before the film's second half began, to say a few more words about it, before the telecast proceeded with the rest of the film, commercials included. However, at the end of the movie, the film's closing cast list, as created by MGM, was not shown, nor was the title card with "The End" right after Dorothy's closing line ever seen on television during these early CBS showings. Instead, immediately after Dorothy spoke her last line ("Oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home!"), and
6426-452: The film's sponsor(s): "This portion of The Wizard of Oz is brought to you by...[name of sponsor mentioned]". These specially-devised opening credits never mentioned that the film was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. From 1959 to 1964, CBS created different wraparound credits for each showing, but because the same hosting segment — the Danny Kaye one — was shown between 1964 and 1968, audiences saw
6545-418: The film, with announcer Mel Brandt saying that "the first 22 minutes of this program [i.e. the Kansas and tornado sequences] will be shown in black-and-white", a not quite accurate statement, since the final three minutes of the film also took place in Kansas, and were at that time also shown in black-and-white, rather than in the sepia tone in which they originally had been made (the sepia was not restored to
6664-434: The final program in the soon-to-be-canceled CBS anthology series Ford Star Jubilee – a rotating potpourri of highly budgeted but low-rated specials, including a well-publicized debut hour hosted by Judy Garland. The original asking price of $ 250,000 was negotiated by MGM attorney, later company president, Frank Rosenfelt. The network paid MGM $ 225,000 for the rights to televise the film and committed to showing it again for
6783-417: The final time on August 14, 1965. The show was broadcast September 12, 1965, and earned Sullivan a 60-percent share of the nighttime audience for one of the appearances . This time they followed three acts before coming out to perform " I Feel Fine ", " I'm Down ", and " Act Naturally " and then closed the show with " Ticket to Ride ", " Yesterday ", and " Help! " Although this was their final live appearance on
6902-462: The first TV broadcast of The Wizard of Oz , the normally 90-minute Ford Star Jubilee was expanded to a full two hours to accommodate the entire film, which, in addition to having commercial breaks, was celebrity-hosted. The main reason that CBS arranged for a host for the film was that at 101 minutes, the film was not considered long enough to run in the allotted 120-minute slot at that time, even with commercial breaks, without additional content to pad
7021-479: The first to last show. John Serry Sr often augmented the orchestra as the lead accordionist during the 1950s. Unlike NBC's The Tonight Show , which celebrated the notoriety of their musicians in Skitch Henderson 's or Doc Severinsen 's "Tonight Show Band", the CBS producers of The Ed Sullivan Show decided to hide their famed musicians behind a curtain. Occasionally, CBS would broadcast specials and call upon
7140-445: The host was having an intense Sunday-night rivalry with Steve Allen. Allen had the singer on July 1 and trounced Sullivan in the ratings. When asked to comment, [Sullivan] said that he wouldn't consider presenting Presley before a family audience. Less than two weeks later he changed his mind and signed a contract." At the time, Presley was filming Love Me Tender , so Sullivan's producer, Marlo Lewis , flew to Los Angeles to supervise
7259-447: The hosting segments for the 1956 telecast of the film had to be done live, Skelton's, Boone's, Van Dyke's and Kaye's segments were recorded on videotape in advance of the telecasts. Lansbury's hosting segment was the first one recorded on film. During these years, the hosting sequences were not staged in a run-of-the-mill manner with the host merely standing in a studio set, but in what could be considered imaginative ways. Richard Boone
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#17328450055647378-430: The largest single audience in television history. The latter percentage share, remains, to this date, the largest in the history of US television . Sullivan hosted a second appearance by Presley on October 28, 1956. For his first segment, Elvis performed "Don't Be Cruel", then "Love Me Tender". For the second segment, Elvis sang " Love Me ", and for his third, he sang a nearly four-minute-long version of "Hound Dog". For
7497-451: The late 1960s, Sullivan remarked that his program was waning as the decade went on. He realized that to keep viewers, the best and brightest in entertainment had to be seen, or else the viewers were going to keep on changing the channel. Along with declining viewership, Ed Sullivan attracted a higher median age for the average viewer (which most sponsors found undesirable) as the seasons went on. Younger viewers were growing to actively dislike
