8.3/1025 votes#1 - 23rd Season Premiere: Barbra Streisand / The Temptations
Season 23 Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/1969
1969-70 season premiere (Ed Sullivan's 23nd season): --The Temptations - ""I Can't Get Next to You,"" ""September in the Rain"" & ""Autumn Leaves"" --Barbra Streisand (on tape from Las Vegas) - ""Hello, Dolly"" medley: ""Before the Parade Passes By,"" ""So Long, Dearie"" & ""Hello Dolly"" --Tony Bennett - ""What the World Needs Now Is Love,"" ""People"" & ""I Gotta Be Me."" --Red Skelton (comedian) - classic drunk routine; ""the bin salesman"" --The Osipov Balalaika Festival Orchestra - Russian folk dance and music. --Audience bows: Jerry Vale; Rodney Dangerfield
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- NaN/100 votes
#2 - Gladys Knight & the Pips / Clint Eastwood (on film)
Season 23 Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/1969
--Gladys Knight & the Pips - medley (""Let Us Entertain You,"" ""Nitty Gritty,"" ""By the Time I Get to Phoenix"" & ""I Can't Get Used to Seeing You"") --Phyllis Diller (stand-up comedy) --Flip Wilson (stand-up comedy) --Sasha Distel - ""Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head,"" ""Louise"" & ""The Good Life"" --Fantasio (magician from Argentina) --The winners of 1969 Harvest Moon Ball --Ed interviews baseball players Gil Hodges, Cleon Jones, Tommy Agee, Jerry Koosman and Tom Seaver. --Audience bows: Stevie Wonder; Jim Stewart & Kurt Runzy (balloonists); Col. John Roosma and Bobby Thompson (were teamates in the early 1920's on the Passaic, NJ High School ""Wonderteam"" 159 game winning streak in basketball) --Audience bows: Karen Sepa, Chris Peterson, Janis Clover, George Wallace & Margaret Bartasak (4H Club reporters celebrating 4H Club Week) --Audience bow: Jimmy Dunn (Newspaper Boy of the Year) On film: Ed visits set of ""Paint Your Wagon"" in Oregon. Ed talks with Alan Jay Lerner and J
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- NaN/100 votes
#3 - Lee Marvin / Woody Allen / Oliver / Shirley Bassey
Season 23 Episode 3 - Aired 10/12/1969
Guests: --Woody Allen --Lee Marvin (with the Yale Glee Club) - ""Wandering Star"" (from the movie ""Paint Your Wagon"") Lee Marvin making his singing debut, --Oliver (singer) - ""Jean"" & ""Where is Love?"" --Shirley Bassey - ""I'll Never Fall in Love Again"" & ""This is My Life"" --Jo Anne Worley (comedian) --The Yale Glee Club - Football medley --The Castro Brothers (singers-instrumentalists) - ""Say a Little Prayer for Me"" & ""Michelle"" --The Alcettys (plate spinners) --Topo Gigio (Italian mouse puppet) CBS repeated this show on August 23, 1970.
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- NaN/100 votes
#4 - Smith / Cyd Charisse / Joan Rivers / Lana Cantrell
Season 23 Episode 4 - Aired 10/19/1969
Guests (on 30-minute PBS repeat): --Smith - ""Baby It's You"" --Cyd Charisse - dances to an instrumental version of ""MacArthur Park"" --Joan Rivers & Anthony Holland - bank robber sketch with Rivers as teller and Holland as robber. --Lana Cantrell (singer from Australia) - ""A Time for Us"" --Topo Gigio (Italian mouse puppet) - Topo talks to Ed about Halloween; Topo then sings with chickens as their eggs hatch. --The Don Ellis Band - ""Concerto for Trumpet"" Additional guests: --Raphael (scheduled to appear) --The New York Mets (with Tom Seaver) sang ""You Gotta Have Heart"" (Please see Note below).
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- NaN/100 votes
#5 - Santana / Liza Minnelli / Henry Mancini
Season 23 Episode 5 - Aired 10/26/1969
Guests: --Santana - ""Persuasion"" & ""Jingo Jingo"" --Liza Minnelli - ""Come Saturday Morning"" --Mason Williams - ""Cowboy Buckaroo"" --Henry Mancini - ""Peter Gunn"" theme & ""Romeo and Juliet"" theme. --Judy Carne (from ""Laugh-In"") - ""American Moon"" (a.k.a. ""There's an American Flag on the Moon Tonight"") --George Kirby (stand-up comedian) --Charlie Manna (stand-up comedian) --David Hemmings (reads from ""Romeo & Juliet"") --Albert Almonzino - does hand shadow puppets --The Trio Hogados (aerialists) Audience bows: Barbara Eden, Jack Warner CBS repeated this show on September 6, 1970.
