Marlo Lewis

Marlo Lewis (1916-1993) was an American executive producer for variety and comedy shows for CBS and is well-known for creating and co-producing the famous "Ed Sullivan Show", initially known as The Ed Sullivan Show (1948). The premiere broadcast featured Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and Marlo's sister, Monica Lewis. Lewis was the son of a concert pianist and an opera singer. In the mid-1940s, he became an executive of the Blaine Thompson Advertising agency, where he created and produced, together with his wife, Mina Bess, the daily radio talk show, "Luncheon at Sardi's". In 1948, Lewis co-created the The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) program with Ed Sullivan, who he had met through his sister, singer Monica Lewis. In 1955, the TV classic was renamed "The Ed Sullivan Show". Together with Sullivan, Lewis personally set the appearance time of each act for the show. In 1956, Elvis Presley appeared on the show, but he was censored because of his wild pelvic gyrations and, therefore, Lewis and Sullivan decided to shoot the singer only from the waist up during his TV performance. Apart from this show, Lewis also helped to launch The Jackie Gleason Show (1952), The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956) and The Phil Silvers Show (1955). After 12 years, he left the Sullivan Show in order to set up an independent production company. One of his first projects was the ballet, The Nutcracker, for an ABC Christmas special in 1961. In the mid-1960s, he produced several musical specials for Perry Como. In 1967, Lewis joined the Norman, Craig & Kummel agency and was elected vice-chairman, a year later. In 1979, he published, together with his wife, a book entitled "Prime Time", which includes many backstage stories from the author's times as a producer. Lewis was also a founder of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 1992, Lewis was elected to the Television Producers Hall of Fame. In 1993, he died of heart failure at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He is survived by his wife and two children.