7616-401: The late 1960s, the idea of regularly having hosts to introduce the film was dropped when The Wizard of Oz went to NBC in 1968, where no "wraparound" sequence was shown. The presentation consisted only of the film itself, with its original opening and closing credits, and no special NBC-created credits or hosting segments. The famous NBC peacock was shown immediately prior to the beginning of
7735-445: The list is The Ed Sullivan Show , which first aired in 1948. The most recently premiered show is The Sopranos , which first aired in 1999. The show with the shortest run is An American Family , which aired only twelve episodes and two subsequent special episodes. The longest-running show on the list is The Today Show , which has aired since 1952. 41 of the shows are prime time, five are daytime and four are late-night. NBC has
7854-428: The magazine, which was the second in a series of special issues commemorating TV Guide ' s 50th year (the others were "TV We'll Always Remember", "50 Greatest Covers", " 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time ", "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters" and "50 Sexiest Stars"). The list was also counted down in an ABC television special , TV Guide's 50 Best Shows of All Time , on May 13, 2002. The 50 entries, chosen and ranked by
7973-530: The major commercial networks, it was never termed a "CBS Movie Special" or an "NBC Movie Special", as movie specials shown on those networks are frequently termed, but as simply The Wizard of Oz . The 1955 and 1998 theatrical re-releases were matted in movie theaters to produce a widescreen effect for the Academy-standard aspect-ratio film. When shown in HDTV , the film is pillarboxed so that its aspect ratio
8092-680: The most popular lineup of Diana Ross , Mary Wilson , and Florence Ballard appeared 7 times from December 1964 through May 1967. The group reappeared on the series in October 1967 as the newly rebilled "Diana Ross & the Supremes", with Ballard replacement Cindy Birdsong and Ross more prominently featured. The Supremes' final appearance on the show, shortly before it ended, served as the platform to introduce America to Ross's replacement, Jean Terrell , in March 1970. In an era when few opportunities existed for black performers on national television, Sullivan
8211-483: The most shows on the list with 17, counting the final season of Taxi ; otherwise, it ties with CBS at 16. ABC has eight, Fox , HBO and PBS each have two and The WB and UPN have a shared entry, Buffy the Vampire Slayer . Three are syndicated. The Wizard of Oz on television The Wizard of Oz , produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), was first released in theatres on August 15, 1939. The film
8330-446: The names of the group members superimposed on closeup shots, including the famous " SORRY GIRLS, HE'S MARRIED " caption on John Lennon ; and " She Loves You ". The act that followed the Beatles in the broadcast, magician Fred Kaps , was pre-recorded in order to allow time for an elaborate set change. The group returned later in the program to perform " I Saw Her Standing There " and " I Want to Hold Your Hand ". The following week's show
8449-449: The network shows from ABC and CBS were being made and shown in color. Meanwhile, all but two NBC prime time shows were in color and most of NBC's daytime shows were. By the fall of 1966, all three networks produced all of their prime time shows in color. By the time the movie went to NBC in 1968, all network shows (except for reruns of black and white movies) were in color. Partly because commercial time during programs increased beginning in
8568-413: The network's own specially recorded opening and closing music based on the film's score. For the opening "wraparound" credits, the title The Wizard of Oz and the names of its five leading actors, Judy Garland , Frank Morgan , Ray Bolger , Bert Lahr and Jack Haley , were first shown in CBS's own format and font , while an anonymous announcer read them off and then followed this with an announcement of
8687-502: The orchestra to perform. When Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, music was hastily composed for the orchestra in a special tribute that also featured jazz pianist Bill Evans , who had recently composed an elegy to his father. The Ed Sullivan Show is especially known to the World War II and baby boomer generations for introducing acts and airing breakthrough performances by popular 1950s and 1960s musicians such as Elvis Presley ,
8806-474: The original shows. Starting in 1991, SOFA Entertainment has re-introduced The Ed Sullivan Show to the American public by producing numerous network specials, syndicating a half-hour series (that also aired on TV Land, PBS , VH1 and Decades ) and home video compilations. Some of these compilations include The 4 Complete Ed Sullivan Shows Starring The Beatles , All 6 Ed Sullivan Shows Starring The Rolling Stones , Elvis: The Ed Sullivan Shows , Motown Gold from
8925-564: The problem worse. For several hours thereafter, WBBM received angry calls from viewers, while those unable to get through chose to voice their displeasure wrote to the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times newspapers. The film, as telecast on U.S. television between 1959 and 1968, was arguably given a much more elaborate TV presentation than it received afterwards. During those years, it always had videotaped wraparound opening and closing credits segments devised by CBS, accompanied by
