REALLY BIG SHOW WITH REALLY BIG LAUGHS - THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW - CBS-TV CIRCA 1948-1971

In the 1950's and 1960's, America's hottest comedy club was your parent's living room.

No cover charge. No drink minimum, Just the greatest array of comic talent that you could fit with the confines of a 21 inch television screen.

All for free.

YOu just had to turn your dial ( TV's once had dials for channel tuning) to your hometown, CBS Television station at 8pm Eastern time(7pm Central) on any Sunday night.

That was the time for television viewers to participate in a true American ritual and a show business institution , THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW.

First entitled THE TOAST OF THE TOWN when it debuted in 1948, it was one of the nascent Tiffany Network's first and finest offerings.The name of the weekly, video variety show was changed in 1955, to honor the clunky and constrained host.

The show was performed "LIVE" from CBS-TV's STUDIO 50, which was re-named THE ED SULLIVAN THEATER IN 1966.


Today, that facility is home to THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN.

Sullivan, while an awkward personality on camera, had an innate ability to successfully combine video and vaudeville. A native New Yorker,he was a teen aged boxer and an acclaimed Broadway columnist, before stepping in front of the primitive cameras and under the scalding lights required to produce the earliest network broadcasts.

Smart and facile, his acute awareness of social trends and his surgically sharp, journalistic instincts help to drive the stellar roster of guests. Sullivan, along with producers Marlo Lewis and Bob Precht, delivered the most diverse programs on the tube. On any given Sunday, recording artists, night club comics, plate spinners, opera stars, poets and puppets would share the sprawling stage of CBS Studio 50 on Broadway.There were no barriers of gender, color, race, ethnicity or religion. Talent was the only ticket to center stage.THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW defined variety in video.

While the earliest TV stars were comedians, and the actors who portrayed cops or cowboys, Sullivan defied definition as a performer. America embraced the stoic star as a family member.



Sponsored for many years by The Ford Motor Company's Lincoln/Mercury Division, Sullivan ( aka The Great Stone Face)was a welcome presence on Sunday nights for 23 television seasons.His program was still drawing large, household audiences in 1971, when his show, like THE RED SKELTON HOUR and THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW, were cancelled, as CBS and advertisers sought to cultivate younger, more urban demographics.

So many careers were launched, sustained or revived on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW. The Beatles are ,actually, a small, albeit incandescent, part of the show's history. Like NBC's TONIGHT SHOW, Sullivan's weekly revue was a crucible for comedy. One appearance could launch a career.

Here from THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW YOU TUBE site, are six classic comic peformances from the mid-1960's through the early 1970's, when the program was in its primacy.Enjoy!!!!

RICHARD PRYOR - 1966

JOAN RIVERS - 1967

RODNEY DANGERFIELD 1970

GEORGE CARLIN 1966

THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS 1966

HENNY YOUNGMAN 1966

THE KING OF COOL - DEAN MARTIN ON STAGE - CLOSED CIRCUIT - CIRCA JUNE 20, 1965

Dean Martin famously joked once that this is Frank Sinatra's world and we all just live in it.

But,if you examine the so-called Rat Pack , the show-biz confederation comprised of Sinatra, Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.,Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, through a nostalgic prism,one thing comes into focus: Dino was the very apotheosis of cool.Not icy and biting , but offering a refreshing brace.Like a heavy tumbler of scotch on the rocks after a round of golf on a torrid Palm Springs afternoon.

On stage, Dino was impeccably tailored. had classic good looks, a pleasant voice, a deep reservoir of humor and mischief in his eyes.

In the clip posted ,below, from the SERGIUNEGHINA YOU TUBE site, you'll see an excerpt from a classic Dean Martin performance. He radiates confidence and suavity, while singing, joking and kibitzing with an off-stage Sinatra.

This segment comes from THE FRANK SINATRA SPECTACULAR, a black and white, benefit variety show that was staged on June 20, 1965 at the Kiel Opera House in St.Louis.

The show was was a closed circuit telecast beamed to theaters across the nation, where proceeds from the tickets that patrons purchased, went to Dismas House, a half-way house for former convicts in St. Louis.

On this night, Martin (who was just months from the debut of his hit NBC variety series) shared the stage with Sinatra, Davis and, ironically, Johnny Carson acted as host, substituting for his regular TONIGHT SHOW,back-up,Joey Bishop.Enjoy!!!!!

CAMELOT CAPTURED ON KINESCOPE - THE ELECTION OF PRESIDENT JOHN .F KENNEDY - NBC-TV - CIRCA 11/08/60

Every day, in Living Color, Dolby Sound and High Definition Video, the fiber of this nation is tested by partisan politics, as the unending multi-media news cycle puts all of us on the front lines of the acrid debate.

Relax. KINESCOPE HD is not going all ideological on you.

We just want to take a moment to flashback on a more gentile, if not truly innocent, time in the American political process and a landmark night in network television news.

November 8th marks fifty years since the debonair, young, US Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy,was elected President of the United States. A Democrat, he defeated the incumbent Vice President ,Republican Richard M. Nixon.



