Virtually every type of entertainment appeared on the show; classical musicians, opera singers, popular recording artists, songwriters, comedians, ballet dancers, dramatic actors performing monologues from plays, and circus acts were regularly featured.

From 1948 through 1962, the program's primary sponsor was the Lincoln-Mercury Division of the Ford Motor Company; Sullivan read many commercials for Mercury vehicles live on the air during this period.

The last original Sullivan show telecast (#1068) was on March 28, 1971, with guests Melanie, Joanna Simon, Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass and Sandler and Young.

As it had occurred with the annual telecasts of The Wizard of Oz in the 1960s and the 1970s, the family ritual of gathering around the television set to watch Ed Sullivan became almost a U.S. cultural universal.

The musical's plot revolves around an ordinary teen girl's chance to kiss a rock star live on the Sullivan show, and in the song "Hymn for a Sunday Evening," her family expresses their regard for the program in worshipful tones.

This occurred because the episode was taped at the Beatles' convenience on August 14, the eve of their Shea Stadium performance and a two-week tour of North America, slightly before the program was ready for color transmission.

Along with declining viewership, Ed Sullivan attracted a higher median age for the average viewer (which most sponsors found undesirable) as the seasons went on.

Starting in 1991, SOFA Entertainment has re-introduced The Ed Sullivan Show to the American public by producing numerous network specials, syndicating a half-hour series (that also aired on TV Land, PBS, VH1 and Decades) and home video compilations.

The Ed Sullivan Show would regularly feature singers from the Metropolitan Opera and the staff orchestra would accompany divas such as Eileen Farrell, Maria Callas or Joan Sutherland.

The musicians needed to be prepared to switch gears for Ella Fitzgerald, Diahann Carroll or Sammy Davis Jr.. and then onto The Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder or Tom Jones or Itzhak Perlman.

Trumpets: Chris Griffin, Bernie Privin, Jimmy Nottingham, and Thad Jones; Chris's son Paul Griffin was a regular substitute trumpeter Trombones: Roland Dupont, Morton Bullman, Frank Rehak, and Cliff Heather Saxophones: Toots Mondello, Bernie Kaufman, Artie Drellinger, Hymie Schertzer, Ed Zuhlke, et al.

The Ed Sullivan Show is especially known to the World War II and baby boomer generations for introducing acts and airing breakthrough performances by popular 1950s and 1960s musicians such as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Supremes, the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dusty Springfield, the Beach Boys, the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Buddy Holly, Janis Joplin, the Rolling Stones, the Mamas and the Papas, the Lovin' Spoonful, Herman's Hermits, the Doors, Dionne Warwick, Barbra Streisand, Petula Clark, Vanilla Fudge, and the Band and the famous Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps The Canadian comedy duo Wayne and Shuster appeared on the program 67 times, a record for any performer.

"[21] At the time, Presley was filming Love Me Tender, so Sullivan's producer, Marlo Lewis, flew to Los Angeles to supervise the two segments telecast that night from CBS Television City in Hollywood.

For the third and final appearance on January 6, 1957, Presley performed a medley of "Hound Dog", "Love Me Tender", and "Heartbreak Hotel", followed by a full version of "Don't Be Cruel".

[21] In late 1963, Sullivan and his entourage happened also to be passing through Heathrow and witnessed how the Beatles' fans greeted the group on their return from Stockholm, where they had performed a television show as warmup band to local stars Suzie [nl] and Lill Babs.

The following week's show was broadcast from Miami Beach where Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali) was in training for his first title bout with Sonny Liston.

The group's last appearance on Sullivan's program was via prerecorded promotional clips of their songs "Two of Us" and "Let It Be", broadcast on the show on the first day of March in 1970.

Although both videos were recorded in late January 1969, the delay was due to the band's dissatisfaction with the tedious Let It Be album sessions and the group's impending break-up.

The Supremes' final appearance on the show, shortly before it ended, served as the platform to introduce America to Ross's replacement, Jean Terrell, in March 1970.

Never had a bit of trouble.The show included entertainers such as Frankie Lymon, The Supremes, Marian Anderson, Louis Armstrong, Pearl Bailey, LaVern Baker, Harry Belafonte, Brook Benton, James Brown (and the Famous Flames),[38] Cab Calloway, Godfrey Cambridge, Diahann Carroll, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Bill Cosby, Count Basie, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., Bo Diddley, Duke Ellington, Lola Falana, the 5th Dimension, Ella Fitzgerald, the Four Tops, Dick Gregory, W. C. Handy, Lena Horne, the Jackson 5, Mahalia Jackson, Louis Jordan, Bill Kenny, B.

King, George Kirby, Eartha Kitt, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Moms Mabley, Johnny Mathis, the Miracles, Melba Moore, the Platters, Leontyne Price, Richard Pryor, Lou Rawls, Della Reese, Nipsey Russell, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, The Talbot Brothers, the Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas, Ike & Tina Turner, Leslie Uggams, Sarah Vaughan, William Warfield, Dionne Warwick, Dinah Washington, Ethel Waters, Flip Wilson, Jackie Wilson, Nancy Wilson, and Stevie Wonder.

One telecast included African-American bass-baritone Andrew Frierson singing "Ol' Man River" from Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat, a song that, at that time, was usually sung on television by white singers, although it was written for a black character in the musical.

[42] Cooke had been cut off four weeks earlier during a live performance of "You Send Me" as the show's allotted time expired, causing an outrage among television audiences.

After the act was done, the Rock and Roll Monster shrunk back into the ball of fur which is then eaten by Sour Bird (who was previously used in a commercial for Royal Crown Cola).

During the dress rehearsal, Bo Diddley, listed as number “seven” in the lineups of stars participating in the show, agreed to do “16 Tons” as Marlo Lewis, Toast of the Town Executive Producer and Sullivan had requested.

By the time John Wray, Executive Director, had taken the show off the air, Bo Diddley, Smalls, his agent, Lewis, Ray Block and several members of the band had instituted a series of verbal attack on the change in programming.

As the leaders and wise men look up and predators and prey hide in fear, it produces a mushroom cloud in the sky, killing everyone and everything, vaporizing the people, the animals and Earth.

According to some sources, including contemporary newspaper reports, Ed Sullivan's telecast of A Short Vision caused a reaction as significant as Orson Welles' The War of the Worlds radio broadcast 20 years prior.

Sullivan was reportedly letting Mason know (by pointing two fingers) that he had only two minutes left, as CBS was about to cut away to show a speech by President Lyndon Johnson.

The performance and incident were reenacted in Oliver Stone's 1991 biographical film, The Doors, albeit in a more dramatic fashion, with Morrison portrayed as emphasizing the word "higher".