american bandstand regulars who have died

"What ever happened to those dancers on American Bandstand By Larry Koon It was horrible.. Bandstand (Australia) - Nostalgia Central In 2014, the National Enquirer interviewed Frank Brancaccio and Eddie Kelly, other series regulars. Movies. They are extending the honeymoon in Stone Mountain, Georgia, where Duke has called home. Throughout its run the show featured various types of popular music, such as rock-and-roll, R&B, Motown, British rock, psychedelic rock, disco, new wave, and more. 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. There were quite a few Regulars crossing over at that time. They were real kids from Philly, and if you watched every day, you could tell who was breaking up and who was making up. In fact, it was dangerous. (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. and they put a drinking cup in front of him and said, This is your cup, and youre the only one who will use this cup. One friend of mine was kicked out of the house.. Many other Bandstand alumni from the show's Philadelphia era were overcome with a rush of memories Wednesday. It was shot live from Studio B at Forty-Sixth and and Market Streets, where the two . Dancing was a major feature of Bandstand. The soft, almost cooed vocals of singer Katie Haley bring a pop veneer. Ray first attended Bandstand in the summer of 1956. Dancer - AB65 Regular 1 episode, 1964 Jocelyn Lane . I did notice the studio was not as full, allowing the Regulars much more camera time. He said funeral services are pending. One chapter in the book, "Tributes to the Regulars," features short sketches of some of those dancers who have died. I was trying to hit them over their heads with my pocketbook, but they just wouldnt give up. Where Are the American Bandstand Regulars Now? They were hurting him. . Unsure and fearful about her true sexual identity, Sullivan tried passing as straight. 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. He will never forget one of his first days on Bandstand. American Bandstand - Home - Facebook .When he spoke to us off-screen, it was usually from the podium; it gave him command over his domain, and as I have learned over the years, Clark liked and wanted to be in command.4, Smith recalls the closetingof American BandstandsLGBT youths. 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. 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. Ray Smith was one of the shows secretly gay dancers. ofGreaterPhiladelphia. 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. 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. 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. Later, in hindsight, I guessed that made me the first white Rosa Parks. Classic TV Shows - Dick Clark's American Bandstand| FiftiesWeb Mrs. Spada attended West Catholic Girls High School. Delmont, Matthew. His latest book, The Kardashians: An American Drama, will be published in September. But it was not easy on the mean streets of Philadelphia to be a Bandstand regular suspected of being gay. About Us - American Bandstand Diaries The Philly Years Where We sent some 15,000 fan letters each week. [6] Jackson,American Bandstand, 71; Jacksons description of Arlene Sullivan. 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. Connecting the Past with the Present, Building Community, Creating a Legacy, TheEncyclopedia . American Bandstand (TV Series 1952-1989) - IMDb [4] Ray Smith, Dancing on Air, in Arlene Sullivan, Ray Smith, and Sharon Sultan Cutler, eds.,Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years, 1956-1963(Chicago: Cony Island Press, 2019), 35. We followed their dance steps on TV and their personal lives in Teen magazines. . They were hurting him. Carole made the world a better place," Gibson wrote on a Facebook page called America's Original Bandstand Dancers. Soft Science extends that legacy on its third album, Maps (Test Pattern), and adds its own twists. Years later, when Clark was asked whether any of the dancers had died of AIDS, he stated that one had, Smith recalled. American Bandstandsrelegation to a weekly schedule stripped it of much of its power as a potential hit song exposer, writes the music historian John Jackson. She was a senior.and luckily on the Honor Roll. 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!. But to his credit and diligence, he brilliantly created his own myth, and he stuck to it for the rest of his life. However, advertisers do to enable personalized ads. MEMORIALS - marshasvintage.com 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. This is the interview with Arlene, Kenny, Frank and Carole about their days on American Bandstand and their experiences with the Golden Boys. Teenagers and young adults ran home from school to watch them jitterbug and stroll while they copied their fashions, fads and dance moves. He still had that in him until the evening before he passed away. He fell in love with her. They werent playing basketball. . The most comprehensive, authoritative reference source ever created for the Philadelphia region. Philadelphia. Particularly during the show's prime Philadelphia years (1952-63), Philadelphia youth culture became American culture through American Bandstand. They were introduced as a result of an email sent to the Fifties Web. 