Vince Calandra, who as a longtime booker for CBS juggernaut The Ed Sullivan Show helped introduce The Beatles to America’s TV audience, has died. He was 91. According to a local mortuary’s obit, he died Saturday at his home in Woodland Hills, CA.
Calandra was just 23 when he landed a job on Sullivan’s talent showcase, which already had been a Sunday night staple for nearly a decade. Starting in the mailroom, he graduated to holding the cue cards and eventually to talent booker. At the dawn of the British Invasion of U.S. radio airwaves and record players, he was instrumental to bringing Liverpudlian upstarts John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr to the Ed Sullivan Show stage, creating a landmark moment in TV and music history.
It was February 9, 1964, when The Beatles made the first of three appearances on the show within two weeks. Calandra had been an stand-in for ailing guitarist Harrison during rehearsal, complete with moptop wig. The night was nothing short of electric, with producers dealing with tens of thousands of ticket requests before dealing with 700-plus mostly screaming fans in attendance. A then-record 73 million-plus people tuned in as The Beatles conquered the colonies, and Calandra was among the producers of the group’s famed Shea Stadium concert in August 1965. He was an associate producer of the feature documentary The Beatles at Shea Stadium!
From left: Paul McCartney, Ed Sullivan, George Harrison, Ringo Starr (standing) and John Lennon after their February 9, 1964, debut performance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’
Everett Collection
Born on April 22, 1934, in Brooklyn, Calandra also was there for two more memorable Ed Sullivan appearances by legendary rock bands. In early 1967, he was the poor guy who had to tell Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger the news that CBS and Sullivan demanded that they change a recurring lyric. “Let’s Spend the Night Together” was the B-side of the group’s hit single “Ruby Tuesday,” but that title didn’t thrill the higher-ups. Calandra told a grumbling Jagger to sing “Let’s spend some time together.” The singer acquiesced.
Late that summer, as “Light My Fire” was about to top the singles chart in America, The Doors were booked on the show. This time, the offending lyric “Girl we couldn’t get much higher.” Calandra again got Cocky rock star-in-training Jim Morrison was pissed but agreed, publicly at least. When the band closed the show that night — following a sweaty young comic named Rodney Dangerfield making his national TV debut — they began with new single “People Are Strange.” “Light My Fire” was next, and Morrison defiantly sang the original lyric. Twice. Sullivan and his producer were apoplectic, and it would be the band’s final Ed Sullivan Show appearance.
Among the many other acts Calandra booked for the show were Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Stewart, Julie Andrews, Irving Berlin, Jack Nicholson, Jackie Mason, Alan King and Muppetmeister Jim Henson. He stayed with Sullivan until its final episode in June 1971. After that, he booked guests for talk shows hosted by the likes of Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore, Robin Thicke, John Davidson and Pat Sajak. He also worked on showbiz-related series including Entertainment Tonight and Solid Gold.
He is survived by daughter Christine Calandra Farrell and son Vince Calandra Jr., a veteran TV producer.
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