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- NaN/100 votes
#6 - Petula Clark, Les Faux Follets
Season 23 Episode 6 - Aired 10/2/1969
No description available
Director: N/A
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- NaN/100 votes
#7 - The Association / Nancy Wilson / Jack Jones
Season 23 Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1969
Guests: --The Association - ""Seven Man Band"" & ""Dubuque Blues"" --Nancy Wilson - ""What A Little Moonlight Can Do"" & ""Can't Take My Eyes Off of You"" --Nancy Wilson & Jack Jones - ""Beautiful Things"" --Jack Jones - ""Get Together"" & ""You Made Me Love You"" --Scoey Mitchell (stand-up comedy, topics: races, women) --Frank Gorshin - ""Jimmy"" (a production number from the show ""Jimmy"") --The Halassys (balancing act, family teeterboard act) --Norm Crosby (stand-up comedian, fractures the English language; Degenerate Gap) --Ed Sullivan Singers - medley of Israeli songs --Audience bows: veterans from Walter Reed Hospital In Washington D. C.; Jorge Velasquez (jockey). CBS repeated this show on July 12, 1970.
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- NaN/100 votes
#8 - Creedence Clearwater Revival / Jerry Lee Lewis
Season 23 Episode 8 - Aired 11/16/1969
Guests: --Creedence Clearwater Revival - ""Fortunate Son"" & ""Down on the Corner"" --Jerry Lee Lewis - ""You Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye,"" ""Great Balls of Fire,"" ""Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On"" & ""What'd I Say?"" --Douglas Fairbanks Jr. - ""I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face"" (from ""My Fair Lady"") & ""Let a Woman in Your Life"" --Moms Mabley (stand-up comedy, topics: relationships with young men, old men) --Carol Lawrence - Chicago (changes from the Old West through the 1960's) --Jack Carter (Stand-up comedian, tells jokes about flying, Spiro Agnew, his mother) --Karen Wyman - ""Baby It's You"" & ""What's Out There?"" --Edward Villella & Patricia McBride - ballet dance to ""To Love Is Blue"" Audience bows: Carl Reiner; Julius Larosa; Bill Leary
Director: N/A
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- 3.9/1016 votes
#9 - The Rolling Stones / Ella Fitzgerald / Eddie Albert
Season 23 Episode 9 - Aired 11/23/1969
Guests: --The Rolling Stones - ""Gimme Shelter,"" ""Love in Vain"" & ""Honky Tonk Woman."" --Ella Fitzgerald - ""You Better Love Me"" & ""Open Your Window"" --Robert Klein (stand-up comedian, talks about his school days) --Ed Ames - ""A Thing Called Love"" & ""I Believe"" --Topo Gigio (Topo prepares for football game) --Peter Gennero (dance segment; Gennero and 2 women dance to ""Smiling Phases"") --Hawthorn Tigers (animal act; tiger riding on horseback alone & with trainer) --Eddie Albert (actor, delivers speech to God about religion's hypocrisy & reality)
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- NaN/100 votes
#10 - Neil Diamond / Julie Budd / Sergio Franchi
Season 23 Episode 10 - Aired 11/30/1969
Guests: --Neil Diamond - ""Sweet Caroline"" & ""Holly Holy"" --The Muppets (2 singing cows & 1 hairy creature sing ""Ma-Na-Ma-Na"" song) --Sergio Franchi - ""Stay"" & "" Granada"" (both songs in English & Italian) Prior to this, Ed shows videotape footage of Sergio and him in an Italian village passing wine bottles to others in a long line. --Voices Of East Harlem (led by Bernice Cole) - medley including ""For What It's Worth"" (Gospel style singing) --Julie Budd (15 year old singer) - ""Skylark"" --Pat Henry (comedian, topics: New York / marriage / health) --Irwin C. Watson (stand-up comedian, topics: old sayings / the Moon / Indians) --Martin Brothers (jugglers from Argentina) Audience bows: Toots Shore & Bob Considine (and their wives); Wayne Zahn (bowling champ); Raymond A Gallagher (VFW Commander in Chief). On film: clip from ""A Boy Named Charlie Brown""; baseball sketch from Broadway play; Ed Sullivan in Italy, passing wine bottles with Italians.
