The History of "American Bandstand" - LiveAbout Horn played mainstream singers like Doris Day and Frankie Laine. Dance crazes such as the Twist and the Watusi could be traced to the Bandstand studio. Some of the biggest headlines of the year concerned the Kravitz case in which an upper-class girl died during an abortion that was arranged by her mother so the girl wouldnt bear a child out of wedlock. They wouldnt get up unless the bunny hop was playing. The sad truth, though, is that the kids who danced to the records appeared to be almost all white. Among those to make early national appearances included Buddy Holly, James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner, and Simon and Garfunkel. The Mann Act was law, barring anyone from transporting a person across state lines for an immoral act, even when it was consensual. Tyrone Proctor Making out in the back seat or copping a feel is the most that any of us ever did.. One singer who appeared on his show says Horn was a loud-mouth smart-ass with an appetite for girls. Other acquaintances use words like arrogant and self-centered. In addition, the show has performances by popular musicians and audience members rate songs. Jerry Blavat, then a youngster on the committee, reports that he turned Horn on to Sh-Boom by The Chords, Little Darling by the Gladiolas and Earth Angel by The Penguins (all were black groups.) American Bandstand 1961 4th Anniversary Show (Partial In July 1956, Dick Clark, a commercial pitchman and deejay with an unsullied reputation, inherited WFIL-TVsBandstandfrom scandal-tainted Bob Horn and revamped it for a national audience of teenage consumers as ABCsAmerican Bandstand, which first aired in August 1957. 3 Who were the original dancers on American Bandstand? 6 Who were the first guests on American Bandstand? American Bandstand (TV Series 19521989) - IMDb Off-camera his personality was abrasive, egotistical and aggressive. Horn played mainstream singers like Doris Day and Frankie Laine. He later became a Hollywood screenwriter. Still, within hours after his DUI arrest, Horn was suspended from, Channel 6, WFIL, was owned by Walter Annenberg, whose newspaper, the, Horn described his pattern of hanging at a bar with song-pluggers and music publishers every evening after. Who were the first guests on American Bandstand? The white kids had no problem with the new dress code. Former 'American Bandstand' Dancers React to "American Bandstand" goes national - History Now, older and a little less svelte, theyre back in the city where it all began to recapture their glory days. Our parents didnt teach us what was going on.. 2 Who was the first star of country music? When you place those new singers alongside older ones like Etta James, Roy Hamilton and Al Hibbler, you see a substantial list of black artists. Secondly, the producer started to require admission cards. I dont know why, but black kids didnt want to come., Doris Wilson was a young teenager when Bandstand was in Philadelphia. He also came up with the idea of a teenage committee, because Horn wanted to insure that a core group of good dancers would show up every afternoon. The white kids, especially those who attended parochial schools, normally dressed this way while black kids did not. By 1973, the show drew many of the top R&B performers and competed with American Bandstand for viewers on Saturday afternoons. Pop Conference 2023 - 'Let's Get it Together:' Gatherings, Club And when I heard a few words changed to my name, I thought it was so sweet of him to think of me and change my name like that. May 3rd, 2002. Allison differentiated himself from Bob Horn as a performer, saying he was not a disc-jockey but, instead, a man who discussed issues on the air. Theres a new kid working in the record library, he told his listeners, and listen to the junk he picked for me. Then Menefee came into the record room and said he hoped I wasnt angry with him for making me the butt of his joke. One day a group of, In this part of the story well see what Bob Horn did that ended his career and also caused the ABC network and its Philadelphia affiliate to ignore the 50, Most acquaintances describe Horn as arrogant and self-centered, although none of the dancers on his show saw him that way. The era was one of sexual repression. When Dick Clark wrote in his 1976 autobiography, Bandstand was a segregated show for years. In fact, that same summer the shows DJ who also did live commercials, a guy named Dick Clark, would take over as Bandstand 's full-time host. The following year on August 5, 1957, the show first aired on ABC, was changed to American Bandstand and became a national sensation. Despite Horns risk-taking, his sexual activities would never have come to light if it werent for two outside factors. Jimmie Rodgers, first solo country superstar, the undisputed Father of Country Music. One of the gifts from them was Lois. For additional