9044-485: The program 67 times, a record for any performer. Bill Haley & His Comets performed their hit " Rock Around the Clock " in early August 1955, later recognized as the first rock and roll song broadcast on a national television program. The American public's first exposure to Itzhak Perlman was on the show in 1958, when he was 13. This performance was a breakthrough not only for classical music, but also for Perlman, who rode
9163-411: The program in compatible color , as all three major networks began to switch to 100 percent color prime time schedules. CBS had once backed its own color system, developed by Peter Goldmark , and resisted using RCA's compatible process until 1954. At that time, it built its first New York City color TV studio, Studio 72, in a former RKO movie theater at 2248 Broadway (81st Street). One Ed Sullivan Show
9282-565: The program; in 1970, Sullivan's compilation special Ed Sullivan's Swinging Sixties drew widely negative reviews. These factors were the reason the show was cancelled by CBS on March 16, 1971, as part of a mass cancellation of advertiser-averse programming . While Sullivan's landmark program ended without a proper finale, Sullivan produced one-off specials for CBS until his death in 1974, including an Ed Sullivan Show 25th anniversary special in 1973. In 1990, television documentary producer Andrew Solt formed SOFA Entertainment, Inc. and purchased
9401-435: The rights at MGM's asking price, their viewer ratings shot up, and one executive was heard to remark, "That picture is better [for the network] than a gushing oil well". After its 1976 return to CBS, the film was hosted on that network only once more, in a filmed segment featuring Angela Lansbury in 1990, but the CBS "wraparound" opening and closing credits were not - and have never been - revived, although, during those years,
9520-503: The same makeup and costumes that they wore in the shows, often providing the only visual recordings of these performances by the original cast members, since there were no network telecasts of the Tony Awards until 1967. Many performances have been compiled and released on DVD as The Best of Broadway Musicals – Original Cast Performances from The Ed Sullivan Show . In a 1958 NEA interview, Sullivan noted his pride about
9639-500: The same "wraparound" credits from 1964 until the film went to NBC. The special CBS introduction was followed by the host speaking about the movie for about three minutes or so. Those remarks lead into the actual film, beginning with all of its original 1939 opening credits (shown against a background of moving clouds), including the MGM Leo the Lion logo, the name of the film, the cast list, and
9758-451: The same network for more than two decades (during its first season, it ran from 9 to 10 p.m. ET). Virtually every type of entertainment appeared on the show; classical musicians, opera singers, popular recording artists, songwriters, comedians, ballet dancers, dramatic actors performing monologues from plays, and circus acts were regularly featured. The format was essentially the same as vaudeville and, although vaudeville had undergone
9877-538: The same price with an option to re-broadcast if the telecast was a success. This 1956 broadcast was shown as CBS's response to the successful color telecast of the Broadway musical Peter Pan with Mary Martin , which had been re-staged especially for TV at NBC Studios as part of the anthology series Producers' Showcase . Peter Pan was first shown live on TV by NBC in 1955 and repeated (again live) by public demand in 1956. Its enormous success on television ushered in
9996-592: The scheduling of the March 1970 broadcast was to promote the release of the band's upcoming film Let It Be in May of that year. The Supremes were a special act for The Ed Sullivan Show . In addition to 14 appearances, they were a personal favorite of Sullivan, whom he affectionately called "The Girls". Over the five years they performed on the program, the Supremes performed 15 of their hit singles, and numerous Broadway showtunes and other non-Motown songs. The group featuring
10115-807: The score to their then-new show South Pacific , which opened on Broadway in 1949. From 1948 through 1962, the program's primary sponsor was the Lincoln-Mercury Division of the Ford Motor Company ; Sullivan read many commercials for Mercury vehicles live on the air during this period. The Ed Sullivan Show was originally broadcast via live television from CBS-TV Studio 51, the Maxine Elliott Theatre , at Broadway and 39th Street, before moving to its permanent home at CBS-TV Studio 50 in New York City (1697 Broadway, at 53rd Street), which
10234-456: The show also aired live on occasion from other nations, such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan. For many years, Ed Sullivan was a national event each Sunday evening and was the first exposure for foreign performers to the American public. On the occasion of the show's tenth anniversary telecast, Sullivan commented on how the show had changed during a June 1958 interview syndicated by
