Woodcut of Phyllis and Demophon from Heroides, Venice, early 16th century

Phyllis (Greek: Φυλλίς) is a character in Greek mythology, daughter of a Thracian king (according to some, of Sithon;^[1][2] most other accounts don't give her father's name at all, but one^[3] informs that he was named either Philander, Ciasus, or Thelus). She married Demophon, King of Athens and son of Theseus, while he stopped in Thrace on his journey home from the Trojan War.^[4]

Demophon, duty bound to Greece, returns home to help his father, leaving Phyllis behind. She sends him away with a coffin with the sacrament of Rhea, asking him to open it only when he has given up hope of returning to her. From here, the story diverges. In one version, Phyllis realizes that he will not return and commits suicide by hanging herself from a tree. Where she is buried, an almond tree grows, which blossoms when Demophon returns to her.^[1] In a second version of the story, Demophon opens the caskets and, horrified by what he saw in there, rides off like wild, but his horse stumbles and he accidentally falls on his own sword.^[5]

There is also some confusion regarding which nut tree she became, as hazelnuts were long called nux Phyllidos, and are still sometimes called "filberts" today.^[6] In English, this version goes back at least to Gower, who writes in Confessio Amantis (ca. 1390):
That Phillis in the same throwe
Was schape into a notetre,
That alle men it mihte se,
And after Phillis philliberd
This tre was cleped in the yerd,
And yit for Demephon to schame
Into this dai it berth the name. (Book 4, Lines 866-72)

This story most notably appears in the second poem of Ovid's Heroides,^[7] a book of epistolary poems from mythological women to their respective men, and it also appears in the Aitia of Callimachus.

The Nine Ways is derived from the story of Phyllis, who is said to have returned nine times to the shores to wait for Demophon's return.^[8]

References[link]

Sources[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Phyllis

• Fulkerson, Laurel. "Reading dangerously: Phyllis, Dido, Ariadne, and Medea". The Ovidian Heroine as Author. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Phyllis Linda Hyman (July 6, 1949 – June 30, 1995) was an American R&B and soul recording artist, songwriter and actress.

Early years[link]

Phyllis Hyman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in the St. Clair Village, the South Hills section of Pittsburgh. Born to an African American family, she was the eldest of seven children and a third cousin of actor Earle Hyman (best known for his recurring role on TV's The Cosby Show as Cliff's father, Russell Huxtable). After leaving Pittsburgh, her music training started at a music school. On graduation, she performed on a national tour with the group New Direction in 1971. After the group disbanded, she joined All the People and worked with another local group, The Hondo Beat. At this time, she appeared in the film Lenny (1974). She also did a two-year stint leading a band called Phyllis Hyman and the P/H Factor. Hyman was discovered in 1975 by internationally known pop artist and music industry veteran Sid Maurer, and former Epic Records promoter Fred Frank, and signed to their Roadshow Records/Desert Moon imprint.

Hyman moved to New York City to work on her reputation. She did background vocals on Jon Lucien's Premonition and worked in clubs. It was during one of these performances that she was spotted by Norman Connors, who offered her a spot as a vocalist on his album, You Are My Starship (1976). The duo scored on the R&B charts with a remake of The Stylistics' "Betcha by Golly Wow!".

Career[link]

Hyman sang with Pharoah Sanders and the Fatback Band while working on her first solo album, Phyllis Hyman, released in 1977 on the Buddah Records label. When Arista Records bought Buddha, she was transferred to that label. Her first album for Arista, Somewhere in My Lifetime, was released in 1978; the title track was produced by then-labelmate Barry Manilow. Her follow-up album, You Know How to Love Me, made the R&B Top 20 and also performed well on the club–dance charts. In the late 1970s, Hyman married her manager Larry Alexander (who is the brother of Jamaican pianist and melodica player Monty Alexander), but both the personal and professional associations ended in divorce. Around this time, Hyman began using cocaine, which led to a life-long dependency.

Hyman's first solo Top Ten hit came in 1981 with "Can't We Fall In Love Again", a duet with Michael Henderson. The song was recorded while she was performing in the Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies, a tribute to Duke Ellington. She performed in the role for almost two years, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical and winning a Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer.

Problems between Hyman and her label, Arista, caused a pause in her recording career. She used the time to appear on movie soundtracks, television commercials and guest vocals, working with Chuck Mangione, The Whispers and The Four Tops. Hyman provided vocals for three tracks on jazz pianist McCoy Tyner's Looking Out (1982). She toured often and did a college lecture tour.

In 1983, Hyman recorded the song "Never Say Never Again" as the title song for the James Bond movie of the same name, written by Stephen Forsyth and Jim Ryan. However, Warner Brothers informed Forsyth that Michel Legrand, who wrote the score for the film, had threatened to sue them, claiming he contractually had the rights to the title song. An alternate title song composed by Legrand was eventually used for the film and performed by singer Lani Hall, formerly of Sérgio Mendes and Brasil '66.