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 all did. The bashing of Bandstand regulars, gay and straight, happened all the time, Sullivan and Smith reveal. Talevski, Nick. She says she never had a crush on a straight dancer, and was close friends with celebrity guest Annette Funicello. This included dances the Bop, the Twist, the Jitterbug, and the Stroll. Who died from American Bandstand? - Daily Justnow Self - Interview 1 episode, 1965 . The marker stands opposite 4548 Market Street (not shown here), which once housed WFIL-TVand its Studio B, the original home of American Bandstand. We would roar, roll over with pain from laughing so hard. 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. 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. The show also incorporated appearances by acts like Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon, and Connie Francis, who would lip-sync performances. That really annoyed me, said Smith, Because quite a few of the Philadelphia dancers on Bandstand died of AIDS., According to Brancaccio, Clark didnt want racial integration on his show either. I knew I was different early on, but being with all these [Bandstand] friends, I came to terms with my feelings. ), Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. Clark suffered a heart attack while at St. John's. We elevated them into celebrities. See more of American Bandstand Dancers on Facebook He discussed his brief stay in Hollywood trying to become an actor after he and Justine Carrelli cut a 45 rpm record together. I was so afraid that I started trying to talk myself into being straight. These Regulars went on to receive mail, have fan clubs, feature magazine articles and dancer contests just like the previous groups. It was a local show Philadelphia, Jersey, the Lehigh Valley [Pennsylvania]. I still really didnt know who I was. . Dick Clark was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, OH, in 1993 as a non-performer. Numerous black and white performers who appeared on American Bandstand during its seven-year heyday in West Philadelphia are also memorialized in this building. 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. Some of the stories I heard are heartbreaking, Sullivan recalls. He promoted the couples on the show to mask the fact that so many guys were gay.5. 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. 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. In the early 1960s, a new collection of teen regulars succeeded Arlene Sullivan's generation on American Bandstand's dance floor. The original "Bandstand," as it was called in 1952, was first hosted by deejay Bob Horn, who later was fired due to a drunk-driving conviction.. . 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. The History of "American Bandstand" - LiveAbout SaturdayBandstandretained the proven format of the now defunct weekday show, but it sustained a crucial loss of spontaneity as a result of being taped instead of shown live. Although, unlike some others, Carole never really had a steady dancing partner, she danced with all the good-looking Italian boys and that one special non-Italian whom everyone loved - Harvey Robbins. 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. Mixed REGULARS Galleries. He debuted in Studio 3B at WFIL-TV, near the El train stop in West Philadelphia, in 1956 when he was a 13-year-old junior high school student. Rock, Roll and Remember. On a sociological front, the show helped popularize rock and roll and make it acceptable to many adults (i.e., parents). Read the review. Brancaccio says thats what attracted him to it. Determined, Don got Bunnys number from one of the regulars and he met his dream girl. . It was horrible., Smith says he was lucky to have escaped a beating. In February 2020, it was announced that Henderson had contracted kidney cancer and opted not to receive treatment. Handbags - Formal Wear. On December 27 Bunny Gibson, American Bandstand Regular from 1959-1962, married Duke Tirschel in Chattanooga , Tennessee. Special Features: The dancers, as Teen wrote, were the "most famous unknowns on TV today. But most have fond memories of their short time in the spotlight and of its lingering effect. So Bandstand really did change her life in many ways. . We call him Namron and yes, if you spell his name backwards it spells, Norman. Im sure shell be thrilled to hear well wishes and from Bandstand friends and fans and donations would help her a lot. The followed the trend of solo (open) dancing started by Chubby Checker and The Twist. Some solo dances had animal names, for example, The Pony and The Monkey; others were named for motions, for example, The Mashed Potato and The Loco-Motion. Two of the biggest record hits of the early 1960s, both of which received a huge boost from airtime onAmerican Bandstand, were Dee Dee Sharps Mashed Potato Time and Freddy Cannons Palisades Park.8, YetAmerican Bandstandsseven-year stint in West Philadelphia was about to end. The new legislation effectively ended payola in the music business.2, American Bandstandtoo weathered the payola storm. She was 36. Making Philadelphia Safe for WFIL-adelphia: Television, Housing, and Defensive Localism in Postwar Philadelphia. Journal of Urban History, 38, no. Lowell. Carole Ann Scaldeferri Spada, 70, of Newtown Square, a regular dancer on American Bandstand from 1957 to 1961, has died. I never had a crush on her. 