Table of Contents

Introduction: Theme Music Part One. No-Talent Host Tames the One-Eyed Beast 1. Out of the Paley-ozoic Ooze 2. Battle of the Videoville Titans-Berle, Godfrey, and Sullivan 3. A Live Broadway Column Every Sunday Night 4. The $375 Extravaganza 5. Very Critical Condition 6. The Magic of Sullivision Part Two. How to Succeed in Show Business without Really Talking 7. From Small-Town Sportswriter to Manhattan Sport 8. He's Just an Ink-Stained Broadway Baby 9. Toast of the Nation 10. It's the World, on Line One 11. Sacred Sunday Rite 12. Not Quite All in the Family 13. Extended Family Part Three. Inside the Star-Making Machine 14. Herding Comedians 15. Backstage Life (and Death) 16. Give My Regards to La Scala 17. Elvis Has Entered the Building 18. Newspaper Wads at Fifty Paces-a Few Off-Camera Feuds 19. Embracing Blacks, Caving In to McCarthyism Part Four. Rescued by Rock 'n' Roll 20. The Son-in-Law Also Rises 21. "And Now-the Beatles!" 22. The Showman without a Country 23. Echoes and Afterimages Bibliography Interviews Acknowledgments Index Photographs follow page

About the Author

Gerald Nachman is the author of Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 60s, Out on a Whim: Some Very Close Brushes with Life, The Fragile Bachelor, Playing House and Raised on Radio. He is also a contributor to Esquire, Newsweek, GQ, Cosmopolitan, and the New York Times.

Reviews

"A memory-lane extravaganza, smart, witty and finely researched."--San Francisco Chronicle "A fun, affectionate portrayal of the showman. A long time in coming, it's the tome that Sullivan always deserved."--Playbill "A vivid, discerning portrayal of American history through the lens of popular culture."--Publishers Weekly "This work is a 'don't miss' of nostalgia."--Wowowow.com "An amusing, anecdote-rich book... It's full of 'remember when' moments ranging from the bizarre to the insulting."--The Calgary Herald