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Tag: The Ed Sullivan Show

  • Ringo Starr Celebrates Birthday, Former Member of The Beatles Turns 75

    Ringo Starr, known best for his time as the drummer for The Beatles, celebrated a very special birthday on Tuesday. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon’s former band mate turned 75.

    A celebration took place outside of L.A.’s Capitol Records building, underneath a giant card that read, “Happy Birthday Ringo July 7, 2015 #PEACEANDLOVE.”

    Ringo Starr blew out candles to refrains of “Happy Birthday,” and those on hand for the event claim the musician is “just as spry as ever.”

    Paul McCartney shared happy birthday wishes via Twitter.

    Born Richard Starkey in Liverpool, England, Ringo Starr wasn’t expected to live much past age seven. He got an infection that put him in a coma, and spent his seventh birthday hospitalized. Doctors didn’t expect him to survive.

    In 1962 he answered a call for a local band that needed a drummer. In 1964 he joined John, Paul, and George on stage at The Ed Sullivan Show. The rest, as they say, is history.

    Only Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr remember The Beatles’ history firsthand, however. John Lennon was shot and killed back in 1980. George Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001.

    Ringo Starr was the oldest of The Beatles. Paul McCartney turned 73 on June 18th.

    One of Ringo Starr’s birthday wishes was to hear his fans shout out his motto, “Peace and Love!” at noon.

    The crowd was all too happy to oblige.

    Do you remember watching The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show back in the 1960s?

    Can you believe Ringo Starr is 75 years old?

  • Anne Meara: Mom of Ben Stiller, Wife of Jerry Stiller Dies at 85 on Saturday

    Anne Meara, the mother of Ben Stiller and wife of Seinfeld and King of Queens star Jerry Stiller, died Saturday at the age of 85.

    Along with husband Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara was half of the comedy duo known as Stiller and Meara. They appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show 36 times over the years, and did nightclubs in big cities all over the U.S., including Las Vegas.

    Anne Meara appeared in several films, too, including The Out-of-Towners, Fame, Awakenings, and Reality Bites, which was directed by Ben Stiller. She starred alongside her son in Night at the Museum.

    Neither Ben nor Jerry Stiller said much about Anne Meara’s death, but issued a statement to the Associated Press on Sunday, saying she had passed away on Saturday.

    The statement described Jerry Stiller as Anne Meara’s “husband and partner in life,” and went on to say, “The two were married for 61 years and worked together almost as long.”

    “Anne’s memory lives on in the hearts of daughter Amy, son Ben, her grandchildren, her extended family and friends, and the millions she entertained as an actress, writer and comedienne,” the family statement concluded.

    Besides her husband and son, Anne Meara is survived by her daughter, Amy, and several grandchildren.

  • Sheila MacRae of ‘The Honeymooners’ Dies at 92

    Actress and singer Sheila MacRae of the 1960s recreated version, The Honeymooners, died Thursday at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, N.J. She was 92 years old.

    According to the New York Times, the actress was a featured performer in the sketches, which aired on CBS’ The Jackie Gleason Show.

    MacRae was best known for her staring role as Alice Kramden, the wife of Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden, which was portrayed by Gleason.

    Actress Audrey Meadows was previously Gleason’s co-star in the 1950s version of the show, but MacRae replaced her as the leading lady from 1966 to 1970.

    MacRae was originally born in London, but she and her family immigrated to New York during World War II.

    As a singer, dancer, and actress, MacRae’s entertainment career evolved from Broadway plays to television acting.

    She starred in a number of movies and TV shows like I Love Lucy and General Hospital.

    However, the majority of her life involves her 26-year marriage to singer and actor Gordon MacRae, who was best known for his staring roles in the Oklahoma! and Carousel musicals.

    They became quite the duo as far as acting and their little ones followed:

    • The 1961 cast of Annie Get Your Gun featured their four children, Meredith, Heather, William, and Robert.
    • In 1964, the couple appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show together, the same night the Beatles performed.
    • Her 1965 portrayal of Miss Adelaide in the Broadway play Guys and Dolls also comprised of her husband being there with her on stage.

    A video of Gordon and his daughter singing together:

    Although MacRae was hesitant to divorce Gordon, they eventually separated in 1965 and the divorce became final in 1967. Within the same year she re-married to Ronald Wayne, the producer of Gleason’s show.

    Yet another marriage ended in divorce, but it didn’t stop MacRae from moving forward in her acting career.

    Her 1971 comedy, The Sheila MacRae Show, featured both her daughters Meredith and Heather.

    MacRae returned back to Broadway soon there after and landed character roles in Absurd Person Singular and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

    Her daughter Meredith and son Robert preceded her in death. She has left behind her remaining two children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

    “She had a great life, my mom, she really did,” her daughter Heather told People.  “She was quite a broad.”

