Marlo Lewis (September 15, 1915 – June 8, 1993) was an American

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

of variety and comedy shows for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

and is well known for co-producing the famous ''

Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Nig ...

''.

Early life

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.

Ed Sullivan

In 1948 Lewis co-created the '' Toast of the Town'' program with

Ed Sullivan Edward Vincent Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American television host, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist for the ''New York Daily News'' and the Chicago Tribune New York News ...

. 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. On 9 September 1956,

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

appeared for the first time on the show, but on his third and last appearance on January 6, 1957 he was censored because the rumor had it that the rock'n'roll singer had been "hanging a small soft-drink bottle from his groin underneath his pants, and when he wiggles his leg it looks as though his pecker reaches down to his knee!"See Marlo Lewis and Mina Beth Lewis, ''Prime Time'' (1979), p.146. Therefore, Lewis and Sullivan decided to shoot the singer only from the waist up during this, his last performance on their show.

Other shows

Apart from this show, Lewis also helped to launch ''

The Jackie Gleason Show ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' is a series of American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970, in various forms. ''Cavalcade of Stars'' Gleason's first variety series, which aired on the DuMont Televisio ...

'', '' The Dinah Shore Show'', and ''

The Phil Silvers Show ''The Phil Silvers Show'', originally titled ''You'll Never Get Rich'', is a sitcom which ran on the CBS Television Network from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes wer ...

''. 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 ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

for an ABC Christmas special in 1961. In the mid-1960s, he produced several musical specials for

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

. In 1967, Lewis joined the Norman, Craig & Kummel agency and was elected vice chairman a year later.

Publication

In 1979, he published, together with his wife, a book titled ''Prime Time'' which includes many backstage stories from the author's times as a producer.

Awards

Lewis was a founder of the

Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. A 501(c)(6) non-profit or ...

. Both Lewis and Sullivan shared the

George Foster Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in ...

for humanitarian activities. In 1992, Lewis was elected to the Television Producers Hall of Fame.

Death

In 1993, he died of heart failure at a hospital in Palm Springs, California.