american bandstand regulars who have diedamerican bandstand regulars who have died

He remembered Clark as a man of few words who kept a professional distance between himself and the teen dancers. This set and theme music were used until September 1974, with the arrival of a brand new set and the second, updated version of "Bandstand Boogie". Norman was born on January 18, 1944. As the books highlight, Ray Smith and Arlene Sullivan provided two thoughtful and unadornedBandstandmemoirs. Five-foot-two, brown-eyed, brown-haired Arlene and handsome Kenny, a year younger, were among the TV music shows elite, its stars, the vaunted regulars along with another couple often on camera pert, blond Justine Carrelli and suave Bob Clayton. They were real kids from Philly, and if you watched every day, you could tell who was breaking up and who was making up. you could do in half time - the hop, the bop, and the stomp," she wrote. Clark claimed that the affiliates got greedy and took the time back to put their own material on where they got 100 percent of the revenue. I was so afraid that I started trying to talk myself into being straight. I went to coffee shops, but I also hung out in Rittenhouse Square and so did many of the dancers. The young dancers on American Bandstand were the reality stars of the 1950s and '60skids nationwide rushed home to watch their every move and chatter about their relationships and exploits. [18][19][20] Dubbed as The New American Bandstand and distributed by LBS Communications, the series' tapings were moved from the ABC Television Center to the Hollywood studios of Los Angeles's PBS member station KCET,[21] with a new set was similar to that of Soul Train. AB WALLET PHOTOS. But it was not easy on the mean streets of Philadelphia to be a Bandstand regular suspected of being gay. ", In a Time.com obituary for Dick Clark, who died April 18, 2012, a reporter wrote: "Lou DeSera, Carmen Jimenez, Carole Scaldeferri, Rosemarie 'Little Roe' DiCristo: they may sound like characters on The Sopranos, but they were just ordinary kids, with extraordinary luck of being in Philadelphia at the moment the old town lit the fuse for the rock explosion.". They were introduced as a result of an email sent to the Fifties Web. EARLY BANDSTAND VIDEOS. And, for me, the kids on Bandstand were all I aspired to be. He practiced dancing with his niece, Robin, but when he went down to the show, they wouldnt let him in because he was over the age of 18. Sullivans co-author, Ray Smith, recently retired after 40 years as an Emmy-winning Today show producer. Dick Clarks tight control on the sexual expression of his cast extended to a denial years after the show had ended. On December 27 Bunny Gibson, American Bandstand Regular from 1959-1962, married Duke Tirschel in Chattanooga , Tennessee. "[5] In one humorous segment broadcast for years on retrospective shows, comedians Cheech and Chong appeared as the record raters. Those "American Bandstand" days were the best for all of us teenagers who followed the program, the regulars, the dances, the performers, etc. Stewart was the owner of a TV/Radio business in Philadelphia and even though he was an older gentleman, his advertising account was a large one for WFIL-TV, so he was put on the program to appease the account. She never saw much of Clark outside of the studio. The Bop. Attempts continue to launch a successful game show or sitcom", "Final American Bandstand: The Cover Girls", http://nicestkids.com/nehvectors/nicest-kids/bandstands-backyard, "Remembering American Bandstand's 50th [Photos]", Son of Svengoolie - 'Good Morning, Sven' (Opening,Show #218) (verse occurs at the 1:35 mark), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Bandstand&oldid=1140855641, American Bandstand's 20th Anniversary (1973), American Bandstand's 25th Anniversary (1977), American Bandstand's 30th Anniversary (1982), American Bandstand's 33 1/3 Celebration (1985), American Bandstand's 40th Anniversary (1992), American Bandstand's 50th Anniversary (2002), The show was featured prominently in the 20022005, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 03:03. Artists would sing naturally to the studio audience over a background of their own disc, while viewers at home would hear only the original recording. One show from this first season (December 18, 1957, identified as the "Second National Telecast") is preserved in the archives of Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications. They joined Arlenes and Kennys fan clubs. Oddly enough, I have never checked with the other Regulars to get their feedback. There were even allegations that Clark conducted witch hunts, sending production staff to Rittenhouse Square, at the center of Philadelphia's gayborhood, to see if any of the young stars were there. The guy who had been in charge of the show before he took over was the subject of a scandal a DUI, I think so Clark wanted to be the clean-cut guy, and he was. He was 21 and she was 16. I said, In that case, Im staying. I was shocked. Normally, I do not forward mail to the Regulars. In 1989, Clark, aged 59, retired fromAmerica Bandstand, and the show ended that year. In addition to appearances by big pop stars of the day, Sullivan's on-screen romance with Kenny Rossi was a huge draw for the show. Very sadly, Bob passed away 2 . Television host Dick Clark presides over the set of his show American Bandstand in 1957. Like the rest of us, the 'Drag Race' Season 15 queen is crushing on Pedro Pascal. 