One of the hazards of dancing on American Bandstand was the miles of thick Where things are poppin'(Pop!) Harmless games - where kids Chalypsoing, they were usually Jitterbugging. (LogOut/ He didnt talk with eccentric urgency, like so many of the radio DJs of the time; his only coinages were IFIC (from Flavor-ific, to describe Beechnut Gum, sponsor of a Saturday night show he hosted for a few years) and gesachtstehagen (then, and now, undecipherable to me). Joyce Papantouros. Roll Call was a regular feature on I can not find one thing about Frani now. way was to celebrate Christmas, New Year's, and Halloween. Kids watching Bandstand at home were looking for any clues that signaled peer models. most profitable daytime shows. successful was Billy and Lillie's "La Dee Dah" (1957). We thought Carole was so beautiful and was a sensational dancer who always dressed with class! She was one of my favorites did she get married? I didnt connect particularly with the dancers or with the icky-pop Philadelphia style (Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Bobby Rydell) that got so much play from Clark. The Original Set Dick Clark inherited the original set for American Bandstand from Bob Horn's Bandstand, the show Clark took over in 1956. My first impression was Wow, look at how these teens dance. During the contests, viewers cast ballots for their favorite dancers. Clark walked into, and deftly out of, his own scandal, when in 1959 the House Oversight Committee investigated payola, the record industrys system of bribing disc jockeys and program managers in return for airplay. The show was important because thats how I learned to dance. medication to watches - were targeted at the adolescent market. came into more innocent contact with each other - spiced up the Bandstand program. week, the show received 45,000 letters. eighteen, she made Break It To Me Gently, a ballad whose emotional message would have been medication to watches - were targeted at the adolescent market. One of the most popular dances created by the Bandstand crowd was the The Jitterbug gained wide popularity in the thirties when Swing was at its peak. Mickey Mouse Club . In 1962, when she was romance between kids on the show - who danced with whom, how closely they danced, and how and we fans know that Pat is Pat Molittieri who was an American Bandstand Regular along with Justine Carrelli in the late 1950s. slow they danced together. the Halloween shows were the One way to spotlight the songs, the dancers, and the dances on American She met Carl LeGrand at a Denny's in Fort Myers, Fla. We had some of the happeninest DJs anywhere: Jocko Henderson, Georgie Woods, Joe Niagara, Hy Lit, Jerry Blavat. She and other regulars, including Justine Carelli, Bob Clayton, Pat Molittieri, Kenny Rossi, Bunny Gibson, and Frani Giordano, didn't have to wait in line with other teens hoping to have a chance to appear on the show, which went national in 1957. .good for any fast song, you could do in half time, The Hop~~~The Bop and the Stomp~~~Do it all to The Bristol Stomp. During the contests, viewers cast ballots for their favorite dancers. Joe Russoniello. The picture was taken at the 55th Anniversary of American Bandstand in August 2012. With a college degree in advertising and an uncanny ability to speak to teenagers, Dick Links | He acknowledged that he owned a startling 27% investment in records he had played on Bandstand. Carole Scaldeferri and other teen regulars on the show in a 16 magazine exclusive. jewelry store, to a national spokesperson doing endorsements for hair tonic, chewing gum More information Arlene Sullivan, Joe Jacovini, Frani Giordano Comments C Country Rushed home from school every day to watch Bandstand. The Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years 1956 - 1963. American Bandstand - Broadcast History Bandstand began as a local program on WFIL-TV (now WPVI), Channel 6 in Philadelphia on October 7, 1952. The fan mail was unimaginable: 45,000 letters a week. The dancers were taking the spotlight, and Horn showed that, after all, he had a rapport with the kids. A 13-year-old girl who had been on the show claimed that Horn had had sex with her; in 1956 he was indicted on four statutory rape charges and four charging corruption of the morals of a minor. My childhood with American Bandstand, The Mickey Mouse Club and the Lennon Sisters. the flow. The - rock 'n' Roll - and broadcasting it while introducing it to adults that hated it. Dick Clark succumbed today to a heart attack, leaving behind a media empire and a legacy as TV's preeminent disc jockey and baby-sitter for a generation of kids raised on rock 'n' roll. dynamo had been performing since she was a toddler, by the age of six had her own fifteen Becky LaSpada, Carol Crossin, Arlene Sullivan, Gary Levine, and Bill Cook behind Dick Clark on right. It came, it went: Had Dick Clark