"Tonight we have a really big shew..."
Of course every show was "a really big shew" in Ed Sullivan's eyes. This was not necessarily a descriptive announcement, this was Ed Sullivan's mantra. On the night of February 16, 1964 Ed was right on the money. The Beatles, who had been on Ed's show for the first time one week earlier, returned...
The Beatles would perform 6 songs that night ("She Loves You", "This Boy", "All My Lovin'", "I Saw Her Standing There", "From Me To You" and their #1 hit, "I Want To Hold Your Hand"). Okay so you have the hottest act in the world on the show, who else do you book for the night ? In typical Ed Sullivan style, this was his lineup: comedians Allen and Rossi who did a boxing skit, probably because Sonny Liston and Joe Lewis were sitting in the audience and were asked to take a bow, Mitzi Gaynor did some show tunes and a blues medley, from Hialeah Race Track, the Nerveless Nocks (remember them ?), a sway pole acrobatic team performed. Is there no end to this madness ? Apparently not as the Valanti's (another household name), the "comedic unicyclists" did comedy on their unicycles apparently and for good measure, we had the comedy of Myron Cohen, a funny borscht-belt comedian who had one eye that would close halfway when he told a joke. And that my friends is how you back the Beatles...
The Beatles would return for their 3rd consecutive appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" the following Sunday, February 23rd...
More February 16 Memories...
1868) The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is formed in New York City...
1883) The "Ladies Home Journal" begins publication...
1946) The 1st commercially designed helicopter is unveiled and tested in Bridgeport, CT...
1948) NBC-TV begins airing its 1st nightly newscast featuring Fox and Movietone newsreels...
1959) Fidel Castro seizes power in Cuba after the overthrow of President Fulgencio Batista...
1964) The Beatles make their second appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (feature story)...
1968) The 1st 911 emergency telephone system is inaugurated in Haleyville, AL (my 1st radio job as a DJ was at WJBB in Haleyville at the age of 18)...
1970) Joe Frazier continues his undefeated string as he wins the heavyweight championship by knocking out Jimmy Ellis in 5 rounds (he would keep the title until losing on January 22, 1973 to George Foreman, his 1st professional loss)...
1975) The music variety series "Cher" premieres on CBS-TV (the show is a bomb, lasting only one season)...
1982) Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett Majors say "I don't" and are divorced...
1984) 23-year old Bill Johnson becomes the 1st American to win Olympic downhill skiing gold at Sarajevo...
1987) John Demjanjuk aka "Ivan the Terrible", a guard at the Treblinka concentration camp is convicted but the Israeli Supreme Court overturns the verdict (huh ?)...
1989) Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden split up after 16 years of marriage...
1989) Investigators in Lockerbie, Scotland, announce that it was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 the previous December, killing all 259 aboard...
1990) Ike Turner is sentenced to 4 years in prison on cocaine charges...
1997) At age 25 Jeff Gordon is the youngest winner in Daytona 500 history...
2002) The operator of a crematory in Noble, GA is arrested after dozens of corpses are found stacked in storage sheds and scattered in the surrounding woods (oops)...
2005) The NHL announces the cancellation of the 2004-2005 season due to a labor dispute (it's the 1st time a major sports league in North America loses an entire season due to a strike)...
To ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...
Happy Birthday To...
1918) The Andrew Sisters' Patty Andrews...
1956) James Ingram...
1957) LeVar Burton...
1958) Ice-T...
1959) John McEnroe...
1972) Jerome Bettis...
Commentary...
When I came back home to New York in 1972 to replace Sebastian Stone as PD of WOR-FM, I stayed at the Delmonico Hotel. I had just checked in, waiting in the lobby for the elevator. The doors open and out step Ed Sullivan and his wife Sylvia. I just stood there with my mouth open. They were formally dressed and probably on their way to one of the many events that either Ed hosted or was invited to. I learned the next day that Ed Sullivan lived in the hotel and I would see him many times after that occasion. I had previously heard him speak at a Boston media luncheon and the man was really funny with a droll sense of humor and using language that you would never hear on his show...
Two corrections to make:
- Canadian pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier (now married) are working for NBC-TV, not competing at the Torino Olympics...
- I omitted the artists that were #10 on Dick Clark's AB top 10 board on February 15, 1964. "What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am?)" was by the Tams...
One other thing to note...
- Now that most of the teams pitchers and catchers have reported to Spring Training, I will start a countdown on days remaining until the MLB opener, April 2nd (Cleveland at Chicago in the ESPN Sunday Night game)...
Today is the 47th day of 2006 with 318 days remaining in the year, 32 days until Spring and 44 days until opening day...