10353-460: The show the following year. One telecast included African-American bass-baritone Andrew Frierson singing " Ol' Man River " from Kern and Hammerstein 's Show Boat , a song that, at that time, was usually sung on television by white singers, although it was written for a black character in the musical. However, Sullivan featured "rockers", and gave prominence to black musicians "not without censorship". For instance, he scheduled Fats Domino "at
10472-410: The show with " I Saw Her Standing There ", " From Me to You ", and " I Want to Hold Your Hand ". They were shown on tape February 23 (this appearance had been taped earlier in the day on February 9 before their first live appearance). They followed Ed's intro with " Twist and Shout " and " Please Please Me " and closed the show once again with " I Want to Hold Your Hand ". The Beatles appeared live for
10591-555: The show's end in case he had to cancel a guest". He presented Domino alone at his piano singing as if he were a young Nat 'King' Cole or Fats Waller , as he performed "Blueberry Hill". On March 4, 1962, Sullivan presented Domino and his band, who did " Jambalaya ", Hank Williams' " You Win Again ", and "Let the Four Winds Blow". All seven of Domino's band members were visible to millions of viewers. On December 1, 1957, Sam Cooke performed
10710-407: The show's role in improving the public's understanding of mental illness . Sullivan considered his May 17, 1953, telecast to be the single most important episode in the show's first decade. During that show, a salute to Broadway director Joshua Logan , the two men were watching in the wings, and Sullivan asked Logan how he thought the show was doing. According to Sullivan, Logan told him that the show
10829-472: The show, in 1966 Sullivan showed a clip from the Olivier Othello , the film version of which was then currently showing in New York City. TV Guide%27s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time TV Guide ' s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time is TV Guide ' s list of the 50 most entertaining or influential television series in American pop culture. It appeared in the May 4–10, 2002 issue of
10948-404: The show, the group provided filmed promotional clips of songs to air exclusively on Sullivan's program over the next few years, including videos of both " Paperback Writer " and " Rain " from 1966 and three clips from 1967, including " Penny Lane ", " Strawberry Fields Forever ", and " Hello, Goodbye ." In late 1967, the group also sent a telegram to Sullivan in addition to their promotional clips,
11067-460: The show. For his first set, Elvis played " Don't Be Cruel " and " Love Me Tender ". According to writer Elaine Dundy , Presley sang "Love Me Tender" "straight, subdued and tender ... – a very different Elvis from the one on The Steve Allen Show three months before". Elvis's second set consisted of " Ready Teddy " and a shortened version of " Hound Dog ". Popular mythology states that Sullivan censored Presley by shooting him only from
11186-468: The showing of The Wizard of Oz was an annual tradition on American commercial network television. During these years (and for several years afterwards), the film was always shown as a television special. After the film's second broadcast on U.S. television, subsequent network telecasts became a highly anticipated family event for many. The Wizard of Oz drew large audiences annually for many decades. Until 1999, The Wizard of Oz had only been shown in
11305-449: The television audience. In 1966, it ranked No. 1 in the ratings for the week that it was shown. Between 1960 and 1968, the film even beat out episodes of ABC-TV's Walt Disney Presents (in 1960) and NBC's Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (from 1961 to 1968), which aired opposite the film. When the film moved temporarily from CBS to NBC, it always pre-empted the Disney program altogether, except for once, when NBC showed Oz on
11424-457: The third and final appearance on January 6, 1957, Presley performed a medley of "Hound Dog", "Love Me Tender", and " Heartbreak Hotel ", followed by a full version of "Don't Be Cruel". For a second set later in the show he sang "Too Much" and " When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again ". For his last set he sang " Peace in the Valley ". For this third appearance, it was decided to shoot the singer only from
11543-421: The time (later owned by Warner Bros.), began moving to make its properties exclusive to Turner-owned outlets in the late 1990s; as such, in 1998, The Wizard of Oz made its last appearance on CBS, moving exclusively to Turner-owned properties the following year. From 1999 to 2004, the film was exclusively aired on TNT around Thanksgiving a few times in a row on certain days. Beginning in 2004 (and every year since),