access to Steve Cohens writings on art, theater, music, books and travel, click here:https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/gehry/, To access Mr. Cohens web site, click here:http://theculturalcritic.com, Your email address will not be published. Bandstand' dancers look back He made national headlines when he shut down a Philadelphia movie theater that was showing Brigit Bardots And God Created Woman, charging that it was obscene. He admitted that he gave her birthday presents a record player one year and one hundred dollars cash another year. anniversary, there was no commemoration. The DA announced his indictment of Horn and Allison at the same press conference, in October of 1956. Sort of healthy trouble. The engineers and announcers looked on with a mixture of envy and horror, and none of them reported what they saw to management. At my first fitting at the Chanel salons in Paris, I immediately envisioned the dress I wanted to get married in: a beautiful lace-embroidered halter gown with a long train, Sofia says. Hooks credits Dick Clark for personally choosing him to be a regular dancer on the show, the first black to gain that distinction. , a popular though controversial TV program targeted toward teenage consumers, marked Philadelphia as the national epicenter of pop music during its seven-year run at ABCs affiliated WFIL-TV at 4548 Market St. ABC-affiliate WFIL-TV at 4548 Market St. broadcast Dick Clarks, to a national audience of teenage consumers from 1957 to 1964., built a national youth culture around the pop music records Clark played on the show and the commercial products his sponsors targeted to this $9 billion consumer market. You had to line up at the end of each show and the producer picked whom he wanted to come back, so you had to please him. American Bandstand I talked to the kids on the same intellectual level. You better believe Ill be there, Frees said of the Rock A Rama appearance. It was their thing. Disgraced in Philadelphia, the 41-year-old Allison found employment at radio station at WWDC in Washington. Other deejays of that time, however, were more gracious than Horn. When Horn admitted that he knew her, Annenberg ordered him to resign from the station. I always said it would be a dream to do our first dance to Stuck on YouHello was a surprise, and the whole room was singing along., The after-party, which had a nightclub-inspired vibe, featured a performance from Good Charlotte, who both Sofia and Elliot grew up listening to. But soon WFIL built the set that became famous, which is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution, simulating a corner of a music store. Black kids were turned back at the entrance without any explanation. Ill jump and, hey, I may even show em my handstand, because Im on the American Bandstand., Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. He took my friend Adam and me out fishing on his boat, along with some of his record-company friends, When Horn was arrested for drunk-driving on June 21, 1956, hardly anyone aside from station staffers and music industry insiders knew about his sexual life, and it didnt come to light even then. So in a dance studio Thursday night, remembering the glory days, they practiced their jitterbugs and coffee-grinding and listened to Bobby Darin, Frankie Avalon and Neil Sedaka. Pop Conference 2023 - 'Let's Get it Together:' Gatherings, Club (There never was any picket line. American Bandstand - Wikipedia Horn ended his career working in Texas using a pseudonym. I never saw black people dancing on the show early on, but that didnt faze me. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. For the reception, I wore drop-diamond earrings by Kwiat, Fred Leightons parent company, and for the party, my chandelier aquamarine stone earrings were by Fred Leighton and served as my something blue., Elliot wore a Ralph Lauren suit at the rehearsal dinner and a Tom Ford tuxedo for the wedding day itself, while the seven bridesmaids were in all black. Some people have criticized Dick Clark for keeping blacks out, but clearly the policy was started by Horn, before Clark. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. WebAmerican Bandstand 1957 & 1968 - The Stroll, The Diamonds YouCanDanceToit! Clipp contacted Joe Grady and Ed Hurst, the hosts of Philadelphias most popular afternoon radio program, Clipp called Grady and me to his office, Hurst related, and asked us to start in two weeks. