Ed Sullivan, star-maker, has lost his job

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32587, 22 April 1971, Page 4

Ed Sullivan, star-maker, has lost his job

(By

RUPERT BUTLER)

There has never been a starmaker quite like Ed Sullivan. In fact, the man known throughout the world as Mr Television can justifiably claim that anybody who’s anybody in the glittering American show business set owes his fame and fortune to him more than anyone else. In his 20 years as host of America’s most popular coast-to-coast network television show, he has lifted a neverending stream of personalities to big star status, including Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

But no longer. Suddenly, the magic carpet to the show business big time has been pulled .from beneath the feet of every rising star. Because of the economic situation, advertisers are spending less, and Ed Sullivan, the world’s greatest starmaker, has been given the sack.

The fall of the Tsar of American show - business marks the closing of a fantastically popular cbat-and-variety show which, in its time, has featured a dazzling array of talent unequalled anywhere else—everyone from the pretty English singer Petula Clark to Fonteyn and Nureyev and from Lucille Ball to Callas. Outspoken compere

Ed Sullivan has had another claim to fame, too. He has always said precisely what he has liked to the personalities on his shows. And if what he has chosen to say has been insulting then it’s just been too bad. Certainly, no other television compere has ever treated his guests as Sullivan has done, and certainly no-one else could have got away with it quite so blatantly. Once, a wiry, twangy singer with a constantly rotating pelvis paraded before Sullivan at a rehearsal. Elvis Presley had a growing reputation, an army of fans and an even bigger future. His appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show would make him known across America.

Sullivan told him: “I run a family show. If you come in front of my cameras, you keep your hips still'. Otherwise I’ll haul you off.”

Presley obeyed and, even without the wiggle, was indisputably helped on the way to stardom.

The show’s producer, Bob Precht, commented: “If Presley had started his famous pelvis bit, Ed would have pulled him publicly off the stage. “I’ve seen him eject teenagers from the audience like a scoutmaster. “And he treats the

audiences themselves like cattle. When a performer has finished his act, 'the arm waving Ed himself leads the applause. And his warm-ups consist of telling the folks out front that they are there to work.” An Ed Sullivan rehearsal has actually been compared to a court of a monarch with absolute power. Precht explains: “There are really two 'Ed Sullivan Shows.’ “One is the dress rehearsal, not televised but seen by a live audience in the Ed Sullivan theatre. When that is over, the heads start rolling. Ruthless decisions “Acts which Ed thinks are not making the grade are ruthlessly dropped. His word is law. If it means a nasty hole in the show, he doesn’t give a damn. There’s always a library of film clips handy. “The final show is the one he personally has pushed, bullied and finally polished into shape.” At 69, Sullivan is regarded by his fans as a firm, disciplined father, but with the twinkling - eyed benevolence of a favourite uncle. Once, he devoted almost a complete show to Brigitte Bardot, ruthlessly elbowing off other artists to make room for her. But ever mindful of stolid, middle-class America, he made very sure that she didn’t slink in like a sex kitten! He also refused to be intimidated by formidable personalities, and once had a blistering row with the tempestuous Maria Callas. On another occasion, when Bob Hope was at rehearsal, the cornelian’s army of gag writers waded in and threatened to turn the whole show into a solo turn.

Sullivan snapped: “Hope’s act drags. If he’ll chop it in half, he’s on.” Bob Hope agreed, but other personalities haven’t been so amenable. Frank Sinatra, probably the least enthusiastic of Sullivan’s fans, once attacked him in a trade paper. The Ed Sullivan shows were so powerful they could both create and demolish reputations Beatlemania in America was his sole invention.

“He got the Beatles for virtually nothing,” I was told. “But advance publicity whipped up his audience to over 70 million for their appear nice alone.” “Ordinary-looking guy” How did Sullivan himself begin? “I was compering an amateur dance festival in New York,” he recalls. “Some

talent scouts were nosing around.

“They wanted an ordinarylooking guy to front a proposed family show—somebody who looked like a man-in-the-street American, not a polished slick performer. I must have filled the bill.”

One reason for his success has undoubtedly been his nose for a good story, and he had a hand - picked, devoted staff to follow up likely leads. His London agent, Peter Pritchard, recalls: “Ed read an article in an English newspaper that the bugle used in the Battle of Balaclava was up for auction in London.

“He promptly cabled me to buy it—and to send over a suitable star to blow it on his show. And that’s precisely what Laurence Harvey did.” . But now the ball is over. Unless the advertisers quickly lay their hands on some cash, it seems, no-one will be blowing their trumpets any more on the television show that has probably made more stars than most of the others put together.—News Feature Service.