Read Impresario: The Life and Times of Ed Sullivan Online
Authors: James Maguire
Impresario: The Life and Times of Ed Sullivan
Quotations from
Prime Time
by Marlo Lewis and Mina Bess Lewis copyright © 1979 by Marlo Lewis and Mina Bess Lewis. Used by permission of Jeremy P. Tarcher, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Quotations from
A Thousand Sundays: The Story of the Ed Sullivan Show
by Jerry Bowles copyright © 1980 by Jerry Bowles. Used by permission of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright © 2006 by James Maguire
First published in the United States in 2006 by Billboard Books
an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications
a division of VNU Business Media, Inc.
770 Broadway, New York, New York 10003
www.watsonguptill.com
Executive Editor: Bob Nirkind
Editor: Meryl Greenblatt
Senior Production Manager: Ellen Greene
Library of Congress Control Number: 2005933953
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage-and-retrieval systems—without the prior permission of the publisher.
eISBN: 978-0-307-79944-9
v3.1
For Corinne, of course
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
CHAPTER THREE
The Porno Graphic
PART TWO
THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Globetrotter
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Times They Are a Changin’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Generation Gap
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ripped Asunder
Acknowledgments
This book would hardly have been possible without the generous assistance of many talented people.
A number of individuals at research and cultural institutions deserve special mention. In particular, Mike Mashon, a curator at the Library of Congress, not only allowed me access to the Sullivan show library before it was opened to the public, but provided invaluable research aid. Felicia Reilly at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago went above and beyond the call of duty in assisting my research. Thank you, also, to Tara Olivera at the Center for American History in San Antonio, Texas, and to Jane Klain at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York.
Jacqueline Willoughby, at the New York Public Library, understands the Byzantine politics of interlibrary loan better than anyone, and Warren Platt is one of the NYPL’s most helpful librarians; Dorinda Hartmann provided critical assistance as I explored Sullivan’s personal papers at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research; Judith Caplan’s aid with genealogical research helped greatly.
I am indebted to Walter Podrazik, a leading television historian, for his expertise and his enthusiastic research help, and to Bruce Spizer, one of the foremost Beatles historians, for his helpful feedback.
Andrew Solt, who owns the Sullivan library, was unfailingly helpful and kind, as was Greg Vine of Solt Productions.
Thank you with a cherry on top to Mr. John Frain and Ms. Sydney Jones, for their wise words about my manuscripts, including this one.
Very special thanks to this book’s executive editor, Bob Nirkind, for his remarkable insight into the inner workings of a manuscript; and to its editor, Meryl Greenblatt, for her sense of style and attention to detail. Special thanks, too, to my agent, Agnes Birnbaum, for her support—I will
always
owe her lunch.
Among the many other individuals who lent guidance, a helpful hand, or general moral support, a big thanks to: Bill Gallo and Angela Troisi, at the
Daily News
, for their generosity and their memories, as well as Lenore Schlossberg at the
Daily News
for her advice; Deborah Kelman, Jerry Hamza, and Richard Grant for help with interviews; David Margolick, for lending an ear and for interview assistance; Scott Omelianuk, for his writing advice; Florence Eichin at the Penguin Group for her unfailing good cheer; Eric Fettmann at the
New York Post
for his encyclopedic knowledge of the New York newspaper business; Christopher Saunders, Devin Comiskey, and, most especially, Dan Muse, for being my patron saints; and Mr. Vincent Favale at CBS, for being a dude, and for believing in this project.
And the biggest thanks of all goes to Corinne, for keeping my heart running, a particularly important thing when one faces a blank page.
“Ah, who can tell how hard it is to climb the steep where Fame’s proud temple shines afar?”
— J
AMES
B
EATTIE
(1735–1803)
Prologue
O
N AN OVERCAST
S
UNDAY MORNING
he sat in his robe and hurriedly typed his column. Next to the typewriter sat his usual breakfast—a lamb chop ordered from room service, an artificially sweetened pear, and iced tea—and he ate while he worked. Sundays were the longest days. He cranked out his New York
Daily News
column late morning, his driver picked him up early afternoon, then it was dress rehearsal—in which he pummeled the show into shape—followed by a lengthy production meeting, numerous last minute details, and finally, at eight o’clock … the cameras blinked on and he walked into fifteen million living rooms. So this morning, his poodle Bojangles (named after storied tap dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson) went neglected. And he could not so much as glance at his clutter of office mementoes: the caricature of him drawn by Walt Disney, a framed copy of
Time
magazine with his face on the cover, and, by the typewriter, a photo of his wife, Sylvia, inscribed
To Ed with love—till the winds stop blowing.