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Right Here on Our Stage Tonight!: Ed Sullivan's America (Ahmanson Foundation Book in the Humanities)

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Arts commentator Gerald Nachman has found the ideal framework for telling the colorful story of popular culture in America - through the backstage judgments, decisions and integrity if that old television classic, "The Ed Sullivan Show".

"Right Here on Our Stage Tonight: Ed Sullivan's America" describes how it all happened there.

Nachman has the scope and experience as a writer to leap from the narrow realities of a weekly variety show to the implications of what this gathering of talent meant to America over the long term. Sullivan's vision was pivotal, Nachman notes, in bringing millions of viewers their first taste of ballet, opera and theater, interspersed with crooners, dog acts, gymnasts, comedians and a singing nun. It was vaudeville's last gasp. "Ed was a weekly Santa Claus bringing a bag of marvelous things into American homes," Nachman writes.

Old Sullivan shows, now available on DVDs packaged in various themes, provide a history of entertainment and popular music from the dreamy 1940s and 1950s to the rock revolution that Sullivan helped deliver to the heartland. Oddly, as Nachman points out, Sullivan never quite grasped what rock was all about - but he knew his young viewers wanted it. "Cozy hours hosted by Perry Como or Dean Martin were passé," Nachman writes of the era after Elvis Presley appeared on the show.

"The Ed Sullivan Show" - originally called "Toast of the Town" - gave Nachman a convenient focus for what otherwise might have been a sprawling collection of show business anecdotes. His assiduous research and breezy story-telling make for a riveting cultural history. His background as a newspaperman ensures that he never lets himself get bogged down into pop sociology. The story tells itself and Nachman puts it in context.

This book looks behind Sullivan's innovative contributions to early television and digs into some of the myths surrounding the show. Did Sullivan discover Elvis Presley? No. Did he discover The Beatles? Not exactly. Was he insulted on the air by Jackie Mason? He certainly thought so. Did The Rolling Stones and The Doors tone down their lyrics for middle American viewers? Yes and no.

For all these stories and many more, Nachman tracked down the surviving participants of the show and lays out their often conflicting memories of what happened. The stories are carefully written and attributed with almost scholarly precision.

This book will stand as a definitive account of cultural shifts that transformed American's taste - for better or for worse.

Nachman dissects Sullivan's strange, wooden stage presence by examining his little-known personal background as a sportswriter and show business columnist. Neither prepared him for the unforgiving eye of the TV camera. He describes Sullivan as a "hunched, slightly Neanderthal figure" who however ruled the entire show with an iron fist. "He might hurriedly, ruthlessly yank an act for reasons of time or flatness, editing by instinct. Only hours before airtime he would pull apart his running order to create a faster, more lively show. He was a wizard at show business calculus," Nachman writes.

It all began to slip away in the late 1960s as Sullivan struggled to reconcile the wilder cultural themes with the old variety format he and his contemporaries loved. Viewing families split along generational lines.

CBS axed the show in 1971 after 23 years of groundbreaking productions. "The birth of rock and roll was the death of the variety show," Nachman concludes. His description of Sullivan, embittered and in declining health after the cancletion, is a poignant coda to an otherwise exhilrating ride through a period of fundmental change in American tastes.

As artists transitioned from radio to television in the 1940s it often made for a tough segue. Many of the entertainers were old vaudevillians who had already transitioned from the stage to radio, such as Burns & Allen, for whom the transition to television was a natural progression. As Nachmann points out, to a certain degree Ed Sullivan fell into that category. A former journalist and radio personality, Sullivan appeared on the surface a likely candidate to transition to television, but there was a problem. Sullivan lacked the natural charisma or warmth of an animated and vibrant entertainer like Milton Berle or Lucille Ball. Sullivan's made-for-radio face and wooden stage persona hardly captivated audiences. As a result the "Ed Sullivan Show" nearly bombed in the ratings at its inception as Sullivan tended to freeze or become lost for words. Most viewers tuned in to Sullivan because of the name he had made for himself, and when they did the found that like an old vaudevillian, Sullivan knew how to keep an audience entertained - keep the show moving along with a wide variety of acts.

