Little Known Facts Of Ed Sullivan’s Start With CBS…

in 1948, Ed Sullivan was hired by CBS as a counter to the soon to debut ‘Texaco Star Theater’ starring Milton Berle on NBC. $375 a week was the shows production budget! In today’s money, that’s about $3,700 but that’s still barely a drop in the bucket. It was hard to do, but Sullivan and co creator Marlo Lewis (with Elvis in photo above) turned ‘Toast Of The Town’ into one of television’s biggest shows.

Previously a newspaper sportswriter, and vaudeville producer/emcee, Ed Sullivan made his most prominent mark on the entertainment industry as a show business columnist for “The New York Daily News”. His credentials and connections within the industry would grant Sullivan a unique synergy as the host of CBS’s new program. Ed was an influential columnist; if anyone could convince stars to work cheap, he could. CBS head Bill Paley, however, viewed Sullivan as a short-term investment: “Ed Sullivan was hired as a temporary master of ceremonies for a variety program I wanted in 1948 because the programming department could not find anyone like Milton Berle … We planned to replace him as soon as we could afford a professional master of ceremonies.”

Sullivan was hired to a dismal three-year contract to host ‘Toast Of The Town’. The contract stipulated that the show could be cancelled with two weeks’ notice, Sullivan and his partner Marlo Lewis would receive no profit or residuals, and their names would not appear on the billing (so that they could be replaced at any time). For their first two years on ‘Toast Of The Town’, Sullivan and Lewis took home no pay for their efforts, funneling their meager earnings into keeping the show alive.

‘Toast Of The Town’ debuted at 9 P.M. on June 20th, 1948 with a diverse lineup that would be indicative of Sullivan’s formula to come. The bill featured comedy duo Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, Broadway producers Rodgers and Hammerstein, ballerina Kathryn Lee, pianist Eugene List, singing fireman John Kokoman, jazz singer Monica Lewis, and boxing referee Ruby Goldstein.

Reviews of the debut program’s talent were overwhelmingly positive, but many critics focused harshly on Sullivan’s on-screen persona. Sullivan had little acting ability and was immediately criticized for his wooden, deadpan delivery. Seemingly of two minds regarding his critics, Sullivan was alternately defensive and self-effacing. In response to Harriet Van Horne’s assertion in New York’s “World Telegram & Sun” that he got where he is, not by having a personality, but by having no personality, Sullivan wrote “Dear Miss Horne. You Bitch. Sincerely, Ed Sullivan.”

Critics focused on Sullivan’s shortcomings as a host, but failed to credit his singular greatest talent: that of producing his weekly variety show. His skill at scouting talent and balancing the various high-brow, low-brow, and kiddy fare acts that made up each program’s roster was unrivaled in television and vaudeville history. As the show’s producer, he took dictatorial control over every aspect of its production. In contrast to his persona as the reserved and respectful host, as producer he didn’t care who he offended.

Sullivan’s methodology was simple. After choosing and booking the acts for a given week’s broadcast, he would run a full dress rehearsal in front of a live audience on Sunday afternoon prior to the evening’s live broadcast. Ed stood offstage, carefully watching each act and gauging the audience’s response. After dress rehearsals concluded, Sullivan would drastically retool the night’s show up until the last minute, canceling some acts, extended or shortening others, changing song selections, forcing lyrical changes, and would otherwise completely alter the show based on his impressions of what would play best to a national audience. At times, he would even make changes during the show, shuffling the running order to speed up the tempo, cover backstage snafus, or to better set up the closing act.

The naturally competitive Sullivan was interested in one thing only: ratings success. He instinctively knew that the only way to ensure his place on the air was to continue to hold his audience while attracting new viewers. Throughout 1948 Sullivan was testing his formula, his version of updated vaudeville: highbrow and lowbrow, something funny, something for the kids. The bookings could ever so slightly challenge the audience, but he always included material to soften any edge. Sullivan made “variety” the strength of ‘Toast Of The Town’. By the spring of 1950, the show could safely be viewed as a success after two seasons. Sullivan and Lewis had begun to profit from the show due to contract renegotiations, advertising sponsorship had stabilized, and reviews of the program had remained favorable. The program faced considerable new competition in the fall of 1950 from NBC’s ‘Colgate Comedy Hour’, but ultimately held its own against Colgate‘s high-budget extravaganza. Sullivan even went so far as to book competitor Milton Berle himself as a guest.

Below is the rarely seen Marlo Lewis…the man who pitched the show idea and the host to CBS. Lewis was the show’s co creator and co producer. Ed handled the booking and talent end and Marlo handled the television and sponsor end. Here he is below with Elvis on his second Sullivan show.

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