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories, To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. American Bandstand 1961 4th Anniversary Show (Partial Episode) Former Dancers Web1469 episodes 19521989 Charlie O'Donnell Self - Announcer 227 episodes 19581968 Peaches Johnson Self (dancer) (1975-1980) 107 episodes 19751980 Stan Rodarte Peggy Waggoner Names talks about her experience: When I started dancing on, From 1965 to 1967 Dick Clark also produced a show called, A postscript was added a decade later in California. But what did we know? says Colella. To discredit Loiss reputation, the defense produced a man, with no connection to Horn, who testified that Lois once accepted money to have sex with him. For seven years kids had been coming to WPEN at 1522 Walnut Street and riding the elevator to spend a couple of hours at their club, which was a small studio without windows. Im very grateful., As the bride made her way down the aisle, she began to hear her favorite song, Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez playing but with the lyrics changed to her name. At my first fitting at the Chanel salons in Paris, I immediately envisioned the dress I wanted to get married in: a beautiful lace-embroidered halter gown with a long train. Bobby Baritz, a little out of breath from a fast jitterbug, said he now runs a food and gift shop in New York City. Several wore miniskirts, others donned sneakers and pedal pushers. And two, a scandal at another Philadelphia station. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. It was very important to me that all my bridesmaids were comfortable, so the only requirement I had was that they wear all black, Sofia explains. Clarks daily afternoon program pioneered in musical television by showcasing a range of black and white pop music performers, including R&B, rock n roll, and country. Segregation such as seen on Bandstand during the late Fifties and early Sixties was characteristic of American society during that time, when separate but equal was still viewed as legitimate by many Americans., Black composer Leroy (After the Lights Go Down Low) Lovett is from an older generation and looks at things more benignly. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. So if you got on the show once you were assured of returning, as long as they liked you, ahead of people who phoned in or wrote in. One example is Bob Menefee, the top-paid disc jockey at WIP. Horn was kind and fatherly to these teenagers. He picked his own employee, Bob Horn, and copied from WPEN the idea of teenagers in the studio. I didnt know anyone who had sex. Before long there were black kids dancing as regulars and American Bandstand was one of the few television shows where I would get to see black people as artists.. Dick Clark Why did the station move so quickly to dump Horn? In this, he was way ahead of his time and ahead of whats seen in the show Hairspray. It was very sweettruly unbelievable!, Following dinner, Sofia changed into a fun, flirty Claudia Schifferinspired Chanel look. The disc jockey might have gone back on the air after a few days, however, if the citys district attorney hadnt made a phone call to the station. Jacobs took the witness stand and backed up Dorothys story. I always dreamed of her doing my makeup on my wedding day, Sofia says. When I told Hooks the details about the fall of Bob Horn, he said it suddenly made him understand why Clark felt so strongly about drunkenness. The program, starting in 1952, originally was simply named Bandstand. In the song originally sung by country music legend Kenny Rogers (1938-2020) and released in 1979, the real name of the Coward of the County is Tommy, though he is generally known by his nickname of Yellow. But Horn also was the bad guy who allowed blacks to be systematically excluded when it looked as if their dancing might dominate the show. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. It has a fictional plot about the racial integration of a 1960s teen television dance program, and it reminds me of my own experiences surrounding Bandstand in the 1950s. Then he was arrested and we never made the record. She, like Colella, finds it hard to believe that Horn had an affair with a teenage girl. What is a 7 letter word that starts with O? Catholic schools in those days were 99% white. I was watching one by one each bridesmaid and groomsman walk down the aisle, and we were inching closer to the front, and I couldnt believe it was happening, she says. Vic Blanc became a judge, then resigned when he developed mental lapses which would today be labeled as Alzheimers disease. Among notable guests appearing that first season, some making their television debuts, were: Paul Anka, Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke, Bobby Darin, The Del-Vikings, The Diamonds, Buddy Holly, Johnny Mathis, Simon & Garfunkel ( Tom & Jerry), Andy Williams, Jackie Wilson, and others. Watch for Part Two of our copyrighted story, which involves an election for District Attorney and the campaigns emphasis on teenage sex with radio and TV personalities. But inside the studio, at the end of each show, committee members gave out reservations for future programs. It was common for promo guys to give bottles of whiskey as Christmas gifts. In this new setting, a greater number of kids could dance while the music