Every Sunday night back in the 1950s and ’60s families would gather around their living room TV and watch The Ed Sullivan Show. The variety hour ran 23 seasons, ending 54 years ago in 1971. Now streaming on Netflix, the documentary Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan is not just another “best of” blast of nostalgia.
Before there was Saturday Night Live, MuchMusic or MTV, the really big shew with hottest music acts was The Ed Sullivan Show. It began in 1948 as The Toast of the Town, with bold face newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan introducing, between the plate spinners, acrobats, comedians and a little puppet mouse named Toppo Gigio, everyone
I’ve always been a big fan of Albert and David Maysles. The “direct cinema” documentatians went on to make Gimmie Shelter (1970) and Grey Gardens (1975). Before those films, the brothers captured lightning in a bottle with their black and white record of The Beatles first visit to America in February of 1964. Unlike The
It’s sad nowadays when you wake up and see a favourite actor or comedian trending — and you can guess why. Jerry Stiller died Sunday at 92. (Read his obit in The New York Times.) The father of Ben Stiller, he was a Second City Chicago pioneer and, together with his wife Anne Meara, the
“My name José Jiménez.” With those four words, uttered on The Steve Allen Show on Nov. 23, 1959, Bill Dana built a career. The comedian passed away last Thursday at his home in Nashville, Tenn. He was 92. I met him 20 years ago at one of those autograph-signing shows in Hollywood. That’s where he explained the
It’s film festival time again in Toronto, with TIFF eating up space in the entertainment sections. There’s another festival just across the border in Buffalo, N.Y., however, that I’m more excited about: The first annual WNY Movie Expo. This fest has risen from the ashes of Cinefest, a haven for 16mm film collectors and enthusiasts for
I’ll never forget the time I got to hang out with Stiller & Meara. It was in January of 2004 at a CBS press tour party in Los Angeles. I’m guessing Jerry Stiller was there promoting The King of Queens. His wife Anne Meara–who died Saturday in Manhattan–was sneaking onto the Kevin James sitcom around then
This retro marquee will be up all weekend celebrating The Beatles 50th in NYC It was 50 years ago today that the Beatles invaded America. When Pan Am Flight 101 arrived on Feb. 7, 1964 at the newly-christened John F. Kennedy International airport, three thousand cheering fans–mainly young women–were waiting to greet them.So were reporters.