My friend Dan Gheno sent me this photo he took of what the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York looks like now that Dave's old marquee has been taken down. I hear that its replacement will be a three-sided electronic billboard which will feature fancy computer graphics. Dan, by the way, is an artist of tremendous talent and he has a new book out that I will soon be recommending here.
I wonder how many people know that the Ed Sullivan Theater was more than just the place where Ed did most of his TV shows. It opened in 1927 as Hammerstein's Theater featuring the play Golden Dawn, which starred a young man named Archibald Leach. Mr. Leach would soon be better known under the name Cary Grant. The theater changed names a few times as it housed plays until 1936 when CBS took a lease on the building and converted it for radio broadcasts. The first one done there was Major Bowes' Amateur Hour and many more followed until 1950 when the place was retooled for television. Sullivan eventually began doing his popular Sunday night program from there but so did hundreds of other shows while Ed was still on the air, including for a time What's My Line?, which was also live on Sunday nights at 10:30, requiring a fast switchover of sets after Ed went off at 9 PM. Among the shows done there after Ed went off in 1971 were The Merv Griffin Show, Kate & Allie and The $10,000 Pyramid. The place was called Studio 50 until 1967 when it was renamed for Ed.
Pre-Letterman, CBS leased the building. In 1993 when Dave needed a place to do his new show, CBS purchased it for $4.5 million and then spent a ton o' dough refurbishing what had become a pretty shabby place over the years. And now Stephen Colbert will become its next inhabitant.
The iconic Late Show logo, which was removed from the marquee was designed by a gentleman named Roger White. Here's what he went through to get to it.
Barbara Gaines, who went from being Dave's receptionist to being his producer writes about the sense of loss now that the show is over.
Lastly: This has only a tenuous connection to Letterman but all the years he did his show there, he was right across the street from 1700 Broadway where DC Comics and MAD Magazine had their offices. A month or so ago, DC finally moved out as part of a plan to relocate (as they have) in Burbank, California. MAD is remaining in New York and this week, they're moving their office from that building into new digs over on Avenue of the Americas. Dave's style always admittedly had a lot of MAD in it. He sometimes said that all his show was was the TV version of "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions." Well, Dave's gone from that area and now MAD's departing…and that stretch of Broadway is already suffering from a serious lack of snide wisecracks.