played. People were routinely arrested when they drove across a state border and had sex. 8 Surprising Facts About The Legendary Dance Show Horn became a radio personality at Phillys WIP, then moved to WFIL in 1951 because that station offered more money and because FIL had a sister TV station (part of the ABC network) and Horn hoped for a future on television. If we dont do something, theyll take over was the expressed fear. Elliot asked Sofia to marry him in Hawaii after a year of dating. They are true rock stars. The Regulars - American Bandstand Diaries The Philly Years Where Henry Gordon said in 1995 as he looked at an old photo of the kids at Bandstand: Anything that looks like a black face in this picture is probably a white face in the shadows. This was her unique moral code. At his trials, Horn said that he first met Lois when she came to his office at WFIL one evening in 1954 and after that he saw her frequently at the West Philadelphia restaurant where he ate dinner. Some of the regular boys all white started talking angrily among themselves about how theyd like to beat up the boy after the show. There were trysts of another Jacobs model and another WPEN announcer, and other girls had encounters with a publicist and a photographer, respected professionals who were in love with their wives and felt they were just having some harmless, job-related fun on the side. Horn developed a daily ritual of kids judging new records. When the program went on the ABC network, stations in the South, where racial segregation was the norm, objected to the fact that black dancers occasionally appeared on the dance floor. Wordens parties included nudity and sexual promiscuity. They surprised me with balloons and all of my favorite breakfast foodswe were like giddy little girls getting excited for the day to come.. Management was so happy with Horns ratings that they let him choose whatever music he wished; he didnt need to shove those songs. He was born Lee Shulman and started his career as an ad salesman. By coincidence, on Saturday afternoon February 8, 1964, the day before the Beatles first appearance on Ed Sullivan, American Bandstand had its inaugural broadcast from Los Angeles, three thousand miles from its original home in Philadelphia. Just out of school, I was apprenticing in public relations under his tutelage.) Debby Boone. Dick Clark, a television host and entrepreneur who sold rock-and-roll to Middle America on the dance show American Bandstand and counted down the new year with millions of TV viewers as emcee of an annual celebration in New Yorks Times Square, died April 18 at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., after a heart attack , PHILADELPHIA (AP) In the late 1950s and early 60s, everyone knew Bob and Justine, Kenny and Arlene, and Ed and Bunny. Record promoters, the men who came around and asked disc jockeys to spin their products, told me that he was more demanding of payola than anyone at any Philly station. dancers on American Bandstand He defeated Republican Emil Goldhaber by a vote of 303,000 to 235,000. Original Bandstand Members Back In Philadelphia To Boogie Horn would tell them that he wanted, His career was brought down by a teenage girl, but she did. Kathleen Riley, who has been doing her hair for years, was on duty as well. Not being able to get in, that was a way of life then. 1,013 American Bandstand Dancers Premium High Res Photos She enjoyed seeing the TV series, When the program moved to California in 1964, it presented its first regular dancer who was black. Clark moved the show to California in 1964, but many fans remember it as a Philadelphia phenomenon. What are various methods available for deploying a Windows application? American Bandstand - 10 Great Performances - LiveAbout Clipp contacted Joe Grady and Ed Hurst, the hosts of Philadelphias most popular afternoon radio program, The 950 Club on WPEN and offered them a deal to switch over to his station and be on WFIL radio and TV simultaneously. The show gave many new music artists their first exposure to national audiences, including Iggy Pop, Ike & Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Talking Heads , Simon & Garfunkel and Madonna. PHILADELPHIA (AP) - In the late 1950s and early '60s, everyone knew Bob and Justine, Kenny and Arlene, and Ed and Bunny. Race and American Bandstand, The Seven-Year Itch: West Philly Loses American Bandstand, Report accessibility issues and request help. Blanc had a love-hate relationship with show business, and even got personally involved in it. Walter Annenberg, who owned WFIL and the Philadelphia Inquirer and TV Guide, asked his station manager, Roger Clipp, in the summer of 1952 to try a dance program aimed at teenagers. The show would air immediately after school when kids were home without parental supervision. Allison said it never happened and Steves wife provided him with an alibi, consisting of a