Known for her perky personality, Pat Moliterri is credited with inventing the dance, the Hop, by combining elements of the Slop and the Bop.Sadly, Pat died in in the mid-seventies of a heart attack. Learning how American Bandstand made rock n roll respectable. (noted 9/12/21) . As the music historian John Jackson observes, from the 1970s on American Bandstandno longer served as Clarks primary video outlet. For the next several decades, Clark would achieve high national visibility as a popular gameshow host and as the impresario of periodic primetimeAmerican Bandstandhit-song reunions (not to mention a spate of video cassettes and books) that fed on white Americas nostalgia forAmericanBandstandsdays in West Philadelphia, evoked in Barry Manilows Bandstand song with Manilows homage to The Philadelphia Way.. Despite changes over the years, the show continued to embody and represent evolutions in American music, fashion, dance, and other sociocultural norms. Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." "It was arduous at first," she says. For a time, she dated a neighborhood boy, Danny Rapp, lead singer of Danny & the Juniors, who had the hit song At the Hop., I was so afraid that I started trying to talk myself into being straight, Sullivan says. "I loved those kids," she says now, living with her husband on the Northwest Side of Chicago. Its original host was fired after a DWI arrest and in July 1956 a young radio DJ took over. When she heard the news of Clark's death Wednesday, Gibson immediately headed to Hollywood to be with other former Bandstand regulars at Clark's star on the Walk of Fame. I still really didnt know who I was. In March of 1970 we moved to New Jersey. But most have fond memories of their short time in the spotlight and of its lingering effect. "After that, it was history.". We moved around the floor the way our parents did in the 40s. It was like a high school reunion and some people even had tears in their eyes. Were goin hopin today , True love The program moved production in 1964 from Philadelphia to Hollywood, months after it began airing once per week. Sharon Sultan Cutler, who grew up in New York and now lives in Chicago, is co-author of Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years 1956-1963. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune). e9 = new Object(); Remember hurrying from school in the 50's and turning on that old black and white tv at 4'oclock to watch all those kids dance on "American Bandstand" live from Philadelphia, The show first began as a local program in the cramped quarters of Studio B at WFIL Tv channel 6 at 46th and Market streets in Philadelphia on October 7, 1952. Nicholas Fiorentino, 67, a South Philly native now living in Cherry Hill, said it was clear even to Bandstand teenagers that Clark was going places. Movies. So fearful of the kids real behavior, [Clark] imposed a strict dress code: jackets and ties for boys, and nothing tight for girls. In 1964 Dick Clark took Dick Clark Productions and American Bandstand to Hollywood, Los Angeles in search of new markets for his myriad projects. Arlene Sullivan and Kenny Rossi on the cover of Teen magazine in 1959. Fiorentino was known on the show as "Nicky Blue.". [7] The Diary of Arlene Sullivan, in Sullivan, Smith, and Cutler,Bandstand Diaries, 43-63. ". Home Yesteryear Nostalgia Where Are the American Bandstand Regulars Now? To the left youll find original pictures of some of the Regulars. [1] John A. Jackson,American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock n Roll Empire(New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), chaps. I never had a crush on her. Sullivans co-author, Ray Smith, recently retired after 40 years as an Emmy-winning Today show producer. Click here to see some of your favorites back in action. . They wrote. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved. However, musicians such as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Sam Cooke all made national appearances on American Bandstand during the late 1950s. In August 1963, ABC reassignedAmerican Bandstandto Saturday afternoon. She was 13 but lied about her age. Thank you "C" Group for continuing the "Philly Saga". The Hand Jive. On Bandstand, she became lifelong friends with one of the celebrity guests, straight Annette Funicello, of Mickey Mouse Club and Beach Party fame. We've received your submission. Two of the regulars, Arlene Sullivan and Ray Smith, published the volume asBandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years, 1956-1963,with Sharon Sultan Cutler as a non-Bandstand-member co-author. REGULARS Gallery 1. About Us; Services; Gallery; Contact Us Facebook News Shows The original "Bandstand," as it was called in 1952, was first hosted by deejay Bob Horn, who later was fired due to a drunk-driving conviction.. . When Gibson moved from Philadelphia to Los Angeles in the 1980s, she paid Clark a call at his office. Known as the Regulars, they became the nation's first reality stars. This is the official Facebook of American Bandstand. Television host Dick Clark presides over the set