A Short Vision (1956) | BFI National Archive

On May 27, 1956, Ed Sullivan did something that stunned American TV viewers - he showed a deeply disturbing animated film called "A Short Vision" on his wildly popular Sunday night variety show.

The six-minute cartoon, created by British artists Peter and Joan Foldes, showed what happens when a mysterious flying object drops something like an atomic bomb on Earth. The film graphically depicted animals fleeing in terror and human faces literally melting into skulls.

Sullivan gave only a mild warning before showing it, basically saying "if you have kids watching, don't worry, it's just a cartoon." Many children who should have been in bed were still watching, and some were traumatized.

The next day, newspapers ran headlines like "Shock Wave From A-Bomb Film Rocks Nation's TV Audience." The public reaction was so strong that Sullivan decided to play it again two weeks later, this time with a much stronger warning for parents to get their kids out of the room.

Sullivan defended showing the film by calling it "a powerful plea for peace" during the height of Cold War nuclear anxiety. The film had been made in the Foldes' kitchen and was originally shown in art theaters before Sullivan brought it to mainstream America.

For many baby boomers who saw it as children, the images stuck with them for decades - a surprising cultural moment when the family-friendly Ed Sullivan brought apocalyptic nuclear nightmares into America's living rooms.

This old Blogspot post has a great writeup on it if you want to learn more about it.