Always On Sunday An Inside View of Ed Sullivan, the Beatles, Elvis, Sinatra & Ed's Other Guests

166 Pages·2010·2.04 MB·English

by  Harris

The Beatles, Ed Sullivan and the Author
Ed first learns I have written a book when I hand him a finished manuscript.
Naively, I imagine he’ll be flattered, but when he reads it, he blows his stack and
stops speaking to me. He’s furious. I am revealing more about him, more
backstage gossip and more details about the inner workings of the show than he
wants made public.
Fortunately for me and for Always On Sunday, Ed simmers down eventually and
decides my unauthorized biography is “magnificent.” He promotes it in his
newspaper column, in interviews and in joint television appearances with me. Ed
helps turn the book he initially hated into a national bestseller.
During my 11 years on the Sullivan show, no one created more excitement than
the Beatles. February 7, 1964: Kennedy Airport. Their first trip to the United
States. The screaming fans! The haircuts! The sassy answers! Welcome to New
York! The entire country focuses on this place and these young men. Including
me. I am meeting their plane. A CBS public relations executive for years. Now
the network’s press representative on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Ed was warned not to sign the Beatles: “You’re crazy! No British group has ever
made it big in this country.” A month before they arrive, they are still unknown
in America. Every reporter I contact turns down my invitation to go with me to
JFK.
Two weeks later, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” rockets to the top of the charts.
Beatlemania crosses the Atlantic, and I am besieged by thousands of ticket
requests. Reporters plead to join me at JFK.
On February 14, I greet the Beatles again, this time in Miami for a second
Sullivan show. I do my best to stay out of the way but, thanks to papparazzi
determined to cash in on every shot of the Fab Four, I appear in photos published
around the world (including the NY Post). In the captions I am called a Beatle, a
case of mistaken identity I still laugh about with my wife, bestselling novelist
Ruth Harris.
When I return to New York, Ed searches for me backstage. One stagehand is
impressed. “Ed must really like you,” he says. “You’ve only worked for him for
four years, and he already knows your name.”
Reviewers Rave
“One of the most intriguing show business books to come along in a long time. It’s great, very well written
and tells it like it is. I knew Sullivan for years and consider Harris’ book an accurate sketch of a complex
man. Well done!”
—Chicago Sun Times “Honestly told … with remarkable frankness and genuine inside knowledge. In the
field of show business biographies, Always On Sunday has secured a place on the shelf reserved for the
very best.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Always On Sunday: An Inside View … And it is inside! The book is studded
with backstage gossip about showbiz greats.”
—Houston Post
“Highly readable and surprisingly candid. … A remarkable success story.”
—Miami Herald
“A portrait, warts and all. From the very outset, Harris disarms the reader.”
—San Diego Union “Delightful!”
—Charlotte News “Irresistible!!”
—Boston Globe
“What makes Ed Sullivan tick … fine, definitive, compelling and honest!”
—Jacqueline Susann, bestselling author of Valley of the Doll “A remarkable story, and Michael Harris has
done it justice.”
—Frank Stanton, former President, CBS
“A magnificent book!”
—Ed Sullivan
Non-fiction
by Michael Harris
THE ATOMIC TIMES: My H-Bomb Year at the Pacific Proving Ground
SHOCKING, FUNNY, SAD, RAUNCHY!
Catch-22 with radiation!
Area 51 meets Dr. Strangelove!
“THE ATOMIC TIMES is a gripping memoir leavened by humor, loyalty and
pride of accomplishment. A tribute to the resilience, courage and patriotism of
the American soldier.”—Henry Kissinger Download THE ATOMIC TIMES
for Kindle
THE ATOMIC TIMES and ALWAYS ON SUNDAY are are also available in a
boxed set, FACE TO FACE WITH THE BEATLES AND THE BOMB.
Download FACE TO FACE WITH THE BEATLES AND THE BOMB for
Kindle
Fiction
with Ruth Harris
BRAINWASHED
A Thriller
Based on secret, real-life psychiatric experiments known as MK-ULTRA and
conducted by the CIA in the 1960’s, BRAINWASHED is a companion novel to
Ruth and Michael Harris’s bestselling thriller, HOOKED.
Download BRAINWASHED for Kindle
HOOKED
A Thriller
Dr. Jenkins’ miracle treatments give patients everything they want: youth,
beauty, radiant vitality and sexual potency. No wonder he is worshiped by the
celebrities who become his patients. No wonder his influence runs from the
private island of an enigmatic Turkish billionaire with a bloody secret to the
crimson-draped bedroom of a depraved, Mid-eastern Prince; from the private
dressing rooms of world-famous artists to the heights of international society and
the inner sanctums of the White House itself.
“All the sure elements of a big seller written by pros who know how to tell a
story. Slick and sexy with easily recognizable people.”
—Publisher’s Weekly
“Truly one of the best books I’ve ever read! I simply could not put it down! If I
could give it 10-Stars, I would! It’s that good!!!”
—D.D. Scott, bestselling author of Bootscootin Blahniks
Download HOOKED for Kindle
HOOKED, A Thriller, and BRAINWASHED, A Thriller, by Ruth and Michael
Harris, are also available as part of a boxed set.
Download KILLER THRILLERS: HOOKED and BRAINWASHED for
Kindle
Always on Sunday:
An Inside View of Ed Sullivan, the Beatles,
Elvis, Sinatra & Ed’s Other Guests
Michael Harris
Copyright © 2010 by Michael Harris.
(Originally published as Always on Sunday: Ed Sullivan, An Inside View by Michael David Harris, Copyright © 1968.)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, without permission in writing from the author.
Second ebook edition.
For Ruth With Love
Always on Sunday through Saturday
Contents
1. Let’s Hear It for What’s His Name
2. Boulder Dam Live on Our Stage
3. The Boy Who Pumped the Church Organ
4. Open Big and Keep It Clean
5. The Women in His Life
6. Everyone Needed a Second Job
7. For Sale, With or Without Ed Sullivan
8. How Am I Going to Explain It to the Lion?
9. Really Big Shew
10. The Tempest in the TV Pot
11. Four, Ten and Eleven Letter Words
12. The Complex Man
Gallery: 42 Exclusive CBS Photos