John Crosby (media critic)

John Crosby (May 18, 1912 – September 7, 1991) was an American newspaper columnist, radio-television critic, novelist and TV host.

The latter notwithstanding he was unable to arrest the exponential growth in the viewership of telecasts headlining Elvis Presley, who he attacked viciously in a June 18, 1956 article entitled “Performer's Gyrations May Doom Rock 'n Roll".

Although the article had been written in response to Presley's 2nd appearance on the Milton Berle Show, which drew 22.1 million viewers, Presley followed it by appearing, this time at the most coveted moment in prime time television, the Sunday at 8pm slot, and did so at both the Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan shows where he garnered 42.1, 60.7, 56.5 and 54.5 million viewers for NBC and CBS, respectively.

That same year, his book-length collection of columns, Out of the Blue, was published, prompting Lewis Gannett to comment: "Crosby is at his best when he engages in the art of amiable murder.

Crosby was so highly respected that he became one of the first media critics to host a television show: the Emmy-winning anthology series The Seven Lively Arts, on CBS.

Telecast on Sunday afternoons, it lasted a single season, from late 1957 to early 1958, with individual episodes on such subjects as jazz, ballet and films.