\n<\/p>\n
Robert H. Precht, who for more than a decade produced \u201cThe Ed Sullivan Show,\u201d<\/a> the Sunday night variety extravaganza that for 23 years brought singers, comedians, rock bands, jugglers, animal acts and the Italian mouse puppet Topo Gigio<\/a> into the living rooms of millions of viewers, died on Nov. 26 at his home in Missoula, Mont. He was 93.<\/p>\n His death was confirmed by his daughter Margo Precht Speciale, the producer of a forthcoming documentary about Mr. Sullivan.<\/p>\n Mr. Precht joined the Sullivan show as its associate producer in 1958, 10 years after the program made its debut as \u201cThe Toast of the Town.\u201d He became producer two years later, replacing Marlo Lewis<\/a>, and was eventually named executive producer.<\/p>\n Mr. Precht arrived too late for Elvis Presley\u2019s electrifying appearances in 1956 and 1957. But he was in charge when the Beatles performed on the show in 1964, first in New York and then in Florida. And when the Beatles performed at Shea Stadium in Queens in August 1965, Mr. Precht filmed the concert for a documentary for Mr. Sullivan\u2019s production company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThis is probably the most fantastic television operation I\u2019ve gotten into,\u201d he told The Daily News of New York a day before the concert. \u201cWe\u2019ll have 11 cameras in the ballpark, but there\u2019ll be no chance for rehearsal or for checking our sound system. And with 55,000 people liable to do anything, we don\u2019t know what will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Beatles were the most important act on the Sullivan show during Mr. Precht\u2019s tenure. But as the producer, he knew that he could not rely on the rare megastar to fill an hour every week, and that he had to cast widely for talent, famous and obscure, to keep the masses watching.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be easy to book the show without ever leaving the office,\u201d he wrote in an article for The Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, N.Y., in 1961. But, he said, members of his staff saw every Broadway show and went to nightclubs, concerts and films in search of acts to book.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause there\u2019s no type of act we won\u2019t use,\u201d Mr. Precht added, \u201cthere\u2019s no place we won\u2019t scout for talent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In 1964, Mr. Sullivan accused the comedian Jackie Mason<\/a> of making an obscene gesture on camera during his monologue. Mr. Mason said he was reacting to Mr. Sullivan, who was standing out of camera range holding up two fingers and then one to indicate how many minutes were left for his routine. Upset, Mr. Mason held up his own fingers and told the audience, \u201cHere\u2019s a finger for you, and a finger for you, and a finger for you.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Sulivan was convinced that one of those gestures was obscene. He canceled Mr. Mason\u2019s six-show, $45,000 contract and refused to pay him for the performance. Mr. Precht confronted Mr. Mason as he left the stage to tell him that he was fired.<\/p>\n Mr. Mason sued Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Precht for $3 million in damages in New York State Supreme Court; an appellate judge ruled that Mr. Mason\u2019s gestures had not been obscene. In 1966, Mr. Mason returned as a guest.<\/p>\n Mr. Precht recognized that \u201cThe Ed Sullivan Show\u201d stood out among all the other variety shows on television.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if another variety show will ever have the appeal and impact of the Sullivan show,\u201d he told The Missoulian, a newspaper in Missoula, in 1990, almost two decades after the show had left the air. \u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to think of someone dying to get home on a Sunday night to watch a variety show.\u201d<\/p>\n Robert Henry Precht Jr. was born on May 12, 1930, in Douglas, Ariz., and moved with his parents to San Diego when he was about 12. His father was an ironworker. His mother, Agnes (Branagh) Precht, was a homemaker and a Red Cross volunteer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Precht made news in 1949 when, as a sophomore at the University of California, Los Angeles, he was voted a \u201cgreat lover\u201d by his fellow students, which earned him the right to escort Elizabeth Taylor to the school\u2019s junior prom. It was part of the promotion for the Bob Hope film \u201cThe Great Lover.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n After transferring to the University of California, Berkeley, Mr. Precht received a bachelor\u2019s degree in international relations in 1952. That same year, he married Elizabeth Sullivan, known as Betty. She died in 2014.<\/p>\n He spent four years in the Navy after graduating and then began working in television \u2014 first as an assistant producer of the children\u2019s show \u201cWinky Dink and You\u201d and then as an associate producer of \u201cThe Verdict Is Yours,\u201d which presented dramatized versions of real trials.<\/p>\n In 1959, shortly after he began working for his father-in-law, Mr. Precht produced \u201cEd Sullivan\u2019s Invitation to Moscow,\u201d a special that brought the Sunday night vaudeville formula to the Soviet Union. That program, which coincided with the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev\u2019s visit to the United States, won a Peabody Award.<\/p>\n Andrew Solt, whose company, Sofa Entertainment, acquired the Sullivan archive, containing more than 1,000 hours of programming, from the family in 1990, said that Mr. Precht had modernized the show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHe brought the perspective of a new generation; he focused on the music, and the bookings were top notch,\u201d Mr. Solt said in a phone interview. \u201cOne of the reasons it was so easy to watch was that they never had the same set twice. He made it state of the art.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe Ed Sullivan Show\u201d was canceled in 1971. Mr. Precht spent the next 20 years largely producing music and awards shows<\/a>, including the 50th- and 60th-anniversary celebrations of the Grand Ole Opry and the annual Country Music Association Awards.<\/p>\n