Always On Sunday: An Inside View of Ed Sullivan, the Beatles, Elvis, Sinatra & Ed's Other Guests by Michael Harris

Author:Michael Harris [Harris, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Published: 2010-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

As a result the show did not close in December, 1960, and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize the following June. The Sunday after the prize was announced, Arthur Hill and Lenka Peterson appeared on the Sullivan stage in a scene from the drama. This victory for the New York theater was not without its personal headaches for Sullivan. The strong initial endorsement was contrary to CBS policy. The company does not permit this kind of plug, considering it an unpaid commercial. While everyone else was praising Sullivan, CBS was giving him a discreet reprimand.

Sullivan’s major award, of which there are literally hundreds, was the Peabody for his “contribution to international understanding.” He received this after touring the Soviet Union with a troupe of American performers as part of the United States State Department’s cultural exchange program. It was in 1959 when relationships between the two countries were first beginning to thaw, and it was the first time an American variety show performed in the Soviet Union for the Soviet people. Sullivan spent four weeks in Moscow and Leningrad and entertained 250,000 Russians.

In Moscow there were nightly performances at Green Theatre in the Gorky Park of Culture and Rest before an audience of 10,000 to 13,000 people. The show began with an overture. The orchestra of forty-three Russian musicians and one American drummer, conducted by American Elliot Lawrence, played “America, the Beautiful,” and then Sullivan stepped out on the stage. He spoke to the audience in carefully memorized Russian which he had learned from a U. S. Army interpreter-teacher: “Thank you, and good evening. My name is Edward Petrovitch Sullivan.” His line was always greeted by tumultuous applause.

The set had red-and-white stripes framed against a sky-blue backdrop. The red, white and blue motif was carried through to the finale when the entire cast lined up on the stage and held small flags above their heads, half American and half Russian, while Rise Stevens sang “Getting to Know You.” “As she sang the last note, I’d reveal a small Russian and a small American flag and cross their staffs so the flags were flying together. This always brought a storm of applause.”

Sullivan found that the audiences during his Russian tour were the warmest he has ever encountered. “They were incredibly gracious, and their applause was always ear-shattering. It proves that people of different countries have no difficulty in getting along together. Only the politicians can’t reach agreement.”

One way the Russians expressed their approval was with flowers. Each family that attended the show brought along a small bouquet. At the end of an act, if they enjoyed it deeply, a child representing the family walked up on the stage and presented the flowers to the artist. One night there were forty doctors in the theater from the American College of Surgeons, and just before the intermission Sullivan told his audience about them through an interpreter. “I explained that they were in the country to confer with the great Russian doctors in a mutual undertaking to benefit all the people.

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