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. Anyway, they havent performed in, like, five years, and they brought their band out from Nashville and LA, and it was one of the most fun nights of my life. Now Blanc was running for election to a full term and he sought a hot campaign topic. A big studio was on the ground floor, which WPEN used for the 950 Club in the afternoon and for Steve Allisons talk program at night, while the stations offices were on the second floor. He defeated Republican Emil Goldhaber by a vote of 303,000 to 235,000. I danced there until 1972 and the policy remained the same. It was hysterical, Sofia says. Bandstand' dancers look back But what did we know? says Colella. If he did that stuff he was accused of, we never knew about it.. After his dalliance with Dorothy, Allison allowed these men and girls free reign around the station. When Blancs campaign was launched, friends of Walter Annenberg hoped that the DA would find some dirt on WPENs popular night-time talk host, Steve Allison, because Allison often criticized Annenberg and the Inquirer. Maybe he was on edge because the vice trial was about to start a few days later. From the start I was also terrified because what had happened to Horn. With 37 continuous years on the air, this was the longest-running weekly popular music showcase TV program in the world. April Stevens Dies at 93; Her Deep Purple Became a Surprise Hit Blanc decided to go on a crusade of his own and he chose entertainment celebrities as his target. 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. To put this in perspective, when the later-to-become-famous Ed Rendell was elected District Attorney in 1977 his vote total was much less than Blancs only 212,000. 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. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". This is what Clark said about Horn: He was a man in his late thirties, was heavyset with a double chin, long, narrow nose and greased-back black hair. He later became a Hollywood screenwriter. Sofias diamond drop earrings were by Kwiat. Bob was color blind, Sheldon told me; On the first shows there were black couples dancing on the floor along with white couples. But he was an ambitious politician. ABC gave Bandstand color cameras and launched it on its network of 67 stations in August of 1957. Not nasty trouble. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Weekday afternoons were spent with the kids in Philly, the kids on American Bandstand. 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. Still, within hours after his DUI arrest, Horn was suspended from Bandstand. Sun | T.G.I.F. Just out of school, I was apprenticing in public relations under his tutelage.) , 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. April Stevens Dies at 93; Her Deep Purple Became a Surprise Hit Stanley J. 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. It seems curious that a public official needed to rent a private headquarters, but Blanc felt that some city officials, if they knew what he was doing, would tip off their friends who were being investigated. People who hung out at WPEN learned that Allison had a yen for women who wore white, like waitresses and nurses. Celebrities including Cameron Diaz, Benji Madden, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Joel Madden descended upon the iconic hotel in the South of France for the whirlwind wedding weekend, which took both Instagram and TikTok by storm. So Horn, in a way, was the good guy who had no ethnic prejudice and who had blacks and whites in equal numbers in the early days of Bandstand. I know the producers found it embarrassing. ET. When I took over the programming of Menefees afternoon show in the summer of 1953, Menefee attacked me on the air. He said fans often spot the American Bandstand display in his store and gawk at photographs of their favorite Bandstanders. It was thought that he could bring some of his clients on board as advertisers. 'American Bandstand' Couple Justine Carrelli and Bob He had a wife and four children, aged 2 to 7, at home, but visiting them would require an almost-two-hour round-trip to come back for his 11 p.m. radio show, so he stayed in Philadelphia. Lois testified that Horn took her to apartments where she willingly had sex with him, and she specified four dates starting in 1953 when she was 13. WebHappy 60th anniversary of the 4th anniversary of Bandstand going national! On the day that Allison was indicted, he was about to receive an award for public service from the City of Philadelphia. Former 'American Bandstand' Dancers React to 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. Channel 6, WFIL, was owned by Walter Annenberg, whose newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, campaigned against drunk driving, so he didnt want to let Horn off lightly. Most acquaintances describe Horn as arrogant and self-centered, although none of the dancers on his show saw him that way. Then my crowd all sat down. The Tennessee senator had achieved national prominence when he waged a public crusade against crime bosses with televised hearings. Vic Blanc became a judge, then resigned when he developed mental lapses which would today be labeled as Alzheimers disease. The programs first host was Bob Horn. One man, convicted and fined fifty dollars, went on to a career as a philanthropist and supporter of political candidates up to the 21. century. It was a full-time job, but we had a great time, Sofia says. He was convicted and sentenced to jail for that, but not for his sexual activities. He also played show tunes and interviewed Harold Rome, the composer of the Broadway musical, Secondly, the producer started to require admission cards. It was their thing. Bourgeois Tagg. We stayed up laughing all night, she admits. Dick Clark, at podium at upper left, is surrounded by teen-age fans on his nationally televised dance show "American Bandstand" in Philadelphia in this June 30, 1958, file photo. 