Ed Sullivan: Television’s Variety Show Pioneer
Ed Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American television host, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist. He created and hosted Toast of the Town, later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show, which broadcast from 1948 to 1971 and set a record as the longest-running variety show in U.S. broadcast history.
Early Life and Education
Sullivan was born in Harlem, New York City, to Elizabeth F. (née Smith) and Peter Arthur Sullivan, a customs house employee. His twin brother Daniel died when Sullivan was two years old. The family moved to Port Chester, New York, where Sullivan was raised in a small red brick home at 53 Washington Street. He was of Irish descent, and music was central to family life—his parents frequently played piano, sang, and played phonograph records.
At Port Chester High School, Sullivan was a gifted athlete who earned 12 athletic letters. He played football as a halfback, basketball as a guard, and track as a sprinter. With the baseball team, he served as catcher and captain, leading the team to several championships. Sullivan later recalled that integrated sports were taken for granted in New York high schools, an experience that shaped his views on race and competition.
Career and Achievements
Sullivan began his journalism career at The Port Chester Daily Item, where he had written sports news while in high school and continued full-time after graduation. In 1919, he joined The Hartford Post, but the newspaper folded in his first week. He then worked as a sports reporter for The New York Evening Mail, and after its closure in 1923, moved through positions at the Associated Press, the Philadelphia Bulletin, The Morning World, The Morning Telegraph, The New York Bulletin, and The Leader.
In 1927, Sullivan joined The New York Evening Graphic as a sports writer and later sports editor. When Walter Winchell moved to The Daily Mirror in 1929, Sullivan was named the paper’s Broadway columnist. He soon left for The New York Daily News, where his column “Little Old New York” focused on Broadway shows and entertainment gossip. Sullivan also delivered show business news broadcasts on radio and became a powerful force in the entertainment world, setting El Morocco nightclub as his unofficial headquarters and establishing himself as one of Winchell’s main rivals. He continued writing for the New York Daily News throughout his broadcasting career, and his popularity eventually outlasted Winchell’s. In the late 1960s, Sullivan praised Winchell’s legacy in a magazine interview, leading to a reconciliation between the two longtime adversaries.
Before his television career, Sullivan produced vaudeville shows in the 1920s and 1930s, appearing as master of ceremonies, and directed a radio program over the original WABC. In 1941, he became host of Summer Silver Theater, a CBS variety program with Will Bradley as bandleader and a guest star featured each week.
Notable Events and Milestones
In 1948, producer Marlo Lewis convinced CBS to hire Sullivan to host a weekly Sunday-night television variety show called Toast of the Town. The program debuted in June 1948 from Maxine Elliott’s Theatre on West 39th Street in New York. In January 1953, it moved to CBS-TV Studio 50 at 1697 Broadway, a former CBS Radio playhouse that was renamed the Ed Sullivan Theater in 1967. The show was renamed The Ed Sullivan Show in 1955.
Television critics initially gave the show and its host poor reviews. Harriet Van Horne wrote that Sullivan “got where he is not by having a personality, but by having no personality.” Sullivan’s on-camera mannerisms were so awkward that some viewers believed he suffered from Bell’s palsy. Despite these criticisms, the show became a cultural institution. Television critic David Bianculli noted that before MTV, Sullivan presented rock acts; before Bravo, he presented jazz, classical music, and theater; and before cable television existed, Sullivan was where the entertainment choices were.
Awards and Honors
In 1996, Sullivan was ranked number 50 on TV Guide’s “50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.”
Additional Resources
Sullivan’s legacy as a broadcasting pioneer and tastemaker in American entertainment continues to be studied and celebrated. More detailed information about his career, the guests who appeared on his show, and his influence on television history is available through Wikipedia and other biographical archives dedicated to early American television.
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