american bandstand regulars who have died
I never had a crush on her. during those wonderful days. In February 2020, it was announced that Henderson had contracted kidney cancer and opted not to receive treatment. He retained his youthful looks through the 1980s, burnishing his reputation as Americas Oldest Living Teenager. Dick Clark died at age 82 in Santa Monica. I knew when couples broke up. They were the squeaky-clean Kardashians of their era, and Bandstand could easily claim the title as the first reality show. Arlene Sullivan, a star on Bandstand, is now 74. We were like sisters. He needed a group to show up every day, she says, and nobody got paid. I had asked Norman to dance when it was a ladies choice. Sullivans last appearance onAmerican Bandstandwas in 1960.7, In the early 1960s, a new collection of teen regulars succeeded Arlene Sullivans generation onAmerican Bandstandsdance floor. . 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), Jerry Lee Lewis (March 18, 1958), and Dion and the Belmonts (August 7, 1958). Like Rick Pierce, Bandstand dancer Sandra Mae Dawson, who died Feb. 25, 2008, at age 66, was into car racing. In a nice way, he'd discipline us.". Oddly enough, I have never checked with the other Regulars to get their feedback. My mother thought I was nuts. It was shot live from Studio B at Forty-Sixth and and Market Streets, where the two-and-a-half-hour show was broadcast regionally on WFIL-TV Channel 6. DICK CLARK AND AMERICAN BANDSTAND: THE EARLY DAYS Random Thoughts A Midlothian-based freelance writer, Martha Steger has received national awards for her journalism, essays, short fiction and poetry. "I loved those kids," she says now, living with her husband on the Northwest Side of Chicago. Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." On a sociological front, the show helped popularize rock and roll and make it acceptable to many adults (i.e., parents). It's handled with sensitive delicacy. I still have my HI-FI sitting against a wall between my living room and dining room. ABC gave Clark a choice: divest his music-related interests or step down as host of the show. Clark chose to continue withBandstand.3. Five-foot-two, brown-eyed, brown-haired Arlene and handsome Kenny, a year younger, were among the TV music shows elite, its stars, the vaunted regulars along with another couple often on camera pert, blond Justine Carrelli and suave Bob Clayton. But it was obvious to the teen dancers that he was set on a trajectory that would take him far from Studio B in West Philly. These teenagers became the nation's first reality-TV stars--they received thousands of fan letters and were mobbed everywhere they went. Forget that. Once a week, she goes to a hop thrown by another Bandstand original, 76-year-old Philadelphia radio and TV personality Jerry Blavat, who bills himself as The Geator with the Heater and The Boss with the Hot Sauce.. In addition to his other ventures, Clark maintained a virtual lock on New Years Eve television withDick ClarksNew Years Rockin Eve. You want to know about the guy! The Hand Jive. Filled with 700-some photographs, both old and new, it is handsomely designed and co-written with Ray Smith, who danced on the show for a short time, and Arlene Sullivan, who became one of the stars of the show, with her own international fan club for a time. In front of the camera, Clark called the shots. Indeed. Titled "The Rise of the Salesman" and written by Smith, it captures the wildly successful and influential career of Clark from "American Bandstand" host to media mogul: "Dick Clark may not have known much about music, but he knew how to cultivate it, spread it, and make it work for the masses.". Reading the book, one easily grasps or is reminded what an impactful cultural phenomenon "American Bandstand" was for a couple of generations of TV-watching kids. In a fine introduction to this book one of those people, singer Bobby Rydell, recalls his first appearance on the show in 1959 and the many that followed, as well as a "short but sweet" romance with one of the teen dancers, writing: "To appear on 'American Bandstand' was everyone's dream.". The Regulars - American Bandstand Diaries The Philly Years Where . I did get to know Annette Funicello [a Mouseketeer on the original Mickey Mouse Club], who came to the show. Learning how American Bandstand made rock n roll respectable. Another component of the show was its Rate-a-Record segmentwhere people evaluated a record on a scale of 35 to 98which originated the saying, Its got a good beat and you can dance to it. For