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- NaN/100 votes
#11 - Fifth Dimension / Imogene Coca / Ferrante & Teicher
Season 23 Episode 11 - Aired 12/7/1969
Guests: --Fifth Dimension - ""Wedding Bell Blues"" & medley (""People Got to Be Free"" & a musical version of the Declaration of Independence) --The Fifth Dimension sing ""Happy Birthday"" to Rudolph Friml (the oldest member of ASCAP). --Ferrante & Teicher (two pianists) - theme from ""Midnight Cowboy"" --Imogene Coca (comedian) - does stand up routine about an aggressive sales woman who forces Coca into radical Hippie garb --Tony Sandler & Ralph Young - ""Put On A Happy Face"" & ""The 59th Street Bridge Song"" (""Feelin' Groovy"") --Richard Tucker (Metropolitan tenor wearing clown suit) - sings the aria from the opera ""Pagliacci"" --Ron Carey (stand-up comedian, topic: Catholic football team) --Burch Mann's Ballet America (twelve dancers) --Feller Brothers & Dodo (high wire act from West Berlin) --Audience bows: Irene Papas, Yves Montand, Irving Rudd & Mrs. Bob Gibson; and a group of wounded Vietnam veterans CBS repeated this show on August 2, 1970.
Director: N/A
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- 7.8/1023 votes
#12 - Jackson Five / Lainie Kazan / John Davidson
Season 23 Episode 12 - Aired 12/14/1969
Guests: --The Jackson 5 - ""Stand,"" ""I Wonder Who's Loving You Now"" & ""I Want You Back."" --Lainie Kazan - ""Have I Stayed Too Long At The Fair?"" --John Davidson - ""Something"" & medley (""Get Together"" & ""Games People Play"") --Wayne & Shuster (comedy team spoofing commercials) --The Muppets (Big Bird dances with 6 bird watchers) --Topo Gigio (puppet talks about his Christmas list) --Guy Marks (stand-up comedian) --El Conquistador Violinists (instrumental band, from Puerto Rico) --The Mecners (acrobatic act, top Polish circus act) Audience Bows (cameos): Diana Ross; Leroy Yarbrough (1969 Nascar Champ Driver); Etta Cortez (Editor Of Vegas Magazine); Gig Young
Director: N/A
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- 8.4/1042 votes
#13 - The Swinging, Soulful Sixties - Diana Ross & the Supremes, etc.
Season 23 Episode 13 - Aired 12/21/1969
""The Swinging, Soulful Sixties"" – Ed Sullivan reviews the decade in entertainment. Taped segments (many from Ed's shows): (1) Broadway/Theater songs: --Richard Burton - Soliloquy from Shakespeare's ""Hamlet"" --Robert Goulet - song from ""Camelot"" and ""Happy Face"" --Gwen Verdon - ""If My Friends Could See Me Now"" (from ""Sweet Charity"") (2) Beatlemania: --Beatles At Shea Stadium August 15, 1965 (3) British acts: --Petula Clark - ""Downtown"" (excerpt) & interview --Clips of Dave Clark Five, Animals, Herman's Hermits, Rolling Stones, Petula Clark (4) David Frost - looks at '60's headlines and movies (5) Diana Ross & the Supremes --Ed Sullivan talks to Diana Ross about trends of popular music in the 1960s. --The Supremes - medley (""Baby Love;"" ""Stop! In The Name Of Love;"" ""Come See About Me;"" ""My World Is Empty Without You,"" ""You Can't Hurry Love,"" ""The Happening,"" ""Keep Me Hangin' On,"" ""Reflections,"" ""Love Child"" and ""I Hear A Symphony"") --The Supremes - ""So
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- NaN/100 votes
#14 - scheduled: Charlie Manna; Your Father's Moustache
Season 23 Episode 14 - Aired 12/28/1969
Scheduled guests: --Roberta Peters - sings ""Sempra Libera"" (from ""La Traviata"") --Robert Merrill - sings ""Di Provenza IL Mar"" (from ""La Traviata"") --Joan Rivers (comedian) --Jerry Vale (singer) --Dana Valery (singer) --Charlie Manna (comedian) --Your Father's Mustache (Dixieland band)
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- NaN/100 votes
#15 - scheduled: Temptations; Oliver; Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
Season 23 Episode 15 - Aired 1/4/1970
