Alan Livingston, reshaped American Pop Culture

Alan Livingstone, 91, died on March 13, 2009 at his home in Beverly Hills. He was an entertainment executive who had significant roles in bringing Bozo, The Beatles, and Bonanza to American audiences.

While he was president at Capitol Records, he declined three times to release singles by a British band know as The Beatles. After another executive turned down a fourth opportunity to release"I want to Hold Your Hand," Mr Livingstone took a phone call from Brian Epstein who was the band's manager. During their discussion, Mr Livingston admitted that he had never listened to the song. He later listened and the rest is history. Capitol released the single and brought Beatlemania to America.

When he first came to Capitol, he wrote and produced a series of records known as Record Readers for children. One of the story books was Bozo at the Circus and was the origin for the TV character.

He was the co-writer of the novelty song I Taut I Taw a Putty Tat featuring cartoon characters Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird, recorded by voice specialist Mel Blanc in 1951.

In 1953, he signed singer Frank Sinatra whose career was on the down-side. He paired him with arranger Nelson Riddle.The pair would create some of Sinatra's greatest hits.

He went to NBC in 1955 and hired a writer who developed the pilot for the hit TV western series Bonanza which ran from 1959-1973.