The 50 record albums are packed away for safekeeping., Normans passing He still had that in him until the evening before he passed away. Where Are the American Bandstand Regulars Now? The marker stands opposite 4548 Market Street (not shown here), which once housed WFIL-TVand its Studio B, the original home of American Bandstand. What they didnt know was that Arlene and several of the other female dancers, and most of the handsome teen boys, were gay. The two sides were "Drive in Movie " and "Dream Girl." Dick Clark never played either song on American Bandstand. In August 1963, ABC reassignedAmerican Bandstandto Saturday afternoon. Reply. For a time, she dated a neighborhood boy, Danny Rapp, lead singer of Danny & the Juniors, who had the hit song At the Hop., I was so afraid that I started trying to talk myself into being straight, Sullivan says. This site is not endorsed by or associated with dick clark productions, inc. or its family of companies. A funeral director in Newtown Square confirmed Monday night that Mrs. Spada had died, but declined to divulge the details before meeting with her family. From its earliest days, the show featured young people dancing to a rock-and-roll soundtrack or other popular genres of the day. And more than 250 fans too, a number of them quite young, who had just heard of the show and were curious. She was 36. Such white Philadelphia-area teens (many from South Philadelphia or near the shows production site in West Philadelphia), among others, regularly appeared on American Bandstand. 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. We may earn a commission from links on this page. (7/21/2011) I just received this from Bunny Gibson and certainly thought it was appropriate to mention here: Anna Russo, formerly Anna Banani, went to American Bandstand 1963 until AB left Philly for Los Angeles, lost both of her legs to diabetes and is in need. The show, hosted by Dick Clark, sounds like it was both a community of welcome amongst the teens and a repressive construct from higher ups. The big teenybopper magazines of the era Sixteen and Teen plastered Bandstand dancers on their covers and wrote glowing, gossipy stories about their lives in Philadelphia, where Dick Clark produced the show. 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!. I went to coffee shops, but I also hung out in Rittenhouse Square and so did many of the dancers. 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. News Shows 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. Despite changes over the years, the show continued to embody and represent evolutions in American music, fashion, dance, and other sociocultural norms. Whose Culture? The TV exposure, plus the profiles some of the dancers were given in Teen magazine in the late 1950s, made them instant celebrities. The first book party was in November in where else? We've received your submission. London: Omnibus Press, 2006. Ripley W.va, Great article Larry love your antiques blog . A Midlothian-based freelance writer, Martha Steger has received national awards for her journalism, essays, short fiction and poetry. Amanda McClain is Assistant Professor of Communications at Holy Family University. The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. As Sullivan puts it: The boys danced. ". Marietta. Don married Bunny. Brancaccio says thats what attracted him to it. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Ross Media Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. In its later years the show was challenged by the diversifying tastes of fragmented audiences. That really annoyed me because quite a few of the Philadelphia dancers on Bandstand died of AIDS, Smith said. Ohio, great article, in the late 1950s i wouldnt miss watching the show for anything , I still have some of those records that bring back a lot of memories, my boyfriend and i won a lot of dance contests at Marietta high dancing to the "Mashed Potatoe" by Dee Dee Sharp and the Twist by Chubby Checker: really love your column in the Marietta Times every Monday , keep up the great articles. My friends went to church dances every Friday and Saturday night. 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. Clark pulled him within two feet of the camera and told America, "Steve is our newest regular, and he's going to lead us off with a spotlight dance. "He made sure the guys wore suits and we were dressed properly. Brian Henderson The Executives Bill & Boyd He was 82, and had suffered a heart attack while in a Santa Monica hospital for an outpatient procedure. Delmont, Matthew. 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. Handbags - Formal Wear. [1] John A. Jackson,American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock n Roll Empire(New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), chaps. "He made me feel that if you want something in life, you have to be serious about it.". 1 (2012): 89-113. I said, In that case, Im staying. I was shocked. In front of the camera, Clark called the shots. She and her husband, Richard Spada, lived in Philadelphia and Lansdowne before moving to Newtown Square. While ABC wasnt in the quiz show business, a congressional subcommittee found another reason to investigate the network. 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. Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." 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. On the other hand, they had each other. Television host Dick Clark presides over the set of his show American Bandstand in 1957. This historical marker recalls Dick Clarks American Bandstand, which was broadcast from West Philadelphia from 1957 to 1964. 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. Many subsequently became celebrities (albeit temporarily), appearing in other media, receiving fan mail, and starting fashion trends. He discussed his brief stay in Hollywood trying to become an actor after he and Justine Carrelli cut a 45 rpm record together. Clark was known for integrating his audiences as well as his performers unusual in the late 50s. Ray first attended Bandstand in the summer of 1956. Emphasizing this sentiment, Philadelphian John Oates (of musical duo Hall & Oates) said, The show had such an impact on the music business, it set the tone and the pace for teenage style and attitude and everything else across America., Jordan McClain is Assistant Teaching Professor of Communication at Drexel University. 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. (Twentieth Century Fox), Soft Science extends that legacy on its third album, Maps (Test Pattern), and adds its own twists. Clark joined Bandstand in 1956 and moved with the show to Hollywood in 1964. Don and Bunny had two daughters: Angel and Maria and four grandchildren: Lea & Christopher Di Vello, Alexis Karanzalis & Nicole Weiss. He was 89 years old. 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. 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. "When I walked through those doors, that was the only place I wanted to be," said Gibson, 66, an actress who now lives in Los Angeles. Bandstand began as a local program on WFIL-TV (now WPVI), Channel 6 in Philadelphia on October 7, 1952. As the books highlight, Ray Smith and Arlene Sullivan provided two thoughtful and unadornedBandstandmemoirs. The new legislation effectively ended payola in the music business.2, American Bandstandtoo weathered the payola storm. They even invented a few the Stroll, the Circle and the Chalypso. A case in point is Arlene Sullivan, a popular Regular who has described her own emerging lesbian sexual orientation, which she says was masked by her dance partnerships with boys. Cutler will be appearing Monday to talk about her book atMax and Benny's restaurant in Northbrook. The 1960 amendments to the 1934 Federal Communications Act put heavy constraints on payola, requiring full public disclosure when a record company or its agent pays a broadcaster to play records on the air. The 1960 amendments criminalized any action that breached the disclosure rule. . Like Rick Pierce, Bandstand dancer Sandra Mae Dawson, who died Feb. 25, 2008, at age 66, was into car racing. "My heart hurts," said Gibson, a regular from 1959 to 1961. Wagon Train Website,