Star Maker
It wasn’t just Sullivan who became famous after appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show. It quickly gained a reputation as the place to go for any band or entertainment act seeking success in the entertainment industry. It seemed as though getting on Sullivan’s show was your first step into the business. As a result of Sullivan’s reputation for discovering the best and most commercially viable talent, some of his guests went on to become some of the era’s biggest stars. However, even though a spot on his show was a golden ticket to success, many of Sullivan’s guests had secret feuds with him behind the scenes.
Star Maker
Guest Stars
Ed Sullivan established a track record for being one of the business’s top talent scouts. He had a talent for picking out promising performers from among the thousands of acts that auditioned, and he invited them onto his show to give them their first taste of fame. People frequently tuned in to see what new act he was debuting that day, but occasionally he would invite back especially well-liked acts to perform more than once. The ventriloquist Seor Wences and his puppet Topo Gigio were among Sullivan’s most well-liked recurring performers. But many of his guests received a frosty reception from Sullivan himself—and would never be invited back.
Guest Stars