log she kept of his activities. On each program, Horn listed the top songs of the day, although there was no scientific survey. ET. Horn, on the other hand, didnt show such warmth to colleagues. Elliot was such a big Good Charlotte fan when he was a kid, and Joel and Elliot have become like brothers. When Horns personal indiscretions led to his ouster from Bandstand in 1956, he was replaced by the more youthful, slimmer, squeaky clean Dick Clark. We stopped going and so did the black girls, for the most part.. Most people around the station found him less than charming. In the course of his probe Blanc discovered connections between many disparate people. A similar program later went on the air in Baltimore, and that inspired a John Waters film and the stage musical Hairspray. Horn described his pattern of hanging at a bar with song-pluggers and music publishers every evening after Bandstand finished, from 6 to 8 p.m., then going to a restaurant for dinner. Maxine went to the cops and hollered rape. From 1965 to 1967 Dick Clark also produced a show called Shebang which spotlighted a Mexican-American regular, Manuel Acosta, who slow-danced with a blonde white girl named Lynn. The promotion men who hung out with Horn fed him records by new artists and Horn was open to their suggestions partly because he knew it would help the show, and partly because he liked getting gifts from the song-pluggers. (Harris is the man who, in the western suburbs of Philadelphia, produced the film The Blob one year later.) It was similar to Philadelphia's American Bandstand. Dick Clark. The Buddy Deane Show PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ They twisted, coffee-grinded and jitterbugged their way into the nations living rooms on the original American Bandstand in the 1950s. It took us about a year working with Banana Split, who have been fantastic., A few weeks before the weddingand ahead of debuting her new last name on TikTokthe bride went to the Chanel haute couture salons in Paris, accompanied by her mother-in-law, Lady Caroline Grainge, and her best friend, Ali Meller, for her final dress fittings. Dave Feldman, a Bandstand dancer, suggests one reason why so many of the kids came from Catholic schools: They were taught that dancing was wrong, and especially that girls shouldnt dance on television, so they did it to rebel. Also, the closest school to the studio, geographically, was a Catholic one. That didnt compare with what Horn was doing. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. A small table was next to the hosts platform, where guest performers would sit and sign autographs. What were the results of this elaborate investigation? Sofias diamond drop earrings were by Kwiat. But then some people at the station worried that the program could become identified as a black show. What experience do you need to become a teacher? The mother was put on trial for manslaughter. Working with Chanel was not only an honor but a true dream of mine, Sofia says. One television precursor was the Paul Whiteman TV Teen Club, on WFIL and the ABC television network starting in 1949, which also showed kids dancing. WebAmerican Bandstand (1952-89) was a massively popular music television program with strong Philadelphia roots, storied national success, and the power to shape the music We werent very worldly. Both of these women admit they were naive kids who even gave out their home addresses to fans without fear of being stalked. Coincidence played a major role in this drama of entertainment history. His career was brought down by a teenage girl, but she did not come from the studio audience at Bandstand. These record-promo men knew of her, and got her into the station to meet Horn. Throughout the rest of the 1950s, "American Bandstand" featured a number of famous acts including the debut of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel (November 22, 1957), American Bandstand, abbreviated AB, is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions that aired regularly from 1952 to 1989, [1] and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the program's producer. He gave special attention to local singers including Sunny Gale, Gloria Mann, Georgie Shaw and Micki Marlo. There were four makeup artists and four hairstylists, who all flew in from London, and God bless them, they were fantastic! The bride got her hair and makeup done with her friends and decided to keep things classic. Harvey Sheldon, a white high school student who later became a songwriter, reported that he jitterbugged with a black girl on the show in 1952 or 53 and no one said anything about it. This system permitted the show to legally turn away anyone without the pass while at the same time maintain the lily white studio audience since the passes were only distributed at the all-white West Catholic High School For Boys and the all-white West Catholic High School For Girls.