The Toast of the Town

The Ed Sullivan Theater marquee on Feb. 10, 2014, duplicating the marquee from 50 years earlier when the Beatles performed. Source: NYPost.com

Ann has handed over to me the BigLittleMeals’ helm for today’s blog while she fills in for my Andy’s Corner (which she has cleverly dubbed “AnnD’s Corner“). When she told me her topic would be about some of the streaming series we have been watching, I began reflecting on my TV-coming-of-age years in the 1950’s.

Of course television was much different then. And it wasn’t just the subject matter or the screen quality that was different. Television programs were available only in real time and from just a few networks. There was no way to record shows for later viewing and, of course, there were no internet options or mobile devices. To see a show we had to watch it at the time it was broadcast and, unless there was more than one television in the house, the whole family had to watch it together.

To accommodate TV broadcast times, our meals often moved to the living room. As a kid, Swanson’s Fried Chicken TV Dinner was my favorite.

There were a number of shows I recall watching regularly with my family – Dragnet, Gunsmoke, The Alfred Hitchcock Show, I Love Lucy, Our Miss Brooks, Ozzie and Harriet, to name a few. But the one that stands out most was The Ed Sullivan Show (which initially was named Toast of the Town).

Ed Sullivan was on CBS every Sunday evening from 5 to 6 PM (Pacific Time), and it was almost an obligation to sit as a family to watch it. According to Wikipedia, “the family ritual of gathering around the television set to watch Ed Sullivan became almost a U.S. cultural universal.”

Ed Sullivan was immensely popular, even though in 1955 Time Magazine wrote, “He moves like a sleepwalker; his smile is that of a man sucking a lemon; his speech is frequently lost in a thicket of syntax; his eyes pop from their sockets or sink so deep in their bags that they seem to be peering up at the camera from the bottom of twin wells…”

My research for today’s blog turned out to be more problematic than I had anticipated – not due to the scarcity of material but because of its overabundance! I found myself getting caught up watching one after another YouTube video of past shows. It was definitely a memory overload, and for good reason. According to EdSullivan.com, the official library of the Ed Sullivan Show consists of

1,087 hours of kinescopes and videotapes that CBS had broadcast between 1948 and 1971 on Sunday nights. Included in the archive are over 10,000 live performances by virtually every popular entertainer of the post-war era, highlighted by appearances of Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

Because there is no way I can even come close to documenting the massive impact of the Ed Sullivan Show on the entertainment industry (and on me), I’m offering three tributes to the show’s legacy.

First is the below video I produced entitled “Remembering the Ed Sullivan Show, A Modest Tribute.”

Remembering the Ed Sullivan Show, A Modest Tribute (modestly produced by Andy)

My second tribute is a select list of links to 84 artists featured on the show. You’re sure to recognize most of them (Adapted from EdSullivan.com):

Finally, to pay a nod to food (this is a food blog after all) and to stay in the spirit of honoring the Ed Sullivan Show, I am providing a recipe for one of my favorite breakfasts when I was a kid: Cinnamon Toast which, admittedly, in today’s health-conscious culinary environment would be considered a no-no. If you haven’t already figured out its connection to the Ed Sullivan Show, recall that the show started out as “Toast of the Town.”

So here’s to the “really big shew”!

Old Fashioned Cinnamon Toast (photo food.com)

Old Fashioned Cinnamon Toast

adapted from Andy’s childhood memories
  • 4 slices of white bread (Wonder Bread if you can find it)
  • 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • butter, at room temperature 

In a small bowl mix together the cinnamon and sugar.

Lightly toast the bread and than slather with butter on one side and top each piece with the sugar/cinnamon mixture, place on a sheet pan and pop under a broiler until the sugar begins to brown. If you feel the need for a greater sugar rush serve with our Orange Julius drink (recipe available at BigLittleMeals.com).

Recipe brought to you by BigLittleMeals.com and Andy and Ann.

7 thoughts on “The Toast of the Town”

  1. Bob Carleton

    Oh, my! There are several memorable fave’s from my youth that required “cheap white bread” back then, and still require the same. Baked beans with pork is chief among them. The cinnamon toast recipe is perfection itself. I never tried it with use of the broiler, but can see that it is a major enhancement.

    Reply
    1. theRaggedys

      I can’t recall when we last had a loaf of sliced white bread in the house. But it does bring back the memories, especially when in the form of sandwiches in my little tin lunch pail I took to school.

      Reply
  2. Nancy

    Thanks for a fun walk down Memory Lane. My family watched Ed Sullivan every Sunday night (when the TV worked) so I thought I’d remember every guest on your list. I knew them all until I got to Zippy the Chimp…the very last one! As a kid I thought Senior Wences and Topo Gigio were hysterical but looking at it now it’s kind of creepy. Funny how our tastes change. And speaking of taste, I lived on cinnamon toast in the 60’s. It was the first thing we learned to make in 7th grade Home Economics. Amazing to look back and think that was considered a cooking lesson, but I still have the recipe card to prove it.

    Reply
    1. theRaggedys

      Thanks for the comment. I wasn’t familiar with Zippy either and agree that his(?) act is a bit unsettling. I still laugh at Senior Wences, though. I have been impressed with how many folks have told me that they grew up with both cinnamon toast and Ed Sullivan.

      Reply
  3. tricia53

    We rarely got to see the whole Ed Sullivan show, but we diid race home from Sunday night church to watch. I remember when the Beatles were on his show, we watched them at church in the rec hall. I would have been ten! Loved Andy’s video!

    Reply
    1. theRaggedys

      You must have gone to a fairly progressive church if you were allowed to watch the Beatles in the rec hall. And I’m glad you liked the video. I’m hoping that the Rotten Tomatoes reviews will be just as positive.

      Reply
  4. Anonymous

    Thanks for the memories . . . My mom never allowed us to eat white bread but we did get to make cinnamon toast on our whole wheat bread on occasion . . . sublime. And at my dad’s house I do remember smashing white bread totally flat, sprinkling a line of white sugar down the middle and rolling it up like a soft taco. Also sublime, though I felt a bit guilty that it was white bread!

    Reply

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