Ed Allen (December 14, 1926 – December 29, 2018) was a television host noted for his syndicated exercise programs. Allen was an actor and singer in the United States during his early career, becoming a television program host in 1948. His program was broadcast on 43 American television stations, resulting in fan mail of 3,000 letters a week. In 1963, television producer

Riff Markowitz Rifael Ronald (Riff) Markowitz (born 1938) is a Canadians, Canadian-Americans, American television and theatre producer,"One man's unbridled folly: In a 'little jewel box of a theatre,' Torontonian Riff Markowitz has wowed a million-and-a-half vis ...

brought Allen to Canada, recording 65 half-hour episodes of the exercise show in five days. Shortly after his September 2, 1963 debut on

CHCH-TV CHCH-DT (channel 11) is an independent television station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Channel Zero, the station maintains studios on Innovation Drive in the west end of Hamilton; prior to 2021, it was located near the corner of Jack ...

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

, the station received 1,131 letters in a nine-day span, raising expectations of syndication throughout Canada. 195 episodes of ''The Ed Allen Show'' were produced by the Canadian production team of

Al Guest Al Guest is a Canadians, Canadian animation producer. He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and started his career there when he dropped out of the University of Manitoba to pursue a career in films. A writer and fine artist, he has exhibited his pai ...

and

Jean Mathieson Jean Mathieson (born in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian animator. Mathieson is listed in ''Colombo's Canadian References'' as Canada’s first independent, commercial, non National Film Board, woman animator. She switched from the University of Tor ...

. Ed Allen had a following of millions of viewers and fans, from all over the world. His exercise show was still being distributed in the early 1990s. The format was usually set somewhere on a beach; in the late 1960s, the filming location was in

Montego Bay Montego Bay is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Por ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

at the Half Moon Hotel, specifically the Kennedy Beach House. Indicates age 40 at that time. Barbie, Ed’s second wife (m. 1974, née Barbara A. Schilling) was a regular providing various routines and in 1979 developed a chain of classes under the Barbie Allen Dancercise brand. Vinyl LPs and videos were available. Ed wore a distinctive one-piece polyester jumpsuit while he did his calesthenics. In the late 1960s, he earned an estimated annual income of at least

USD$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

100,000. Allen hosted ''Stay Tuned'', a 1978–79 weekday talk show on

Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after ...

Bibliography

* 1976: ''The Ed Allen Exercise Book'' (Coles)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Ed 1926 births 2018 deaths Television personalities from Chicago American expatriates in Canada Canadian television hosts American exercise instructors American exercise and fitness writers