11662-578: The time, from Gregory Hines , Juliet Prowse , Maria Tallchief or Margo Fonteyn to the Peter Gennaro dancers. In the process, the musicians collaborated with several internationally recognized ballet troupes including: Ruth Page 's Chicago Opera Ballet , the London Festival Ballet , Roland Petit 's Ballets de Paris and Russia's Igor Moiseyev Ballet. Few musicians are capable of crossing over from one genre to another. However, each member of
11781-496: The tradition of the film's annual showings during the Easter and Passover seasons of the year as opposed to the winter showings on CBS . The switch in networks resulted because CBS was unwilling to meet MGM's increased price — fostered by the film's ever-increasing popularity — for renewal of the rights to telecast it. The film stayed on NBC until 1976. When CBS, realizing its error in allowing it to go to another network, bought back
11900-520: The treatment of the mentally ill and the granting of funds for the construction of new psychiatric hospitals . Occasionally Sullivan would feature a Hollywood actor introducing a clip from a film in which he or she currently starred. Burt Lancaster made an appearance in 1962, speaking about Robert Stroud , the character he portrayed in Birdman of Alcatraz , and introducing a clip from the film. And although Sir Laurence Olivier personally did not appear on
12019-493: The two segments telecast that night from CBS Television City in Hollywood. Sullivan, however, was not able to host his show in New York City because he was recovering from a near fatal automobile accident. Charles Laughton guest-hosted in Sullivan's place, and opened the show. Music journalist Greil Marcus wrote that Sullivan's choice to have Elvis appear after Laughton's introduction was an attempt to make Elvis less prominent in
12138-399: The waist up, but in fact, Presley's whole body was shown in the first and second shows. Although Laughton was the main star and there were seven other acts on the show, Elvis was on camera for more than a quarter of the time allotted to all acts. The show had a 43.7 rating, and was viewed by a record 60,710,000 people which at the time represented an 82.6% share of the television audience, and
12257-606: The waist while he performed. Although much has been made of the fact that Elvis was shown only from the waist up, except for the short section of "Hound Dog", all of the songs on this show were ballads. Although Sullivan praised Elvis at the end of the show, Elvis claimed in a 1969 interview that Sullivan had expressed a very different opinion backstage: "Sullivan's standing over there saying, 'Sumbitch. ' " The second and third appearances drew 57 and 54.6 million viewers, respectively. Years later, Sullivan tried to book Presley again, but declined after Presley's representatives presented
12376-466: The waves of admiration to new heights of fame lasting a generation. On September 9, 1956, Presley made his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show (after earlier appearances on shows hosted by the Dorsey Brothers , Milton Berle , and Steve Allen ), even though Sullivan had vowed never to allow Presley on the show. According to Sullivan biographer Michael David Harris, "Sullivan signed Presley when
12495-401: The years 1963, 1992, 1995, or 1997. The film was first issued on home video formats in 1980. The Wizard of Oz , which had been a critical but only modest financial success during its theatrical run, was chosen to be the first Hollywood film to be shown uncut in prime time on a coast- to -coast television network. The first telecast took place on Saturday, November 3, 1956, as part of
12614-615: Was a champion of black talent. He launched the careers of many performers by presenting them to a nationwide TV audience and ignored the criticism. In an NEA interview, Sullivan commented: The most important thing [during the first ten years of the program] is that we've put on everything but bigotry . When the show first started in '48, I had a meeting with the sponsors. There were some Southern dealers present and they asked if I intended to put on Negroes. I said yes. They said I shouldn't, but I convinced them I wasn't going to change my mind. And you know something? We've gone over very well in
12733-460: Was always presented uncut in a two-hour time slot between 1956 and 1968, despite having commercials and hosted segments. The Professor Marvel sequence has never been omitted (at least in American telecasts of the film), and the tracking shot of Munchkinland was not edited until the film went to NBC in 1968. The film's first broadcast received positive critical notices in newspapers the following day. Variety magazine prophetically suggested that
12852-401: Was becoming "another one of those and-then-I-wrote shows"; Sullivan asked him what he should do about it, and Logan volunteered to talk about his experiences in a mental institution. Sullivan took him up on the offer, and in retrospect believed that several advances in the treatment of mental illness could be attributed to the resulting publicity, including the repeal of a Pennsylvania law about