--The Temptations - ""Psychedelic Shack"" Other guests (scheduled): --Oliver - ""Sunday Morning,"" ""Jean,"" ""Good Morning Starshine"" --Roy Rogers & Dale Evans --Rodney Dangerfield --Jacques d'Amboise
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- NaN/100 votes
#16 - Ike & Tina Turner Revue / Sonny James / Tiny Tim
Season 23 Episode 16 - Aired 1/11/1970
Guests: --The Ike and Tina Turner Revue - ""Proud Mary"" & ""Bold Soul Sister"" --Tiny Tim with the Enchanted Forest (an all-girl band) - ""Earth Angel"" --Tiny Tim & Miss Vicki (Tiny Tim's wife) - Tiny Tim sings a medley of old fashioned love songs to Miss Vicki --Sonny James - ""Free Roamin' Mind"" & ""It's Just A Matter of Time"" --Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara (comedy team) --Flip Wilson (stand-up comedian) - talks about his preacher, Reverend Leroy, & the preacher's wife (who, after shopping, tells her husband, ""The Devil made me buy this dress"") --Karen Wyman (17-year-old singer from New York) - ""Time and Love"" --Vino Venito (sword balancer) --Carter & Lynn (Adagio dance duo, from Detroit, Michigan) --Audience bows (cameos): Miss Vicki's parents, Tiny Tim's parents; the Kessler Twins CBS repeated this episode on July 26, 1970.
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- NaN/100 votes
#17 - Muhammad Ali / June Allyson / Buddy Greco
Season 23 Episode 17 - Aired 1/18/1970
Guests: --Muhammad Ali (a.k.a. Cassius Clay) - gives speech & sings: ""Big Time Buck White"" & ""We Came In Chains"" --June Allyson (medley of show tunes) --Minnie Pearl (comedian) --Bill Dana (as Jose Jimenez) --Michael James Brody Jr. & his wife Rennie - ""You Ain't Goin' Nowhere"" --The Kessler Twins (Alice & Ellen Kessler, twin sisters from Germany) - ""This Girl's in Love with You"" --Buddy Greco - ""Aquarius,"" ""Spinning Wheel,"" ""Smiling Faces,"" and ""A Day in the Life of a Fool"" --Mac Ronay (magician)
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- NaN/100 votes
#18 - Little Anthony & the Imperials / B.J. Thomas / Robert Klein
Season 23 Episode 18 - Aired 1/25/1970
Guests: --B.J. Thomas - ""That Old Black Magic"" & ""Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"" --Patti Page - ""La La La,"" ""Winter World of Love"" & ""Something"" --Little Anthony & the Imperials - ""Goin' Out of My Head,"" ""Don't Get Close,"" ""Shimmy Shimmy Koko Bop,"" ""Tears on My Pillow"" & ""Hurt So Bad"" --Robert Klein (comedian) - re: working as a substitute teacher --Norm Crosby (comedian) --The Jovers (comic balancing act) --Klauser's Bears --Jacques d'Amboise (New York City Ballet dancer) Scheduled to appear (but not mentioned on repeat): --Sly and the Family Stone CBS repeated this show on August 9, 1970
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- NaN/100 votes
#19 - scheduled: Bob Newhart; Gwen Verdon; George Carlin
Season 23 Episode 19 - Aired 2/1/1970
Scheduled guests: --Bob Newhart --Gwen Verdon --George Carlin --Sergio Franchi --Skiles & Henderson --Leo Samourai
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.6/1014 votes
#20 - Bobby Goldsboro / Richard Pryor / George Carlin
Season 23 Episode 20 - Aired 2/8/1970
Guests: --Bobby Goldsboro - ""Everybody's Talkin'"" & ""Can You Feel It?"" --Richard Pryor (stand-up comedy) --Connie Stevens - ""Yankee Doodle,"" ""Give My Regards To Broadway"" & ""If I Were A Rich Man"" --Boots Randolph - ""Nashville, Tennessee"" & ""Hey, Jude"" --Floyd Cramer - ""I'll Never Fall in Love Again"" --Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer, and Boots Randolph - medley: ""I Can't Help It,"" ""Jambalaya,"" ""I Saw the Light"" --George Carlin (stand-up comedy) --David Frye (impressionist) --Mr. Jiggs (chimp act) --Sam & Sammy (acrobats) --Audience bows (cameos): Joe Frazier, Yankee Durham CBS repeated this show on June 21, 1970.
