Allison and Horn were each acquitted, but neither one of them got their jobs back. American Bandstand 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. Stanley J. 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. Philadelphias broadcasting sex scandal of 1956 was an early object lesson. Consequently, black teens were in effect erased from the national youth culture that formed aroundAmerican Bandstand.. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Bob Horn complimented me on my dancing ability and for the way I dressed. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. 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. Disgraced in Philadelphia, the 41-year-old Allison found employment at radio station at WWDC in Washington. 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%. Once hair and makeup were done, it was off to the races. 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. We just sat around recapping until the morning. Dorothy she of the Allison incidents testified that she stripped and played a game called 69 with Wordens wife at Hound Dog Hill while guests took photos of the two of them together. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Teenagers sat in rows on bleachers that were assembled on one side of the studio. The Secret Gay Lives Of The "American Bandstand" Dancers Sun | T.G.I.F. Dick Clark hosts a daily to weekly dance show that features the latest hit music for the attending teens to dance to. 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. 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. American Bandstand - Wikipedia As well as a blue embroideredS&E on the inside of the dress above my heart.. Bandstand began as a local program on WFIL-TV (now WPVI ), Channel 6 in Philadelphia on October 7, 1952. It became a national institution and Dick Clark a celebrity. Horn, on the other hand, didnt show such warmth to colleagues. 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. Within the dress are subtle details, including an embroidered heart to represent the love that Elliot and I share, as well as a blue embroideredS&E on the inside of the dress above my heart. Sofia wanted to do something unique for her veil, so she worked with the Chanel team to create a glistening piece adorned with resin water droplets that sparkled when she walked. 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. If we dont do something, theyll take over was the expressed fear. Bow Wow Wow. He had become District Attorney when Richardson Dilworth resigned that office to successfully run for mayor in 1955. Horns radio program was called The Bob Horn Bandstand, which had a nice, alliterative sound. My dad, Elliots dad, and Elliots best friend, Jack, gave incredible speeches. These kids invented new dance steps and made The Bunny Hop and The Bristol Stomp popular. 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. Blancs secret headquarters was at 1927 Chestnut Street while my fathers optical store was a block away at 1835 Chestnut. As host of American Bandstand, Clark introduced rock & roll to many Americans. American Bandstand Some blacks complained that these cards were sent mainly to all-white parochial schools, but I cant find evidence of that. At just 13 and 16, 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. Making out in the back seat or copping a feel is the most that any of us ever did.. 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. She enjoyed seeing the TV series American Dreams, produced by Dick Clark in 2002, because it recalled one of the best periods in her life. It was their thing. Elliot was such a big Good Charlotte fan when he was a kid, and Joel and Elliot have become like brothers. On one of those jobs Lois gave oral sex to one of the Allison crowd for $40 and on another job had sex with a man for a hundred dollars, all this when she was 15 and in the midst of her relationship with Horn. He asked for, and received, whiskey, cash and women from record-promotion men. And everyone at ABC Television tried to ignore the programs first years. (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. WebBy the mid-1970s, moreover, American Bandstand ratings were in decline and faced a challenge from Soul Train. To get in the studio, boys must be wearing a suit jacket and tie. Oral sex was labeled an unnatural act and people went to jail for doing it. 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. But some things still didnt change. By 1973, the show drew many of the top R&B performers and competed with American Bandstand for viewers on Saturday afternoons. I dont know why, but black kids didnt want to come., Doris Wilson was a young teenager when Bandstand was in Philadelphia. Editors Note: This is a repost with permission granted by the author, Steve Cohen. When Dick Clark found out about it he was furious and banished them from attending his show forever. American Bandstand started life as a Philadelphia TV show in 1952, with Bob Horn as master of ceremonies. It was their thing. Also available in a computer colorized version. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. I know the producers found it embarrassing. