american bandstand regulars who have died

[6] Jackson,American Bandstand, 71; Jacksons description of Arlene Sullivan. Its original host was fired after a DWI arrest and in July 1956 a young radio DJ took over. But back in the Bandstand days, Smith was one of the shows secretly gay dancers. In an interview with the New York Post, Sullivan says that she and many of the gay male dancers would congregate in the Gayborhood, Rittenhouse Square, and there were rumors that Clark sent producers to spy on them. Cutler will be appearing Monday to talk about her book atMax and Benny's restaurant in Northbrook. Mixed REGULARS Galleries. 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 was trying to hit them over their heads with my pocketbook, but they just wouldnt give up. He said that when he was a kid, he would come in off the range every day and watch me on 'Bandstand.' They knew what was going on, but they never asked the question., Sullivan says there were at least four other popular girl dancers on Bandstand who she quickly learned were lesbians and we all started hanging out together. So Bandstand really did change her life in many ways. and other collectibiles . This investigation targeted the practice of payola, and it was most likely triggered by rumors circulating that charged Dick Clark with promoting records in which he held a financial stake onAmerican Bandstandand taking kickbacks from record companies to include their records on the shows playlist. Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." Using social media, Cutler contacted some of the show's regulars. . In August 1963, ABC reassignedAmerican Bandstandto Saturday afternoon. 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. How to Be a SuperAger in The SuperAging Revolution, Jumble for Kids and Adults: Cartoons and Twins. My husband and I met on a blind date and six months later on April 12, 1964 we were married. REGULARS Gallery 2. In 2019, a trio of formerAmerican Bandstandregulars assembled a book on their experiences on the popular show. When American Bandstand became the most popular daytime television program in the late 1950s, a group of ordinary Philadelphia high school students who loved to dance suddenly became a national phenomenon. We ended up spending weekends together when she came to New York and D.C. to perform We went to lunch together and had fun, but Annette had to rest and perform, so we didnt have time for anything else., Sullivan never felt like a superstar, even when the Regulars averaged 100 to 150 fan letters a day. I was so afraid that I started trying to talk myself into being straight. And while Smith knew he was gay, he was shocked to learn that most of the guys on Bandstand, so many of them, were gay, he told The Post. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Ross Media Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Anna Russo, 2800 North 7th Street, Apt. That was an emotional moment for both of us.". Id see these kids dancing and instinctively I knew I could fit in with them. "He made sure the guys wore suits and we were dressed properly. View Our Classic TV Shows Directory Sullivan was raised in a rowhouse in a working-class neighborhood; we surmise from her writing that it was somewhere in Southwest Philly (she attended John Bartram High School), although Sullivan doesnt specify a home address. She would learn their names but, like all of us and them, she would mature, and those images on the screen and her affection for "those kids" would fade. H.E. . My friends went to church dances every Friday and Saturday night. About Us; Services; Gallery; Contact Us Facebook Some of the stories I heard are heartbreaking, Sullivan recalls. Via this network, which advertised itself as WFIL-adelphia, the show reached almost six million viewers in the Delaware Valley, the nations third-largest market at the time. BUT he was out for Clark., Sullivan claims there were four other popular girl dancers on the show whom she knew to be lesbians, and they hung out together. Follow Backgrounders on Twitter Broadcast icon Dick Clark, the longtime host of the influential "American Bandstand," has died, publicist Paul Shefrin said. West Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, Jersey you learned the different styles of the same dances., The Regulars did the Pony, Jitterbug, Calypso, Cha-cha and a slow dance that she says wasnt exactly a waltz: The kids didnt stand in one spot. Although the Regulars didnt perform in the South, Sullivans memory of a personal visit to Fort Worth, Texas, stuck with her: My friend Barbara [a fellow Regular] and I were visiting Barbaras friend there. I was a preteen, which is to say, I was a teenage wannabe. Huge DiscountsThere are savings on everyday items you already buy, and savings on the things youve been waiting for a sale on to spoil your pet with. But about four years ago, after a lifetime filled with journalistic and entrepreneurial achievements, Cutler began to wonder what had happened to all those kids, those celebrities of her youth, and she went about the business of trying to find them. Rock, Roll and Remember. This is the interview with Arlene, Kenny, Frank and Carole about their days on American Bandstand and their experiences with the Golden Boys. He was 89 years old. . The dancers, as Teen wrote, were the "most famous unknowns on TV today. From its earliest days, the show featured young people dancing to a rock-and-roll soundtrack or other popular genres of the day. Carole Ann Scaldeferri Spada, 70, of Newtown Square, a regular dancer on American Bandstand from 1957 to 1961, has died. These experienced Regulars considered an infrequent participant or a first time visitor an amateur. I wonder what they would have thought about a kid in TV Land, practicing the new steps in front of her bedroom mirror and praying to God her little brother didnt catch her at it. I think after several decades he actually believed the myth. As Sullivan puts it: The boys danced. Jerry Lee Lewis was the first guest on the national show and it would over the decades feature the TV debuts of such stars as Prince, the Jackson 5, Aerosmith, Sonny and Cher and dozens of other performers. "I put a lot of my mom's makeup on and stuffed my bra," said Gibson. But I didnt have any crushes on any of the straight girls. In front of the camera, Clark called the shots. We went downtown, and I ran to the back of the bus the way I always did in Philly but Barbara and her friend kept telling me to come to the front. First called Bandstand, the program premiered