The Inquirers publisher supported the work of the House Un-American Activities committee and its crusade against Communist sympathizers in the entertainment field. 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. I used to see Horn with the young girl, Lois, when she accompanied him to the station for his 11-to-midnight radio show. 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. By what name was American Bandstand (1952) officially released in Canada in English? Segregation such as seen on, Black composer Leroy (After the Lights Go Down Low) Lovett is from an older generation and looks at things more benignly. 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. Hed take me home to spend weekends with his family in Levittown and in the summer Id be the cabin boy on his boat at Stone Harbor., Dave Feldman also started coming in 1953. I imitated Victor Blanc, the DA, was investigating what he called teenage sex rings. He phoned Lew Klein, an executive at WFIL who was a lodge-brother of his, and warned him not to reinstate Horn because theres more to the story; this is only the beginning of Horns problems.. When the TV program American Bandstand passed its 50th anniversary, there was no commemoration. One early photo shows the studio with an audience that was almost half black. 6 Who were the first guests on American Bandstand? WebBy the mid-1970s, moreover, American Bandstand ratings were in decline and faced a challenge from Soul Train. He was born Lee Shulman and started his career as an ad salesman. DeFord Bailey (December 14, 1899 July 2, 1982) was an American country music and blues star from the 1920s until 1941. One day a group of American Bandstand dancers went to Harmony Park, a popular club in Anaheim, and got drunk. The next day Bill Sylk owner of WPEN and the Sun Ray Drug chain called Walter Annenberg and said If you steal my talent Ill pull a million dollars of Sun Ray advertising out of the, If Clipp couldnt get those people, he nevertheless could steal their format. Your email address will not be published. He picked his own employee, Bob Horn, and copied from WPEN the idea of teenagers in the studio. When Horns personal indiscretions led to his ouster from Bandstand in 1956, he was replaced by the more youthful, slimmer, squeaky clean Dick Clark. Making out in the back seat or copping a feel is the most that any of us ever did.. Family and friends stayed at the iconic Hotel du Cap in the South of France for the whirlwind wedding weekend, which began with a rehearsal dinner on Friday night. His conversation with them was stilted; he never associated with them as equals. People were routinely arrested when they drove across a state border and had sex. 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. After the indictment was announced, Adleman hastily wrote a press release to save the city from embarrassment. April Stevens, whose rushed recording of Deep Purple with her brother, Nino Tempo, became a chart When I took over the programming of Menefees afternoon show in the summer of 1953, Menefee attacked me on the air. They wouldnt get up unless the bunny hop was playing. 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. Kevin Stewart: Old School Shirt Makers New York, Alexandra Rouvet Duvernoy: Trumpisms Commentary by A.H. Scott, Dean Rosenzweig: Cats and QueensUfos and Other Things, Kitchie Ohh: Resolution Revolution - Tony Ward. Elliot was such a big Good Charlotte fan when he was a kid, and Joel and Elliot have become like brothers. This soon became a potential explosive situation, so the studio created an admission system that required passes that were distributed prior to the day of the show. 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. 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 American Bandstand: West Philadelphia's Seven-Year Wonder That becomes understandable when you learn that its original host led a sordid life that included a sexual affair with a teenage girl. What is a 7 letter word that starts with O? (Harris is the man who, in the western suburbs of Philadelphia, produced the film, Harris also made the films title more suggestive by changing it to , Blanc tried to become a recognizable figure that year. Allisons show also attracted a different type. A 1957 jury deadlocked, then a judge acquitted Horn at a second trial, this one without a jury. 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. In 1977, Carole appeared on a Dick Clark television special, where Richard spotted her. Although Clark was relatively new at his job, he took a strong stand and told the affiliates that hed make no changes to meet their objections and so blacks did appear, but infrequently. One of the regular attendees at the broadcasts was Bernie Jacobs, a man who ran a modeling agency. The mother was put on trial for manslaughter. Every day after school, we would head for the TV studio which was near my high school , For those of you that question or challenge this please try and recall a scene from the shows in Philadelphia where the girls were not wearing Catholic school uniform dresses and the boys were not wearing the white shirt and tie Catholic school boys uniform. Still, within hours after his DUI arrest, Horn was suspended from Bandstand. Clark revamped Horns show for national broadcast by ABC. Disgraced in Philadelphia, the 41-year-old Allison found employment at radio station at WWDC in Washington. This is but one of the many bitter memories that I and many of the people that I grew up with have about American Bandstand.. Maybe this break-through occurred because that show was not broadcast nationwide, but only in California. Stewart had no charisma and eventually was dropped from the program. These record-promo men knew of her, and got her into the station to meet Horn. Horn would tell them that he wanted, His career was brought down by a teenage girl, but she did. ABC gave, Theres a dramatic difference between the description of Horn by his adult co-workers and what we hear from his teenage fans. She says there would always be a long line. I did, obviously, because theyre family, she notes, referring to Nicoles husband, the bands lead vocalist Joel Madden. 