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Theres an El stop there and we used to watch the kids line up. Senator Estes Kefauver, who was running for Vice President in 1956. But they werent there. That was Bobs invention.) The makeup for the entire weekend is super-simple and clean, Sofia says. Not being able to get in, that was a way of life then. He made national headlines when he shut down a Philadelphia movie theater that was showing Brigit Bardots , 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. The Mann Act was law, barring anyone from transporting a person across state lines for an immoral act, even when it was consensual. American Bandstand (TV Series 19521989) - IMDb He picked his own employee, Bob Horn, and copied from WPEN the idea of teenagers in the studio. Clark inherited WFILs local television showBandstand(1952-56) from the deejay Bob Horn, who proved that teenagers liked watching their peers dance. She isnt reluctant or shy. When questioned as to why a married man would do this, Horn responded by saying that Lois knew many of his friends and drifted into the same pattern as I did. One example is Bob Menefee, the top-paid disc jockey at WIP. I always thought Horn did a poor job relating to the kids. According to show-business contemporaries of his, Horn was a free-swinging, hard-drinking man who smoked several packs of cigarettes a day. A similar program later went on the air in Baltimore, and that inspired a John Waters film and the stage musical Hairspray. Who were the first guests on American Bandstand? It was great! For Sofia, it served as the ultimate reflection of how she approached the celebration as a whole. For the most part, the white kids from West Catholic and Roman Catholic, etc., were intimidated when we got on the floor. 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.. If Clipp couldnt get those people, he nevertheless could steal their format. 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. 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. The next morning, I woke up with all of my bridesmaids and my sister and we went to an 8 a.m. rehearsal. 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. With the help of Clark and his wife, Richard contacted Carole and the two were married six months later. Pop Conference 2023 - 'Let's Get it Together:' Gatherings, Club The number one song was whatever he said it was, and it usually was whatever would bring him the most profit. ET. 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. I imitated One day a group of American Bandstand dancers went to Harmony Park, a popular club in Anaheim, and got drunk. Dave Feldman also started coming in 1953. 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. Clark was the host of American Bandstand in the late 50s through the mid-60s. He died in 1968 at the age of 71. Some people have criticized Dick Clark for keeping blacks out, but clearly the policy was started by Horn, before Clark. In any event, he struck another car and left a 5-year-old occupant of that car paralyzed. It is entirely hand-beaded, Sofia says. American Bandstand: West Philadelphia's Seven-Year Wonder He says that he would have loved to see blacks in the studio, so I could learn their dance steps. Well, Blanc won his election, and that was the reason for all this, wasnt it? It reflected the fact that Horn played big band recordings by Harry James, Tommy Dorsey and other similar artists. The grind was a very sexy dance that you did on a slow record. 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. 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. 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. Although Horn wanted to run it solo, Clipp insisted on copying the 950 Club format with two hosts, and picked a partner for him the short, bespectacled Lee Stewart. I was asked to be a character witness at his trial and I testified that he never tried anything with us. This historical marker recalls Dick Clarks American Bandstand, which was broadcast from West Philadelphia from 1957 to 1964. 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. Even when black artists like Chuck Berry and Fats Domino appeared in live shows, 95% of the audience was white. The Buddy Deane Show That belief is persuasively challenged by recent scholarship:American BandstandThe Philadelphia Way not only excluded black teens from the show but also represented black dances as having originated on the show with its white dancers. 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. 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. 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. 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. They were some of the most famous kids in America, dancing every day on American Bandstand.. And it was Frees, not any of the original Bandstanders interviewed Thursday, who remembered the words to the shows theme song, written by Barry Manilow. With 37 continuous years on the air, this was the longest-running weekly popular music showcase TV program in the world. 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.. Everyone in the country knew Kefauvers smiling image; virtually no one knew the ordinary, middle-aged face of Vic Blanc. 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. He defeated Republican Emil Goldhaber by a vote of 303,000 to 235,000. Walter DeLegall, a black man who was a teenager then, said about the early days: 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. So, simultaneously, the DA was investigating Horn, Allison and Valino and people associated with them, and everything came to a head, so to speak, at the same time. 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. In 1977, Carole appeared on a Dick Clark television special, where Richard spotted her. Horn didnt act like a star, he says. Horn asked his dancers to recommend new songs. Every day after school, we would head for the TV studio which was near my high school West Philly High. 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. The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. 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. One night he asked one of his models to put on something white, then introduced her to Allison. Horn would tell them that he wanted, His career was brought down by a teenage girl, but she did. Allison thought this decision was reprehensible and criticized Annenberg for it. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Beach Boys on American Bandstand. They wouldnt get up unless the bunny hop was playing. Rodgers recorded his first record under Ralph Peer in Bristol, Tennessee the day after the original Carter Family recorded theirs. I knew sooner or later I would get to go on the show. 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. American Bandstand 1961 4th Anniversary WebAmerican Bandstand (TV Series 19521989) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Soon after the show went on the air, Horn met a 13-year-old girl at the station and they began a sexual relationship. It was thought that he could bring some of his clients on board as advertisers. Still, within hours after his DUI arrest, Horn was suspended from Bandstand. Horn usually brought an entourage of men with him to the studio, and sometimes additional girls. PINK FLOYD Prog-rock started making its way into American living rooms via Bandstand in 1967. Lets consider these other events in 1956: The era was one of sexual repression. 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. 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. 7 Who created the TV show American Bandstand? Who created the TV show American Bandstand? The programs first host was Bob Horn. 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. This was her unique moral code. Who were the original dancers on American Bandstand? 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 blacks complained that these cards were sent mainly to all-white parochial schools, but I cant find evidence of that. At WFIL they thought: What a wonderful idea for TV! 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. "I spread the Beehive across America," said Bunny Gibson, 56, on the show from 1959 to 1962. 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. The sad truth, though, is that the kids who danced to the records appeared to be almost all white. Bobby Baritz, a little out of breath from a fast jitterbug, said he now runs a food and gift shop in New York City. 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. That didnt compare with what Horn was doing. Created by black deejay Don Cornelius as a black dance show, Soul Train started in Chicago in 1970 before being picked up by stations across the country the following year. Why did the station move so quickly to dump Horn? 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. Barbara Marcen Wilston danced at the show from 1953 to 1959. Clark revamped Horns show for national broadcast by ABC. ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images. Blitz, author of , Other deejays of that time, however, were more gracious than Horn. 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 When Horns personal indiscretions led to his ouster from Bandstand in 1956, he was replaced by the more youthful, slimmer, squeaky clean Dick Clark. But what did we know? says Colella. The BBC's. Courtney Bennett, Dancing on Air: Dance Shows, Communications, and CommunityBefore Tik Tok and YouTube dance crazes dominated youth culture, televised 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. Management was so happy with Horns ratings that they let him choose whatever music he wished; he didnt need to shove those songs. He asked me to be on the committee and be an example for others. The Bandstanders invented steps that are still given a whirl: the bunny hop, the chalypso and the stroll. In the course of his probe Blanc discovered connections between many disparate people. PHILADELPHIA (AP) - In the late 1950s and early '60s, everyone knew Bob and Justine, Kenny and Arlene, and Ed and Bunny. They are true rock stars. 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. 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 cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Blanc had a love-hate relationship with show business, and even got personally involved in it. It was similar to Philadelphia's American Bandstand. WebFans have long wondered whatever became of Arlene and Kenny, Bob and Justine, Frani, Pat, Carole, Carmen, Frankie, Billy, Richie and so many more of those Regulars we loved. You were like a big star. David Bowie. The dancers have aged, some have gained weight or grown mustaches, but they continue to follow whats hip in fashion and dance steps. 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. 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. 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. At the start, the set was a three-fold flat and the camera zoomed in to focus on a record player. It has always been a dream of mine to have Chanel design my wedding dress, Sofia says. You better believe Ill be there, Frees said of the Rock A Rama appearance. 4 Who was the first black country singer? Stanley J. So, when he went on TV, Bandstand was the obvious choice for a name. 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. Horn developed a daily ritual of kids judging new records. Steves a one-man F. B. I., Fearless Broadcast Investigator. 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 He said Name your salary. So we asked our station manager for a release and he said hed talk to the stations owner. I knew when couples broke up. In addition, the show has performances by popular musicians and audience members rate songs. According to show-business contemporaries of his, Horn was a free-swinging, hard-drinking man who smoked several packs of cigarettes a day. I danced there until 1972 and the policy remained the same. Fusco developed the two-hour show with Braun, contacted the dancers and helped with the choreography. 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. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast.
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