Free from Arista in 1985, she released the album, Living All Alone on Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International label the following year, capitalizing on the torch songs, "Old Friend" and the melancholy title track, as well as "You Just Don't Know" and "Screaming at the Moon". In 1987, Phyllis Hyman recorded "Black and Blue" as a duet with Barry Manilow on his 1987 Swing Street Arista album. Manilow was a long time admirer of Phyllis and her work. Shortly afterwards, she appeared in the films School Daze and The Kill Reflex. She would also continue to lend her voice to albums for other artists and musicians like Grover Washington, Jr. and Lonnie Liston Smith, while at the same time doing international tours.

Her next album, again on Philadelphia International, called Prime of My Life, released in 1991, was the biggest of her career. It included her first number one R&B hit as well as her first Billboard Top 100 hit, "Don't Wanna Change the World". The album provided two more top 10 R&B singles in "Living in Confusion" and "When You Get Right Down to It", and the less successful "I Found Love". Just over a year later, she appeared one last time on a Norman Connors album, singing the title song, "Remember Who You Are", which became a minor R&B hit. Prime of My Life has sold 454,000 copies to date. The album and debut single were both RIAA certified Gold in 1992.

Hyman's last album, I Refuse to Be Lonely, was a journey into her personal life. Both the title track and the single "I'm Truly Yours" became minor R&B hits.

Death[link]

On the afternoon of June 30, 1995, Hyman committed suicide by overdosing on pentobarbital and secobarbital in her New York City apartment.^[1] She was found unconscious hours before she was scheduled to perform at the Apollo Theater and died 3 hours later at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital.^[2] Her suicide note read in part:

"I'm tired. I'm tired. Those of you that I love know who you are. May God bless you."^[2]

She was 45 years old. A memorial service was held at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Manhattan. The following week would have been her 46th birthday.^[2]

Posthumous releases[link]

In November 1995, Hyman's posthumous album I Refuse to Be Lonely, was released. Although the project had an overdrawn gestation, to combat the delay in its commercial release, Hyman started performing the tracks, "This Too Shall Pass" and "I Refuse To Be Lonely" in concert. The delay in the album's release adversely affected Hyman both emotionally & financially and the delay was said to be cited over "cost negotiations".

Three years after her death, a second posthumous album of previously unreleased material was released. Songs were culled from various recording sessions from the mid 1980s into the early 1990s. Forever With You (1998) contains love songs, torch songs, bittersweet ballads, smooth jazz offerings and uptempo tracks, most of which showcase Hyman's' usual interpretation of heartbreak and strife. Hyman was quoted as saying that these songs were about "relationships gone bad!"^[3] Much of the material on this album was initially intended for her Living All Alone release. The song "Funny How Love Goes" contains a posthumous "duet" featuring vocalist Damon Williams. Half of Hyman's vocals were re-recorded with both singers alternating vocals and providing Williams with exposure.

In September 2007, an authorized biography was released. The book entitled Strength of a Woman: the Phyllis Hyman Story, is written by Jason A. Michael in cooperation with the Estate of Phyllis Hyman. The book mentions Hyman's relationships with both men and women.^[4]

In 2008, an original version of the James Bond theme "Never Say Never Again", which wasn't used in the film due to contractual issues, was released by the track's co-writer Stephen Forsythe. Stephen Forsythe has been quoted as stating:

During the filming of the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again, I co-wrote the title song for the movie with Jim Ryan. Warner Brothers informed our attorney that the song was to be used as the title song in the picture. However, shortly before its release, Warner Bros informed us that the song could not be used because Michel Legrand, who wrote the score, threatened to sue them, claiming that contractually he had the right to the title song. So my song was never released. The legendary Phyllis Hyman was my first choice to sing the song and working with her is one of the highlights of my musical career. I personally auditioned and sang the song to her while she was having breakfast in her manager’s office. After agreeing to sing the song, she arrived at the studio and, without any rehearsal and only having heard the song sung once at the breakfast audition, sang the song in one perfect take. Phyllis sadly took her own life in the early nineties. The year before she died, she called me late one night and told me she felt that "Never Say Never Again" was her best and favorite recording.^[5]

Discography[link]

Filmography[link]

• Lenny (1974)
• Too Scared to Scream (1985)
• School Daze (1988)
• The Kill Reflex (1989)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Phyllis Hyman at the Internet Movie Database
• Phyllis Hyman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Phyllis Hyman at Allmusic
• Phyllis Hyman at Discogs
• Phyllis Hyman at Soultracks
• Strength of a Woman - Official site of Hyman's biography
• Phyllis Hyman at Find a Grave
• The New Pittsburgh Courier Online Carrick Honors Alumni Phyllis Hyman
• Hyman Pittsburgh Music History

This biographical article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (January 2009)

Phyllis Diller
Diller on February 25, 2007
Born	Phyllis Ada Driver (1917-07-17) July 17, 1917 (age 94) Lima, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, comedian
Years active	1952–present
Spouse	Sherwood Anderson Diller (m. 1939 – 1965) Ward Donovan (m. 1965 – 1966; m. ?? – 1974)
Partner	Robert P. Hastings (c. 1985 – 1996; his death)[1]

Phyllis Diller (born July 17, 1917) is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes self-deprecating jokes about her age and appearance, her terrible cooking, and a husband named "Fang", while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder. Diller's signature is her unusual laugh.