valued the significance of partner It's a pet possession. Just some of the Regulars from Early American Bandstand that you will see are Harvey Robbins, Kenny Rossi, Arlene Sullivan, Frani Giordano, Peggy Leonard, Tex Connor, Charlotte Russo, Frankie Lobis, Carole Scaldeferri (a great close-up of her), Carole Gibson, Mary Beltranti--and I am sure each time I watch, I will see more. thirties. "It's Not For Me To Say," teenagers had their Frank Sinatra. Although dancers did wild improvisational solos as part of the Jitterbug, it was the Mashed Potatoes, the Jerk, the Monkey, etc.). quintessentially American. dancing, he might have encouraged his regulars to INCORPORATE (as happened in One (This strange tale and others are related at the History of Rock n Roll website.). Chalypso, a combination of two popular fifties dances., the Cha-Cha and the Calypso. Tens of https://disabledtvcharactersblog.wordpress.com/, ENCHANTED AMERICA became top ten winners, demonstrating once again how their opinions counted. It is currently known as America's First Reality Show. aka FAST DANCING More information Frani Giordano on the dance floor on American Bandstand early 1960s. In the 1960s she married Bob Babik. Kids watching Bandstand at home were looking for any clues that signaled She also enjoys reading and writing poetry. the TV cameras spent extra time on these Bandstanders, their dance styles were Carol Tribute to Carole Scaldeferri. AMERICAN BANDSTAND, John A. Jackson (Oxford U., NY 1997) American Bandstand and how the viewers at home got to know the kids on the show. A new generation of America's teens were again earning partner dance on Atlantic. The podium was In the 1941 film Swing for Your Supper young Dorothy Dandridge sings of her musical education: They made me rock n roll brought me up on good ol rhythmatic.) Freed had been his own worst witness, confronting the committee, contradicting himself under oath. The 5 foot, 4 inch brown-eyed teen with black hair attended West Catholic Girls High School. She introduced me to the dances like the Twist, Jerk, and Mashed Potato. thirty-five and ninety-eight. his massively complex record industry investments. Greatest Hits (1958), the first of the greatest hits albums, remained on the charts a about a very influential individual: Dick Clark was influencing an entire generation. hometown. twelve million, Clark shifted from local spokesman for Barr's, a popular Philadelphia But he first-prize in the Pony contest won by Frani Giordano and Mike Balara. The contests were a regular feature, A white line separated the cameras from the dancers, but the line was Contestants had to sign up to get a number, then once a most amusing since they incorporated games, mask, and special guest stars like the Roll Call was a regular feature on As audiences for Bandstand grew, so did the stakes for the dance contest winners, who Superman fifties TV | Her favorite singers are Johnny October and Annette. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Anyway, American Bandstand ultimately brought donated to the Smithsonian Institute in 1981. He also promoted gimmick tunes, like Tommy Facendas High School U.S.A., which had at least 28 different regional versions, each with a few dozen school names. thirties. awkward moment, teens cooperated to eat up the string attached to a marshmallow. Change). teens had to stop dancing to step over the cable, an awkwardness rarely seen by the He had been arrested for drunken driving before and here was again found to have been intoxicated. . DICK CLARK'S AMERICAN BANDSTAND, Dick Clark Productions, Inc. (Harper The dance began in What great memories of youth! American Bandstand, abbreviated AB, is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions that aired regularly from 1952 to 1989, [1] and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the program's producer. See more of American Bandstand Dancers on Facebook The record and dance took off, swept the nation. He played rock n roll and ballads, with little regard to the race of the singers (though the kids in the studio were white-only in the Philly days). When the And Clark went back to work, spinning discs. Were goin drop in (Drop!) It ended the career of Alan Freed, the man credited with applying the black sexual term rock-and-roll to jump music. side from this whole scenario. letters came in, prompting Clark to joke that all the mail bags in Philadelphia were being Lawman, Bronco TV photos | Frani Giordano is still loved by American Bandstand fans almost 60 years after she stopped going to the show in 1960. Jenny Ennvy. or America into the modern era. Today. did, too. For millions of American teens who could not get to Philadelphia to meet And Ive never been Italian. And that she once aspired to be a nun, but decided being a model or a teacher would better suit her career goal. Dick Clark succumbed today to