12971-526: Was broadcast from Miami Beach where Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali ) was in training for his first title bout with Sonny Liston . The occasion was used by both camps for publicity. On the evening of the television show (February 16) a crush of people nearly prevented the band from making it onstage. A wedge of policemen were needed and the band began playing " She Loves You " only seconds after reaching their instruments. They continued with " This Boy " and " All My Loving ", then returned later to close
13090-455: Was broadcast on August 22, 1954, from the new studio, but it was mostly used for one-time-only specials such as Rodgers and Hammerstein 's March 31, 1957 Cinderella . (The facility was later acquired by TeleTape Productions and became the first studio where the PBS children's program Sesame Street was produced.) CBS Studio 72 was demolished in 1986 and replaced by an apartment house. CBS Studio 50
13209-537: Was conducted by Arturo Toscanini and CBS's by Alfredo Antonini . The Ed Sullivan Show (originally presented as: The Toast Of The Town ) was basically a musical variety show, and thus members of the CBS orchestra were folded into the Ed Sullivan Show Orchestra, conducted by Ray Bloch. During the early days of television, the demands on studio musicians were many-tiered. They needed to be proficient in all genres of music, from classical, to jazz and to rock and roll. The Ed Sullivan Show would regularly feature singers from
13328-425: Was finally modernized for color broadcasts in 1965. The 1965–66 season premiere starred the Beatles in an episode airing on September 12, which was the last episode to air in black and white. This occurred because the episode was taped at the Beatles' convenience on August 14, the eve of their Shea Stadium performance and a two-week tour of North America, slightly before the program was ready for color transmission. In
13447-444: Was only four years old at the time, although she did have her picture taken with Minnelli in a promotional photo. Unlike several of the other Oz telecasts, apparently no stills were taken during the hosting sequences in 1956. The practice of a show business celebrity regularly "hosting" The Wizard of Oz lasted from the film's first television showing until 1968, when the film went to NBC after being shown on CBS nine times. The film
13566-551: Was renamed the Ed Sullivan Theater on the occasion of the program's 20th anniversary in June 1968. The last original Sullivan show telecast (#1068) was on March 28, 1971, with guests Melanie , Joanna Simon , Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass and Sandler and Young . It was one of many older shows with followings in undesirable key demographics that were purged from the network lineups that summer. The purge led into
13685-561: Was shown on CBS and NBC, it was always presented as a special instead of just a televised film. From 1959 until it went to cable, the film was never shown on NBC Saturday Night at the Movies or any other movie anthology series, and telecasts of the film regularly preempted two hours or more of regular television programming. Promos for the CBS and NBC showings during the 1960s began airing on television as much as two weeks in advance of that year's telecast and were still airing as late as 1989. On
13804-410: Was sometimes incorporated into these segments. Red Skelton was seen as two characters: Before the film began, he was seen in a studio set of an early 20th-century bookstore, in costume as a Victorian -era storyteller who introduced L. Frank Baum 's original 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to a young girl played by Skelton's real daughter, and at film's end, he appeared in a studio recreation of
13923-564: Was taped on the set of his television series Have Gun – Will Travel , in a "living room" with his real son about to watch the film on a TV set. Dick Van Dyke was shown in a living room set with his children, and Danny Kaye's hosting segment featured him sitting on a prop toadstool against a painted backdrop of the Yellow Brick Road and the Emerald City . The Kaye segment did not include a television set as part of its design. Some humor
14042-537: Was then re-released nationwide in 1949, and once more in 1955. The Wizard of Oz was broadcast on television for the first time on Saturday, November 3, 1956. The film was shown as the last installment of the CBS anthology series Ford Star Jubilee . Since that telecast, The Wizard of Oz has been shown by CBS, NBC , The WB , and several of Ted Turner 's national cable channels . The film has never been licensed to any local affiliate broadcast TV station. From 1959 to 1991,
14161-479: Was used during commercials. Angela Lansbury also narrated a documentary about the making of the film, originally entitled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic and years later re-titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic . It was first shown immediately after the movie's 1990 telecast, and is included as a supplement on all the DVD releases beginning with the 1999 DVD release. Jack Haley, Jr. ,
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