Early life[link]

Diller was born Phyllis Ada Driver in Lima, Ohio, the daughter of Frances Ada (née Romshe) and Perry Marcus Driver, an an insurance agent.^[2] She has German and Irish ancestry (the surname "Driver" had been changed from "Treiber" several generations back).^[3] Her mother was about twenty years younger than her father.^[4] Diller was raised a Methodist.^[5] Diller attended Lima's Central High School, then studied for three years at Sherwood Music Conservatory in Chicago, Illinois. She then transferred to Bluffton College in Bluffton, Ohio, where she met fellow "Lima-ite" and classmate Hugh Downs.^{[citation needed]}

Diller was a housewife, mother, and advertising copywriter. During World War II, Diller lived in Ypsilanti, Michigan, while her husband worked at the historic Willow Run Bomber Plant. In the mid-1950s, she made appearances on The Jack Paar Show and was a contestant on Groucho Marx's quiz show You Bet Your Life.^[6]

Although she has made her career in comedy, Diller studied the piano for many years. She later decided against a career in music after hearing her teachers and mentors play with much more ability than she thought that she would be able to achieve. She still plays in her private life, however, and owns a custom-made harpsichord.

Career[link]

Diller began her career working at KROW radio in Oakland in 1952. In November of that year, she began filming a television show titled "Phyllis Dillis, the Homely Friendmaker."^[7] The 15-minute series was a BART (Bay Area Radio-Television) production, directed for television by ABC's Jim Baker. The cameraman later admitted that there was no film: The camera was open during the filming. In the mid 1950s, while residing in the East Bay city of Alameda, California, Diller was employed at KSFO radio in San Francisco. Bill Anderson wrote and produced a television show at KGO-TV called "The Belfast Pop Club," which was hosted by Don Sherwood. "Pop Club" was a half-hour show that combined playing records with "experts" rating them, and dancing girls encouraging audience participation. The show was an early advertisement for Belfast Root Beer, known today as Mug Root Beer. Anderson invited her onto his show on April 23, 1955 as a vocalist.^[8]

Diller first appeared as a stand-up at The Purple Onion on March 7, 1955 and remained there for 87 straight weeks. Diller appeared on "Del Courtney's Showcase" on KPIX television on November 3, 1956. Diller's fame was expanded when she co-starred with Bob Hope in 23 television specials and three films in the 1960s: Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, Eight on the Lam, and The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell. Although only Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! performed well at the box office, Hope invited Diller to perform with him in Vietnam in 1966 with his USO troupe during the height of the Vietnam War.

Throughout the 1960s, she appeared regularly as a special guest on many television programs. For example, she appeared as one of the What's My Line? Mystery Guests. The blindfolded panel on that evening's broadcast included Sammy Davis, Jr., and they were able to discern Diller's identity in just three guesses. Also, Diller made regular cameo appearances making her trademark wisecracks on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Self-deprecating to a fault, a typical Diller joke had her running after a garbage truck pulling away from her curb. "Am I too late?" she'd yell. The driver's reply: "No, jump right in!"

Phylis Diller hamming it up for the camera

Though her main claim to fame is her stand-up comedy act, Diller has also appeared in other films besides the three mentioned above, including a cameo appearance as Texas Guinan, the wisecracking nightclub hostess in the 1961 film Splendor in the Grass. She appeared in more than a dozen, usually low-budget, movies, including voice work as The Monster's Mate in the Rankin/Bass animated film Mad Monster Party (1967), co-starring Boris Karloff.

Diller also starred in two short-lived TV series: the half-hour sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton (later retitled The Phyllis Diller Show) on ABC from 1966–1967, and the variety show The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show on NBC in 1968. More recent television appearances for Diller have included at least three episodes between 1999–2003^[9] on the long-running family drama 7th Heaven, in one of which she got drunk while cooking dinner for the household, and a 2002 episode of The Drew Carey Show,^[9] as Mimi Bobek's grandmother. She posed for Playboy, but the photos were never run in the magazine.^[10] Her voice can be heard in several animated TV shows, including The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972)^[9] as herself, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2002)^[9] as Jimmy's grandmother, and on Family Guy in 2006^[9] as Peter Griffin's mother, Thelma Griffin.