The adversaries made history facing off in the first televised debates in American History.While the content of their discourse is still being debated five decades later, most agree that it was a vital, virtuoso performance by Mr. Kennedy that propelled him to the American presidency.

JFK was as much a cultural phenomenon as a political option. He was handsome, charming, liberal and a Roman Catholic. Kennedy was the prodigal son in a family that was all but American royalty.His wife , Jackie was elegant, smart and socially engaged, while raising their toddler son, John-John and young daughter, Caroline.



Mrs. Kennedy was an aspirational figure for so many young women of the time. The personable Kennedy was positioned by many pundits and show business luminaries as the perfect figure to lead America into the 1960's, a decade laced with nuclear threat, social upheaval and sexual liberation, that offered more danger than optimism.

The dashing young president's personal involvements with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Judith Campbell Exner would not be made public until years after his death.There are still questions centering on the role that organized crime may have played in getting him elected.



Cut down by an assassin's bullet in Dallas,Texas, on November 22, 1963, his short but electrifying time in office is still referred to by many as Camelot, in reflection of the mythical kingdom in which all who lived enjoyed a full, rich life.

On Election Night 1960, American television viewers and radio listeners turned to NBC NEWS in extraordinary numbers. From an elevated anchor position in the vast and versatile Studio 8H, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley anchored comprehensive coverage that was agile and contemporary in execution, while breezy and affable in tone.

It was one of the first times that television technology was commensurate with the scope of the story it captured, taking viewers across the nation.NBC turned to its corporate parent for the use of an RCA 501 computer to perform the high speed tabulations required to project key races.



As Tuesday night morphed into Wednesday morning, the TODAY SHOW team of Dave Garroway, Jack Lescoulie and Frank Blair joined Huntley and Brinkley to say that the network's morning show was deferring to election coverage and would join viewers when the all of the ballots were finally tallied.

The vote count in California ( Nixon's home state) was so slow that it would be after 7:00AM Eastern Time before NBC NEWS could project a Kennedy victory. NBC's News Division was back throughout the broadcast day to cover Mr.Kennedy's upbeat acceptance speech and Mr. Nixon's bitter concession.



Huntley and Brinkley dominated network news ratings during most of the 1960's, even in the face of relentless competition from CBS's redoubtable and respected Walter Cronkite. On election night and in every other major story of the decade, from War in Viet Nam to Man on the Moon, the pair was ably supported by Peacock Network stalwarts, John Chancellor, Frank McGee, Sander Vanocur, Merrill Mueller, Nancy Dickerson, Herb Kaplow, Ray Scherer, Peter Hackes and so many more.

Here from the David Von Pein 1 YOU TUBE site are nine, extraordinary excerpts of NBC NEWS coverage from Election Night 1960. Enjoy!!!!

VIEWERS KNOW THE SCORE - REBOOTING THE HAWAII FIVE-O THEME - CBS-TV - CIRCA JUNE 16,2010

From pulsating percussion to blasting brass, there are few television soundtracks that offer the instant recognition or evoke the kind of exuberant, viewer response as the vibrant theme for HAWAII FIVE-O.You might think that an attractive,agile cast, on-screen chemistry, taut scripts, vivid video and lush locations would be enough to bring most viewers to their televisions. You might consider that the proven premise of daring cops taking down brazen villains in a tropical paradise might be sufficient.

Nope.

Not without that song.

The original series debuted on CBS-TV in the fall of 1968, and the dynamic, complex title sequence, designed by director Reza S. Badiyi, was heralded by a high voltage, high velocity musical score, written by the respected film and television composer and arranger, Morton Stevens.

(COMPOSER MORTON STEVENS)

When FIVE-O's flinty Steve McGarrett and his cadre of island crime fighters first began busting bad guys, a rock group called The Ventures had a top 40 hit with a guitar powered cover of the show's supersonic theme.

Twice, since HAWAII FIVE-O ended it's original run in 1980, the Tiffany Network has tried to revive and relaunch the franchise.But, no matter how plot lines, producers or players changed ,in both instances, CBS-TV, and loyal fans insisted that Steven's iconic theme song be retained and respected.

( THE NEW CAST OF HAWAII FIVE-O)

This fall, when a new cast and crew hit the beach in Honolulu, the familiar and welcome theme was being reworked and updated on a music recording stage in Burbank.

Here from the WATCHHAWAIIFIVEO YOU TUBE site is a backstage look at that scoring session, mixed with video from the 2010 reboot of the CBS series.Enjoy!!!!!




As a bonus, here, from THEFUSIONCOMICS YOU TUBE site, is HAWAII FIVE-O's Co-Executive Producer, Alex Kurtzman,talking about the musical score at COMIC CON 2010, and presenting the above music video.Enjoy!!!!

BIG NEWS FROM A LITTLE NETWORK - ABC NEWS PROMO - ABC-TV - CIRCA 1961

At the dawn of the 1960's, while NBC's Chet Huntley and David Brinkley were doing mortal, broadcast battle with CBS-TV's Walter Cronkite, struggling ABC NEWS was fielding a troika of rotating news anchors,on multiple daily newscasts, including veteran correspondents Bill Lawrence, Al Mann and Ron Cochran.