this eras music industry, American Bandstand was arguably the most significant television venue in the country. Elmhurst Blotter: Man charged with battery for allegedly punching a security guard at a bar, Hinsdale police blotter: multiple thefts reported by patients at Hinsdale Hospital, Glenview police blotter: Harwood Heights woman charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Connecting the Past with the Present, Building Community, Creating a Legacy, TheEncyclopedia But most have fond memories of their short time in the spotlight and of its lingering effect. He was a brilliant man. The new legislation effectively ended payola in the music business.2, American Bandstandtoo weathered the payola storm. "If you got in front of the camera too much, he'd call you back and tell you to circulate. I purchased this from Historic Photos. The show was moved to Los Angeles in 1964. In other parts of the country, if you were a gay kid growing up, you were probably the only one in town who was gay, Sullivan said. . The shy Sullivan pushed herself forward with the contact because she wanted to get on TV to impress her mother. Click here to see some of your favorites back in action. Mrs. Spada attended West Catholic Girls High School. May, 1961. Never, did I ever think that I would be with him, holding his hand when he passed away. Many subsequently became celebrities (albeit temporarily), appearing in other media, receiving fan mail, and starting fashion trends. How to Be a SuperAger in The SuperAging Revolution, Jumble for Kids and Adults: Cartoons and Twins. His latest book, The Kardashians: An American Drama, will be published in September. For More Bunny click here to go to Bunny Gibson.com, Bunny Gibson discusses the 50th celebration of American Bandstand. He held nothing back. He died on 5 August 2021 at his home in Sydney. My husband and I met on a blind date and six months later on April 12, 1964 we were married. The American Bandstand Regulars Say. - YouTube Clark "was very all-American, handsome, and nice, a father figure to us," she recalled. The marker stands opposite 4548 Market Street (not shown here), which once housed WFIL-TVand its Studio B, the original home of American Bandstand. Sadly we also lost: Writes Sullivan in the book, "A few years ago at a fancy party on Fifth Avenue in New York, a man in a tux in his late sixties came over and told me he grew up on a ranch in Wyoming. The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. The couple first honeymooned on the Chattanooga Choo Choo, the famed railway that was immortalized by Glenn Miller and was the first to run South to North. She wasnt immediately successful, but with the help of a new southwest Philly friend, she eventually got in. Goes from a daily to a weekly Saturday show in Philadelphia: 9/7/1963, Broadcast from Los Angeles: Begins 2/8/1964, Produced by Anthony Tony Mammarella and Dick Clark, Dick Clark Host In fact, it was dangerous. View Our Classic TV Shows Directory She acknowledges that some of the other girls she knew on the show were also gay. Arlene Sullivan, one of the most popularAmerican Bandstandregulars, presents another perspective on the shows closeted world. Conceivably, this helped promote racial equality and intercultural understanding. Rachel Fuda and Dolores Catania Get Honest About What It Takes to Look Like a Housewife, JoJo Says Theres Definitely Parallels Between Her and, Mica Burton's Rebellion Against Her Dad, LeVar Burton, Was Being a 'Star Wars' Fan, 50% Off Pet Items for Amazon Pet Day - Starting Now, Rachel Fuda and Dolores Catania Get Honest About What It Takes to Look Like a 'Real Housewife'. When Gibson moved from Philadelphia to Los Angeles in the 1980s, she paid Clark a call at his office. Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years, 1956-1963 shares the fascinating story of how Dick Clark's American Bandstand and its millions of viewers catapulted its teenage dancers (called "the Regulars") to fame. When she was 10 years old, the woman now known as Sharon Sultan Cutler would rush home from school in the town of East Meadow on Long Island in New York. When ABC picked the show up, it was renamed American Bandstand, airing its first national show on August 5, 1957. Bunny and Duke met several months ago and now are married. (noted 9/12/21) . Like Smith, she believes that if her true sexual preference and that of others on the show had become public in the days before Stonewall and todays LGBT power, Bandstand would have been taken off the air. We were like sisters. Where Are the