Diller in 1973

Beginning December 26, 1969,^[11] she had a three-month run^[12] on Broadway in Hello, Dolly! (opposite Richard Deacon)^[13] as the second to last in a succession of replacements for Carol Channing in the title role, which included Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, and Pearl Bailey. After Diller's stint, Ethel Merman took over the role until the end of the show's run in December 1970.^[14][15]

In 1993, she was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

In 1998, Diller provided the vocals for the Queen in Disney/Pixar's animated movie A Bug's Life. In 2005, Diller was featured as one of many contemporary comics in a documentary film, The Aristocrats. Diller, who avoids blue comedy, did a version of an old, risqué vaudeville routine in which she describes herself passing out when she first heard the joke, forgetting the actual content of the joke.

In 2000, she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television^[16]

In 2003, after hearing of the donation of Archie Bunker's chair to the Smithsonian Institution, Diller opened her doors to the National Museum of American History and offered up some of her most iconic costume pieces and her gag file, a steel cabinet with 48 file-drawers containing more than 50,000 jokes and gags typewritten on index cards by Diller during her career. From August 12-October 28, 2011, the Albert H. Small Documents Gallery at the National Museum of American History displayed Diller's gag file and some of the objects that became synonymous with her comedic persona-an unkempt wig, wrist-length gloves, cloth-covered ankle boots and a bejeweled cigarette holder.^[17]

On January 24, 2007, she appeared on The Tonight Show and performed stand-up, before chatting with Jay Leno.

Diller had a cameo appearance in an episode of ABC's Boston Legal on April 10, 2007. She appeared as herself, confronting William Shatner's character Denny Crane, alleging to have had a torrid love affair with him. They seemed to have enjoyed a romantic moment in a foxhole during World War II.

Phyllis Diller arrives at Korat Air Base, Thailand for the Bob Hope Christmas show in 1966.

Diller is a member of the Society of Singers, which supports singers in need. In June 2001 at the request of fellow Society member and producer Scott Sherman, she appeared at Kansas City and Philadelphia Pride events. The mayor of Philadelphia officially proclaimed June 8, 2001, as "Phyllis Diller Day." She was presented an official proclamation onstage to a standing ovation. In 2006, Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom proclaimed February 5, 2006 "Phyllis Diller Day in San Francisco," which she accepted by phone.

She has also recorded at least five comedy LP records, one of which was Born To Sing, released as Columbia CS 9523.

Although known for decades for smoking from long cigarette holders in her comedy act, Diller is a lifelong nonsmoker, and the cigarette holders were stage props that she had specially constructed.

Personal life[link]

Diller, a longtime resident of the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California, credits much of her success to Bob Hope, in large part because he included her in many of his films and his Vietnam USO shows. She is an accomplished pianist as well as a painter.

Family[link]

Diller has been married and divorced twice. She also dated Earl "Madman" Muntz, a pioneer in oddball TV and radio ads. She had six^[18] children from her marriage to her first husband, Sherwood Anderson Diller. Her first child was Peter (b. 1940;^[19] d. 1998 of cancer).^[20] Her second child Sally, born in 1944,^[18] has suffered from schizophrenia most of her life.^[21] Her third child, a son, lived for only two weeks in an incubator.^[22] A daughter, Suzanne, was born in 1946,^[23] followed by another daughter Stephanie (b. 1948^[24] d. 2002 of a stroke)^[25] and a son Perry (b. 1950).^[26] Diller's second husband was actor Warde Donovan (born Warde Tatum), whom she married on 7 October 1965 and divorced the following year; they apparently re-married and divorced for a second time in 1974.^[27] Her youngest son Perry, now 60, oversees her affairs today.^{[citation needed]} Diller is not the mother of actress Susan Lucci, nor TV personality Dorothy Lucey, despite urban legends to that effect, frequently passed through viral emails under trivia headings such as "Did You Know...?"^[28] The husband frequently mentioned in her act, "Fang", was entirely fictional, and not based on either of her actual husbands.

Plastic surgery[link]

Diller has candidly discussed her plastic surgery, a series of procedures first undertaken when she was 55. The results have drawn numerous awards and acknowledgments from plastic surgeons and medical organizations.^{[citation needed]} In her 2005 autobiography, she wrote that she has undergone "fifteen different procedures".^[29] Her numerous surgeries were the subject of a 20/20 segment February 12, 1993.

Health problems[link]

Diller has suffered medical problems, including a heart attack in 1999. After a hospital stay she was fitted with a pacemaker and released. A bad fall resulted in her being hospitalized for neurological tests and pacemaker installation in 2005. She has since retired from stand-up comedy appearances.

On July 11, 2007, USA Today reported that she fractured her back and had to cancel a Tonight Show appearance, during which she had planned to celebrate her 90th birthday. On January 4, 2011, she appeared on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" as part of a panel of comedians.

Recent pursuits[link]

She wrote her autobiography in 2005, titled Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse. A direct-to-DVD version of the project, complete with early live clips of Diller, and interviews with her showbiz colleagues including Don Rickles, among others, was released in December 2006. A screenplay about Diller's early years in stand-up, according to blind items in the trades, is in preproduction with Patricia Clarkson slated to play the comedian. Diller spends much of her time painting, cooking, and gardening.