2023 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. He fell in love with her. But to his credit and diligence, he brilliantly created his own myth, and he stuck to it for the rest of his life. LOS ANGELES - APRIL 1960: Host of the television show 'American Bandstand' Dick Clark appears in a scene with Michael Callan from the movie 'Because They're Young' which was released in April 1960. NEW PAGE! . Instead of shortening or moving Bandstand, ABC opted to just begin Bandstand at 3pm, cut away to Who Do You Trust? at 3:30pm, then rejoin Bandstand at 4pm. The Saturday show would run until 1960. YOUR FAVORITE LOGO SHOWS ARE ON PARAMOUNT+, "Those boys who were 14 and 15 and 16 were sleeping with each other., LOS ANGELES - APRIL 1960: Host of the television show 'American Bandstand' Dick Clark appears in a scene with Michael Callan from the movie 'Because They're Young' which was released in April 1960. sign up for our monthly Nostalgia e-newsletter or other e-newsletters tailored for boomers. Sadly we also lost: Ray Smith was one of the shows secretly gay dancers. Sullivan, 74, wrote Diaries with Ray Smith, another dancer who was closeted during his Bandstand years. Teenagers and young adults ran home from school to watch them jitterbug and stroll while they copied their fashions, fads and dance moves. Its original host was fired after a DWI arrest and in July 1956 a young radio DJ took over. [3] Horn was temporarily replaced by producer Tony Mammarella before the job went to Dick Clark permanently. In fact, she was "the first female car racer at Cecil County Drag Strip," according. Clark weathered the hearings by not being fully transparent, and he avoided being indicted for criminal behavior. In another format shift, it was shot outdoors at Universal Studios Hollywood. The followed the trend of solo (open) dancing started by Chubby Checker and The Twist. Some solo dances had animal names, for example, The Pony and The Monkey; others were named for motions, for example, The Mashed Potato and The Loco-Motion. Two of the biggest record hits of the early 1960s, both of which received a huge boost from airtime onAmerican Bandstand, were Dee Dee Sharps Mashed Potato Time and Freddy Cannons Palisades Park.8, YetAmerican Bandstandsseven-year stint in West Philadelphia was about to end. Handbags - Formal Wear. At least three factors are important to note regarding the last three years ofAmerican Bandstandin West Philadelphia: the 1960 payola scandal, the reality behind the shows happy faces, and developments in the pop music industry that affected the show and compelled its relocation in 1964 to Los Angeles in a reduced version. In other parts of the country, if you were a gay kid growing up, you were probably the only one in town who was gay, Sullivan says. In an online page marking her 68th birthday on Nov. 23, 2011, Bandstand "documentarian" Charles W. Amann III posted: "The name Scaldeferri and American Bandstand go hand-in-hand. She acknowledges that some of the other girls she knew on the show were also gay. Dancing was a major feature of Bandstand. The 1960 amendments to the 1934 Federal Communications Act put heavy constraints on payola, requiring full public disclosure when a record company or its agent pays a broadcaster to play records on the air. The 1960 amendments criminalized any action that breached the disclosure rule. The program was broadcast live, weekday afternoons and, by 1959, the show had a national audience of 20 million. The use of videotape allowed Clark to produce and host a series of concert tours around the success of American Bandstand and to pursue other broadcast interests. In 2014, the National Enquirer interviewed Frank Brancaccio and Eddie Kelly, other series regulars. They were hurting him. We've received your submission. "When I walked through those doors, that was the only place I wanted to be," said Gibson, 66, an actress who now lives in Los Angeles. Reply. It was briefly shot in color in 1958 when WFIL-TV began experimenting with the new technology. Kenny Rossi and Arlene Sullivan, Bunny Gibson and Eddie Kelly, Pat Molittieri, Carmen Jimenz, Joyce Shafer. In 1960, in an episode that seems incredibly tame by todays standards of greed and corruption, the two major television networks, NBC and CBS were exposed as having rigged their wildly popular primetime quiz shows. BUT he was out for Clark., Sullivan claims there were four other popular girl dancers on the show whom she knew to be lesbians, and they hung out together. Click here to see some of your favorites back in action. Sullivan was almost 14, the required age for the show, when she became a Regular. Teenagers dance on an episode of Dick Clark's television program, 'American Bandstand,' 1950s. This story has been shared 115,637 times. REGULARS Gallery 3. Jerry Oppenheimer is a best-selling author. THIS & THAT 50s/60s. This kit packs $431 worth of premium skincare and haircare into a small packageand it's only $80 with the promo code. Other performers including Brandy, members of KISS, Dennis Quaid and his band The Sharks, Cher, and Stevie Wonder also performed to remember the iconic program.[41]. She says she never had a crush on a straight dancer, and was close friends with celebrity guest Annette Funicello. Hey, our thanks to Laura Branigan for joining us here on American Bandstand today. Broadcast only on Saturdays after 1963, American Bandstand lost the homegrown vitality of the daily program in West Philadelphia. Clark was out for Clark, says Brancaccio. ABC gave Clark a choice: divest his music-related interests or step down as host of the show. Clark chose to continue withBandstand.3. Well, it's our last show here on Bandstand and I really want to thank the viewers who have kept American Bandstand on the air all these years. Trend of solo ( open ) dancing started by Chubby Checker and the stomp, she! Fashions, fads and dance moves American Bandstand Regular suspected of being.... 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