ED DONAHUE

The Tonight Show (TV Series 1953–1957)

Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen
(December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000)

Unwilling to rest as a one-hit wonder when its first big hit, The
Monkees, went off the air in 1968, the television production
company Screen Gems wasted no time in trying to repeat its
success. On September 25, 1970, in the 8:30 p.m. time slot
immediately following The Brady Bunch, ABC premiered a
program that would give Screen Gems its second TV-to-pop-
chart smash: The Partridge Family.

The musical sitcom starred Shirley Jones and featured David
Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays
the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a
music career. It ran from September 25, 1970, until August 24,
1974, on the ABC network as part of a Friday-night lineup, and
had subsequent runs in syndication.

Estelle Louise Fletcher
(July 22, 1934 – September 23, 2022)

Actress Louise Fletcher, who won an Academy Award
for her portrayal as the heartless Nurse Ratched — one
of the most reviled characters in movie history — in
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has died.

Her son stated Fletcher died Friday of natural causes at
her home in Montdurausse, France. She had survived
two bouts with breast cancer.

Fletcher with her Academy Award in 1954.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

Hiram "Hank" Williams
(September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953)

Singer, songwriter, and musician Hank Williams is regarded as
one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he recorded 55 singles (five
released posthumously) that reached the top 10 of the Billboard
Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 12 that reached
No. 1 (three posthumously).

Born and raised in Alabama, Williams was given guitar lessons
by African-American blues musician Rufus Payne in exchange
for meals or money. Payne, along with Roy Acuff and Ernest
Tubb, had a major influence on Williams’s later musical style.

Williams began his music career in Montgomery in 1937, when

producers at local radio station WSFA hired him to perform
and host a 15-minute program.

The King of Rock and Roll teamed up with TV’s reigning variety
program, as Elvis Presley appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show”
for the first time on September 9, 1956.

After earning big ratings for “The Steve Allen Show,” the
Dorsey Brothers “Stage Show” and “The Milton Berle Show,”
Sullivan finally reneged on his Presley ban, signing the
controversial singing star to an unprecedented $50,000 contract
for three appearances.

With 60 million viewers—or 82.6 percent of TV viewers at the time—tuning in, the appearance garnered the show’s best
ratings in two years and became the most-watched TV
broadcast of the 1950s.

   Ed Sullivan