of his show American Bandstand in 1957. The History of American Bandstand. She also mentions a gay dancer who was pushed in the train tracks, and another who was dangled over an elevator shaft. Brian Henderson The Executives Bill & Boyd I was saddened to hear about Norman. She was 36. While occasionally black teens were allowed into the studio, they were generally boys. They even invented a few the Stroll, the Circle and the Chalypso. This historical marker recalls Dick Clarks American Bandstand, which was broadcast from West Philadelphia from 1957 to 1964. In an interview with the New York Post, Sullivan says that she and many of the gay male dancers would congregate in the Gayborhood, Rittenhouse Square, and there were rumors that Clark sent producers to spy on them. The bashing of Bandstand regulars, gay and straight, happened all the time, Sullivan and Smith reveal. Norman and I met in January 1959 while standing outside of the studio waiting to get inside. I never had a crush on her. 8-9; quote from unpaginated photo section. American Bandstand Fundraiser Pictures, To my knowledge, no VHS tape of American Bandstand is commercially available. But this one was different. It was horrible., Smith says he was lucky to have escaped a beating. Many other Bandstand alumni from the show's Philadelphia era were overcome with a rush of memories Wednesday. In 1960, he attended Penn State as an English major. They werent playing baseball they were DANCING. I met Joyce and Norman at the Steel Pier one summer and found them both to be so nice. Covering Auction Houses who specialize in Buying and Selling Antiques & Collectibiles from A-Z, Art-Rare Books-Comics-Coins-Records-Postcards-Autographs-Jewelery-Watches-Guns- Glass-Pottery- Toys-Dolls-Cookie jars-Decoys-Fenton glass- . This site does not collect any information from you. I was a preteen, which is to say, I was a teenage wannabe. I think [the shows success] even surprised Dick Clark.. In a nice way, he'd discipline us.". Sullivan was most frequently paired with a boy named Kenny Rossi, who was straight, but still subject to attacks for appearing on the show: One time, Kenny and I went to visit one of the other regulars up in North Philadelphia, and we were leaving her apartment and were headed to the El, and I heard car doors slamming, and I looked back, and all these guys were coming up the steps, and they started beating up on Kenny, Sullivan says. When she was 10 years old, the woman now known as Sharon Sultan Cutler would rush home from school in the town of East Meadow on Long Island in New York. EARLY BANDSTAND VIDEOS. Wagon Train Website, . We only had three channels in those days. And while Smith knew he was gay, he was shocked to learn that most of the guys on Bandstand, so many of them, were gay, he told The Post. He said funeral services are pending. . These 14- to 18-year olds like Arlene and Kenny, Justine and Bob . Fabian and Bobby Rydell Hang With American Bandstand Regulars By Rick SiegelFabian, the teenagers heart throb from the 50's, hob knobs along with the America. I knew when couples broke up. KENNY AND ARLENE. Bob Clayton died November 6, 2016. These Regulars went on to receive mail, have fan clubs, feature magazine articles and dancer contests just like the previous groups. Known then as Carole Scaldeferri, Mrs. Spada was among the teens who jitterbugged and slow-danced their way to fame in a TV studio in Philadelphia, while host Dick Clark spun what are now oldies. This site is not endorsed by or associated with dick clark productions, inc. or its family of companies. But it was not easy on the mean streets of Philadelphia to be a Bandstand regular suspected of being gay. Back in July, I received a most endearing email from Duke which told of his experiences in life. American Bandstand aired five days a week in live national broadcast until 1963, when the show moved west to Los Angeles and began a 24-year run as a taped weekly program with Dick Clark as host . The first book party was in November in where else? My parents were always there for me. My favorite dance was the Jitterbug the last dance where people danced together. 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. He debuted in Studio 3B at WFIL-TV, near the El train stop in West Philadelphia, in 1956 when he was a 13-year-old junior high school student. In its later years the show was challenged by the diversifying tastes of fragmented audiences. They were introduced as a result of an email sent to the Fifties Web. A funeral director in Newtown Square confirmed Monday night that Mrs. Spada had died, but declined to divulge the details before meeting with her family. This American Bandstand tribute book celebrates Dick Clark and the Regulars with 700 Photos. And the one thing that really shocked me was that those boys who were 14 and 15 and 16 were sleeping with each other.. Talevski, Nick. . Ray Smith says he was upset when Dick Clark claimed only one of the dancers had died from AIDS when asked about it in an interview. Years later, when Clark was asked whether any of the dancers had died of AIDS, he stated that one had, Smith recalled. But Sullivan, who lives in New Jersey, did trust her, agreed to collaborate on the book and paved the way to meet and interview dozens of other regulars who once were dancing kids. Clark was out for Clark, says Brancaccio. In order to help establish a clean-cut image for the show, guys were required to wear ties with suit jackets or sweaters, while girls dressed in good taste, for example a high-cut blouse with a dress or skirt. Delmont, Matthew F. The Nicest Kids in Town: American Bandstand, Rock n Roll, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in 1950s Philadelphia. 