The Ed Sullivan Show

(sorry for my bad English) I am interested in find the episode 816 of 1/3/1965. I am Spanish and in this episode was appeared the Spanish singer Carmen Sevilla. Carmen Sevilla born in Sevilla in 1930, she is in the actually a famous showman in the TV of my country. She was appeared in films with Richard Kiley and Charlton Heston and she filmed in 1961 King of kings. She was an important singer of traditional and pop Spanish music at the 50 and 60's decade and she was to Hollywood at the Paramount studies in 1956. I wait your answer and your resolution. This is very important for me trouble this program because is marvellous and a bid entartaimente. Thank you. Best Regards from Spain.

Miguel.

I must say that I have become immersed in watching reruns of this awesome television classic as of late. Everything about it is great. It is my opinion that highlights of its series run include guest appearances by Elvis Presley, The Beatles and The Doors. Ed Sullivan was always a truly great and cordial host and it's very easy to see why this show is so fondly remembered even today.

I watched a video of the Ed Sullivan show. It was entitled "Red, White, and Blue." It was a patriotic compiled tape which everybody in America should own. I was born after the show's cancellation so I never saw the original. But I can tell you after watching this tape, it was probably one of the best television shows of all time. In this tape, they have the great Henry Fonda doing the first Lincoln address. Dame Judith Anderson reciting the Gettysburg Address. Carl Sandburg offers the Lincoln Birthday address and the great Charlton Heston gives the second Lincoln inauguration speech. There are great musical numbers with Dale Evans, the West Point crew, and Kate Smith singing "God Bless America." They also have Joel Grey singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Grey's not James Cagney but it's worth seeing. This short video tape is only an hour long from Sofa Entertainment. Now if you are a history teacher, an American patriot, American lover, or just patriotic, this tape is worth the money. I bought 2 copies and gave it to history teachers that I know of. It's also worth buying for your home.

It was officially called "Toast of the Town", but to most of us it was simply "The Ed Sullivan Show." If I recall correctly, it came on Sunday nights, in glorious black and white. We always looked forward to seeing his show. Sullivan himself was not much to look at, in fact it is safe to say most would consider him 'funny looking.' Nor did he have a particularly good speaking voice. One of his catch phrases, 'we're going to have a really big show' came out 'a really big shoe.' That's the way he pronounced words. But regardless of his personal lack of charisma, Ed Sullivan knew how to bring in the big stars.

One of them was Elvis Presley before he became wildly popular. In fact, being on the Ed Sullivan show was perhaps the biggest springboard to his success. But there was a problem with Elvis, his hips moved just too much, were considered far too suggestive for this family program, so the TV cameras showed Elvis only above the waist.

Ed Sullivan also got the Beatles in the early 1960s, when they were still relatively unknown in the USA. I don't know if he was the first, but his show certainly went a long way towards introducing America to this group from England. And the rest, as they say, is 'history'!!

A truly energizing and fun DVD. Almost doesn't seem real that life was ever so innocent and filled with joy and confidence. These shows bring back an incredible time in American history and popular culture. You can almost re-live these experiences ( the way we all did when we saw this on television ) when the world changed it's axis at the precise moment Ed Sullivan threw out his arm and and we saw - for the first time - the Beatles! And the world was theirs!

And we were all better for it - and more connected than ever.

A minor footnote:

A performance from the Broadway production of "Oliver!" features a very young (and professional) Davey Jones who less than three years later would be the "cute one" in an absurd children's show called "The Monkees" - a supposed take-off on the Beatles.

Overall, the shows presented here give us a view of what real live television was like - and when there actually was a curtain on the stage. The auditorium where the historic events took place can still be visited in New York, is still in use as a production facility, under the name " The Ed Sullivan Theatre ".