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. But they werent there. If ABC had not been the poorest of the networks, unable to provide daytime programs to its affiliates, Bandstand would never have been born. Mary Ann Colella Baker was a freshman at Hallahan Catholic High School who started attending in 1952 when Bandstand was new: Horn was a perfect gentleman, the nicest person, she says. The Secret Gay Lives Of The "American Bandstand" Dancers 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. Paul Thomas is a black who started dancing on the show in 1961 and says that black kids occasionally came and there was some mixed group dancing starting in the early 1960s. Blanc tried to become a recognizable figure that year. The number one song was whatever he said it was, and it usually was whatever would bring him the most profit. He also played show tunes and interviewed Harold Rome, the composer of the Broadway musical Fanny when it played its pre-Broadway try out in Philadelphia in 1954. Clark looked like one of the kids. (Horn was 40 when he left Bandstand and Clark was a babyfaced 27.) American Bandstand - Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 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), According to show-business contemporaries of his, Horn was a free-swinging, hard-drinking man who smoked several packs of cigarettes a day. Allison and Horn were each acquitted, but neither one of them got their jobs back. Allison coined a new name for himself: a controversialist. He was advertised as the man who owns midnight. Cardinal Spellman was once a guest on his program, and Philadelphia Mayor Dilworth appeared frequently. Show me a guy who hasnt done that and Ill show you a queer.. Among those to make early national appearances included Buddy Holly, James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner, and Simon and Garfunkel. Making out in the back seat or copping a feel is the most that any of us ever did.. These were the guys I met during my first job in radio, in the music library at WIP, and whom I saw accompanying Horn during his nighttime radio show when I later worked at WFIL. When it came to the rehearsal-dinner look, the team worked to re-create a gown worn by Stella Tennant in the 1997 Chanel couture fall show. He tangles nightly with the bigwigs on every hair-raising issue., When Allison met the 19-year-old news editor of the station, Sam Smith, Allison explained why he had to leave Philly: Look, all I did was put my cock in the mouth of some under-age girls. WebGary U.S. Bonds. 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. Harris replaced the Kefauver footage with a new opening that he shot with Vic Blanc talking into the camera and warning the public of the dangers of sex. Legally we had to get married in the States beforehand, so right before [we left for France], we got married at home with just our parents. American Bandstand Broadcast History. With Robert Wises screen adaptation of Bernstein, Robbins, and Sondheims West Side Story (1961), however, the dance is revealed as potentially combative, and the gym as a place where divisions of ethnicity and class arent healed but are instead exacerbated. The teenage committee administered the reservation list. I always thought Horn did a poor job relating to the kids. Hosted by local radio personality Bob Horn, the original Bandstand nevertheless established much of the basic format of its later incarnation. For my Abortion was illegal, and scandalous. Then we lined up and did the darn thing! Sofia laughs. Any place theres dancing, Ill still go, said Joe Fusco, who was 15 when he joined the show. Horn personally selected the committee, and he happened to choose only white kids to serve on it. 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. Not only was she a wedding guest, but shes a good friend and an amazing hairstylist, and it meant a lot to me to have a friend there, Sofia says. One early photo shows the studio with an audience that was almost half black. It is entirely hand-beaded, Sofia says. I never saw black people dancing on the show early on, but that didnt faze me. I knew all their names. Then I was ready to dance until the sun rose with my loved ones. With that in mind, the father of the bride performed two of his daughters favorite songs at the wedding. And guess what? He gave special attention to local singers including Sunny Gale, Gloria Mann, Georgie Shaw and Micki Marlo. Pop Conference 2023 - 'Let's Get it Together:' Gatherings, Club In the otherwise frothy Grease (1978), that dynamic is reiterated. Prosecutors decided there werent strong enough grounds to indict the man for that, but Maxines story about what went on at the party triggered Philadelphia District Attorney Blancs investigation of sex involving radio and TV personalities. The men sat on chairs against the walls of the studio and the girls sometimes knelt in front of them and satisfied them. He had become District Attorney when Richardson Dilworth resigned that office to successfully run for mayor in 1955. What was the real name of the Coward of the County? October 7, 1952 In addition, the girl who accused Joe Valino of arranging her abortion was one of the models who attended the Allison show and met men there. Ill close with a personal reminiscence. His 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. radio show took place in a club-like setting where food and drinks were served, so it was a magnet for playboys, for girls who wanted to taste show biz glamour, and men who wanted to arrange introductions and get some action. Who created the TV show American Bandstand? Kathleen Riley, who has been doing her hair for years, was on duty as well. 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.) Also, the kids danced to Whitemans band, not to records. 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. These record-promo men knew of her, and got her into the station to meet Horn. 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. That becomes understandable when you learn that its original host led a sordid life that included a sexual affair with a teenage girl. American Bandstand 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. 