Customer Reviews

The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show - Unforgettable Performances [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This DVD highlights just a comparative few of the very special moments of the classic Ed Sullivan Show on television. It is a real treat to own and watch; the viewer plays and can replay a classic comedy routine by Jackie Gleason as well as countless novelty acts. Ed Sullivan exercised enormous control over the show and the result is quality entertainment. A very young Julie Andrews sings "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady during a episode in 1956. Sammy Davis Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald sing together in another wonderful clip. The Beatles. The Rolling Stones. Some of the clips are in black and white but it doesn't diminish the viewer's enjoyment one bit. The quality of earlier color video clips is not as good as I had wished it be but color tv wasn't up to today's quality standards at that time. Although the DVD show is 98 minutes long it goes by as if it were just a few minutes. Included is a rare interview with Ed Sullivan and his wife from 1958. I would strongly recommend this DVD as a BUY! for those who want to reminisce or for anyone who wants a splendid introduction to the talents of that time.

I suspect the five-star reviews of this DVD were written by spammers working for the company that sells it.

These compendium DVDs are routinely made by stupid jackasses who figure our attention span is only 10 seconds (the MTVers) so there's no point in showing an entire performance. What we get here is Carol Burnett talking about Ed Sullivan and occasionally throwing out little snippets of the acts. We get only a few seconds of the comedians and novelty acts, though they sometimes provide a whole song, other times a fraction of the song. This format is so annoying I didn't much like the DVD.

I also own "Ed Sullivan - The Best of Broadway Musicals", which is a collection of about 11 full and complete performances. When I purchased this DVD collection, I had hope it too would include many full performances, but most appear to be edited.

Some highlights from this DVD: Jimmy Durante "Young at Heart" (50 Seconds); Louis Armstrong "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey" (1 Min 10 Sec); Ella Fitzgerald with Sammy Davis Jr " 'S Wonderful" (Over 2 Mins); The Beatles "Ticket to Ride" (1 Min 30 Sec); The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" (Less then 1 Min); Julie Andrews "I Could Have Danced All Night" (1 Min 30 Sec); The Doors "Light My Fire" (About 2 Min); and an Excellent Collection of Clips (Each About 1 Min) featuring The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder and The Jackson Five.

This is indeed a memorable collection and is nicely hosted by Carol Burnett. The DVD menu does not offer direct access to the individual performances.

This version, the "Collector's Edition" runs about 80 minutes. An almost exact version with the same title noted as "Volume 1" runs about 98 minutes. I own the VHS version of that, and it also includes a rare comedy sketch with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz - this edition does not. Obviously this DVD contains less footage then the original.

All in all, the performances get a 5; however Sofa & Ventura Entertainment each get a 1 for their poor packaging and description. I consider this a dupe of the original Volume 1 issue, with LESS programming. Exactly what is collectible about it? Nothing I am aware of.

Why would you entitle a production "Unforgettable Performances" and then forget to include a single performance in its entirety?

The best thing about this DVD is that the performances shown appear in their entirety - not as excerpts! So many documentary collections just give you a portion of a performance. Also, the quality of the old films, especially the ones in color, is remarkable.

Warning. If you're over 40, watching this DVD will cause waves of nostaliga to wash over you. With Carol Burnett hosting, the DVD is a montage of entertainment legends from the past half century. Unlike today where getting on Television is as easy as being willing to bare your soul and or make a complete fool out of yourself, getting on Ed Sullivan required actual talent. I can't wait for Volume 2.

I could not wait to watch this classic. It have all the stars that it talked about, but I have to say I was very disappointed. It only has clips of the performances and I had hoped for all the songs.

I have to agree with a few other reviews here. Most performances are not seen in their entirety. You just starting getting into an act, and it abruptly changes to the next clip, very annoying. I still give it 3 stars, because there does not seem to be a better release out there, and it does provide a great trip down memory lane. Hopefully some company will do this show justice and release a series of Best of compilations with better editing and smoother transitions. Perhaps, one day, we will be able to download entire shows from Amazon that we can burn to our own custom made disc's. They'd better hurry though, the customer base is dwindling.

Watching Ed Sullivan on Sunday night was an American tradition. He came out with his squinchy little body and his upraised hands and told us all that it was going to be a 'really big really big sheww' . 'Let's hear it for Curtis Le May from SAC. He 's going to bomb the Commies into Smithereens' Down there in the front row say a big hello to one of the great champeens of all time. Let's hear it for Jack Dempsey'
Ed would begin that way introducing the celebrities and warming us for Toppo Gigio the Little Italian Mouse or for , a young man from Memphis , Tennessee ( Ed could hardly hide the distaste as he pronounced the words ) Elvis Presley. "
The video contains records of some of the highlight performances, and also an interview with Ed and his wife Sylvia.
Highlights are wonderful, but my sense is that putting together a package in which the complete shows as they came on at the time would give a dimension no excerpts can.

Back then, The Ed Sullivan Show was one of the biggest things ever on television, and for a good reason, because it's where many of the most famous performers in the world have appeared. Also, Ed Sullivan made sure that they would be granted an access on his show because he knew they would be big before they got big. Most importantly, Ed Sullivan was truly the Master of Ceremonies, long before there were Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, and others. Two of the most important moments in television history occurred on The Ed Sullivan Show were the introduction of Elvis Presley (which was "viewed by a record 60 million people which at the time was 82.6 percent of the television audience, and the largest single audience in television history") and the Beatles to Americans. Another unique aspect of his show was the zero discrimination given to black performers and performers of different stages including ballet, opera, theatrical plays, vaudeville, puppet shows, etc. That's what made Ed Sullivan a huge humanitarian and possibly the most important of the show business. Of course, Ed Sullivan was not without controversies, many of them famous and well-known. He was a strict disciplinarian, having a say-so on what can happen and not on his show. Regardless, he did more for many than not. Looking at the Vol. One of VHS tape, although it has the moments taped, it also had a lot of bland, outdated, or corny stuff. Sometimes, there were a few who were overdid once too many times (perhaps favoritism?). All in all, no matter what, the VHS tape brings back great memories of The Ed Sullivan Show.