In 1961, the youth oriented, alphabet network even added the mature presence of John Cameron Swayze,former anchor of NBC's Camel News Caravan, one of the mediums earliest national newscasts, and future pitchman for Timex watches.

Traditionally viewed as half a network , because it had fewer affiliates and fewer hit shows than the Peacock or Tiffany networks, ABC also had the smallest news division with the fewest employees and the least available resources.In 1960, the patriarch of the company,Leonard Goldenson, made a modest investment in the news division, which, in turn, mounted four daily, national newscasts and fortified it's promotion.

It would take years of experimentation, effort and the manifold talents of journalistic televisionary Roone Arledge, before ABC NEWS became America's leading broadcast news organization in the late 1980's.That positon has long since been surrendered to NBC NEWS.

Here, from the ROGERSHARPARCHIVES YOU TUBE site, is a bombastic blurb exolling the virtues of ABC NEWS.Enjoy!!!!!!

HAM & CHEESE ON TV - MILTON BERLE'S KRAFT MUSIC HALL - NBC-TV - CIRCA 3/18/59 & 1/21/59

It's hard to imagine how many words have been written and spoken about comic-virtuoso and video icon, Milton Berle, since that warm, June night in 1948 , when the former vaudeville star stepped through the curtain ,under the scorching lights of studio 6-B and into the homes of those fortunate few who could afford home receivers to become Mr. Television.

There was only one Uncle Milty.

You know the legend: That his Tuesday night NBC-TV show, THE TEXACO STAR THEATER, often had 80 to 90 per cent of all available viewers watching. That during his commercials,big city water departments could see changes in pressure as all of those viewers flushed their toilets and got back to see what Berle would do next. He was the first verifiable television star, predating video victories by Lucy, Gleason,Godfrey and ,even, Howdy Doody.

He was the king of television from 1948 to 1953.

As the competition grew, ratings diminished and as his style of slapstick comedy wore thin, Texaco cancelled its sponsorship. Buick sped in to underwrite Uncle Milty in a one hour, weekly, musical/comedy review on NBC, airing Tuesday at 8pm.But,after 3 seasons, THE BUICK-BERLE SHOW came to an abrupt stop in 1955.The Peacock Network had Berle under a 30 year , exclusive contract, so it installed him in a more traditional variety show in 1956,that lasted only one season.



But, there was a Kraft Recipe for TV success , waiting in the wings at NBC in Burbank.Here it is:Take one part Ham (Uncle Milty) and America's biggest Cheese factory(Kraft Foods).Next, add guest stars, topical monologues,contemporary music and bake under hot studio lights.

What they got was the two seasons of THE KRAFT MUSIC HALL STARRING MILTON BERLE that aired in 1958 and 1959 on NBC-TV. In the end, Berle couldn't find a new audience for his more mature style of humor. He was cancelled and Kraft, in turn, began a long association with another NBC luminary, Perry Como.

Berle next did a bowling show for NBC. It lasted only one year.

Here , below, are three clips that are derived from the high octane,high jinks that Milton Berle delivered every time the red light went on.Enjoy!!!!!


CLIP ONE:



CLIP TWO:



CLIP THREE:

STEPHEN J.CANNELL PASSES AWAY- TV'S MYSTERY MAN FOUND KEYS TO SUCCESS ON HIS TYPEWRITER

What do B.A. BARRACUS, JIM ROCKFORD & TONY BARRETTA have in common, besides their tireless devotion to take down the bad guys,each week, in 57minutes and 28 seconds or less?

These chimerical crime fighters , and dozens more TV tough guys, were created and developed by prolific, protean television writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell.The facile and formidable Cannell died in his Pasadena home on October 1st, at age 69,as a result of complications from melanoma.

A video visionary who had the unique ability to cultivate the human and vaunerable side of the characters he crafted , Cannell created, wrote and produced THE A-TEAM,WISEGUY,THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO,RIPTIDE, HUNTER, 21JUMP STREET, THE COMMISH, SILK STALKINGS,BARETTA and even won an EMMY AWARD for his work THE ROCKFORD FILES. He was a guiding force in the production of the recent A-TEAM movie.He got his start writing on UNIVERSAL's stable of classic caper shows like, Robert Wagner's stylish,ABC-TV spy series, IT TAKES A THIEF.

He was was often referred in the media to as a TV Mogul, but always preferred to be known as a writer, first. The son of a successful businessman, Cannell overcame dyslexia to launch and manage one of the medium's most successful production companies.

In 2008, he told an interviewer that he still wrote on an IBM Selectric Typewriter, because his dyslexia was so pronounced, that his many misspelled words rendered his computer's "spell check" feature useless.

Stephen J. Cannell leaves a legacy of dignity, decency and a portfolio of engaging, entertaining television shows, novels and films.It is an impressive achievement.

Here is an excerpt from his recent interview with THE ARCHIVE OF AMERICAN TELEVISION, posted on YOU TUBE. Here , he offers sage advice for aspiring writers.




Cannell explains the origins of his company's distinctive logo.



Here is the final iteration of that logo, from 1999.