He said Name your salary. So we asked our station manager for a release and he said hed talk to the stations owner. 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.. I was so innocent that I thought they wouldnt stand in our way. 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. I talked to the kids on the same intellectual level. Courtney Bennett, Dancing on Air: Dance Shows, Communications, and CommunityBefore Tik Tok and YouTube dance crazes dominated youth culture, televised This was her unique moral code. Dave Feldman also started coming in 1953. He usually brought some of his young clients with him and arranged dates photographic and otherwise for them. When Horn admitted that he knew her, Annenberg ordered him to resign from the station. Abortion was illegal, and scandalous. But at one gathering, one guy didnt follow the rule and went all the way. 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. My dad, Elliots dad, and Elliots best friend, Jack, gave incredible speeches. Dance crazes such as the Twist and the Watusi could be traced to the Bandstand studio. The white kids, especially those who attended parochial schools, normally dressed this way while black kids did not. In all, 27 men were arrested. 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. In 1975 Proctor won the American Bandstand dance competition with partner Sharon Hill. Rodgers recorded his first record under Ralph Peer in Bristol, Tennessee the day after the original Carter Family recorded theirs. 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.. American Bandstand/First episode date. 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. 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. Horn was from the old school, a radio announcer conversant with varied forms of music, from semi-classical to pop. Theres a dramatic difference between the description of Horn by his adult co-workers and what we hear from his teenage fans. It was their thing. 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. That becomes understandable when you learn that its original host led a sordid life that included a sexual affair with a teenage girl. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. That was Bobs invention.) With Clark, the program became more popular than ever. The program, starting in 1952, originally was simply named, Fortunately for the station, the clean-cut Dick Clark was on staff and able to take over. The programs first host was Bob Horn. 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. When the program went on the ABC network, stations in the South, where racial segregation was the norm, objected to the fact that black dancers occasionally appeared on the dance floor. The DA announced his indictment of Horn and Allison at the same press conference, in October of 1956. What were the results of this elaborate investigation? 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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. When he ran dances out-of-town he always made sure that each of us had rides to get there and back. 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. 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 so incredibly special to wear her design during the most important time of my life, Sofia says. 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. Also in 1956 a 19-year-old model accused vocalist Joe Valino (a Sinatra sound-alike whose real name was Joe Paolino) of getting her pregnant then taking her to a doctor to have it taken care of. 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 The program, starting in 1952, originally was simply named Bandstand. I always thought Horn did a poor job relating to the kids. Well, Blanc won his election, and that was the reason for all this, wasnt it? For my Vic Blanc became a judge, then resigned when he developed mental lapses which would today be labeled as Alzheimers disease. In any event, he struck another car and left a 5-year-old occupant of that car paralyzed. Bandstand began as a local program on WFIL-TV (now WPVI ), Channel 6 in Philadelphia on October 7, 1952. 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. His conversation with them was stilted; he never associated with them as equals. 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. The Beach Boys were already the kings of A postscript was added a decade later in California. There are no plans to televise the event. The Bandstanders invented steps that are still given a whirl: the bunny hop, the chalypso and the stroll. Pat Boone. He was convicted and sentenced to jail for that, but not for his sexual activities. See production, box office & company info, Bandstand Boogie (The Theme of 'American Bandstand'). It was common for promo guys to give bottles of whiskey as Christmas gifts. I always dreamed of her doing my makeup on my wedding day, Sofia says. WebPulitzer Prizeeligible magazine The National Enquirer broke an old but interesting story this week about Dick Clarks American Bandstand. Peggy Waggoner Names talks about her experience: When I started dancing on American Bandstand in 1965, blacks and whites could dance, but not as couples. Since he was a huge fan of jazz and so many jazz artists were black, there was no way Bob would allow the dance floor to be lily white.. My father has always been the most comforting figure in my life, and hes kept me grounded. Horn was kind and fatherly to these teenagers. Elliot surprised me with a trip with all our best friends in April of 2022, Sofia remembers. David Frees of Ephrata is president and founder of the American Bandstand Fan Club, which has more than 800 members in the United States, Europe and Japan. 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. I knew all their names. 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. He proposed at golden hourit was magical. Forever isnt long enough is how she captioned the Instagram post from the day. Still, within hours after his DUI arrest, Horn was suspended from Bandstand. Your email address will not be published. Stewart had no charisma and eventually was dropped from the program. He was 30 when Bandstand went on the air and says Horn played some of our music, but mainly he aimed for a wider audience and the black kids didnt get much out of it. After his dalliance with Dorothy, Allison allowed these men and girls free reign around the station. 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. Ive been dreaming of meeting Stephen Sanchez and had asked my fianc several times if we could go to one of his gigs, Sofia explains. 