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90-485: Immediately after the events in My Friend Irma , Al is still trying to promote Steve's career. Eventually, he gets booked to a local television station and is spotted by a movie producer. He is offered a contract and Steve, as well as the rest of the gang, Irma, Jane and Seymour, all head to Hollywood. The trip ends suddenly when the producer is discovered to be an escaped lunatic. Al tries to set things straight by taking

180-474: A Manhattan highrise building, he chose one on the third floor. He liked Los Angeles and the fact that it had few tall buildings. Their agent, Abby Greshler, negotiated for them one of Hollywood 's best deals. They received $ 75,000 between them for their films with Wallis, a respectable film salary in the 1940s. Martin and Lewis were also free to do one outside film a year, which they would co-produce through their own York Productions. Their first starring feature

270-460: 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

360-508: 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

450-466: A former RKO movie theater at 2248 Broadway (81st Street). One Ed Sullivan Show 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

540-415: 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 the 1950s and early 1960s. As it had occurred with the annual telecasts of The Wizard of Oz in

630-466: A new level. Lewis later offered an explanation for their success: Who were Dean's fans? Men, women, the Italians. Who were Jerry's fans? Women, Jews, kids. Who were Martin and Lewis' fans? All of them... You had fans that didn't care that Lewis was on or that Martin was singing. Because if Dean was singing, that was Martin and Lewis. If Jerry was goin' nuts, that was Martin and Lewis. Martin and Lewis were

720-441: 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,

810-583: A run at New York's Copacabana Club . The highlights of their act included Lewis interrupting and heckling Martin while he was trying to sing, which ultimately led to the two of them chasing each other around the stage. An NBC radio series, The Martin and Lewis Show , ran from 1948 to 1953. Martin and Lewis made a key appearance on the first episode of Ed Sullivan 's show, Toast of the Town , in June 1948, although they may have appeared on TV earlier on Hour Glass ,

900-465: 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, 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

990-481: 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

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1080-452: 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

1170-512: A young Jerry Lewis at the Glass Hat Club in New York City , where both men were performing. Martin and Lewis debuted at Atlantic City 's 500 Club on July 25, 1946, when Lewis suggested to the club owner that Martin would be a good replacement for the scheduled singer who was unavailable. The duo was not well received. The owner, Skinny D'Amato , threatened to terminate their contract if

1260-675: Is a nondescript affair ... it's the interpretation that stirs up the fun in 'My Friend Irma Goes West.'" My Friend Irma Goes West has been released twice on DVD. It was originally released as part of a two-film collection with My Friend Irma on October 25, 2005. It was also included in an eight-film DVD set, the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Collection: Volume One , released on October 31, 2006. Martin and Lewis Martin and Lewis were an American comedy duo , comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis . They met in 1945 and debuted at Atlantic City 's 500 Club on July 25, 1946;

1350-660: 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 . 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,

1440-919: The Capitol and Reprise labels, as a movie actor both on his own ( Rio Bravo , The Young Lions , the Matt Helm series) and as a member of the Rat Pack ( Ocean's 11 , Sergeants 3 , Robin and the 7 Hoods ), and with his own hugely successful 1965–1974 television variety series, The Dean Martin Show . Lewis remained with Paramount Pictures, appearing in and directing a succession of commercially successful films on his own ( The Bellboy , The Nutty Professor ), at one point becoming Paramount's biggest star. He also continued with his philanthropic work, which had begun while still partnered with Martin, hosting telethons for muscular dystrophy research until 2010. In 1958, Lewis

1530-612: 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

1620-646: The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas , a club they frequently played while they were together. Lewis caught Martin's closing act and Martin introduced his former partner to the audience, bringing him on stage. For about 15 minutes, they joked a bit and sang a duet of "Come Back to Me". However, the reunion was never duplicated. Later in 1960, when Lewis was rushing to finish The Bellboy and was too exhausted to perform his stage act, Martin replaced him. The two were also filmed laughing together in 1961 outside Eddie Fisher's opening at

1710-759: 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 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

1800-405: 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 the case. The show's status at the turn of the decade is illustrated by its use as the backdrop of

1890-765: 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

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1980-961: 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

2070-468: 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

2160-777: The Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles. The two men reconciled in September 1976, after Frank Sinatra orchestrated a surprise appearance by Martin on Lewis's annual Labor Day telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association , saying only "I have a friend who loves what you do every year." The pair beamed and embraced, and then had a few minutes of friendly banter, during which Lewis asked Martin, "Uh, so, you workin'?" According to Dean's daughter, Deana Martin , Frank had hidden Dean in Ed McMahon 's dressing room where he