American Bandstand Regulars Now? California residents do not sell my data request. Handbags - Formal Wear. ", California residents do not sell my data request. I think after several decades he actually believed the myth. And more than 250 fans too, a number of them quite young, who had just heard of the show and were curious. NEW PAGE! Being featured on the show all but guaranteed a spike in popularity; even before it moved to a national platform American Bandstand offered a remarkably large audience base for musicians, often generating national popular demand for a new group or single. While ABC wasnt in the quiz show business, a congressional subcommittee found another reason to investigate the network. 10/7/1957 9/5/1987 ABC 60 minutes Were goin hopin today Like The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Facebook, Follow The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Instagram, Like The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Facebook, Philadelphia, the Place that Loves You Back, (Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. June Bouche on November 20, 2018 at 9:12 pm . Broadcast only on Saturdays after 1963, American Bandstand lost the homegrown vitality of the daily program in West Philadelphia. Ray Smith says he was upset when Dick Clark claimed only one of the dancers had died from AIDS when asked about it in an interview. That really annoyed me because quite a few of the Philadelphia dancers on Bandstand died of AIDS, Smith said. We also surmise that her mother was an Italian immigrant (she refers to her Italian mom), and her father of Irish descent. She also mentions a gay dancer who was pushed in the train tracks, and another who was dangled over an elevator shaft. I was trying to hit them over their heads with my pocketbook, but they just wouldnt give up. The rest, as they say, is history. Kenny Rossi and Arlene Sullivan, Bunny Gibson and Eddie Kelly, Pat Molittieri, Carmen Jimenz, Joyce Shafer. Id see these kids dancing and instinctively I knew I could fit in with them. Frani Giordano is still loved by American Bandstand fans almost 60 years after she stopped going to the show in 1960. I didnt know what I was doing and decided I cant do this, and I called my dad and asked him to come get me, she says. It originally aired as simply "Bandstand" in 1952, shot at WFIL-TV's studios in Philadelphia and airing locally. The A,B,C,'s of American Bandstand: Part 3 Movies. With his death, she said, it is "important that Dick is honored for what he did for rock-and-roll and for the impact he had on all the lives of his dancers from Philly to L.A.", Clark, Gibson said, led "the first teenage revolution, and we were part of it. By clicking Consent you are authorizing advertisers to collect information to personalize the ads you see. "It was in the original TV studio and it was amazing," says Cutler. AMERICAN BANDSTAND BLOG. . These Regulars went on to receive mail, have fan clubs, feature magazine articles and dancer contests just like the previous groups. I started going out to straight clubs.. Of Clarks behind-the-scenes behavior at Studio B, Ray Smith writes unsparingly: The irony about Clark is that he was not the goody-two-shoes he projected: he smoked, cursed, and for a while teetered on the edge of alcoholism. american bandstand regulars who have died - mazoutdft.com ", A musical about the 'Miracle' Cubs? Joyce Shafer talks about herself and her dance partner, Norman Kerr, Norman was one of a kind, always making people laugh. Dick Clark, host of the influential "American Bandstand,' dies | CNN They werent playing football. 1st song played on the national edition was Jerry Lee Lewis Whole Lotta Shaking Goin On.1st Guests: Billy Williams, ChordettesLast song on the ABC network was Laura Branigans Shattered Glass., See above pictureThe Stroll recorded by The Diamonds in 1958. Wed stay up all night talking about boys, she said. He practiced dancing with his niece, Robin, but when he went down to the show, they wouldnt let him in because he was over the age of 18. //-->. We only had three channels in those days. Clark and producer Tony Mammorella (1924-1977) dubbed this group The Committee, led from 1954 to 1956 by future DJ Jerry Blavat (1940-2023). Dick Clarks tight control on the sexual expression of his cast extended to a denial years after the show had ended. Norman passed away on December 6, 1990. First called Bandstand, the program premiered October 6, 1952, hosted by Philadelphia radio DJ Bob Horn (1916-66).
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