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%. 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. First, there was a private Ketubah signing in the mother of the brides hotel room, where both families met and acted as witnesses. A low-budget sexploitation film called Models, Inc. was distributed by Philadelphia film executive Jack Harris. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Horn said he went to her home once for a party. One man, convicted and fined fifty dollars, went on to a career as a philanthropist and supporter of political candidates up to the 21st century. It was odd that Blanc replaced Kefauver in Teenage Models, Inc because Kefauver was the DAs role model. Any place theres dancing, Ill still go, said Joe Fusco, who was 15 when he joined the show. In this, he was way ahead of his time and ahead of whats seen in the show Hairspray. 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. This show debuted on television from 2:45 to 5 p.m. on October 7, 1952. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Clark revamped Horns show for national broadcast by ABC. In 1951 Ed Sullivan was so consumed with anti-Communist zeal that he wrote a lengthy accusation of choreographer Jerome Robbins for supporting the Commie cause. Sullivans home paper, the New York Daily News, thought the article was too angry and too personal and refused to run it, but the Philadelphia Inquirer published it on page one. Well, Blanc won his election, and that was the reason for all this, wasnt it? 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. 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. I just wanted it to feel timeless: I dont want to look back in like 20 years and be like, Shes a glamazon. Her beauty came courtesy of makeup artist to the stars Pati Dubroff. According to show-business contemporaries of his, Horn was a free-swinging, hard-drinking man who smoked several packs of cigarettes a day. My favorites have always been Hello and Stuck on You, Sofia says. Horn was from the old school, a radio announcer conversant with varied forms of music, from semi-classical to pop. He died in Hollywood in 1969, age 53. He gave special attention to local singers including Sunny Gale, Gloria Mann, Georgie Shaw and Micki Marlo. In all, 27 men were arrested. 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. Dance crazes such as the Twist and the Watusi could be traced to the Bandstand studio. Blanc had a love-hate relationship with show business, and even got personally involved in it. He said fans often spot the American Bandstand display in his store and gawk at photographs of their favorite Bandstanders. He also danced in a group called the Outrageous Waack Dancers with Daniel and Jody Watley. Published April 26, 2023 Updated April 27, 2023, 12:58 a.m. Blanc tried to become a recognizable figure that year. Dick Clarks American Bandstand was the offspring of deejay Bob Horns Bandstand, which WFIL-TV broadcast daily from 1952-56 from a WFIL studio at 4548 Market St. Thats not what we experienced.. He asked me to be on the committee and be an example for others. 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. From the first day, I established the most platonic of friendships with the kids. My dad, Elliots dad, and Elliots best friend, Jack, gave incredible speeches. Among those to make early national appearances included Buddy Holly, James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner, and Simon and Garfunkel. They were some of the most famous kids in America, dancing every day on American Bandstand.. But when I got closer to the aisle, I looked up and thought:Is that Stephen Sanchez? And two, a scandal at another Philadelphia station. We were all in our pajamas and had a lot of fun and then that led into breakfast. I didnt know anyone who had sex. It is entirely hand-beaded, Sofia says. After you got a committee card you didnt have to wait in line to get into the show. Valino was convicted of arranging an abortion and his singing career virtually ended. A low-budget sexploitation film called Models, Inc. was distributed by Philadelphia film executive Jack Harris. All the brides other jewelry pieces were by Fred Leighton. I knew when couples broke up. Wordens parties included nudity and sexual promiscuity. The American Bandstand dancers ended up living all across the United States and followed a variety of careers. As we remember Dick Clark, were highlighting a few Bandstand dancers whove died in recent years. American Bandstand dancer Richard Pierce served in Vietnam before settling in Anchorage, Alaska, in the early 1980s. 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. It was their thing. Philadelphias Carole Scaldeferri, a regular on the show from 1957 to 1961, met Richard Spada in 1957, when he was a fan who traveled to Philadelphia to see the show in person. Clark became a national icon with the popular dance show American Bandstand in the late We were family for years, Carrelli, 68, tells Parade.com about Clark's passing. Stanley J. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The makeup for the entire weekend is super-simple and clean, Sofia says. Catholic schools in those days were 99% white. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Bob Horn complimented me on my dancing ability and for the way I dressed. He said Name your salary. So we asked our station manager for a release and he said hed talk to the stations owner. Coincidence played a major role in this drama of entertainment history. But I had to take a double-take when they showed black people in the stands, she says. Sofia collaborated closely with her stylist, Liat Baruch, and Madame Olivia Douchez, premire of haute couture salons at Chanel, to scour through couture shows of the past and choose the references that she loved. We had over seven minutes to chat, though, and he said: Youre the love of my life, and Im so happy for you. It was very emotional, and I feel so lucky that I have my parents. 