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. They joined Arlenes and Kennys fan clubs. Fabian and Bobby Rydell Hang With American Bandstand Regulars - YouTube LGBT identities were hidden on the shows dancefloor. Follow The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia on Instagram I met Joyce and Norman at the Steel Pier one summer and found them both to be so nice. The shy Sullivan pushed herself forward with the contact because she wanted to get on TV to impress her mother. But . 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. Henderson remained the chief newsreader for Australia's Channel 9 until finally announcing his retirement in 2002. REGULARS Gallery 2. 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. Let the good times roll! 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. From its earliest days, the show featured young people dancing to a rock-and-roll soundtrack or other popular genres of the day. TV Ratings - US & UK, Quiz Shows And, for me, the kids on Bandstand were all I aspired to be. American Bandstand Dancer Dottie Horner died yesterday. American Bandstand Day: Dick Clark receives a proclamation designating Market Street as Bandstand Boulevard. She and her husband, Richard Spada, lived in Philadelphia and Lansdowne before moving to Newtown Square. 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. American Bandstand only allowed dancers from 14 to 18. 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. In 1964, he joined the National Guard and did basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Ohio. Pat Molitteeri was credited with inventing the dance, "The Hop" by combining elements of the Slop and the Bop, Pat died in the mid -1970s of a heart attack at age 36, Carmen Jimenez still lives in Philadelphia today and recollects the fun she had being on the show. The kids who showed up every day (Bandstand aired every weekday afternoon for the first six years) knew all the most popular steps. Arguably, American Bandstand both contributed to racial integration and supported racial segregation. 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. A storybook ending to a tale that began with American Bandstand, albeit 40 years ago. "He was the commander," Colanero said. "American Bandstand" goes national - History Clark joined Bandstand in 1956 and moved with the show to Hollywood in 1964. [2] Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Paylola and Sponsorship Identification, Federal Communications Act, Amendments, 1960. . 1 (2012): 89-113. Dick Clark (1929-2012) replaced Horn as host in 1956, just before the show was renamed American Bandstand, shortened to ninety minutes, and expanded to a national ABC audience on August 5, 1957. In 1962, ABC trimmed the shows airtime from 90 to 60 minutes. Conceivably, this helped promote racial equality and intercultural understanding. I think [the shows success] even surprised Dick Clark.. He died on 5 August 2021 at his home in Sydney. Amanda McClain is Assistant Professor of Communications at Holy Family University. Broadcast only on Saturdays after 1963, American Bandstand lost the homegrown vitality of the daily program in West Philadelphia. 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.. Dick Clarks tight control on the sexual expression of his cast extended to a denial years after the show had ended. . The Twist the first dance to come out where people danced separately and the Monkey and Jerk came out after Id left.. american bandstand regulars who have died - mazoutdft.com Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012. The most memorable day for Norman and me was April 13, 1961, the day we won second place in the Pony Dance Contest. "It was arduous at first," she says. 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. 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. In March of 1970 we moved to New Jersey. 