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. Id see these kids dancing and instinctively I knew I could fit in with them. The Slop. "For all those who knew her throughout her life and for those who watched her dance on American Bandstand, Carole was full of love and full of God. Thats all we did dance and every part of the city had its own style. Pat Molitteeri was credited with inventing the dance, "The Hop" by combining elements of the Slop and the Bop, Pat died in the mid -1970s of a heart attack at age 36, Carmen Jimenez still lives in Philadelphia today and recollects the fun she had being on the show. For instance, the shows producers allegedly practiced discriminatory policies that excluded or limited appearances by African American teen dancers, presumably to appease advertisers. She was one of the great stars of the Philadelphia years. While Bandstand fans across the country imagined a true romantic relationship between Sullivan, who secretly liked girls, and her on-screen companion, Rossi, who was straight, she says it was little more than made-for-TV puppy love. We were the first reality show, she adds. I had asked Norman to dance when it was a ladies choice. Some of the stories I heard are heartbreaking, Sullivan recalls. He molded the image of the American teenager so America would accept rock-and-roll.". we were like a little family together, and we all had something in common, and we all stuck together, and that made it easier for us.. 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. [4] Ray Smith, Dancing on Air, in Arlene Sullivan, Ray Smith, and Sharon Sultan Cutler, eds.,Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years, 1956-1963(Chicago: Cony Island Press, 2019), 35. Ripley W.va, Great article Larry love your antiques blog . When ABC picked the show up, it was renamed American Bandstand, airing its first national show on August 5, 1957. . love your blog keep up the great articles , G.R. "He was the commander," Colanero said. The Regulars, also known as The Committee were only a part of the Bandstand story. 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. That really annoyed me because quite a few of the Philadelphia dancers on Bandstand died of AIDS, Smith said. Clark was determined to keep the homosexuality of popular Bandstand regulars a secret, Smith said. The TV exposure, plus the profiles some of the dancers were given in Teen magazine in the late 1950s, made them instant celebrities. 1 (2012): 89-113. We went downtown, and I ran to the back of the bus the way I always did in Philly but Barbara and her friend kept telling me to come to the front. 1st song played on the national edition was Jerry Lee Lewis Whole Lotta Shaking Goin On.1st Guests: Billy Williams, ChordettesLast song on the ABC network was Laura Branigans Shattered Glass., See above pictureThe Stroll recorded by The Diamonds in 1958. . It was horrible.. Fundraiser for the renovation of the original American Bandstand Studio Floor Bunny Gibson was a kid when Dick Clark came into her life - or, rather, when she entered his world in Studio B at 46th and Market Streets in West Philadelphia. As two or three stations grab it off, you get less clearance, therefore you get less rating, and its an endless cycle. . Frani Giordano is still loved by American Bandstand fans almost 60 years after she stopped going to the show in 1960. Photo taken on October 27, 1981. The kids designated as American Bandstand Regulars in some cases struggled with their sexual identity. A show where well-dressed teens gently bop around to the big hits while maintaining an appropriate distance apart hardly seems like it would be a hot bed of sexual experimentation, but American Bandstand apparently featured a crew of Philadelphia kids who had more than dancing in common. They were hurting him. 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. ", 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.". But back in the Bandstand days, Smith was one of the shows secretly gay dancers. 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 said. My mother thought I was nuts. Like The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Facebook, Follow The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Instagram, Like The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Facebook, Philadelphia, the Place that Loves You Back, (Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries.
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