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. Ad Choices, 47 Best Mothers Day Gifts to Give Mom This Year, Where to Watch the 2023 Met Gala Livestream, Everything You Need to Know About the 2023 Met Gala, The 66 Best Met Gala Dress-Code Rejectors of All Time, The 31 Best Met Gala Beauty Looks of All Time, Kaia Gerber Steps Out In the Breakout Sneakers of Summer. 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. His demeanor was haughty. But some things still didnt change. But Horn also was the bad guy who allowed blacks to be systematically excluded when it looked as if their dancing might dominate the show. Horn ended his career working in Texas using a pseudonym. Allison then moved to California. For the most part, the white kids from West Catholic and Roman Catholic, etc., were intimidated when we got on the floor. They When I took over the programming of Menefees afternoon show in the summer of 1953, Menefee attacked me on the air. The young dancers on American Bandstand were the reality stars of the 1950s and '60skids nationwide rushed The partygoers at Wordens place knew to stop short with Maxine when she attended, because of her strict rule. Most acquaintances describe Horn as arrogant and self-centered, although none of the dancers on his show saw him that way. Wordens parties included nudity and sexual promiscuity. Blitz, author of , Other deejays of that time, however, were more gracious than Horn. We thought it was unfair but we followed the rules. Horn produced alibis for those dates and Horn got a break when the judge refused to allow testimony about any other times. 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. Horn asked his dancers to recommend new songs. Horn signed some of them to his own record label which he started with the help of a group of businessmen and musicians including Nat Segall, Artie Singer, Bernie Lowe and Harry Chipetz. (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.). What were the results of this elaborate investigation? Horn was a pioneer when he made the youngsters the stars of the show, and when he gave teenagers a forum to set their own standards of music, dance steps and style. 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. 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), Lets consider these other events in 1956: The era was one of sexual repression. Published April 26, 2023 Updated April 27, 2023, 12:58 a.m. In addition, the show has performances by popular musicians and audience members rate songs. At WFIL they thought: What a wonderful idea for TV! Blancs sting operation was hush-hush except for the private phone call that Blanc made to his friend at WFIL, towards the end of the investigation, to alert him to the Bob Horn problem. Of course it never was. In addition, the show has performances by popular musicians and audience members rate songs.Dick Clark hosts a daily to weekly dance show that features the latest hit music for the attending teens to dance to. 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. Harris also made the films title more suggestive by changing it to Teenage Models, Inc. Harris replaced the Kefauver footage with Blanc so he could get on the good side of the district attorney especially since Harris distributed sexually-suggestive films. Since no black students went to school dressed like that, we couldnt get in anymore. When Horn was arrested for drunk-driving on June 21, 1956, hardly anyone aside from station staffers and music industry insiders knew about his sexual life, and it didnt come to light even then. They wouldnt get up unless the bunny hop was playing. Now 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. WebBy the mid-1970s, moreover, American Bandstand ratings were in decline and faced a challenge from Soul Train. One early photo shows the studio with an audience that was almost half black. Sort of healthy trouble. I just want 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. To avoid this, co-producers Horn and Tony Mammarella implemented two strategies. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. In 1977, Carole appeared on a Dick Clark television special, where Richard spotted her. He picked his own employee, Bob Horn, and copied from WPEN the idea of teenagers in the studio. We would do dances like the slop, bop, slow drag and the grind, which originated in the black dance halls. 7 Who created the TV show American Bandstand? One dancing duo, Kenny and Arlene, became the biggest teen sensations ever to come out of the show. We recapped the night and ordered big bowls of pasta along with every French food you could imagine, Sofia says. (I was in his office as he wrote it. We had it all timed, and it felt like someone was looking out for us up above because it was a very cloudy day and then the clouds parted., Walking down the aisle with her father was something Sofia had always dreamed about. Each girl chose her own dress, ranging from YSL to Rodarte., The night before the wedding, Sofia slept in a villa on the property with her bridesmaids. The promotion men who hung out with Horn fed him records by new artists and Horn was open to their suggestions partly because he knew it would help the show, and partly because he liked getting gifts from the song-pluggers. Blancs secret headquarters was at 1927 Chestnut Street while my fathers optical store was a block away at 1835 Chestnut. 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. Tony Mammarella had to calm them down. Who created the TV show American Bandstand? 1964 - The Beach Boys - "Don't Worry, Baby". 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. 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. The station, where I worked at the time, fired him. Cameraman Vince Gasbarro said: Horn was old-looking. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Blanc had a love-hate relationship with show business, and even got personally involved in it. Recalling the days when a secretary handled her fan mail, Arlene Sullivan of Washington Township, N.J., said, They still remember, they still remember.. These record-promo men knew of her, and got her into the station to meet Horn. 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 I took over the programming of Menefees afternoon show in the summer of 1953, Menefee attacked me on the air. In this, he was way ahead of his time and ahead of whats seen in the show Hairspray. 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. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. 