Harris - Always On Sunday An Inside View of Ed Sullivan, the Beatles, Elvis, Sinatra & Eds Other Guests

Ed first learns I have written a book when I hand him a finished manuscript. Naively, I imagine hell be flattered, but when he reads it, he blows his stack and stops speaking to me. Hes furious. I am revealing more about him, more backstage gossip and more details about the inner workings of the show than he wants made public.

Fortunately for me and for Always On Sunday, Ed simmers down eventually and decides my unauthorized biography is magnificent. He promotes it in his newspaper column, in interviews and in joint television appearances with me. Ed helps turn the book he initially hated into a national bestseller.

During my 11 years on the Sullivan show, no one created more excitement than the Beatles. February 7, 1964: Kennedy Airport. Their first trip to the United States. The screaming fans! The haircuts! The sassy answers! Welcome to New York! The entire country focuses on this place and these young men. Including me. I am meeting their plane. A CBS public relations executive for years. Now the networks press representative on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Ed was warned not to sign the Beatles: Youre crazy! No British group has ever made it big in this country. A month before they arrive, they are still unknown in America. Every reporter I contact turns down my invitation to go with me to JFK.

Two weeks later, I Want To Hold Your Hand rockets to the top of the charts. Beatlemania crosses the Atlantic, and I am besieged by thousands of ticket requests. Reporters plead to join me at JFK.

On February 14, I greet the Beatles again, this time in Miami for a second Sullivan show. I do my best to stay out of the way but, thanks to papparazzi determined to cash in on every shot of the Fab Four, I appear in photos published around the world (including the NY Post). In the captions I am called a Beatle, a case of mistaken identity I still laugh about with my wife, best-selling novelist Ruth Harris.

When I return to New York, Ed searches for me backstage. One stagehand is impressed. Ed must really like you, he says. Youve only worked for him for four years, and he already knows your name.

One of the most intriguing show business books to come along in a long time. Its great, very well written and tells it like it is. I knew Sullivan for years and consider Harris book an accurate sketch of a complex man. Well done!

Chicago Sun Times

Honestly told with remarkable frankness and genuine inside knowledge. In the field of show business biographies, Always On Sunday has secured a place on the shelf reserved for the very best.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Always On Sunday: An Inside View And it is inside! The book is studded with backstage gossip about showbiz greats.

Houston Post

Highly readable and surprisingly candid. A remarkable success story.

Miami Herald

A portrait, warts and all. From the very outset, Harris disarms the reader.

San Diego Union

Delightful!

Charlotte News

Irresistible!!

Boston Globe

What makes Ed Sullivan tick fine, definitive, compelling and honest!

Jacqueline Susann, bestselling author of Valley of the Doll

A remarkable story, and Michael Harris has done it justice.

Frank Stanton, former President, CBS

A magnificent book!

Ed Sullivan

THE ATOMIC TIMES: My H-Bomb Year at the Pacific Proving Ground

SHOCKING, FUNNY, SAD, RAUNCHY!
Catch-22 with radiation!
Area 51 meets Dr. Strangelove!

THE ATOMIC TIMES is a gripping memoir leavened by humor, loyalty and pride of accomplishment. A tribute to the resilience, courage and patriotism of the American soldier.Henry Kissinger

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THE ATOMIC TIMES and ALWAYS ON SUNDAY are are also available in a boxed set, FACE TO FACE WITH THE BEATLES AND THE BOMB.

Download FACE TO FACE WITH THE BEATLES AND THE BOMB for Kindle

BRAINWASHED
A Thriller

Based on secret, real-life psychiatric experiments known as MK-ULTRA and conducted by the CIA in the 1960s, BRAINWASHED is a companion novel to Ruth and Michael Harriss bestselling thriller, HOOKED.

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HOOKED
A Thriller

Dr. Jenkins miracle treatments give patients everything they want: youth, beauty, radiant vitality and sexual potency. No wonder he is worshiped by the celebrities who become his patients. No wonder his influence runs from the private island of an enigmatic Turkish billionaire with a bloody secret to the crimson-draped bedroom of a depraved, Mid-eastern Prince; from the private dressing rooms of world-famous artists to the heights of international society and the inner sanctums of the White House itself.

All the sure elements of a big seller written by pros who know how to tell a story. Slick and sexy with easily recognizable people.
Publishers Weekly

Truly one of the best books Ive ever read! I simply could not put it down! If I could give it 10-Stars, I would! Its that good!!!
D.D. Scott, bestselling author of Bootscootin Blahniks

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HOOKED, A Thriller, and BRAINWASHED, A Thriller, by Ruth and Michael Harris, are also available as part of a boxed set.

Download KILLER THRILLERS: HOOKED and BRAINWASHED for Kindle

Copyright 2010 by Michael Harris.
(Originally published as Always on Sunday: Ed Sullivan, An Inside View by Michael David Harris, Copyright 1968.)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author.

Second ebook edition.

For Ruth With Love
Always on Sunday through Saturday

1

I F critics could kill, Ed Sullivan would be a corpse. In 1948 television writers laughed at his appearance and personality, predicting he would never be a polished host and he couldnt last out the year. They were partially correct. The unsmiling Irishman has had the last laugh, but his lack of smoothness still inspires caricature. Today the awkward introduction is a trademark, and people react with warmth and not irritation to the most unintentionally hilarious ad libs on television.

Ed Sullivan has introduced me as Jack Carson, John Crater, John Kerr and Carson McCullers, Jack Carter said. Now I have my contracts with him made out to whom it may concern.