    A YouTube video in memory of MacRae:

    Image via YouTube

  • Paul McCartney to Receive NME Award

    Paul McCartney is set to receive NME’s special Songwriter’s Songwriter award later in February. It is expected that the former Beatle will be on hand to accept his award in person. McCartney, whose hit single Queenie has put him back on the music charts at the age of 71, is seen performing the track in the music video above.

    The Beatles’ co-frontman–he held the stage alongside the late John Lennon–launched the 5th decade of his music career with the release of his new album New in 2013. Now he is being honored for his own songwriting. He and John Lennon co-wrote hundreds of songs during their time together.

    The 2014 NME Awards will take place on February 26 at Brixton’s O2 Academy, where Paul McCartney will accept the coveted gong after being chosen by the world’s leading songwriters who voted him the “best practitioner of their craft.” Is there possibly anyone who could top Paul McCartney?

    NME’s editor Mike Williams said the following about McCartney.

    “We’ve spoken to the biggest and best musicians around, and they’ve told us: Paul McCartney is the world’s ultimate songwriter. Paul’s enduring and stunning talent is worth celebrating, and I’m incredibly honoured that NME are giving him the special, one-of-its-kind Songwriter’s Songwriter award to recognise that,” he said. “I’m equally thrilled for us to be singling out Belle & Sebastian at this year’s ceremony, an act who have always had a special place in our readers’ hearts and minds. And of course, to have Huw Stephens – a man who’s probably the most respected young DJ around, as well as a friend to practically every band in the room – presenting on the night is a dream come true too.”

    Belle & Sebastian are a Glasgow based band who will receive the Teenage Cancer Trust Oustanding Contribution to Music Award at the NME Awards.

    Who would have thought when they saw Paul McCartney take the stage on The Ed Sullivan Show back in 1964 that the fresh faced mop top boy beside John Lennon would still be making music–and being honored for his craft–in his 70s? He is certainly well deserving of the accolades.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • The Beatles ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ Anniversary

    Today marks a very special occasion in the music world. 73 million American viewers tuned in to watch a little band from Liverpool, England perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show” 50 years ago.

    Exactly 50 years ago today on Feb. 9, 1964, The Beatles first introduced themselves and developed what we now claim as “Beatlemania.”

    Step back in time with this historic video from “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

    Opening with “All My Loving” the “youngsters from Liverpool” had girls in tears. Screams accompanied the song as Paul McCartney joyfully sang, bobbing his head.

    Black and white shots of the audience captured the true impact The Beatles had on American culture at that time.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqrauzHPpwE

    “Till There Was You” and “She Loves You,” was followed by “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” later in the show.

    Even Elvis Presley joined in welcoming the Beatles to America on “The Ed Sullivan Show” that very first night. During the program, Sullivan announced that Presley and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, had just sent the band a telegram wishing them success in the U.S.

    Image Via YouTube

  • George Harrison: Sister Saved Him for Ed Sullivan

    George Harrison might not have made it on to the Ed Sullivan Show back in 1964 had it not been for the vigilant watch of his older sister Louise. Harrison arrived in New York with the Beatles for the famous Ed Sullivan Show gig as well as a few other performances in February of 1964, but he was immediately deemed much quieter than the rest. George Harrison, it seems, was suffering from a horrendous case of strep throat and had a temperature of 104 degrees.

    The band’s manager Brian Epstein didn’t want Harrison taken to a hospital even though the hotel’s in-house doctor said he belonged in one because of the severity of his illness. He didn’t even want a nurse to be called in because he didn’t want Ed Sullivan to get wind that one of the Beatles was seriously ill. It was decided instead that George Harrison’s older sister, Louise, who was along as his guest on the trip, would move into his private hotel room and serve as his nurse–administering the medications the in-house hotel doctor had prescribed. She is noted today as possibly having saved George Harrison for his performance with the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.

    That was fifty years ago. Louise Harrison is now 82 years old. She was 11 years older than George. She has spent a good part of her life living in her younger brother’s shadow–living in Branson where she is working on a book about her late brother.

    “A lot of people have asked me over the years if it was exciting. But I don’t really remember if it was exciting or not. I was too busy worrying about George. I was so concentrating on hoping he could make it,” Louise said in an interview for the New York Post.

    Louise Harrison does recall the excitement of actually leaving the Plaza for the Ed Sullivan theater so the Beatles could get ready to take the stage.

    “We had to run through a big bunch of police holding up their arms, like they do at military weddings, making a tunnel for us to run out the door and into the limo,” she recalls.

    “And then we took off down the street, and all the people who had climbed on top of the limo were falling off. We looked out the back window, and all these eyeglasses and pocketbooks and hats and shoes and all kinds of things were coming down the street behind us.”

    Only two of the four Beatles are alive today–Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr–and they will take the stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater on February 9th for a special 50th anniversary show. John Lennon and George Harrison will be in the hearts of many fans who watch the historical TV special. Louise Harrison will no doubt be among them. When her famous brother died she got nothing from his estate and the monthly gift he had always sent her ended.

    That hasn’t stopped her from honoring George Harrison, however, and keeping her brother’s legacy alive.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons