An icon of newspaper, radio, and television, Ed Sullivan was an amazing man that most Americans alive today know only from his Sunday night television show. But Ed began his career in the 1920's as a newspaperman who started out as a sports columnist at the New York Graphic and later as a gossip columnist replacing the imfamous Walter Winchell at the same paper. In the 1930's, he tried radio without success, but did manage to produce some Vaudeville shows. It was certainly his experience with Vaudeville that shaped his famous television program that ran from 1948 to 1971. Something for everyone. Dancers, acrobats, singers, Broadway and movie stars, comedians, and later, rock and rollers like Elvis and the legendary 1964 debut of The Beatles in America.
A complicated man with an ego and a short fuse, Ed was a pioneer of the television variety show that paved the way for many others. Born in 1901, he grew up with modern America, lying his way into service in World War I, and then reporting on the cultural center of the country in New York City through the 1920's, 30's, and 40's. James Maguire doesn't pull any punches when it comes to Ed's shortcomings. The story of Ed Sullivan is the story of the maturation of American culture in the 20th Century.
Rainbo Electronic Reviews published this review in our October, 2007 issue.
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