Filmography[link]

Television work[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Phyllis Diller

• Phyllis Diller at the Internet Movie Database
• Phyllis Diller at Internet Broadway Database
• Interview with Phyllis Diller
• Diller's Entry in the St. Louis Walk of Fame
• Comedy College webpage for Phyllis Diller
• NPR interview, Phyllis Diller: Still Out for a Laugh
• Archive of American Television Interview with Phyllis Diller March 8, 2000
• NPR: Not My Job: Phyllis Diller August 4, 2007 on Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
• Early Articles on Phyllis Diller's career
• Literature on Phyllis Diller

Ed Sullivan
Sullivan in 1955
Born	Edward Vincent Sullivan (1901-09-28)September 28, 1901 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	October 13, 1974(1974-10-13) (aged 73) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Television host Writer
Years active	1932–1973
Spouse	Sylvia (m. 1930–1973)

Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was broadcast from 1948 to 1971 (a total of 23 years), which made it one of the longest-running variety shows in U.S. broadcast history.^[1]

In 1996, Ed Sullivan was ranked #50 on TV Guide's "50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time".^[2]

Early life and career[link]

Sullivan was born in New York City, New York, the son of Elizabeth F. (née Smith) and Peter Arthur Sullivan, a customs house employee.^[3] He was of Irish descent.^[4] A former boxer, Sullivan began his media work as a newspaper sportswriter for The New York Evening Graphic.^[5] When Walter Winchell, one of the original gossip columnists and the most powerful entertainment reporter of his day, left the newspaper for the Hearst syndicate, Sullivan took over as theatre columnist. His theatre column was later carried in The New York Daily News. His column, 'Little Old New York', concentrated on Broadway shows and gossip, as Winchell's had and, like Winchell, he also did show business news broadcasts on radio. Again echoing Winchell, Sullivan took on yet another medium in 1933 by writing and starring in the film Mr. Broadway, which has him guiding the audience around New York nightspots to meet entertainers and celebrities. Sullivan soon became a powerful starmaker in the entertainment world himself, becoming one of Winchell's main rivals, setting the El Morocco nightclub in New York as his unofficial headquarters against Winchell's seat of power at the nearby Stork Club. Sullivan continued writing for The News throughout his broadcasting career and his popularity long outlived that of Winchell.

Television[link]

Sullivan with Cole Porter on Toast of the Town in 1952.

In 1948, the CBS network hired Sullivan to do a weekly Sunday night TV variety show, Toast of the Town, which later became The Ed Sullivan Show. Debuting in June 1948, the show was broadcast from CBS Studio 50, at 1697 Broadway (at 53rd Street) in New York City, which in 1967 was renamed the Ed Sullivan Theater (and is now the home of The Late Show with David Letterman).^[6]

Television critics gave the new show and its host poor reviews.^[7] Harriet Van Horne alleged that "he got where he is not by having a personality, but by having no personality." (The host wrote to the critic, "Dear Miss Van Horne: You bitch. Sincerely, Ed Sullivan."^[8]) Sullivan had little acting ability; in 1967, 20 years after his show's debut, Time magazine asked "What exactly is Ed Sullivan's talent?"^[8] His mannerisms on camera were so awkward that some viewers believed the host suffered from Bell's palsy.^[8] Time in 1955 stated that Sullivan resembled

a cigar-store Indian, the Cardiff Giant and a stone-faced monument just off the boat from Easter Island. He moves like a sleepwalker; his smile is that of a man sucking a lemon; his speech is frequently lost in a thicket of syntax; his eyes pop from their sockets or sink so deep in their bags that they seem to be peering up at the camera from the bottom of twin wells.^[7]

The magazine concluded, however, that "Yet, instead of frightening children, Ed Sullivan charms the whole family."^[7] Sullivan appeared to the audience as an average guy who brought the great acts of show business to their home televisions. ("Ed Sullivan will last", comedian Fred Allen said, "as long as someone else has talent",^[7] and frequent guest Alan King said "Ed does nothing, but he does it better than anyone else in television."^[8]) He had a newspaperman's instinct for what the public wanted, and programmed his variety hours with remarkable balance. There was something for everyone.^[7] A typical show would feature a vaudeville act (acrobats, jugglers, magicians, etc.), one or two popular comedians, a singing star, a hot jukebox favorite, a figure from the legitimate theater, and for the kids, a visit with puppet "Topo Gigio, the little Italian mouse." The bill was often international in scope, with many European performers augmenting the American artists.^[8]

Sullivan had a healthy sense of humor about himself and permitted—even encouraged—impersonators such as John Byner, Frank Gorshin, Rich Little and especially Will Jordan to imitate him on his show. Johnny Carson also did a fair impression, and even Joan Rivers imitated Sullivan's unique posture. The impressionists exaggerated his stiffness, raised shoulders, and nasal tenor phrasing, along with some of his commonly used introductions, such as "And now, right here on our stage...", "For all you youngsters out there...", and "a really big shew" (his pronunciation of the word "show"). Will Jordan portrayed Sullivan in the films I Wanna Hold Your Hand, The Buddy Holly Story, The Doors, Mr. Saturday Night, Down with Love, and in the 1979 TV movie Elvis.^[9]

In 1963, Ed Sullivan appeared as himself in the film Bye Bye Birdie.

