Ed Sullivan papers, 1920-1974

Author / Creator

Sullivan, Ed, 1901-1974

Available as

Physical

Summary

Papers of Ed Sullivan (1901-1974), a newspaper columnist and television host-producer. Entertainment files, the largest portion of the collection, include scripts, correspondence, and production in...

Papers of Ed Sullivan (1901-1974), a newspaper columnist and television host-producer. Entertainment files, the largest portion of the collection, include scripts, correspondence, and production information for his work in radio, television, and motion pictures. Radio materials consist of scripts for "Ed Sullivan Entertains" (CBS), "Summer Silver Theatre" (CBS), and various other programs and benefits. The more substantial television material relates primarily to the long-running "Ed Sullivan Show" (originally known as "Toast of the Town," (CBS). This section includes correspondence; scripts; production, sponsorship, and financial information; clippings; ratings; and films. Also part of the entertainment section is a script for a Friars Club "roast" of Johnny Carson and a script for "The Singing Nun" (MGM, 1966) in which Sullivan appeared.

Writings include miscellaneous newspaper and magazine articles; copies of his "Little Old New York" column, 1941-1974, for the New York Daily News; and an unpublished biography of Lee Shubert.

General subject files contain awards, certificates, correspondence, clippings, legal records, scrapbooks, and speeches. Among the prominent correspondents are Steve Allen, Rudolf Bing, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Durante, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Duke Ellington, J. Edgar Hoover, Lady Bird Johnson, Edward M. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Louis Nizer, Ronald Reagan, Don Rickles, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Richard Rodgers, Robert E. Sherwood, Francis Cardinal Spellman, Frank Stanton, and Adlai E. Stevenson.

The processed portion is summarized above and is described in the register. Additional accessions are described below.

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