March 28, 1971: The Last "Ed Sullivan Show" Airs On CBS

Ed and Melanie

March 28, 1971: The last new episode of The Ed Sullivan Show airs on CBS. The guests included singer Melanie Safka (who recorded under just her first name), impressionist David Frye, and opera singer Joanna Simon, whose sister Carly Simon was about to become a popular singer as well.

Ed Sullivan, formerly the Broadway columnist for the New York Daily News, had hosted a Sunday night variety show live on "The Tiffany Network" since 1948. Up until 1955, it was titled Toast of the Town, then was renamed for him.

As Sullivan's old friend, comedian Jack Benny, once said, "You don't sing, you can't dance, you don't tell jokes, you merely introduce the acts." But he also served as his own talent scout. Ed was progressive in some ways, willing to air rock and roll acts, and black performers of all kinds, when most variety-show hosts wouldn't.

All of it live, coast-to-coast, from CBS Studio 50 at 1697 Broadway, between 53rd and 54th Street in Midtown Manhattan. In 1967, the building was renamed the Ed Sullivan Theater.

Ed grew up watching vaudeville, and would have vaudeville-style acts, including every comedian in the business, from old-timers like Jimmy Durante and George Burns, to the top ones of the time like Alan King and Henny Youngman, to edgy new ones: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Joan Rivers and Robert Klein.

He had jugglers, acrobats, circus performers. Wenceslao Moreno, a Spanish ventriloquist known professionally as Señor Wences, was a frequent guest. "Easy for you," his doll "Johnny" would say, "For me, is difficult!" And he would speak to a box, and ask, "Okay?" And open it, and "Pedro," a disembodied head, would say, "'S all right!" 

Erich Brenn had a talent for "plate spinning," and performed his act on Ed's show many times, to the tune of Aram Khatchaturian's Sabre Dance. Señor Wences liked Brenn's act so much, he copied it, and did it himself on a 1962 show.

Ed also liked impressionists, and some would even do impressions of him, including Will Jordan, who, from 1954 until his death in 2018, essentially "played Ed Sullivan" longer than Ed did. He noticed that Ed used phrases like, "here on this stage," "on this great stage," and "big show," and rolled his R's. So the centerpiece of his impression became, "Tonight, we've got a rrrreally big shew." Not "show," "shew," which Ed never actually said, except, occasionally, in self-deprecation.

Jordan played Ed in the original 1960 Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie, and in the films I Want to Hold Your Hand and The Buddy Holly Story in 1978, The Doors in 1991, and Mr. Saturday Night in 1992.

The biggest solo act of the era was Elvis Presley, and the biggest music group of the era was The Beatles. Sullivan had Elvis on his show on September 9 and October 28, 1956, and January 6, 1957. The Beatles appeared live on February 9, 16 and 23, 1964; and September 12, 1965, with "promotional clips" (what would later be called "music videos") shown on later occasions.

Ed would frequently get names wrong, especially if they were foreign. At some point, he must have pronounced singer Robert Goulet's name as "GOOL-ett" instead of the correct, French "Goo-LAY," because impressionist Rich Little worked that into his impression of Ed. A frequent guest was Italian opera singer Sergio Franchi (pronounced "FRONG-kee"), and, the 1st time he was on, Ed needed several tries to get his name right.

Ed's memory got worse in the show's later years, and Joan Rivers later suggested that he had developed Alzheimer's disease. Diana Ross recalled that he had trouble remembering the name of her group, The Supremes: "He called us 'the girls.'" After the show was taken off the air, former Beatle Paul McCartney recalled a visit to New York, and said that Ed didn't recognize him, even though The Beatles' appearance is now what the show is best remembered for.

CBS was in a transition in the early 1970s, as a lot of long-time fan-favorite shows were canceled, and a lot of new ones that turned out to be fan-favorites began. In 1971, with The Ed Sullivan Show's ratings having dropped, CBS canceled it. Ed found out by reading the newspaper. They didn't even have the decency to tell him face-to-face. Three more months of shows were scheduled, but he refused to do them.

Ed Sullivan died of cancer on October 13, 1974, about a year after his wife Sylvia. Betty, his only child, lived until 2014. Her husband, Robert Precht, was the show's director from 1958 onward, and its producer from 1960 onward. They had 5 children together. As of March 28, 2022, Precht is still alive, and still controls the show's footage through his company, Sofa Entertainment. (UPDATE: Precht died in 2023.)

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March 28, 1971 was a Sunday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 110-95 at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum (now the McCamish Pavilion) in Atlanta.

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 111-103 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Arena).

* And the Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 106-98 at the Chicago Stadium.

There were 5 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets beat the Utah Stars, 133-120 at the Island Garden in West Hempstead, New York. Rick Barry scored 51 points for the Nets.

* The Virginia Squires beat the Texas Chaparrals, 141-131 at the Old Dominion University Fieldhouse in Norfolk, Virginia.

* The Miami Floridians beat the Pittsburgh Condors, 130-117 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

* The Carolina Cougars beat the Kentucky Colonels, 148-142 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Dan Issel scored 51 points in defeat.

* And the Indiana Pacers beat the Denver Rockets, 146-126 at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.

And there were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the California Golden Seals, 11-5 at the Pacific Coliseum. Wayne Maki had 3 goals and 2 assists.

* And the St. Louis Blues and the Los Angeles Kings were not scheduled.