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. No, the black people who went in that building were there to clean up, as cleaning people. Fusco, now 46, of south Philadelphia and Lis Braun of the Hot Foot Agency, a talent agency for dancers, cooked up the idea of bringing the gang together to dance, gossip and reminisce at the rock n roll event, called Rock A Rama. At just 13 and 16, 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. In the first year 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. The grind was a very sexy dance that you did on a slow record. Horn personally selected the committee, and he happened to choose only white kids to serve on it. Fusco developed the two-hour show with Braun, contacted the dancers and helped with the choreography. By 1973, the show drew many of the top R&B performers and competed with American Bandstand for viewers on Saturday afternoons. And guess what? 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. WebAmerican Bandstand 1957 & 1968 - The Stroll, The Diamonds YouCanDanceToit! 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. 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. Web1469 episodes 19521989 Charlie O'Donnell Self - Announcer 227 episodes 19581968 Peaches Johnson Self (dancer) (1975-1980) 107 episodes 19751980 Stan Rodarte I danced there until 1972 and the policy remained the same. Our Philadelphia program had a history of racial exclusion that was more complex and much more interesting. Some people have criticized Dick Clark for keeping blacks out, but clearly the policy was started by Horn, before Clark. He was the first performer to be introduced on the Grand Ole Opry, the first African-American performer on the show, and the first performer to have his music recorded in Nashville. 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. 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. Horn was from the old school, a radio announcer conversant with varied forms of music, from semi-classical to pop. Henry Gordon said in 1995 as he looked at an old photo of the kids at Bandstand: Anything that looks like a black face in this picture is probably a white face in the shadows. While Clark opened. Working with Chanel was not only an honor but a true dream of mine, Sofia says. 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. A family member revealed that one day Horn felt so depressed that he put a pistol in his mouth and his wife had to talk him out of committing suicide. At least three factors are important to note regarding the last three years ofAmerican Bandstandin West Philadelphia: the 1960 payola scandal, the reality behind the shows happy faces, and developments in the pop music industry that affected the show and compelled its relocation in 1964 to Los Angeles in a reduced version. With Clark, the program became more popular than ever. For the other two looks, Sofia collaborated closely with her stylist, Liat Baruch, and Douchez to scour through Chanel couture shows of the past and choose the references that she loved. You better believe Ill be there, Frees said of the Rock A Rama appearance. Bob Horn complimented me on my dancing ability and for the way I dressed. Bow Wow Wow. That becomes understandable when you learn that its original host led a sordid life that included a sexual affair with a teenage girl. They were more interested in stations that played r&b all the time, and they stopped coming by their own choice., Deejay Jerry Blavat says: Blacks didnt go to public music events. Girls chased ya; the guys hated ya, said Fusco. It reflected the fact that Horn played big band recordings by Harry James, Tommy Dorsey and other similar artists. Frank Spagnuola, a white Italian-American, was a Bandstand regular. 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. 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. Famous Hooks had known Clark for 40 years and says he never saw the man so upset. Bob was a PR pro who really knew how to spin a story. Some of the kids would jitterbug in an impromptu fashion while Grady and Hurst played popular records on the air. I was watching one by one each bridesmaid and groomsman walk down the aisle, and we were inching closer to the front, and I couldnt believe it was happening, she says. She just walks up and introduces herself. As well as a blue embroideredS&E on the inside of the dress above my heart.. Horn bragged to song-pluggers that he had to shove this music down the throats of station management, but he was unjustly trying to claim credit for himself. ABC gave, Theres a dramatic difference between the description of Horn by his adult co-workers and what we hear from his teenage fans. Annenberg asked Horn to confirm or deny that he knew the teenage girl who was cooperating with Blancs investigation. The sexual relationship, however, was not revealed until later. I never saw black people dancing on the show early on, but that didnt faze me. She has an uncanny way of getting to know people. He later became a Hollywood screenwriter. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". PHILADELPHIA (AP) - In the late 1950s and early '60s, everyone knew Bob and Justine, Kenny and Arlene, and Ed and Bunny. Required fields are marked *. The event will be re-scheduled later, his press release said. It said that his guests that night were movie star Denise Darcel and crooner Johnny Desmond and that he went home immediately after the broadcast. WebAmerican Bandstand Tidbits. 2 Who was the first star of country music? (There never was any picket line. Clark moved the show to California in 1964, but many fans remember it as a Philadelphia phenomenon. , 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. 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. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. 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. The sad truth, though, is that the kids who danced to the records appeared to be almost all white. Dick Clark Dick Clark later wrote that he kept that dress code when he took over because it made the show acceptable to adults who were frightened by the teenage world and teenage music. Some observers might say that he was making the show acceptable to people who were frightened by the appearance of blacks. Whose Culture? With the help of Clark and his wife, Richard contacted Carole and the two were married six months later. 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. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
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