Sullivan, the starmaker[link]

Ed Sullivan congratulates Izhak Perlman after a concert at Tel-Aviv, in 1958.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Sullivan was a respected starmaker because of the number of performers that became household names after appearing on the show. He had a knack for identifying and promoting top talent and paid a great deal of money to secure that talent for his show.

When Elvis Presley became popular, Sullivan was wary of the singer's bad-boy style and said that he would never invite Presley on his program. However, Presley became too big a name to ignore, and Sullivan scheduled him to appear on September 8, 1956. In August, however, Sullivan was injured in an automobile accident that occurred near his country home in Southbury, Connecticut. Sullivan had to take a medical leave from the series and missed the Elvis Presley show. Charles Laughton wound up introducing Presley on the Sullivan hour.^[10] After Sullivan got to know Presley personally, he made amends by telling his audience, "This is a real decent, fine boy."^[11]

Sullivan's failure to scoop the TV industry with Presley made him determined to get the next big sensation first. In 1964, he achieved that with the first live American appearance of The Beatles, on February 9, 1964, the most-watched program in TV history to that point and still one of the most-watched programs of all time.^[12] The Beatles appeared three more times on the Sullivan show in person, and submitted filmed performances later. Sullivan struck up such a rapport with the Beatles that he agreed to introduce them at their momentous Shea Stadium concert on August 15, 1965. The Dave Clark Five, heavily promoted as having a "cleaner" image than the Beatles, made 13 appearances on the Sullivan show, more than any other UK group.

Unlike many shows of the time, Sullivan asked that most musical acts perform their music live, rather than lip-synching to their recordings. Some of these performances have recently been issued on CD.^[13] Examination of performances show that exceptions were made, as when a microphone could not be placed close enough to a performer for technical reasons. An example was B.J. Thomas' 1969 performance of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", in which actual water was sprinkled on him as a special effect. In 1969, Sullivan presented the Jackson 5 with their first single "I Want You Back", which ousted the B. J. Thomas song from the top spot of Billboard's pop charts.

Sullivan, shown here dressed up in a clown suit, hosted the 1972 special Clownaround.

Sullivan appreciated African American talent. He paid for the funeral of dancer Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson out of his own pocket. He also defied pressure to exclude African American musicians from appearing on his show. One of Sullivan's favorite and most frequent acts was The Supremes, who appeared 17 times on the show, helping to pave the way for other Motown acts to appear on the show such as The Temptations, The Four Tops, and Martha and the Vandellas.

At a time when television had not yet embraced country and Western music, Sullivan was adamant about featuring Nashville performers on his program. This insistence paved the way for shows such as Hee Haw and variety shows hosted by country singers like Johnny Cash and Glen Campbell.

The act that appeared most frequently through the show's run was the Canadian comedy duo of Wayne & Shuster, making 67 appearances between 1958 and 1969.

Sullivan also appeared as himself on other television programs, including an April 1958 episode of the Howard Duff and Ida Lupino CBS sitcom, Mr. Adams and Eve. On September 14, 1958 Sullivan appeared on What's My Line? as a mystery guest, and showed his comedic side by donning a rubber mask. In 1961, Sullivan was asked by CBS to fill in for an ailing Red Skelton on The Red Skelton Show. Sullivan took Skelton's roles in the various comedy sketches; Skelton's hobo character "Freddie the Freeloader" was renamed "Eddie the Freeloader."

Personality[link]

There was another side to Sullivan: he could be very quick to take offense if he felt he had been crossed, and could hold a grudge for a long time. This could sometimes be seen as a part of his TV personality. Jackie Mason, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, and The Doors became intimately familiar with Sullivan's negative side.

On November 20, 1955, Bo Diddley was asked by Sullivan to sing Tennessee Ernie Ford's hit "Sixteen Tons". Diddley sensed the choice of song would end his career then and there, and instead sang his #1 hit "Bo Diddley". He was banned from the show.

Buddy Holly and the Crickets had first appeared on the Sullivan show in 1957, singing two songs and making a favorable impression on Sullivan. He invited the band to make another appearance in January 1958. Sullivan thought their record hit "Oh, Boy!" was too raucous and ordered Holly to substitute another song. Holly had already told his hometown friends in Texas that he would be singing "Oh, Boy!" for them, and told Sullivan as much. Sullivan was unaccustomed to having his instructions disobeyed. When the band was summoned to the rehearsal stage on short notice, only Holly was in their dressing room. Sullivan said, "I guess The Crickets are not too excited to be on The Ed Sullivan Show," to which Holly, still annoyed by Sullivan's attitude, replied, "I hope they're damn more excited than I am." Sullivan, already bothered by the choice of songs, was now even angrier. He cut the Crickets' act from two songs to one, and when introducing them mispronounced Holly's name, so it came out vaguely as "Buddy Hollett." In addition, Sullivan saw to it that the microphone for Holly's electric guitar was turned off. Holly tried to compensate by singing as loudly as he could. The band was received so well that Sullivan was forced to invite them back for a third appearance. Holly's response was that Sullivan did not have enough money. Footage of the performance survives; photographs taken that day show Sullivan looking angry and Holly smirking and perhaps ignoring Sullivan.