2250-501: 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

2340-535: 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

2430-561: 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

2520-473: 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

2610-520: The NBC-TV network, with guest Bob Hope , with their inaugural program drawing lackluster reviews in the April 30, 1949, issue of Billboard magazine. Lewis hired young comedy writers Norman Lear and Ed Simmons to improve their act. By 1950, Lear and Simmons were the main writers for Martin and Lewis. Also in 1949, Martin and Lewis were signed by Paramount Pictures producer Hal Wallis as comedy relief for

2700-566: 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 ,

2790-484: The act did not improve. Martin and Lewis disposed of pre-scripted gags and began improvising. Martin sang, and Lewis dressed as a busboy, dropping plates and making a shambles of Martin's songs and a mockery of the club's decorum. They performed slapstick and delivered vaudeville jokes to great fanfare. Their success at the 500 Club led to a series of well-paying engagements along the Eastern Seaboard, culminating with

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2880-628: 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 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)

2970-554: 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

3060-426: The duo before Martin's death on Christmas Day 1995. Despite their animosity after the split, Lewis published an affectionate memoir of his partnership with Martin called Dean & Me: A Love Story in 2005. Martin and Lewis is a 2002 biographical CBS television movie which portrays the lives of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Directed by John Gray and starring Jeremy Northam as Martin and Sean Hayes as Lewis,

3150-409: 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

3240-423: The film My Friend Irma . Martin was thrilled to be out of New York City , a place he had developed a lifelong discomfort with, and he also had a dislike of tall buildings. Martin mostly avoided elevators due to claustrophobia . He did not like climbing multiple flights of stairs in tall buildings or taking the elevator if he needed to go to a high floor. Even when his success allowed him to lease an apartment in

3330-518: The film completed principal photography on June 19, their professional breakup was widely reported in the press, although they subsequently fulfilled a contractual obligation with a farewell engagement at the Copacabana Club, which ended on July 25, 1956, ten years to the day from their first official teaming in Atlantic City. Hollywood or Bust was released that December. Lewis later stated that it

3420-411: The film depicts the years from 1946 to 1956, spanning the entirety of their partnership from the beginning until the end. In 2016, a tribute show called Dean and Jerry: What Might Have Been , starring Derek Marshall as Martin and Nicholas Arnold as Lewis, started touring North America. Its first performance took place at The Orillia Opera House . The Ed Sullivan Show The Ed Sullivan Show

3510-417: 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

3600-529: The first TV variety show which aired from May 1946 – March 1947, during the time the duo first paired up formally. On October 3 and 10, 1948, the team were stars on the first two episodes of the NBC live television variety show Welcome Aboard – kinescope survives of this live TV broadcast in UCLA Film and Television Archive . On April 3, 1949, they debuted on their TV version of their "Martin & Lewis" radio show on

3690-525: 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

My Friend Irma Goes West - Misplaced Pages Continue

3780-465: The funeral, he called Lewis and talked to him for about an hour. In 1989, the two reunited for the last time on Martin's 72nd birthday at Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, where Martin was doing a week of shows. Lewis presented him with a birthday cake, thanked him for all the years he gave joy to the world, and finally joked, "Why we broke up, I'll never know." This would be the last public reunion of

3870-401: The gang to Las Vegas to work at a casino, but things aren't as they seem. Irma causes havoc by wrecking a rigged roulette wheel, and she gets kidnapped and held for ransom until Al can raise $ 50,000. Meanwhile, Seymour, dressed as an Indian brave, locates Irma and rescues her. The publicity received during the entire incident brings a movie offer for Irma and Seymour. My Friend Irma Goes West

3960-446: 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

4050-495: The hottest act in America during the early '50s, as well as the highest paid act in show business, according to a 1951 Life magazine article. The duo was featured in that magazine while on its most-successful movie tour, promoting That's My Boy . The tour was so successful, audience members would not leave their seats, so Martin and Lewis began doing "free shows" afterwards on fire escapes or out their dressing room windows, jamming

4140-431: 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

4230-680: 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

4320-447: 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

4410-502: 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 ,

4500-404: The orchestra. Martin and Lewis often broke out of character, ad-libbing and breaking the fourth wall . This early television show established their popularity nationwide. Although there had been a number of hugely successful film teams before, Martin and Lewis were a new kind of duo. Both were talented entertainers, but the fact that they were such good friends on and off stage took their act to

4590-475: 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

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4680-487: 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

4770-432: The program was ready for color transmission. In 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

4860-503: 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

4950-594: 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

5040-636: The seasons went on. Younger viewers were growing to actively dislike 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

5130-409: The shooting of what was to be their final film together, Hollywood or Bust , during the spring and early summer of 1956, their mutual animosity reached the point where, as Lewis later related, "I wouldn't tell Dean what I thought of him, so [director] Frank Tashlin took all the flack." For his part, Martin at one point angrily told Lewis that he was "nothing to me but a fucking dollar sign." After

