We all know Ed Sullivan's catch phrases, his mannerisms, the big stars that appeared on his television show. But as with most public figures, there's more to him than the standout facts, the signature iconography.
Sullivan was, as many know, a newspaper columnist before getting into television broadcasting. Yet his range of media extended even further--his early career also developed on the airwaves.
His radio life began with some reporting; he produced a couple of shows still known to history, as catalogued by radiogoldindex.com. An early one was Ed Sullivan: Your Mennen Reporter. It aired on May 22, 1944, and included several "did you know" segments on miscellaneous topics, one of them being the quality of the teeth of people of various racial groups.
Ed Sullivan's Diary went out over the air in 1945, with no exact date known. There seem to have been three programs, and Jo Stafford, Tommy Dorsey, and Barry Wood were involved.
We salute Ed Sullivan, born today, 1901.