In 1963, Bob Dylan was set to appear on the show, but network censors rejected the song he wanted to perform, "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues", as potentially libelous to the John Birch Society. Refusing to perform a different song, Dylan walked off the set at dress rehearsal. Sullivan, who had approved the song at a previous rehearsal, backed Dylan's decision. The incident resulted in accusations against the network of engaging in censorship. This was not the first incident of apparent network censorship on Sullivan's show. In 1956, Sullivan flew to Europe and was able to film an interview with Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, and Helen Hayes on the set of the film Anastasia. When he arrived home, Sullivan learned he would not be able to air the Bergman material from it.^[10]

Jackie Mason was banned from the series in October 1964 (the ban was removed a year and a half later, and Mason made his final appearance on the show). During a taping of Mason's monologue Sullivan, off camera, gestured that Mason should wrap things up, as the show was suddenly shown live following an abbreviated address by President Lyndon Johnson, which was expected to preempt the entire show.^[14] The nervous Mason told the audience, "I'm getting two fingers here!" and made his own frantic hand gesture: "Here's a finger for you!" Videotapes of the incident are inconclusive as to whether Mason's upswept hand was intended to be an indecent gesture, but Sullivan's body language immediately afterward made it clear that he was convinced of it, despite Mason's panic-stricken denials later.^[15] Sullivan later invited Mason back for a return engagement, but the notoriety of the "finger" incident lingered with the studio audience.

When The Byrds performed on December 12, 1965, David Crosby got into a shouting match with the show's director. They were never asked to return.^[16][17]

On January 15, 1967 The Rolling Stones were told to change the chorus of "Let's Spend the Night Together" to "Let's spend some time together". Lead singer Mick Jagger complied, but deliberately called attention to this censorship by rolling his eyes and mugging when he uttered the new words.^[18] Shortly, after the performance, the Stones went backstage, and came back on stage, dressed in Nazi uniforms with swastikas, which caused an angry Sullivan to tell them to go back to their dressing rooms and change back into their performing outfits, however, the Stones left the studio and Sullivan banned the group from ever appearing on his show again.^{[19][Full citation needed][page needed]} Nonetheless, the Stones appeared on the show one final time on November 23, 1969.^[20]

The Doors were banned on September 17, 1967 after they were asked to remove the lyric "Girl, we couldn't get much higher" from their song "Light My Fire" (CBS censors believed that it was too overt a reference to drug use). The band was asked to change the lyric to "girl we couldn't get much better". Morrison sang the original lyric.^[21]

Moe Howard of the Three Stooges recalled in 1975 that Sullivan had a memory problem of sorts: "Ed was a very nice man, but for a showman, quite forgetful. On our first appearance, he introduced us as the Three Ritz Brothers. He got out of it by adding, 'who look more like the Three Stooges to me'."^[22] Joe DeRita, who worked with the Stooges after 1959, had commented that Sullivan had a personality "like the bottom of a bird cage."^[23]

Diana Ross later recalled Sullivan's forgetfulness during the many occasions The Supremes performed on his show. In a 1995 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman (which is filmed in Ed Sullivan Theater), Ross stated, "he could never remember our names. He called us 'the girls'." ^[24][25]

In a 1990 press conference Paul McCartney recalled meeting Sullivan again in the early 1970s. Sullivan apparently had no idea who McCartney was. McCartney tried to remind Sullivan that he was one of The Beatles but Sullivan obviously could not remember and, nodding and smiling, simply shook McCartney's hand and left.

Politics[link]

Sullivan, like many American entertainers, was pulled into the Cold War fervor of the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1949, Sullivan booked dancer Paul Draper to appear on Toast of the Town. However, Draper’s scheduled appearance in January 1950 was met with opposition from Hester McCullough, a woman who involved herself in the hunt for subversives. McCullough accused Draper of sympathizing with the communist party, and although Draper denied the accusation, McCullough demanded that Sullivan’s lead sponsor, the Ford Motor Company, cancel Draper’s appearance. Despite McCullough’s protest, Draper was a guest on Toast of the Town, as was originally scheduled. After the program was broadcast, Ford received over a thousand angry letters and telegraphs in response to Draper’s appearance. Consequently, Sullivan was obligated to write a letter of apology to Ford’s advertising agency, Kenyon & Eckhardt, promising to never again move forward with such a controversial guest. Meanwhile, Draper was forced to move to Europe to earn a living.^[26]

Another guest who never appeared on the show because of the controversy surrounding him was legendary African-American singer-actor Paul Robeson, who, at the time of the Draper incident, was undergoing his own troubles with the industry's hunt for supposed Communist sympathizers.

