| Ed Allen | |
| Birth Date: | 1926 12, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Chicago, Illinois, United States[1] |
| Death Place: | Arlington Heights, Illinois[2] |
| Occupation: | television fitness host |
| Known For: | The Ed Allen Show |
Ed Allen (14 December 1926 – 29 December 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.[3] In 1963, television producer Riff Markowitz brought Allen to Canada, recording 65 half-hour episodes of the exercise show in five days. Shortly after his 2 September 1963 debut on CHCH-TV in Hamilton, Ontario, the station received 1,131 letters in a nine-day span, raising expectations of syndication throughout Canada.[4]
195 episodes of The Ed Allen Show were produced by the Canadian production team of Al Guest and Jean Mathieson.
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, Jamaica at the Half Moon Hotel, specifically the Kennedy Beach House.[5] 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.[6] [7] Vinyl LPs and videos were available. Ed wore a distinctive one-piece polyester jumpsuit while he did his calisthenics. In the late 1960s, he earned an estimated annual income of at least USD$100,000.
Allen hosted Stay Tuned, a 1978–79 weekday talk show on Global Television Network.[8]