Toasting the "Great Stone Face"...
Until its final days "The Toast of the Town" or "The Ed Sullivan Show" which it would become in 1955 had a rating that ranged from the mid-20's to the mid-40's. The show would get as high as #2, trailing only "I Love Lucy" and would also become an American Institution on Sunday nights. Who was this guy Sullivan and where did he come from ?
Ed Sullivan or "The Great Stone Face" as he was known (if you were not sight impaired) was a newspaper reporter who covered sports for Hearst newspapers straight out of high school but gravitated toward entertainment and replaced Walter Winchell as the reporter for the New York Daily News Broadway gossip column, "Little Old New York". Sullivan wrote the column for 40 years. In the 40's he hosted a radio show called "Ed Sullivan Entertains". Why Sullivan ? According to folk lore, Sullivan was filmed hosting the annual Harvest Moon Ball sponsored by the Daily News and either an advertiser, CBS executive or Ed himself proposed that he host a variety show on television...
On Sunday night June 20th,1948, "The Toast of the Town" debuted. The 1st show featured a comedy team on their way up, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, Broadway legends Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II, concert pianist Eugene List, singing New York fireman John Kokoman, ballerina Kathryn Lee, singer Monica Lewis, the comedy team of Lee Goodman and Jim Kirkwood, referee of the upcoming Louis-Wolcott fight, Ruby Goldstein and the Toastettes, 6 female dancers recruited from the June Taylor Dancers. The budget for that show was $1,375 for production expenses and $375 for talent. Martin & Lewis each received $100 of that total...
| Ed Sullivan hosted the show for 23 years, from June 20, 1948 to June 6, 1971. He was given an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in the show's final year. Three years later on October 13, 1974 passed away at the age of 73... More June 20 Memories... 1840] This just in: ..-.-.-...--- (Samuel Morse patents his telegraph)... 1893] A jury in New Bedford (MA) finds Lizzie Borden innocent of the ax murders of her father and stepmother (no truth to the rumor that F. Lee Bailey was Lizzie's attorney)... 1941] The U.S. Army Air Force is established, replacing the Army Air Corps... 1947] The mob rubs out Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel in Beverly Hills (over soaring costs of his pet project, the Flamingo resort in Las Vegas... 1948] Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town" debuts on CBS-TV (feature story)... 1950] Willie Mays graduates from high school and is immediately signed by the New York Giants (he makes his major league debut in 1951)... 1955] The AFL and CIO agree to combine names and merge... 1960] Floyd Patterson becomes the 1st man in the history of boxing to regain the heavyweight crown with a 5th round KO of Ingemar Johansson at the Polo Grounds... 1963] The U.S. and Soviet Union sign an agreement to set up a hot line between the 2 superpowers... 1965] The Byrds are #1 with "Mr. Tambourine Man"... 1967] Muhammad Ali is convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted (the Supreme Court will overturn the ruling)... 1967] Red Sox 3rd baseman Joe Foy returns home (the Bronx) for a series with the Yankees and sees his house burn down. Joe manages to save his family and puts them up for the night in the team hotel. That night he hits a grand slam to beat the Yankees 7-1... 1969] Jimi Hendrix earns the largest paycheck (to date) for a single show when he earns $125,000 for a single set at the Newport Jazz Festival... 1973] American Bandstand celebrates its 20th anniversary with a 90-minute special starring Little Richard, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Cheech and Chong & Three Dog Night... 1975] Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" premieres as the big summer movie (with scenes shot on Martha's Vineyard)... 1977] "Got to Give It Up (Pt. 1)" is #1 for Marvin Gaye... 1993] Michael Jordan leads the Chicago Bulls to a "three-peat" winning Game 6 against Phoenix and winning the NBA championship... 1994] O.J. Simpson pleads innocent (he's gonna plead "guilty" ?) in Los Angeles to the murders of ex-wife Nicole and Ronald Goldman... 1997] Lawrence Payton of the Four Tops dies from liver cancer at 59... 2001] Andrea Yates drowns her 5 children in her Houston bathtub. She will be sentenced later to life in prison... 2001] American Lori Berenson is convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Peruvian court for collaborating with leftist guerrillas (she denies the charges and is still serving her term in Peru)... [To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]... "Happy Birthday...happy birthday"... 1931] Olympia (fine actress and Michael's cousin) Dukakis... 1933] Danny Aiello... 1940] John (Frazier's Martin Crane) Mahoney... 1942] Brian Wilson... 1945] Anne Murray... 1946] Bob ("This Old House") Vila... 1949] Lionel Richie... 1952] John Goodman... 1953] Cyndi Lauper... 1967] Nicole Kidman... Walking for cancer... The North Shore Medical Center 2006 Cancer Walk, a 4-mile walk through historic Salem (MA) is this Sunday (June 25) in Salem. The walk began in 1991 and to-date has raised over $11 million for cancer research. Paul Power will walk in memory of his Mom, Ruth Beatrice Levine-Power who died from Ovarian cancer in December, 2004... More information can be obtained at www.nsmccancerwalk.org [Today is the 171st day of 2006 with 194 days remaining in the year and 14 days until July 4th] ... |
