On this day in New York · September 28, 1901
Ed Sullivan Is Born in Harlem
A Harlem-born sportswriter turned Broadway gossip columnist would grow up to hand America its living room introduction to Elvis and the Beatles.
The facts
- Born
- September 28, 1901, in Harlem, New York City
- Newspaper column
- "Little Ole New York," New York Daily News, 1932 to 1974
- TV debut
- Hosted "Toast of the Town" starting June 20, 1948; renamed The Ed Sullivan Show in 1955
- Died
- October 13, 1974, at Lenox Hill Hospital, New York
Edward Vincent Sullivan was born in Harlem on September 28, 1901, one of a set of twins whose brother Daniel died in infancy. He was raised across the river in Port Chester, New York, the son of a customs house employee, and started out as a sportswriter before pivoting to Broadway gossip. He joined the New York Daily News in 1932 and wrote his column, on the shows, the stars, and the scandals of the city, until the day he died. In 1948 he took that same gossip-column instinct to television and turned a Sunday-night variety hour into the single biggest stage in American entertainment.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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I wanted to say to Elvis Presley and the country that this is a real decent, fine boy, and wherever you go, Elvis, we want to say we've never had a pleasanter experience on our show with a big name than we've had with you.
Ed Sullivan, closing Elvis Presley's third and final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, January 6, 1957
Source: The Ed Sullivan Show (official site)
Why it still matters
Sullivan's Sunday-night hour became the closest thing America had to a shared living room, and the Harlem-born gossip columnist used that stage to put Elvis, and seven years later the Beatles, in front of the whole country at once.
Sources
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