Elvis: The Ed Sullivan Shows

(Image Entertainment)

Elvis Presley’s 1956-1957 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show make you feel awfully sorry for the ventriloquist that followed him. Seeing E get dropped like an atom bomb into the larger context of Sullivan’s something-for-everyone variety hour makes the resulting cultural sea change all the more resonant. Footage from this 3-DVD set (i.e., the “above-the-waist” version of “Don’t Be Cruel”) has been anthologized extensively, but superb kinescope restoration makes it look better than ever. Sullivan was in the hospital recovering from a car wreck the night Presley debuted, so honors fell to droll English thespian Charles Laughton.

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This article appears in December 22 • 2006.

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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.