The Ed Sullivan Show
Ray Charles & Billy Preston / Bill Dana
TV Flash files “Ray Charles & Billy Preston / Bill Dana” as hour 563 of 690 in the TV Flash guide — The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971) on CBS, season 21, episode 13, aired 1967-12-03, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S21E13: listed hour 563 of 690 in the The Ed Sullivan Show guide, hour 13 of 39 in season 21. It aired 1967-12-03 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Beatles (on film) / Connie Francis / Al Hirt” (S21E12). Next is “20th Anniversary Show: Gwen Verdon; Pearl Bailey; Robert Merrill” (S21E14). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Ray Charles & Billy Preston / Bill Dana sit in the The Ed Sullivan Show guide?
S21E13 is listed hour 563 of 690 — hour 13 of 39 in season 21, season 21 episode 13.
When did The Ed Sullivan Show S21E13 air?
Ray Charles & Billy Preston / Bill Dana aired 1967-12-03 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
If you want heat, start with Elvis’s first 1956 booking, then the Beatles on February 9, 1964. If you want the machine itself, glance at the 1948 opener, then jump to the crime scenes.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Sunday as a rope line: Sullivan’s clipboard decided who got to be loud in the living room. Watch the bookings as foreign policy — Elvis cropped, Beatles admitted, lyrics policed — and the feuds that still read like a publicist calling a freeze-out a scheduling conflict.
Flash: it is Sunday, the set is a Sunday best, and a man who looks like your accountant is about to decide whether America gets to scream. The Ed Sullivan Show was not a variety hour. It was a rope line with a full orchestra. Booking was foreign policy. One slot could mint a legend; one freeze-out could send a comic back to the Catskills with a publicist already calling it a misunderstanding. The museum wants a civic story about shared culture. I want the clipboard. Who got the eight o’clock heat. Who got the…
Filed against
- Ed Sullivan as Host
Ed Sullivan ruled Sunday night variety as the stone-faced kingmaker who put the Beatles — and every comic who needed a break — in American living rooms. Booking wars and censorship dust-ups made him hero or villain depending on the week.…
- Ray Bloch as Orchestra leader
Ray Bloch led the orchestra on The Ed Sullivan Show — Sunday as a rope line with strings, a bandleader under twenty-three years of living-room gatekeeping. Booking was foreign policy; the downbeat was Bloch’s. TV Flash still hears the…
- Ralph Paul as Announcer
Ralph Paul announced The Ed Sullivan Show — the Sunday-night voice that told a nation who was about to be loud. Booking was foreign policy; the clipboard was Ed’s. Paul was the rope line’s spoken architecture. TV Flash still hears the…
Also in season 21
- S21E01 Young Rascals / Petula Clark / Red Skelton
- S21E02 The Doors / Yul Brynner / Rodney Dangerfield
- S21E03 Mamas & the Papas / Florence Henderson / John Byner
- S21E04 Nancy Sinatra / Peggy Lee / George Carlin
- S21E05 Jimmy Dean / Wayne & Shuster / Joan Rivers
- S21E06 Lovin' Spoonful / Ethel Merman / David Frye