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CBS TV Studio 50 (the Ed Sullivan Theater)
On January 28, 1956 Elvis, Scotty, Bill and DJ made their first National Television appearance on the Dorsey brother's "Stage Show". It was the first of six appearances on the show and the first of eight performances recorded and broadcast from CBS TV Studio 50 at 1697 Broadway in New York City. After the success of their first appearance they were signed to five more in early 1956 (February 4, 11, 18 and March 17 and 24).
Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey were bandleaders from the big band era of the 1920s, '30s and '40s. Starting out together in the same band Tommy eventually left and started his own orchestra. In 1953 the Dorsey Brothers reunited when Jimmy joined Tommy's band. From 1955 until Tommy's death in '56 they hosted "Stage Show," their own variety show on CBS.1 Stage show was produced by Jackie Gleason and preceded the Honeymooners at 8:00 PM on Saturday nights.
Though the band had been touring the south for 17 months, had 5 records out on the Sun label and Elvis had recently signed with RCA for at the time the most money ever paid for a recording contract they were still relatively unknown to most of the American public. Variety shows like "Stage Show" and The Ed Sullivan Show at that time were performed live on stage before a live audience and as a rule those serving in the armed forces were generally given priority admittance to the performances. One serviceman stationed in New Jersey in attendance that evening said ,"I often went on Saturday nights to the Dorsey brothers show and I was there when Elvis Presley made his national television debut on that show. I had never heard of him and was startled when he appeared on stage and hundreds of girls began screaming."2
The band was set up and performed in an area of the stage directly in front of the Dorsey Orchestra with DJ's drums set up on a small platform. Scotty's and Bill's amps were also placed on this platform with Elvis in front using a RCA77DX microphone. They were filmed with two (or possibly three) Television cameras, one on a crane. On the first two appearances the band performed with all of their own instruments. On the third, fourth and fifth appearances Bill used a rented bass (different on the third from the fourth and fifth) and DJ a rented drum set. On the fifth and sixth Elvis performed with a Martin D18 that he would occasionally use instead of his D28, but on their sixth and final appearance on Stage Show the band performed with all of their own equipment. The band would return to Studio 50 two more times to perform on that stage for their second and third appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, on October 28, 1956 and January 6, 1957. These would also be their last television appearances of the 1950s. Their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show was broadcast live from Hollywood.
The Ed Sullivan show, which got it start in 1948 as "Toast of The Town" at Studio 51, the Maxine Elliot Theater, was by January of 1953 also recorded at and broadcast from Studio 50 on Sunday nights. Studio 50 was originally built in 1927 by Arthur Hammerstein and named the Hammerstein Theatre after his father Oscar. The 1200 seat historic theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and opened on November 30, 1927 but Arthur was forced to close the theater less than 4 years later during the Great Depression. "Cary Grant, when he was still known as Archie Leach, appeared in Golden Dawn, the first show to play there". On September 8, 1931 it reopened as the Manhattan Theatre, then as Billy Rose's Music Hall in 1933, and finally the Manhattan Theatre again in 1936. Later in 1936 CBS signed a long term lease and began broadcasting as CBS Radio Playhouse. In 1950 it was converted for television and it became CBS-TV Studio 50. Though many shows, like Stage Show, were broadcast from that studio including "What's My Line?", "To Tell the Truth", "Password" and "The $10,000 Pyramid" the most important tenant was Ed Sullivan, so much so that in 1967, Studio 50 was officially renamed "The Ed Sullivan Theater".3
During its tenure as the home of the Ed Sullivan show the stage saw no end to landmark performances in Rock and Roll's lineage (Bill Haley and the Comets, Elvis, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Doors to name but a few). "Although The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show nine times, they actually only broadcast live from the stage at Studio 50 one time on February 9, 1964 (they rehearsed there on the day before). Each time after, it was either telecast live from another location or on video tape.4 In 1965 Studio 50 became equipped with Norelco Color Cameras and The Ed Sullivan show began broadcasting in color. The cameras were specially shielded to counter the magnetic field from subway power station transformers at the rear of the stage.5 The first show in color was broadcast on September 19, 1965. In 1971 The Ed Sullivan Show went off the air and the theater closed and fell into a state of disrepair.
In 1993 David Letterman switched networks from NBC to CBS and CBS purchased the Ed Sullivan Theater which it had leased for years. With a multimillion dollar renovation it became the home for The Late Show with David Letterman. "This technically-advanced television broadcast studio was inserted within the volume of a 1,200-seat historic theater. Electronic requirements dictated the studio's configuration: the number of seats was reduced to 400, and sound absorptive areas were added. Two principal design innovations--the "Sails," which are concave, fabric-clad plywood membranes, and the production "Ellipse," a ring that reinforces the curvilinear geometry of the theater and visually contains lighting and technical paraphernalia--create a more intimate house and diminish the impact of theatrical lights and acoustical baffles. To preserve the architectural integrity of the landmark, all interventions are reversible."6
The Late Show went on the air on August 10, 1993 and David and his guests now sit in approximately the same spot that Elvis, Scotty, Bill and DJ first performed for Television audiences across the country almost 50 years ago.
1 courtesy
Red Hot Jazz
Special Thanks to the CBS Retirees and the people at Andrew Solt Productions Stageshow is owned by Jackie Gleason Enterprises, LLC. Chicago, ILL
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