The stodgy TV host and former Port Chester resident broke racial and musical boundaries by introducing the world to acts that were making cultural history.
If you saw any of the acts that appeared on both The Ed Sullivan Show and at the Capitol Theatre, you can be part of an exhibit marking Sullivan’s induction into the Rock Hall of Fame in November.
Here’s a reproduction of my article, which appeared in The Rye Record:
Ed Sullivan, The Capitol Theatre and Rock & Roll Immortality
By Robert Brum
The name Ed Sullivan may conjure images of a rather stiff gentleman in a suit introducing novelty acts like plate-spinners, ventriloquists and dancing bears.
But come November, he’ll take his place beside the iconic musical acts he hosted on his long-running TV variety show when he’s inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Sullivan, who grew up in Port Chester, is receiving the Ahmet Ertegun Award, which recognizes non-performers for their role in shaping rock & roll.
The Port Chester Historical Society is marking the occasion by mounting an exhibit highlighting bands and artists that were on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and also performed at The Capitol Theatre, which is celebrating its centennial this year.
The exhibit is planned for November, when the Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place, and will run through December at the Bush Lyon Homestead on King Street in Port Chester.
The Historical Society is inviting fans to share their memories, ticket stubs, posters, photos and other memorabilia connected with some of the acts that appeared at both the Ed Sullivan Theater in Manhattan and The Cap.
The list curated by the PCHS is a snapshot of how influential both Sullivan and The Cap were in charting the road popular music has traveled over the decades.
The genre- and generation-spanning acts include Bo Diddley, B.B. King, The Platters, Ike and Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, the Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Santana and The Byrds.
Bob Dylan is included on the list, even though he bailed on Sullivan at the last minute in 1963 after refusing to replace his satirical protest song “Talking John Birch Paranoid Blues.” In 2012, Dylan was the headliner when The Cap reopened under new owner Peter Shapiro.
In some cases there were decades between the performances on TV and live at The Cap. The Rolling Stones appeared on Sullivan’s show several times in the mid- to late-1960s, but didn’t arrive at The Cap until 1997 for an MTV taping.
His Sunday Best
The Historical Society previously mounted an exhibit with the NAACP that featured the documentary “Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan,” highlighting the show’s role in providing a platform for Black performers.
The documentary, currently streaming on Netflix, was produced by Margo Precht Speciale, Sullivan’s granddaughter, who said she was thrilled by the HOF induction.
“My grandfather was driven by a genuine love of talent, and he brought that love to the American public every Sunday night on his show,” she wrote in an email. “Millions of people would watch, and the next day discuss who they saw and buy their albums. He had a tremendous impact on American culture then and now. Many of the artists on the show were unknown at the time and are household names today.”
Sullivan’s legacy extends beyond his renown as a TV host, Historical Society Vice President Kiki Short said in a recent interview.
“Ed Sullivan is the most famous person to ever come out of Port Chester,” she said. “He’s clearly the most famous television star, but his consistent push for racial equality for his entire life meant a lot of bands and artists had an opportunity on his show that would not have had an opportunity if someone else had been put in charge of that show.”
Short added: “I thought Ed Sullivan was kind of a fuddy-duddy and I didn’t know that he was the person who said, ‘Of course I’m going to put Ike and Tina Turner on the show. Of course I’m going to put Eartha Kitt on the show. It doesn’t matter that they’re Black.’ He shaped rock and roll in a way that no other television personality did.”
Sullivan “came out of the vaudeville tradition, and that’s why his show had such a broad range of artists on it,” she said. “He had opera singers and ballet dancers and animal acts and sports people. He had the Port Chester High School Choir on. He had puppeteers and magic acts.”
Sullivan, who starred as an athlete at Port Chester High School and was a sportswriter for “The Daily Item,” was lauded by The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for giving “millions their first exposure to Black and international performers” at a time when TV was largely segregated.
The Sunday evening broadcast ran from 1948-1971 to an audience that reached a height of 50 million, introducing viewers to performers including Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Doors and James Brown.
The pairing of the Sullivan show and The Capitol Theatre is apt because of the imprint both have made on music.
“One of the most interesting aspects of The Cap is how it has sort of reinvented itself over and over again,” Short said. “The Cap is a survivor, it’s been there for a hundred years not because it’s been the same thing for a hundred years, but because it has changed itself with the times. That’s one of the most Port Chester things, I would imagine, is this constant change. It’s had some down times, for sure, but it always comes back, and that’s wonderful.”
Were you part of history?
- Do you have memories and/or memorabilia from performances by acts from the list below that appeared on both “The Ed Sullivan Show” and at The Capitol Theatre?
- Bo Diddley, B.B. King, The Platters, Ike and Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Billy Preston, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Joe Cocker, Richie Havens, Santana, Steppenwolf, The Chambers Brothers, The Byrds, Bob Dylan and Art Garfunkel.
- Visit portchesterhistoricalsociety.org/contact or send email to portchesterhistoricalsociety@gmail.com to share your
contributions.
Robert Brum is a freelance journalist who writes about music, history and culture in the Hudson Valley. Contact him and read his work at robertbrum.com.
