Edward Vincent Sullivan--television host/producer and newspaper columnist--was born on 28 September 1902 in New York City. Early in his childhood his family moved to Port Chester, New York, where Sullivan attended school and became interested in athletics. He capitalized on his ability by serving both as captain of the high school baseball team and sports editor of his high school newspaper. He also wrote a sports column for the Port Chester Daily Item.
After graduation from high school, young Sullivan was hired as a full-time reporter for the Daily Item. His new career led to assignments with other, larger newspapers, including the Hartford Post, the New York Evening Mail, the Philadelphia Ledger, and the New York Morning Telegraph. In 1927 he joined the staff of the New York Graphic and later became sports editor of that newspaper.
In 1931 Sullivan's newspaper career took a different turn--he wrote
his first Broadway column for the Graphic. When the newspaper folded a year later, he was hired to write the same kind of column for the New York Daily News, which he wrote continuously since then until his death.
Beginning in the late 1920's Sullivan added another dimension to his professional life by becoming a host for radio programs. In 1930 he hosted the Gerardine show, and in 1932 he hosted Broadway's Greatest Thrills for CBS. Many entertainers--Jimmy Durante, Irving Berlin, Jack Benny, and others--made their radio debuts on Sullivan's shows. His work in radio led to offers to emcee reviews at various theaters in New York. In the 1940's Ed Sullivan Entertains originated at the 21 Club in New York, and he was also involved in the Summer Silver Theatre and Ed Sullivan's Pipeline.
These reviews and the fund-raising rallies and hospital shows that Sullivan staged during World War II qualified Sullivan to enter still another entertainment medium, television. In September of 1947 he hosted the Harvest Moon Ball for the Daily News and, unknown to Sullivan, the affair was televised. Subsequently CBS hired Sullivan to host their new variety show, and the Toast of the Town premiered on 20 June 1948. Later called The Ed Sullivan Show, it was to run for twenty-three years. Not known for his own talent, Sullivan exhibited an uncanny ability to spot talent in others, and The Ed Sullivan Show presented many “firsts” on American television. Among the individuals or groups who made their first television appearance on the show, or who were relatively unknown until they appeared are: Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Dick Van Dyke, Johnny Ray, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles. Occasionally Sullivan devoted his entire show to one person, with features like “The Oscar Hammerstein Story,” “The Joshua Logan Story,” and “The Robert Sherwood Story.” At the beginning of the 1969 season Jack Gould, television critic for the New York Times, commented that, “The why and wherefore of Mr. Sullivan's accommodating changing tastes without really changing his show is one of the most incredible sagas of the entertainment world. But there he was Sunday night, after a whole generation had been born, grown up, educated and married, a one-man feat for anyone in show business let alone an individual who would be the first to disclaim being a performer.” In 1971 CBS determined that the cost of the show had become prohibitive and that the tastes of television audiences had changed, so the show was dropped. Then Sullivan, through Sullivan Productions and with the aid of his son-in-law, producer Robert Precht, developed several specials for CBS each year.
Sullivan received many awards for his work and his humanitarianism. Among them were the Peabody Award for his “contribution to international understanding,” given after his 1959 tour of the Soviet Union for the State Department; a tribute from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1968; tributes from the Friars in 1956 and 1968; and the Television Showman of the Century Award.
He died on 13 October 1974.
