ED SULLIVAN SHOW, THE: 10TH ANNIVERSARY {SUGAR RAY ROBINSON, SAM SNEAD, JACK BENNY, AND OTHERS} (TV)
Summary
This special program celebrates the tenth anniversary of this series of variety programs presided over by Ed Sullivan. Included are excerpts from earlier programs showing more than fifty of the celebrities who appeared as a guest on the show during its ten-year history. The program commemorates television firsts and television debuts. Sullivan opens the program by thanking the nation's press for its advance coverage of this event, and the governors of the forty-eight states for naming the day in the show's honor. He next introduces (via "the miracle of videotape") the show's co-producer Marlo Lewis, maestro Ray Bloch, and director John Wray.
Highlights of the past ten years include: From 1949: the first television chorus line, featuring the June Taylor Dancers; the first TV illusion; ice-skating star Carol Lynne in the first television ice show; Luise Rainer in a telephone scene; singer Teresa Brewer's television debut; Charles Laughton reading from the Bible; ASCAP composers Harry Armstrong ("Sweet Adeline"), Maude Nugent Jerome ("Sweet Rosie O'Grady"), and W.C. Handy performing their own songs; Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in a tap number; and Rosemary Clooney in her television debut, singing "Boy Wanted." Highlights from 1950 include: Babe Didrikson and pro Lou Costello in a golf routine; Margaret Truman's television debut; Perry Como as substitute host for the show, singing "Whoop di-do"; Roy Campanella being introduced from the audience; Mayor William O'Dwyer offering thanks to conductor Gordon Jenkins; and Julie Harris, Ethel Waters, and Brandon de Wilde in a scene from "Member of the Wedding." Highlights from 1951 include: Moira Shearer, the first Saddler Wells ballerina to appear on the show, in a ballet excerpt; Gertrude Lawrence, in a rare television appearance, singing "I Whistle a Happy Tune" from "The King and I" with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II whistling along; Helen Hayes explaining why she wanted to appear in "Victoria Regina"; in the first example on television of the use of a split screen, Oscar Hammerstein reciting the lyrics to "The Last Time I Saw Paris," the song he wrote the day Paris surrendered to the Nazis; Yul Brynner singing "A Puzzlement" from "The King and I"; and prizefighter Sugar Ray Robinson kidding golfer Sam Snead. Highlights from 1952 include: a bakery skit with Jackie Gleason as Fenwick Babbitt, who is befuddled by the job instructions from his new employer (Art Carney) and overwhelmed by the pace of the assembly line; Audrey Hepburn's television debut; Cole Porter with a message to those who bring their dreams to Broadway; Johnnie Ray's television debut, singing "Cry"; and Richard Rodgers with memories of Lorenz Hart. Highlights from 1953 include: Julius La Rosa singing "I'm Sitting on Top of the World"; Walt Disney in an excerpt from Sullivan's special "The Disney Story"; vocalist Tony Martin singing "Manhattan" as Ed Wynn pushes the piano offstage; Joshua Logan with a plea for mental health assistance; Grace Kelly and Ralph Meeker singing "The French Lesson" from "Singin' in the Rain"; and mimic Will Jordan with his impression of Ed Sullivan. Highlights from 1954 include: Jack Benny ribbing Sullivan about how his show remains so successful and joking about his most recent film "The Horn Blows at Midnight"; Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in an "I Love Lucy" sketch about Ed Sullivan doing a whole show about them; film producer Darryl F. Zanuck recalling how he fired Clark Gable because his ears were too big; Victor Borge in a comic routine in which he and the orchestra members fall into an onstage pool. Highlights from 1955 include: jazz great Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong and opera star Robert Merrill comparing record sales; Edward R. Murrow's reminiscences about his father; and Gina Lollobrigida and Burt Lancaster promoting the film "Trapeze." Highlights from 1956 include: Elvis Presley singing "Love Me Tender"; Phil Silvers introducing Bing Crosby and then Julie Andrews from "My Fair Lady"; and ventriloquist Ricki Layne and his dummy Velvel. Highlights from 1957 include: Gary Cooper harmonizing with Sullivan to "Sweet Adeline" as Louis Armstrong plays the trumpet; a clip from the show's special circus program; Cyprus Garden water-skiers performing on the program's Jones Beach show; Fred Astaire performing a solo dance and singing "That Face"; and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner singing "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," accompanied on the piano by composer Frederick Loewe from their musical "My Fair Lady." Highlights from 1958 include: Sullivan joining the Kirby Stone Four in a song about "A Really Big Shoo Tonight"; the Canadian comedy duo Wayne and Shuster portraying detectives in ancient Roman; and Sophie Tucker and Maurice Chevalier singing "Some of These Days." In conclusion, Sullivan announces that he will present the Moiseyev dancers on the following week. Includes commercials.
(Series title varies; as above, 1955-1971; as "The Toast of the Town," 1948-1955.)
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: June 22, 1958 Sunday 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:59:25
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: T76:0036
- GENRE: Variety; Specials
- SUBJECT HEADING: Acrobatics; Boxing; Dance; Golf; Music, popular (songs, etc.); Musical revues, comedies, etc. - Excerpts; Sports; TV - Technology - Split screen
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1955-1971
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Kodak Brownie Starflash camera outfit
- TV - Commercials - Mercury and Mercury dealers
CREDITS
- Marlo Lewis … Producer
- John Wray … Director
- Ray Bloch … Music by
- Ed Sullivan … Host
- Julie Andrews
- Harry Armstrong
- Louis Armstrong
- Desi Arnaz
- Fred Astaire
- Lucille Ball
- Jack Benny
- Victor Borge
- Yul Brynner
- Roy Campanella
- Art Carney
- Maurice Chevalier
- Rosemary Clooney
- Gary Cooper
- Costello, Lou (golf pro)
- Bing Crosby
- Didrikson, Mildred "Babe" (See also: Zaharias, Mildred "Babe" Didrikson)
- Walt Disney
- de Wilde, Brandon
- Jackie Gleason
- Hammerstein, Oscar, II
- W. C. Handy
- Julie Harris
- Helen Hayes
- Audrey Hepburn
- Gordon Jenkins
- Maude Nugent Jerome
- Will Jordan
- June Taylor Dancers, The
- Kelly, Grace (See also: Grace, Princess of Monaco)
- Kirby Stone Four
- La Rosa, Julius
- Burt Lancaster
- Charles Laughton
- Gertrude Lawrence
- Ricki Layne
- Alan Jay Lerner
- Frederick Loewe
- Joshua Logan
- Gina Lollobrigida
- Carol Lynne
- Tony Martin
- Ralph Meeker
- Robert Merrill
- Edward R. Murrow
- William O'Dwyer
- Cole Porter
- Johnnie Ray
- Luise Rainer
- Robinson, Bill "Bojangles"
- Sugar Ray Robinson
- Richard Rodgers
- Moira Shearer
- Sam Snead
- Margaret Truman
- Sophie Tucker
- Ethel Waters
- Wayne and Shuster
- Ed Wynn
- Darryl F. Zanuck