On May 21st, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will officially end after being canceled by CBS. With that, the doors to the Ed Sullivan Theater will be shuttered for the foreseeable future.
While the immediate implications of Colbert’s cancellation are dire (considering the blatant censorship of political opinion and corporate cow-towing of CBS’ parent company Skydance Media) there is also a dramatic loss for the arts that comes with the dreadful uncertainty of closing such a historic venue.
Over the decades, countless celebrities and musicians from Elvis to the Beatles have graced this hallowed venue with iconic performances that have transcended their time. So before Ed Sullivan theater closes its doors, let’s look at the history and memorable moments of the famed theater.
Early Years of the Theater
The Ed Sullivan theater has worn many names and donned many hats since it opened almost 100 years ago. Located at 1697-1699 Broadway between West 53rd and West 54th, in Manhattan, New York, the building was designed by architect Herbert Krapp and built by Arthur Hammerstein. The theater was originally named in honor of Arthur Hammerstein’s father, Oscar and first opened its doors in 1927.
The original interior has been compared to a Gothic cathedral. The theater featured 10 grandiose stained glass windows, each illustrating a different scene from many of Hammerstein’s popular theater productions. The orchestra pit could hold up to 50 musicians. There was a $50,000 pipe organ and an $18,000 bronze statue of Hammerstein’s father.
The opening musical, called “Golden Dawn,” featured a young Cary Grant (then performing under his real name, Archibald Leach). However, a string of show failures brought the enterprise quickly crashing down.
Enter The Ed Sullivan Show
During the Great Depression, Hammerstein fell on financial troubles and went bankrupt, allegedly with only $5 left to his name. Subsequently, he was forced to sell the theater, which went through a variety of changes in a relatively short period.
In 1931, it was the Manhattan Theater. In 1934, it became a nightclub called Billy Rose’s Music Hall. In 1935, CBS then acquired the space. Originally CBS used the theater for radio broadcasts, christening the theater as Playhouse No. 3.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, “during World War II, Playhouse No. 3 served as the main stage for Command Performance, the popular military-minded variety show ‘recorded and short-waved every Sunday to America’s armed forces all over the world, written and produced under supervision of the Radio Branch of the Bureau of Public Affairs of the War Department.’”
In the 50’s, the theater was transformed into a soundstage to fit the growing medium of television where the theater became formally known as Studio 50. It wasn’t until 1953 that Ed Sullivan began to call the theater home.
Previously, Sullivan was hosting his variety show called “Toast of the Town” in the Maxine Elliot Theater, also owned by CBS. Needing a bigger space for the growing popularity of the broadcast, Sullivan took over Studio 50 for the next 23 years.
In 1955, the show’s name was changed to bear his name. To mark the anniversary of the show’s 20th year, the theater itself was officially named the Ed Sullivan Theater in 1967.
A Long History of Censorship
It’s worth noting, the Ed Sullivan Theater has always been a place where various degrees of censorship were imposed on its performers.
Famously, when Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan show he was only filmed from the waist up. Sullivan purportedly sabotaged Buddy Holly’s performance slot, cutting his song short and mispronouncing his last name all because Sullivan deemed Holly’s song choice too “raunchy” for the air.
Mick Jagger rolled his eyes visibly during the Rolling Stones performance when they had to change the lyrics of the song “Let’s Spend The Night Together” to “Let’s Spend Some Time Together.”
Bob Dylan walked off set when he was told he couldn’t perform his political protest song “Talkin’ Bout John Birch Paranoid Blues.” The Doors ignored the mandate to remove any reference of “higher” rom “Light My Fire.” They sang the words anyway and they were banned from appearing on the show again.
Decades later in 2025, it is censorship that leads to the closing of this historic theater. Colbert can now take his spot amongst the greats like Jim Morrison in those that dared to defy the establishment.
After the Ed Sullivan Show
Throughout the 1960s, Studio 50 was used to host other popular shows such as “What’s My Line” and “Password.” Once the Ed Sullivan Show ended in 1971, other popular game shows like “$10,000 Pyramid” took its place.
In 1981, CBS’ lease expired but the company would go on to buy the theater back in 1993 for a hefty $4 million, before piling another $4 million on the tab to redesign the space for the David Letterman Show.
After Letterman announced his retirement for the Late Show in 2014, Steven Colbert was announced as his successor and began filming episodes at the Ed Sullivan Theater starting in 2015.
With Colbert’s forced ouster, for the first time in decades there is no one left to fill the giant shoes of the Ed Sullivan Theater. The theater at least will remain standing as a monument to this time. In 1988, it was deemed a historic landmark and in 2027 it will celebrate its 100 year anniversary.
But as the many mediums the theater has hosted – from vaudeville to radio – have fallen out with the changing times, late night shows it seems are now also relegated as a relic of the past. In Sullivan’s heyday, it seemed like the whole nation tuned in every Sunday night to be united by a new world-class performance. But little by little, America … and its audiences fractured. At first by a hairline, then by a crevasse that now seems too deep to cross.
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