As Nachmann points out, Sullivan had a genuine knack for spotting rising stars and the "Ed Sullivan Show" was a genuine star making machine. Nachman mentions the obvious stars that broke out on Sullivan's stage including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and so many others. "Right Here On Our Stage Tonight!" catalogues Sullivan's nearly 20 year reign on television - dominating the ratings Sunday night at 8 PM. And rather focusing solely on Sullivan's most famous guests Nachmann includes other run-of-the-mill and unusual acts who were recurring visitors on the show, such as Topo Gigio and Señor Wences, who made the "Ed Sullivan Show" a truly odd smorgasbord of talent that played to America's divergent and diverse cultural tastes. Along the way "Right Here" explains how Sullivan came to agree to host a television show, the show's painfully slow rise to success, and how his show came to define the era it helped shape. But "The Ed Sullivan Show" was also a reflection of American society and its tastes in that era; where else could you see opera performed after a plate balancing act only in turn to be followed by a talking mouse? "Right Here" is equal parts a glimpse into that kaleidoscopic sideshow and into America's psyche at that point in time, demonstrating that Sullivan's show was not only the link from the age to vaudeville to the television age, but the inspiration for a number of variety shows that would follow in its path like Sonny & Cher and Carol Burnett to name a few. In aspiring for a broad appeal and being all things to all people Sullivan came to endear himself with his audience and the ratings soared. But doing so spelled his doom as the 1960s and 1970s gave rise to narrowcasting, with shows appealing to more limited and specific demographics. Many shows attempted to replicate Sullivan's but to little success. In the end the wooden frontman proved to be as endearing and enduring as any of the acts that graced his stage. Yet in an age when the intention was as broad an appeal as possible Sullivan hit the bull's-eye week after week. "Right Here" captures all of that brilliantly. While ostensibly aimed at Baby Boomers waxing nostalgic for the good old days, "Right Here" also ushers younger readers into an era now long passed from the scene. An absolute delight to read!

Gerald Nachman, whose previous books, "Raised on Radio" and "Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 50's and 60's," were informative and enjoyable reading, lived up to those standards with "Right Here on Our Stage Tonight."
With fascinating anecdotes and perceptive insight, Nachman proved himself worthy of the daunting task of summing up a massive achievement in variety television.
Ed Sullivan, a decidedly complex person with uncomplex talents (couldn't sing, dance or tell a joke to save his life), forever stamped an image of the TV variety show with his cornucopia of singers, musicians, comedians, plate-spinners and elephants. All of that is covered in great detail in Nachman's book. My only complaint (and this is more my own interests than Nachman's writing) is several chapters are devoted to Sullivan's life prior to TV. However, they are necessary in showing how Sullivan - the mostly unlikely of TV personalities - became the icon that he definitely deserved.
Chapters on comedians, the Beatles, Elvis Presley and behind-the-scenes look at the staging of the show make this an invaluable read. And I especially enjoyed Nachman's little "sidebars" by seemingly average people who grew up watching the Sunday Sullivan shows with their parents, grandparents, etc. In some households, the Sullivan show was probably more devoutly followed than regular weekly attendance at the church/synagogue of one's choice.
If the cost of the book is a deterrent to reading it, interested readers should check their local library and urge their librarians to obtain a copy.

very interesting, especially for anyone who lived during his heyday. Lots of tidbits about people who were in the public eye.

I was so looking forward to reading this book. Big disappointment. Repetitious is an understatement. In one chapter the show starts at 9P.M., this only happened once. After reading that "Annie" was on the Sullivan show, I had to comment. The show was long over and Mr. Sullivan dead when Annie was on Broadway.

Other than reading far enough to learn Ed put a rubber hose down his throat daily to do something to help with his ulcer, this book was a major snooze. Didn't read 1/4 of it before I deleted it from my Kindle as it was disjointed and just plain boring. Maybe I didn't read far enough, but I couldn't bear to click to another page!