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. Barbara Marcen Wilston danced at the show from 1953 to 1959. One, a district attorneys re-election campaign. From there, the wedding planning quickly commenced. Original Bandstand In addition, the show has performances by popular musicians and audience members rate songs. Disgraced in Philadelphia, the 41-year-old Allison found employment at radio station at WWDC in Washington. As well as a blue embroideredS&E on the inside of the dress above my heart.. On Thursday, for the first time in a quarter century, 27 of the original Bandstand dancers, including Joe, Kenny, Arlene, Carole, Flossie and Jim, reunited to rehearse their steps for a rock n roll celebration over Labor Day weekend in Philadelphia. Any place theres dancing, Ill still go, said Joe Fusco, who was 15 when he joined the show. This is but one of the many bitter memories that I and many of the people that I grew up with have about, Henry Gordon said in 1995 as he looked at an old photo of the kids at, Anything that looks like a black face in this picture is probably a white face in the shadows. In what some have already dubbed this years royal wedding, Sofia Richie and Elliot Grainge exchanged vows at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on Saturday. Also available in a computer colorized version. When Horn got busted, the teenagers were shocked. Horn led a double life that included activities his virginal dancers never dreamed of. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. When Horns personal indiscretions led to his ouster from Bandstand in 1956, he was replaced by the more youthful, slimmer, squeaky clean Dick Clark. He certainly didnt do it because Blanc had greater public recognition. American Bandstand premiered locally in late March 1952 as Bandstand on Philadelphia television station WFIL-TV Channel 6 (now WPVI-TV), as a replacement for a weekday movie that had shown predominantly British films. Some of the regular boys all white started talking angrily among themselves about how theyd like to beat up the boy after the show. The makeup for the entire weekend was super simple and clean, Sofia says. Sofia Richie and Elliot Grainges Star-Studded Wedding in the Other results: Some of the men were convicted of participating in unnatural sex. Others were charged with corrupting the morals of minors, but the judges in the majority of these cases decided that the men were dealing with girls who were already corrupted, so they either acquitted the men or gave them light punishment. Published April 26, 2023 Updated April 27, 2023, 12:58 a.m. Tony Mammarella had to calm them down. But when it came to rock n roll music, he was not a pioneer at all. The Mann Act was law, barring anyone from transporting a person across state lines for an immoral act, even when it was consensual. It was an innocent time, says one of them. One day a group of American Bandstand dancers went to Harmony Park, a popular club in Anaheim, and got drunk. Now I only dance at weddings, said Carole, 42. Courtney Bennett, Dancing on Air: Dance Shows, Communications, and CommunityBefore Tik Tok and YouTube dance crazes dominated youth culture, televised dance shows like American Bandstand and Soul Train gave the youth at home a socially distanced glimpse into the latest music, dances, and fashions happening in clubs. One piece of advice I received that I have carried throughout the wedding weekend was to look around and really take in all the love around usbecause it is so rare and so special to have all of your loved ones in one place.. Public high schools were more integrated 72% white when Bandstand started, according to Philadelphia School District statistics, while blacks were 28% while Asians and Latinos were less than 1%. Horn produced alibis for those dates and Horn got a break when the judge refused to allow testimony about any other times. Why did the station move so quickly to dump Horn? Horn would tell them that he wanted, His career was brought down by a teenage girl, but she did. In 1975 Proctor won the American Bandstand dance competition with partner Sharon Hill. 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. 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. Whose Culture? Models Inc. was based on a Senate investigation of modeling schools, and in its original form the film opened with a statement by U.S. 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. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Theres a dramatic difference between the description of Horn by his adult co-workers and what we hear from his teenage fans. By 1973, the show drew many of the top R&B performers and competed with American Bandstand for viewers on Saturday afternoons. His career was brought down by a teenage girl, but she did not come from the studio audience at Bandstand. The marker stands opposite 4548 Market Street (not shown here), which once housed WFIL-TVand its Studio B, the original home of American Bandstand. Ill bet she knows more artists in the business than I do.. Allisons show also attracted a different type. We would do dances like the slop, bop, slow drag and the grind, which originated in the black dance halls. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. You were like a big star. This show debuted on television from 2:45 to 5 p.m. on October 7, 1952. American Bandstand Kids Remain Friends We blacks watched from across the street. Some people have criticized Dick Clark for keeping blacks out, but clearly the policy was started by Horn, before Clark. His demeanor was haughty. One of the gifts from them was Lois. Clipp called Grady and me to his office, Hurst related, and asked us to start in two weeks. I was really nervous before walking down the aisleit was like I had stage fright, my adrenaline was so high. Ive always loved his timeless pieces, Sofia adds. Yet, as the third and fourth stories in this collection show, there was a downside toAmerican BandstandsPhiladelphia years., The longstanding popular belief aboutAmerican Bandstand, promoted by Dick Clark in the later years of his career, is that the Philadelphia version of the show racially integrated the Studio B dancefloor and bleachers. Hooks credits Dick Clark for personally choosing him to be a regular dancer on the show, the first black to gain that distinction. The Bandstand dancers, on the other hand, were fond of him. Consequently, black teens were in effect erased from the national youth culture that formed aroundAmerican Bandstand.. The DA announced his indictment of Horn and Allison at the same press conference, in October of 1956. Soon after the show went on the air, Horn met a 13-year-old girl at the station and they began a sexual relationship. See production, box office & company info, Bandstand Boogie (The Theme of 'American Bandstand').
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