![]() ![]() Only a few hours after the interview, Fidel would make his triumphant entrance into the Cuban capital, his men riding on the backs of captured tanks in euphoric scenes that evoked the liberation of Paris. on January 8 in the provincial outpost of Matanzas, 60 miles east of Havana, using the town hall as an improvised TV studio. Finally, Sullivan cut to the main attraction: his friendly interview with Fidel at the very cusp of the rebels’ victory. A stand-up comic performed a cheesy routine about suburban house parties. The Little Gaelic Singers crooned soothing Irish harmonies. Four acrobats leapt and gamboled around the stage (two of them wearing ape costumes). Earlier in the hour, Sullivan had presented a more typical array of artistic offerings for the staid Eisenhower era. On this winter’s evening the avuncular Sullivan was hosting a Latin celebrity who had aroused intense curiosity across the United States: Fidel Castro, a charming 32-year-old lawyer-turned-revolutionary, known for his unkempt beard and khaki patrol cap, who had against all odds overthrown a bloodthirsty military regime in Cuba.įor America’s most beloved entertainment program, it was a rare excursion into politics. on Sunday, January 11, 1959, some 50 million viewers tuned their television sets to “The Ed Sullivan Show,” the trendsetting variety revue that had introduced them to Elvis Presley a few years earlier and would bring them the Beatles several years later. The world’s most notorious guerrilla leader was about to invade their living rooms, and Americans were thrilled. ![]()
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