5220-531: 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 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

5310-460: 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

5400-410: 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

5490-625: 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 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

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5580-558: 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

5670-407: 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

5760-404: 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,

5850-464: 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

5940-415: The streets with adoring fans hoping to catch a prize – a hat, a shoe, maybe an autograph. However, the pace and the pressure soon took their toll. Martin usually had the thankless job of the straight man , and his singing had yet to develop into his unique style of his later years. The critics praised Lewis, and while they admitted that Martin was the best partner he could have, most of them claimed that Lewis

6030-504: The team lasted ten years to the day. Before they teamed up, Martin was a nightclub singer , while Lewis performed a comedy act lip-synching to records. They performed in nightclubs , and, starting in 1949, on radio. Later they branched out into television and films. In their early radio days they performed as Martin and Lewis but later became hugely popular as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis . These full names helped them launch successful solo careers after parting. In 1944, Dean Martin met

6120-457: 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

6210-580: 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

6300-520: 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

6390-494: 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

6480-443: The velvety baritone singing voice, Dean Martin, are responsible for about ninety-nine and nine-tenths of the fun ... There is a marked reduction in the quality of the show when Martin and Lewis are off the screen and sometimes even they are victimized by the silly script. However, M. & L. are in there pitching most of the time and most of the time they are in top form. ... Without them, the film would not add up to anything. The story

6570-402: 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

6660-609: 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

6750-467: 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

6840-617: 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

6930-402: 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

7020-526: 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

7110-537: 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

7200-447: Was demolished in 1986 and replaced by an apartment house. CBS Studio 50 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

7290-399: Was essentially the same as vaudeville and, although vaudeville had undergone 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

7380-466: Was filmed from January 31 through March 18, 1950. It was the second Martin and Lewis film to be released, preceding At War with the Army , which had been produced before My Friend Irma Goes West but was not released until December 1950. In a contemporary review for The New York Times , critic Thomas M. Pryor wrote: "Jerry Lewis, the slight, abject, elastic young man, and his straight-man-accomplice with

7470-619: Was just eight seconds long, and Crosby was on camera for two seconds. After the applause died down, Fisher sang a few bars of Crosby's theme song " Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day) " and Lewis crooned the title of Martin's then-current hit " Return to Me ". In 1960, four years after they broke up, Martin and Lewis briefly reunited, seemingly without prearrangement. Both were performing separate acts at

7560-608: 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 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

7650-475: 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 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

7740-412: Was the guest on an episode of NBC 's The Eddie Fisher Show and was bantering with the host when Martin emerged from behind the curtain and said, "Don't sing. Do what you want but don't sing!" Martin was then immediately "pulled back" by singer Bing Crosby . Martin said something else, but the rest of his words were drowned out by the wildly excited reaction from the audience. Martin's entire appearance

7830-613: Was the independently produced At War with the Army (1950). They also had complete control of their club, radio, and television appearances, as well as their recording contracts. These collectively earned Martin and Lewis millions of dollars. They made regular appearances on NBC 's Colgate Comedy Hour during the 1950s. Their Comedy Hour shows consisted of musical song and dance from their nightclub act or movies, with Dick Stabile 's big band, sketch comedy with slapstick or satires of current films and TV shows, Martin's solo songs, and Lewis's solo pantomimes, physical numbers or conducting

7920-407: Was the only one of his films he had never seen, citing it as too painful to watch. According to Lewis, the two did not speak to each other privately for twenty years, to which Lewis later commented, "the stupidity of that, I cannot expound on. The ignorance of that is something I hope I'll always forget." Martin's career arguably reached new heights after the team split up, as a recording artist for

8010-497: Was the real talent of the team and could succeed with anyone. Lewis praised Martin in his book Dean & Me , where he called Martin one of the great comic geniuses of all time. Over the course of their contract with Hal Wallis, during which they co-starred in sixteen feature films, all released through Paramount, the pair's relationship became increasingly strained, with Martin chafing under his perennial straight-man roles, as Lewis's comic antics came to dominate their films. During

8100-585: Was then briefly spotted by Jerry's son, Gary Lewis . To be safe, he didn't say anything to his father and the surprise went off without a hitch. The brief reunion was big national news and, according to Lewis, the two spoke "every day after that". In 1987, when Martin's son, Dean Paul Martin , was killed in an airplane crash, Lewis attended the funeral unannounced, sat in the back, and did not reveal his presence to Martin. According to Lewis's 2005 memoir Dean & Me and Deana Martin 's 2004 book Memories Are Made of This , when Martin found out about it soon after

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