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. He died in 1968 at the age of 71. After awhile, the producers decided that they wanted to change the image of the show, so they created a new policy. The Bandstand dancers, on the other hand, were fond of him. It was their thing. On the other hand, Blancs total and Blancs margin of victory was not anywhere near what his predecessor, Richardson Dilworth, had achieved in 1951. Once hair and makeup were done, it was off to the races. With 37 continuous years on the air, this was the longest-running weekly popular music showcase TV program in the world. Between my dad and Good Charlotte, it was unbelievable. In the first year He was going to cut a record with me singing on one side and my dance partner, Tom DeNoble, singing on the other side. Not being able to get in, that was a way of life then. My friends Famous Hooks and Lori Montgomery were told they could no longer be dancing partners because of our racial difference., The producer told us very nicely that it was okay with him personally, but some stations wouldnt like it, so please dont do slow dances together. (My knowledge about this comes from the fact that I worked as record librarian at two Philadelphia stations while I was in school, and then was Night Operations Supervisor at WFIL.). Some blacks complained that these cards were sent mainly to all-white parochial schools, but I cant find evidence of that. 3 Who were the original dancers on American Bandstand? He was born in 1916 and grew up in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The 24-year-old model and designer, who is also the youngest child of legendary singer Lionel Richie, became engaged to Elliot Grainge, a music executive and founder of 10K Projects, in April of 2022. Four months later, Horn was arrested on morals charges. From the start I was also terrified because what had happened to Horn. You were like a big star. Public high schools were more integrated , 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, I used to dance on the original Bandstand. Believe it or not, at that time the show looked like a black blue-light basement party because our crowd would take over the floor when we showed up. 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. The original American Bandstand studio located at 4548 Market Street in Philadelphia, PA was entered into the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1986 and in 1982 Dick Clark donated the original podium to the Smithsonian Institute, where it still resides. They surprised me with balloons and all of my favorite breakfast foodswe were like giddy little girls getting excited for the day to come.. Not nasty trouble. Barbara Marcen, a white regular, remembers a day when one black teenager tried to slow-dance with a white girl. 7 Who created the TV show American Bandstand? Seven months after his first DUI incident, and just before he was to go on trial on the morals charges, Horn was charged again with drunk-driving when he sped his Cadillac the wrong way up a one-way street in North Philadelphia. Allison and Horn were each acquitted, but neither one of them got their jobs back. 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. 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. They are true rock stars. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". He had become District Attorney when Richardson Dilworth resigned that office to successfully run for mayor in 1955. I was really nervous before walking down the aisleit was like I had stage fright, my adrenaline was so high. 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. 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. In addition, the show has performances by popular musicians and audience Dick Clark hosts a daily to weekly dance show that features the latest hit music for the attending teens to dance to. Horns radio program was called The Bob Horn Bandstand, which had a nice, alliterative sound. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Cameraman Vince Gasbarro said: Horn was old-looking. 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.. But then some people at the station worried that the program could become identified as a black show. The makeup for the entire weekend was super simple and clean, Sofia says. 3:20 PM. Horn didnt act like a star, he says. Dick Clark. 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. Sofias diamond drop earrings were by Kwiat. Horn was arrested for drunk-driving on June 21, 1956 and was suspended from his broadcasts, then was forced to resign. The next day Bill Sylk owner of WPEN and the Sun Ray Drug chain called Walter Annenberg and said If you steal my talent Ill pull a million dollars of Sun Ray advertising out of the Inquirer. After that threat, WFIL withdrew its offer to us and that was the end of that.. Every day after school, we would head for the TV studio which was near my high school West Philly High. 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. Maxine went to the cops and hollered rape. This, however, was basically a talent show and dancing was secondary. When Horn admitted that he knew her, Annenberg ordered him to resign from the station. It does not store any personal data. Jeryl Brunner Aug 8, 2017 In the summer of 1956, a teenager named Ray Smith stood in line before Philadelphias WFILs Studio B to be one of the lucky kids to earn a Abortion was illegal, and scandalous. My father has always been the most comforting figure in my life, and hes kept me grounded. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. By 1973, the show drew many of the top R&B performers and competed with American Bandstand for viewers on Saturday afternoons. Show me a guy who hasnt done that and Ill show you a queer.. Horn played mainstream singers like Doris Day and Frankie Laine. But they werent there. I knew all their names. These men were, you might say, realists. Horn loved jazz, especially Dizzy Gillespie, Erroll Garner and Sarah Vaughan, and he produced Vaughans first Philadelphia concert. 1964 - The Beach Boys - "Don't Worry, Baby". Clark inherited WFILs local television showBandstand(1952-56) from the deejay Bob Horn, who proved that teenagers liked watching their peers dance. Editors Note: This is a repost with permission granted by the author, Steve Cohen. The men sat on chairs against the walls of the studio and the girls sometimes knelt in front of them and satisfied them. Consequently, if a majority of the attendees came from the Catholic schools, that made the audience overwhelmingly white. WebBy the shows 30th anniversary, almost 600,000 teenagers and 10,000 performers had appeared on the program. Secondly, the producer started to require admission cards. It was very sweettruly unbelievable!, Following dinner, Sofia changed into a fun, flirty Claudia Schifferinspired Chanel look. 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. It was a revolving door of glam, Sofia explains. 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. I always dreamed of her doing my makeup on my wedding day, Sofia says. When I saw him socially, he did not seem like a zealot or a crusader. In the course of his probe Blanc discovered connections between many disparate people. A black man who grew up a few years after that is Thomas E. Kennedy: I grew up at 47th and Haverford, two city blocks from the studio. 5 What was the real name of the Coward of the County? A trio of dresses was created by Chanel for her three major wedding-weekend events: the rehearsal dinner, which took place on Friday night at a private estate; the ceremony; and the after-party. His demeanor was haughty. 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. Of course it never was. 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. Then we lined up and did the darn thing! Sofia laughs. Bob was color blind, Sheldon told me; On the first shows there were black couples dancing on the floor along with white couples. That was Bobs invention.) In this new setting, a greater number of kids could dance while the music played. Courtesy American Bandstand. He also played show tunes and interviewed Harold Rome, the composer of the Broadway musical, Secondly, the producer started to require admission cards. At WFIL they thought: What a wonderful idea for TV! The man who introduced us told me that she liked to pose for photos the kind you could not take to your drugstore to get developed and she would do some other things, but would not allow sexual intercourse because she had a boyfriend and didnt want to cheat on him. This was also a time of day when ABC didnt feed any network product to the local stations, leaving WFIL with a time gap to fill locally. 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. The young dancers on American Bandstand were the reality stars of the 1950s and '60skids nationwide rushed Also available in a computer colorized version. If only this man stopped where Maxine drew the line, then she wouldnt have gone to the cops, then Horn would not have been investigated, then he would have remained on Bandstand and Dick Clark may not have become a star, etc, etc and so on. 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. In the very 1st Installment of AMERICAN BANDSTAND. As host of American Bandstand, Clark introduced rock & roll to many Americans. If ABC had not been the poorest of the networks, unable to provide daytime programs to its affiliates, Bandstand would never have been born. Despite Horns risk-taking, his sexual activities would never have come to light if it werent for two outside factors. ET. In all, 27 men were arrested. 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), Some people have criticized Dick Clark for keeping blacks out, but clearly the policy was started by Horn, before Clark. No, the black people who went in that building were there to clean up, as cleaning people. He asked a bunch of us to be on a committee to act as examples to other teenagers, and he gave birthday cakes and Christmas gifts to all of us on the committee. Horn personally selected the committee, and he happened to choose only white kids to serve on it. anniversary, there was no commemoration. Recalling the days when a secretary handled her fan mail, Arlene Sullivan of Washington Township, N.J., said, They still remember, they still remember.. Fusco developed the two-hour show with Braun, contacted the dancers and helped with the choreography. Bob Adleman, the public relations man for WPEN, arranged an elegant event at Longchamps Restaurant on Rittenhouse Square where Allison would accept the honor. American Bandstand 1961 4th Anniversary Show (Partial Episode) Former Dancers 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. He proposed at golden hourit was magical. Forever isnt long enough is how she captioned the Instagram post from the day. If we dont do something, theyll take over was the expressed fear. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Jacobs took the witness stand and backed up Dorothys story. With the help of Clark and his wife, Richard contacted Carole and the two were married six months later. For example, Bernie Jacobs, the man who ran the modeling agency and set Steve Allison up with his accuser, also arranged modeling jobs for Lois, Horns accuser. 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. 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 50th anniversary of the programs start.
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