October 6, 1952, hosted by Philadelphia radio DJ Bob Horn (1916-66). Regardless, the music historian John Jackson calls it the gravest crisis in his professional career.1, At all events, the payola hearings spurred action by Congress. "So many of the regulars who jitterbugged on the show way, way back were there. The program moved production in 1964 from Philadelphia to Hollywood, months after it began airing once per week. 1 (2012): 89-113. The guy who had been in charge of the show before he took over was the subject of a scandal a DUI, I think so Clark wanted to be the clean-cut guy, and he was. Black music and black dances originating in Philadelphia neighborhoods contributed substantially to the success ofAmerican Bandstand; yetAmerican Bandstandsdancefloor and bleachers were racially segregated, and some of the shows most popular dances were adapted without attribution from black neighborhoods. I was saddened to hear about Norman. LGBT identities were hidden on the shows dancefloor. I started going out to straight clubs.. (noted 9/12/21) . Dancer - AB65 Regular 1 episode, 1964 Jocelyn Lane . I kissed a girl, and I liked it! Sullivan, now 74 and long out of the closet, reveals in a fascinating self-published book, Bandstand Diaries billed as The Book Youve Waited Over 50 Years to Read!. The Philadelphia high school Regulars who danced on Dick Clark's American Bandstand in the late 1950s and early 1960s became national celebrities and America's first reality stars. The show stayed on the air until 1989. The most memorable day for Norman and me was April 13, 1961, the day we won second place in the Pony Dance Contest. This site does not collect any information from you. [7] The Diary of Arlene Sullivan, in Sullivan, Smith, and Cutler,Bandstand Diaries, 43-63. They were the squeaky-clean Kardashians of their era, and Bandstand could easily claim the title as the first reality show. ofGreaterPhiladelphia. He danced on the show until Christmas 1959. "He wasn't no Bob Horn," Fiorentino said. In the wake of the quiz show scandal, however, a subcommittee of the House of Representatives set up hearings to determine if the practice should be made illegal. At age 30 in 1960, already a millionaire, Dick Clark, Americas only national deejay, stood at the center of the payola storm. ", A musical about the 'Miracle' Cubs? In 1960, in an episode that seems incredibly tame by todays standards of greed and corruption, the two major television networks, NBC and CBS were exposed as having rigged their wildly popular primetime quiz shows. Really enjoyed reading your article Larry , I also grew up in the 50s watching American Bandstand, your article brought back so many memories of the good ole days growing up. When cute young teenagers Arlene Sullivan and Kenny Rossi slow danced together on American Bandstand back in the late 50s and early 60s, kids across the country swooned. Words by Barry Manilow and Bruse Sussman, Were goin hoppin (Hop!) Fifty years later, Bandstand fan Sharon Sultan Cutler wondered what had become of the Regulars, the name given to the teens that showed up daily to dance. It was horrible.. Sharon Sultan Cutler, of Chicago, talks about "Bandstand Diaries," the book she co-authored with Ray Smith and former American Bandstand participant Arlene Sullivan remembering the shows early days. I purchased this from Historic Photos. Black & White/Color (9/9/1967), Dick Clarks first day as host: 7/9/1956 Joyce Shafer talks about herself and her dance partner, Norman Kerr, Norman was one of a kind, always making people laugh. He needed a group to show up every day, she says, and nobody got paid. The followed the trend of solo ("open") dancing started by Chubby Checker and "The Twist.". 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. "He was the commander," Colanero said. It was like a high school reunion and some people even had tears in their eyes. 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. Delmont, Matthew. He was 21 and she was 16. Clark joined Bandstand in 1956 and moved with the show to Hollywood in 1964. We were like sisters. She never saw much of Clark outside of the studio. And he has the one criteria required to attract Bunny Gibson. We call him Namron and yes, if you spell his name backwards it spells, Norman. http://dickclark.com He promoted the couples on the show to mask the fact that so many guys were gay.5. Clark "was a good man, but he wasn't as friendly with us as people may think," Colanero said. She also mentions a gay dancer who was pushed in the train tracks, and another who was dangled over an elevator shaft. Millions of kids from Brooklyn to Beverly Hills ran home from school every weekday to watch them dance, imitate their styles and fantasize about their lives. Kenny Rossi and Arlene Sullivan, Bunny Gibson and Eddie Kelly, Pat Molittieri, Carmen Jimenz, Joyce Shafer. . Sharon Sultan Cutler, who grew up in New York and now lives in Chicago, is co-author of Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years 1956-1963. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune). OnAmerican Bandstandsdance floor, Sullivan was first partnered famously with Kenny Rossi (1957-58), a multitalented Italian-American student at West Catholic Boys High School, and such was her national popularity that her fan mail eventually totaled some 500 letters weekly. https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Rock%20%27n%27%20Rock%20West%20Coast%20.jpg, https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Bandstand%20historical%20marker%20%281%20of%201%29.jpg, https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/National%20Register%20of%20Historic%20Places.JPG, https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Bandstand%20Regulars%20Marker.jpg, https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Rock%20and%20Roll%20Hall%20of%20Fame.jpg, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, American Bandstand: West Philadelphia's Seven-Year Wonder 1957-1964, American Bandstand, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Starting Local: WFIL-TV, Bob Horn, and Philadelphia's Bandstand, Going National: Dick Clark and ABC's American Bandstand, Whose Music, Whose Dances? Wed stay up all night talking about boys, said Sullivan. The screen would fill with black-and-white images of teenagers dancing, the room would fill with music and she was filled with delight. during those wonderful days. He said, 'In all my days, I never thought I would ever meet you, and here you are standing right in front of me.' Wagon Train Website,