Just kick back and watch this complete Ed Sullivan show from
1961. It’s what most families did on a Sunday night back then. Back then Friday
nights were for flirting, Saturday nights were for dating, and Sunday nights
were for the Ed Sullivan Show. Each week for 3 decades, Mr. Sullivan, a former
newspaper columnist, showed that he had his fingers on the entertainment pulse
of America. An invitation to perform on his show could make or break an act in
the space of just a few minutes.
Usually broadcast live from New York City, this episode is a
bit different, as it is live from Las Vegas. In the years ahead Ed Sullivan
would also broadcast an occasional show from Miami, as he did when the Beatles
made their second US appearance on his show in 1964.
In this show, Ed brings out the usual variety of acts, consisting
of comedian Jerry Lewis, some dancers, Phil Harris, and even the standard introduction of a celebrity in the
audience. The sun in Vegas must have done him some good, as even in this old
black and white tape you can see that the usually pallid Mr. Sullivan has been
spending some time by the pool.
Shows like this don’t exist anymore. We all have our little
niches of satellite radio and cable TV to filter out the things in which we are
not interested. It’s convenient, but it narrows our scope and tolerance for
things that may be a bit different from what we like personally, drawing us all
a bit further apart in the process. As the old saying goes, “They just don’t
make them like they used to.” And we are the less for that loss.
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