Michelle Phillips Snacking Live on Ed Sullivan

In 1967 one of the bands blowing up the charts was The Mamas & the Papas. Their hit “California Dreamin'” appeared on the album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears and remained at the top of the charts for much of 1966. The song recalls the warmth of California while confined to a New York winter. It became emblematic of the 1960s and still is to this day. But, when the band went on The Ed Sullivan Show to perform the song in September 1967 they had some antics up their sleeves.

As a sign of the times instead of a guitar solo the band brought in jazz musician Bud Shank to play flute instead. The solo has long been one of the most familiar aspects of the song, part of a wave flute-infused pop songs that came before and after. When it came to performing for TV there was no flute player on screen, but that wasn’t the only unusual thing about that appearance.

There’s been some debate about The Ed Sullivan Show performance. Some argue that the band’s nonchalant attitude and breaking of character on stage, not singing at the correct times, etc, was a protest against being “forced” to lip sync. In the appearance Michelle Phillips takes a banana, peels it, eats it- all while “singing” to the music.

It was a common practice at the time for shows to ask bands to lip sync for TV and many groups that came on variety or dance shows were asked to mime singing and playing instruments. However, in a 2021 video with her daughter, Chyna, and Owen Elliot-Kugell (daughter of Cass Elliot) Phillips said that the banana was “random”.

Phillips stated that the set had a bunch of fruit out as part of the props and she just decided to grab the banana: “I was trying to do something with my hands, to do anything because I felt a little awkward.” Throughout the performance she can be seen eating the banana with the mic in the other hand. But, there are times when she forgets which is which and sings into the banana! Since then many folks have called the performance iconic of the era and a memorable moment in TV history.

The awkwardness could have been because, not only was it a TV appearance, but the song was actually part of a medley with “Monday, Monday” and “I Call Your Name”. It is possible this made their time on the set a little longer than unusual and with perhaps a different feeling to the performance. And, it wasn’t just Phillips. The other band members can be seen speaking, joking, and moving props as well.

Do you think this was a type of protest against the rigid variety show structure or just a group of young musicians having fun on stage?

Watch the video below to see the Mamas & the Papas in action on Ed Sullivan on that day.