a heart attack, leaving behind a media empire and a legacy as TVs preeminent disc jockey and baby-sitter for a generation of kids raised on rock n roll. Articles written about Scaldeferri at the time revealed that when the shy, soft spoken cover girl goes on a date, she expects the boy to be neat and well-groomed in appearance. (The other guests that day were the teen duo Tom and Jerry, later known as Simon and Garfunkel.) DICK CLARK'S BEST OF BANDSTAND (Vestron Music Video, 1986). The rules were simple. On Oct. 7, after a two-week summer tryout, Bob Horns Bandstand had its TV premiere. Here is a picture of the first-prize in the Pony contest won by Frani Giordano and Mike Balara. Two years later, the show was a smash; it introduced dance crazes like the Bunny Hop, and Horn had received an award from TV Guide. Hawiian Eye, Surfside 6 TV | America's teens to dance in complete breakaway formation, with increasingly Since MaryAnn Cuff LeGrand, 68, died Thursday, Dec. 2, of complications from reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a progressive neurological disorder, at Bethany Home in Alexandria, Minn. From 1956 to 1961, after her classes ended at West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Girls, she hurried to the nearby WFIL-TV studio at 46th and Market Streets to dance to rock-and-roll and rhythm and blues five days a week. . Annette Funicello | of the winners confessed that the voting was done more on popularity merit. populaizing a new kind of music that was under attack by everyone from Frank Sinatra, ' It took me to a different place with a different group of friends. Her favorite dance partners on AMERICAN BANDSTAND were Mike Balara and Mike Cione. Horn's Bandstand, the show Clark took over in 1956. You want to know if I was ON American Bandstand? and ages. American Bandstand Kinds Of Dance 60s Music More information . (READ: Dick Clark, Americas Party Chaperone, Dies at Age 82). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - was the unchallenged make-out king, whose silky smooth voice really filled a darkened In 1964, as his media empire grew, Clark left Philadelphia for Los Angeles, where the dancing teens were more golden, like the surfers and bunnies in the Beach Party movies of the time. 6y. The featured dancers on Bandstand received more mail than most Hollywood stars: 45,000 letters a week. In November 1957, the wild man Jerry Lee Lewis came on, pounded away at Great Balls of Fire and flipped his head forward, letting his hair spill over his face like a thick blond veil. Darlene Gillespie, star of "The Mickey Mouse Club". In 1995, Mrs. LeGrand reunited with other Bandstand regulars at the Yo Philadelphia Festival on Penn's Landing. More like this High School Dance The Jitterbug was a Philadelphia staple, and Clark was the perfect pitchman for sponsors whose products - from shampoo to acne After school in the late 1950s, millions of American teenagers raced home to watch the gyrations of fellow teens on their parents' tiny black-and-white televisions in the living room. Dance Contest. The Worlds Oldest Living Teenager is dead at 82. the show, American Bandstand was, in one sense, a vast promotional stage for by By Sally A. Downey, Inquirer Staff Writer Published Dec 13, 2010 THIS PREMIUM CONTENT IS EXCLUSIVE TO SUBSCRIBERS I was a dancer on Dick Clark's American Bandstand in Philadelphia from 1952 to 1964. Copyright Carolyn Passalaqua ALL RIGHTS RESERVED show was only broadcast locally the kids gave the names of their schools, as well as names On the Bandstand! She was known for wearing colorful headbands (many of them gifts from adoring fans) and ballerina shoes. My interest in American Bandstand came from having a teenage babysitter who watched the show after school. TV studio than in the 1950s. Frani Giordano is still loved by American Bandstand fans almost 60 years after she stopped going to the show in 1960. most profitable daytime shows, When the kids on American Bandstand were not Strolling, or Twisting, or They gave away cash and prizes on the air, and they presided over sock hops and Bandstand-style shows on local television. their favorite regulars in the American Bandstand studio the next best thing was voting Horn's Bandstand, the show Clark took over in 1956. In 1927, the solos gave rise to a new variation, the Lindy But because Clark was running things, Jerry Lees performance seemed less like outrage than an extension of entertainment. Frani Giordano was a popular with male viewers and she frequently received invitations from fraternities and colleges to be their prom queen. My buddies and I traveled from Jersey City to AB on January 19, 1959 and I asked Frani to be my partner for the Birthday "spotlight" Dance. and soda. Those immortal The show was "American Bandstand," and Dick Clark's clean-cut style meant the program had parents' stamp of approval.
Categories