Director: N/A
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- NaN/100 votes
#21 - Supremes (without Diana Ross) / Joe Frazier / Robert Klein
Season 23 Episode 21 - Aired 2/15/1970
Guests: --The ""New"" Supremes - ""Up the Ladder to the Roof"" & show tunes (Supremes with Cindy Birdsong, Jean Terrel & Mary Wilson - without Diana Ross) --Joe Frazier (wearing tuxedo, in a boxing ring set) - sings ""Knock on Wood"" --Robert Klein (stand-up comedian) --Arte Johnson (stand-up comedian) --Caterina Valente - ""Never Will I Marry"" & ""Anything Goes"" --Michael Parks - ""Mountain High"" & ""My Melancholy Baby"" --Hawthorn Tigers (animal act) --Ed Sullivan Singers - ""Mame"" --Santini Demon (a.k.a. The Amazing Fire Eating Santani Demon) - fire eater swallows lit torches, swords --Audience bows (cameos): Molly Pecan, Sam Levine; Ernie Terrel
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- NaN/100 votes
#22 - Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, Dionne Warwick
Season 23 Episode 22 - Aired 2/22/1970
No description available
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.7/1014 votes
#23 - Nancy Sinatra / Cast of Hair / Rodney Dangerfield / Bobby Vinton
Season 23 Episode 23 - Aired 3/8/1970
Guests: --Nancy Sinatra (with the Rutgers University Marching Band) - ""California Dreamin'"" & ""I Love Them All"" (might be ""The Boys in the Band"") --Bobby Vinton - ""Take Me In Your Arms"" & ""My Elusive Dream"" --Joan Sutherland & Marilyn Horne - ""Mira O Norma"" --Rodney Dangerfield (stand-up comedy) --Wayne and Shuster (comedy team doing a psychic skit) --Irwin C. Watson (stand-up comedian) --Trio Rennos (comic acrobats) Audience bow (cameo): Liberace --On film, a National Urban Coalition commerical promoting racial harmony. In the film, 100 figures in entertainment, business, government and sports are gathered together to sing ""Let the Sunshine In."" Appearing in this film: the cast of ""Hair,"" Henry Fonda, Leonard Nimoy, Ali MacGraw, Ed Sullivan, Ray Charles, Eli Wallach & Anne Jackson, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, Flip Wilson, Merv Griffin, Leontyne Price, Ralph Bunche, Roy Wilkins, etc.
Director: N/A
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- NaN/100 votes
#24 - Holiday on Ice Salute / Ed Ames / Lana Cantrell
Season 23 Episode 24 - Aired 3/15/1970
Salute to ""Holiday on Ice"" (Silver Anniversary) Guests: --Ed Ames - ""Three Reasons"" --Lana Cantrell - ""Isn't This a Lovely Day?"" Ice skating segments: --Ronnie Robertson (solo skater) --Marei Langenbein (solo skater) --Alfredo Mendoza & Carol Johnson (ice ballet) --John Leech - skater in a sketch about an after-the-party hangover. --Werner and Denise Muller --The Cook Family (acrobats) --Kossmayer's Mules --The Holiday Chimps
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- NaN/100 votes
#25 - scheduled: Liza Minnelli, Rod McKuen, Liberace
Season 23 Episode 25 - Aired 3/22/1970
Scheduled guests: --Liza Minnelli - possibly ""If I Were In Your Shoes"" --Rod McKuen (poet-composer) - ""London,"" ""Jean"" and ""Everybody's Rich But Us"" --Liberace --Phyllis Diller (comedian) --Bill Dana (comedian) --Bojangles (singer, from Liza's nightclub act) --The Trinidad Tripoli Steel Band (from Trinidad) Note: An edited version of this episode has appeared on PBS. Any details about the PBS repeat would be appreciated!!
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of The Ed Sullivan Show Season 23
Every episode of The Ed Sullivan Show Season 23 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Ed Sullivan Show Season 23!
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971,...
Genres:ComedyTalk
Network:CBS
Season 23 Ratings Summary
"23rd Season Premiere: Barbra Streisand / The Temptations" is the best rated episode of "The Ed Sullivan Show" season 23. It scored 8.3/10 based on 25 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 9/28/1969. This episode is rated NaN points higher than the second-best, "Gladys Knight & the Pips / Clint Eastwood (on film)".