The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-71) was the definitive and longest running variety series in US television history. Hosted by the eponymous, awkward and fumbling former newspaperman, the show became a Sunday night institution on CBS. For twenty-three years the Sullivan show fulfilled the fundamental requirement of the variety genre: to entertain all of the audience at least some of the time.
In March 1959 Sullivan hosted a Saint Patrick’s Day Special. The show was broadcast from the CBS studios and featured pre-recorded filmed inserts from Ireland. Guests in the studio included up-and-coming young Irish actor Edward Mulhare (later of The Ghost and Mrs Muir fame), his mother Mrs Mulhare, Monsignor Lambe and the Las Vegas Chapter of the Friendly Sons of St Patrick. From Dublin there was Maureen Potter in pantomime at the Gaiety and Joe Lynch singing his way down Moore Street. Of particular interest are the interviews with, among others, former mayor Bob Briscoe, Taoiseach Eamon DeValera and Sybil Connolly.
U.S.A., 1959. Black and white. 60 mins.