After the Draper incident, Sullivan began to work closely with Theodore Kirkpatrick of the anti-communist Counterattack newsletter. Sullivan would check with Kirkpatrick if a potential guest had some "explaining to do" about his politics. Sullivan wrote in his June 21, 1950 New York Daily News column that "Kirkpatrick has sat in my living room on several occasions and listened attentively to performers eager to secure a certification of loyalty."^[27] Jerome Robbins, in his PBS American Experience biography, claimed that he was forced to capitulate to the House Un-American Activities Committee, identifying eight Communist sympathizers and disgracing himself among his fellow artists, allegedly because Sullivan threatened to reveal Robbins's homosexuality to the public.

Later years and death[link]

In the fall of 1965, CBS began televising the weekly programs in color. Although the Sullivan show was seen live in the Central and Eastern time zones, it was taped for airing in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. Most of the taped programs (as well as some early kinescopes) were preserved, and excerpts have been released on home video.

By 1971, the show's ratings had plummeted. In an effort to refresh their lineup, CBS cancelled the program along with some of its other longtime shows. Sullivan was angered by this so greatly that he refused to do a final show, although he remained with the network in various other capacities and hosted a 25th anniversary special in 1973.

In early September 1974, X-rays revealed that Sullivan had advanced esophageal cancer. Only his family was told, however, and as the doctors gave Sullivan very little time, the family chose to keep the diagnosis from him. Sullivan, still believing his ailment to be yet another complication from a long-standing battle with ulcers, died five weeks later, on October 13, 1974, at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital.^[28] His funeral was attended by 3,000 at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York on a cold, rainy day. Sullivan is interred in a crypt at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Personal life[link]

Sullivan was engaged to champion swimmer Sybil Bauer, but she died of cancer in 1927 at the age of 23.^[29] He was married to the former Sylvia Weinstein from April 28, 1930, until her death on March 16, 1973. They had one daughter, Betty Sullivan (who married the Ed Sullivan Show's producer, Bob Precht). Sullivan was in the habit of calling Sylvia after every program to get her immediate critique.

Sullivan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Blvd.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Leonard, John, The Ed Sullivan Age, American Heritage, May/June 1997, Volume 48, Issue 3
• Nachman, Gerald, Ed Sullivan, December 18, 2006.
• Maguire, James, Impresario: The Life and Times of Ed Sullivan, Billboard Books, 2006
• Bowles, Jerry, A Thousand Sundays: The Story of the Ed Sullivan Show, Putnam, 1980
• Barthelme, Donald, "And Now Let's Hear It for the Ed Sullivan Show!" in Guilty Pleasures, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974

External links[link]

Biography portal

• The Official Ed Sullivan Show Website
• Ed Sullivan at the Internet Movie Database
• Ed Sullivan at TVGuide.com
• Overview of Ed Sullivan's life
• The Ed Sullivan Show – Rock 'n' Roll Classics

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2010)

Phyllis Nelson (October 3, 1950 - January 12, 1998)^[1] was an American singer, most famous for her UK chart-topping recording, "Move Closer". Her son is the R&B singer and record producer, Marc Nelson.

Career[link]

Nelson was born in Indiana. She worked and recorded for several years from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s without achieving much success. Her records were usually dance tracks, and she also recorded numerous records during the disco era.

In 1984, she recorded a self-written ballad entitled "Move Closer". It was a complete departure from the type of music she had been recording. The lyrics of "Move Closer" were based on a long-term love affair she had with a much younger man in Philadelphia, who was struggling to start his own computer business.^{[citation needed]} They lived together for several years, raising Nelson's two children (Marc and Kenya) that she had borne earlier by two different men.

While "Move Closer" failed to find an audience in her home country, it reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in early May 1985,^[1] making her the first black woman to top that chart with a self-composed offering.^{[citation needed]} The song remained on the chart for almost six months,^[1] and became one of the highest selling singles of the year. Based in France, Nelson recorded a single with the French actor, Alain Delon: "I Don't Know". It was included in the original soundtrack of the 1985 French film, Parole De Flic (Cop's Honor). Her subsequent releases failed to make any impression (except "I Like You" which made #81^[2]), and she is remembered as a one-hit wonder.

In the United States, she had success on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, where her song entitled "I Like You" peaked at #1 in 1985. "I Like You" reached the #29 in the French dance charts.^{[citation needed]} "Move Closer" returned to the UK chart in 1994, reaching the Top 40,^[1] after being featured in a television commercial for anti-perspirant.

Death[link]

Nelson died in January 1998 from breast cancer in Los Angeles, California, where she had been living since her divorce. She was 47 years old.^[3]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

See also[link]

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
• List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
• List of performers on Top of the Pops

References[link]

External links[link]

• Discography
• Biodata