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. Clark felt such conventions helped boost the perception of rock-and-roll, which in the 1950s was a controversial genre often disliked by older generations. Barbara finally came back and said I had to come to the front because the back was only for colored people. "I loved those kids," she says now, living with her husband on the Northwest Side of Chicago. The Bop. In 1989, Clark, aged 59, retired fromAmerica Bandstand, and the show ended that year. We moved around the floor the way our parents did in the 40s. Click here to see some of your favorites back in action. He remembered Clark as a man of few words who kept a professional distance between himself and the teen dancers. Nicholas Fiorentino, 67, a South Philly native now living in Cherry Hill, said it was clear even to Bandstand teenagers that Clark was going places. Briefly it was part of the USA Network with new host David Hirsh but went off the air in 1989. I still have my HI-FI sitting against a wall between my living room and dining room. And the one thing that really shocked me was that those boys who were 14 and 15 and 16 were sleeping with each other.. View Our Classic TV Shows Directory James Morgan, who danced 17 times on Bandstand and stayed interested in it over the years, said Mrs. Spada had run a beauty parlor in the suburbs. They were on the cover of "Dick Clark's American Bandstand " and have done many Documentaries R.I.P. We each won a HI-FI, and 50 record albums. 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. H.E. "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. 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. Words by Barry Manilow and Bruse Sussman, Were goin hoppin (Hop!) Dick Clark 1929 2012, Dick Clark with Johnny Crawford. 10/7/1957 9/5/1987 ABC 60 minutes 28 talking about this. DICK CLARK AND AMERICAN BANDSTAND: THE EARLY DAYS Random Thoughts SURPRISING DICK CLARK ON THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW! | American Bandstand In front of the camera, Clark called the shots. He was 82. Clark "was very all-American, handsome, and nice, a father figure to us," she recalled. 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. 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. The American Bandstand Regulars tell us what Studio B means to them today and yesterday, with special guest appearance by the American Bandstand Fan Club pre. In an online page marking her 68th birthday on Nov. 23, 2011, Bandstand "documentarian" Charles W. Amann III posted: "The name Scaldeferri and American Bandstand go hand-in-hand. Teen idol Bobby Rydell, whose music career is still going strong 60 years after American Bandstand, wrote the books introduction; but former Regular Arlene Sullivan, who shares her memories and personal images, is a standout as well as a co-author of the book. Menu. Thanks for contacting us. She acknowledges that some of the other girls she knew on the show were also gay. Clark weathered the hearings by not being fully transparent, and he avoided being indicted for criminal behavior. One night at a party I met a girl who was one of the stars on American Bandstand I was blown away.. There 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. 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. The reality behind the scenes ofAmerican Bandstandwas quite different than what viewers saw on national television. I do hope you continuing writing about the bandstanders. On the other hand, they had each other. //-->. The dark-complexioned, wavy-haired Sullivan6bolstered American Bandstands image as a show dominated by Italian-American teens. As music styles evolved, American Bandstand incorporated more emerging genres. "For all those who knew her throughout her life and for those who watched her dance on American Bandstand, Carole was full of love and full of God. So fearful of the kids real behavior, [Clark] imposed a strict dress code: jackets and ties for boys, and nothing tight for girls. Fundraiser for the renovation of the original American Bandstand Studio Floor ", In a Time.com obituary for Dick Clark, who died April 18, 2012, a reporter wrote: "Lou DeSera, Carmen Jimenez, Carole Scaldeferri, Rosemarie 'Little Roe' DiCristo: they may sound like characters on The Sopranos, but they were just ordinary kids, with extraordinary luck of being in Philadelphia at the moment the old town lit the fuse for the rock explosion.". Known as the Regulars, they became the nation's first reality stars. you could do in half time - the hop, the bop, and the stomp," she wrote. American Bandstand aired five days a week in live national broadcast until 1963, when the show moved west to Los Angeles and began a 24-year run as a taped weekly program with Dick Clark as host . . It originally aired as simply "Bandstand" in 1952, shot at WFIL-TV's studios in Philadelphia and airing locally. e9.size = "300x250"; And he has the one criteria required to attract Bunny Gibson. At the height of its popularity, it was watched daily by 20 million people (by contrast, "Dancing With the Stars" drew 13 million viewers weekly last season), with an estimated half of them adults; its teenage dancers got as many as 45,000 fan letters a week. BANDSTAND DIARIES is a coffee-table book that offers readers a nostalgic walk through those halcyon, memory-filled days when rock n roll became the soundtrack of a generation, when television was in grainy black and white and when a 45 RPM record cost less than 70 cents. Never, did I ever think that I would be with him, holding his hand when he passed away.

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