Ed Sullivan dead

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33665, 15 October 1974, Page 19

Ed Sullivan dead

(N.Z. Press Assn —Copyrights NEW YORK, Oct. 14. Ed Sullivan, who has died in New York, aged 73, had been, part of the Broadway scene since the ’2os, the New York Times News Service reports. But writing a gossip column, shuttling about the fringes of the entertainment world, and being master of ceremonies for a succession of variety shows, did not give Mr Sullivan what he wanted most out of life: national recognition. He did not achieve that until he moved into the whirlwind world of television in 1948, and his weekly show became an essential part of Sunday evening for millions of Americans: between 45 million and 50 million tuned in every week to watch his vaudeville-like parade of top talent which cost SUSBm a year to produce, and for which Mr Sullivan received SUS 164,000 a year. His awkward style — some called him “The Great Stone Face” — became an easy target for good-natured ribbing by impressionists. “By all the rules of the theatre,” one journalist said of him “he’s a cipher. He cannot act. He cannot sing. He cannot dance. He cannot tell a joke."