Dionne Warwick was interviewed on Morning Joe this morning. She's one of the featured artists in Sunday Best, a new Netflix documentary about Ed Sullivan and his insistence on booking Black artists on his long-running CBS variety show. He was responsible for bringing to mainstream audiences some of the iconic performers of the 20th century. The Jackson Five, 18 year old Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Supremes, The Temptations, James Brown and way back in 1953 Harry Belafonte. James Brown considered his Sullivan appearance a highlight of his long career.
Probably most well-known for bringing The Beatles to America, he also had dozens of rock and pop acts on his show: The Stones, The Animals, The Doors (subsequently banned), Bob Dylan (who walked out after he was told he couldn't perform "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues"), 3 appearances by Elvis for the unheard-of fee of $50,000, and Michelle Phillips who reportedly came on stage eating a banana in protest that The Mamas and Papas being forced to lip-sync California Dreaming.
Sunday Best
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