“A really big shew” (The Ed Sullivan Show)

American television personality Ed Sullivan (1901-1974) hosted The Ed Sullivan Show (a variety entertainment television program) from 1949 to 1974. Sullivan introduced it as the “big show,” but by the late 1950s, this became parodied as “big shew” and “rilly, rilly big shew.”
 
“The days of Ed Sullivan’s really big shews seem to be past” was printed in the Ottawa (ON) Citizen on March 4, 1957. “SUNDAY TV: Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan have ‘really big shews’” was printed in the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle on May 12, 1957. “Topping this rilly, rilly big shew” was printed in the Vancouver (BC) Sun on September 17, 1958.
 
The group Stone Kirby Four made the Ed Sullivan parody song “It’s a Really Big Shew” in 1961. The Ed Sullivan Theater is located at 1697–1699 Broadway, between West 53rd and West 54th streets, in Manhattan.
 
 
Wikipedia: Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American television personality, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist for the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. He is principally remembered as the creator and host of the television variety program The Toast of the Town, later popularly—and, eventually, officially—renamed The Ed Sullivan Show. Broadcast for 23 years from 1948 to 1971, it set a record as the longest-running variety show in US broadcast history. “It was, by almost any measure, the last great TV show,” said television critic David Hinckley. “It’s one of our fondest, dearest pop culture memories.”
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The impressionists exaggerated his stiffness, raised shoulders, and nasal tenor phrasing, along with some of his commonly used introductions, such as “And now, right here on our stage ...”, “For all you youngsters out there ...”, and “a really big shew” (his pronunciation of the word “show”).
     
Newspapers.com
4 March 1957, Ottawa (ON) Citizen, “Televiews” by Bob Blackburn, pg. 21, col. 1:
The days of Ed Sullivan’s really big shews seem to be past.
 
Newspapers.com
12 May 1957, Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, “The Channel Marker” by Harold A. Nichols, pg. 5F, col. 1:
SUNDAY TV: Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan have “really big shews” lined up for 8 tonight if it’s names you want and variety you want.
   
23 June 1957, Milwaukee (WI) Journal, “Speaking of Television: Let’s Play the Anniversary Waltz” by Bea Pepin, TV sec., pg. 28, col. 1:
ED SULLIVAN, whose smile gets a little more apparent with every passing year, celebrates his ninth anniversary on television today (7 p.m., WXIX). For weeks, this Irish host with the most in guest talent (see today’s TV Screen cover sketch by Journal artist Mel Kishner) has promised viewers a really big “shew” (as he pronounces it).
 
Newspapers.com
12 April 1958, Victoria (BC) Daily Times, “Television Times Section,” pg. 10, col. 7:
As Ed Sullivan might put it: “It’s all a big, big shew.”
 
Newspapers.com
17 September 1958, Vancouver (BC) Sun, “Top Three Shows Overlap Sunday” by Jim Gilmore, pg. 35, col. 4:
Topping this rilly, rilly big shew will be Canada’s Wayne and Shuster with, CBS says, “an entirely new comedy sketch.”
 
Newspapers.com
27 July 1958, Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer, pg. B7 ad:
A REALLY BIG “SHEW”
(An advertisement for the newspaper.—ed.)
 
Newspapers.com
19 June 1959, Mason City (IA) Globe-Gazette, TV sec., pg. 5?, col. 1 photo caption:
A “REALLY” BIG ELEVEN—Peering out from behind an oversized No. 11 is none other than Ed Sullivan himself. Ed, along with a stageful of guests, celebrates the 11th anniversary of The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday night. And he has a “really, really bi shew” all lined up. At 7 p.m., channels 2, 3, 8.
     
12 June 1960, Seattle (WA) Times, TV sec., pg. 6, col. 1:
‘Rilly Big Shew’:
Sullivan Selects Top Acts
Of His 12-Year Run on TV
By DONALD FREEMAN

OCLC WorldCat record
Laugh along with the Kirby Stone Four at the Playboy Club in person.
Author: Al Belletto; Kirby Stone Four (Musical group)
Publisher: [New York] : Columbia, [1961?]
Edition/Format:   Music LP : English
Contents: -
It’s a really big shew—
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Sundays with Sullivan
Author: Bernie Ilson; OverDrive, Inc.
Publisher: [Place of publication not identified] : Taylor Trade Publishing, 2009.
Edition/Format:   eBook : Document : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
Ed Sullivan, who could not sing, dance, or act, was TV’s greatest showman in its early years. For 23 years, from 1948 to 1971, he hosted America’s premiere variety show every Sunday night on CBS, on which he introduced an eclectic array of talent that included everything from opera singers to dancing bears to Elvis Presley and the Beatles. This book is an inside view of The Ed Sullivan Show and the unusual story of one of the most unlikely television stars who played host to such diverse talents as Van Cliburn, Rudolf Nureyev, Robert Goulet, Richard Pryor, and The Rolling Stones. With his distinctive nasal voice, Sullivan regularly promised audiences a really big shew and delivered by offering up virtually every form of twentieth-century entertainment. Bernie Ilson, the Sullivan show’s P.R. man for eight years, takes us on a trip down memory lane to revisit one of the most popular shows in television history.
 
YouTube
Kirby Stone Four - It’s A Really Big Shew
Aug 3, 2019
philsmusic1000
Kirby Stone Four - It’s A Really Big Shew
COMMENTS
Robert Smith
Hilarious! The Ed Sullivan voice is spot on.