Abortion was illegal, and scandalous. Horn called his radio program "The Bob Horn Bandstand," which had a nice, alliterative sound. The DA announced his indictment of Horn and Allison at the same press conference, in October of 1956. Prior to the move, Bandstand had sourced many of its up-and-coming acts from Philadelphia's Cameo-Parkway Records. From 1965 to 1967 Dick Clark also produced a show called Shebang which spotlighted a Mexican-American regular, Manuel Acosta, who slow-danced with a blonde white girl named Lynn. But our Philadelphia program had a history of racial exclusion that was more complex — and more interesting. Dave Feldman, a Bandstand dancer, suggests one reason why so many of the kids came from Catholic schools: “They were taught that dancing was wrong, and especially that girls shouldn’t dance on television, so they did it to rebel.” Also, the closest school to the studio, geographically, was a Catholic one. Blanc’s sting operation was hush-hush except for the private phone call that Blanc made to his friend at WFIL, towards the end of the investigation, to alert him to the Bob Horn problem. This show debuted on television from 2:45 to 5 p.m. on October 7, 1952. Lee Stewart & Bob Horn on the 1st Bandstand Set The idea of two people hosting was basically because of the radio success of "The 950 Club" hosted by Broadcast Pioneers members Joe Grady and Ed Hurst. They wouldn’t get up unless the bunny hop was playing. He usually brought some of his young clients with him and arranged dates — photographic and otherwise — for them. For a brief time in 1973, Bandstand alternated its time slot with Soul Unlimited,[9] a show featuring soul music that was hosted by Buster Jones. Hosted by Bob Horn as a television adjunct to his radio show of the same name on WFIL radio, Bandstand mainly featured short musical films produced by Snader Telescriptions and Official Films, with occasional studio guests. The program was broadcast live, weekday afternoons and, by 1959, the show had a national audience of 20 million. Instead of shortening or moving Bandstand, ABC opted to just begin Bandstand at 3 pm, cut away to Who Do You Trust? This soon became a potential explosive situation, so the studio created an admission system that required passes that were distributed prior to the day of the show. So if you got on the show once you were assured of returning, as long as they liked you, ahead of people who phoned in or wrote in. He was convicted and sentenced to jail for that, but not for his sexual activities. On Oct. 7, after a two-week summer tryout, Bob Horn’s Bandstand had its TV premiere. The shows were usually produced in either Stage 54 or Stage 55 at ABC Television Center. 54 likes. During this time, there were occasionally shows that were not hosted by Clark, in which case a substitute host (among them being Rick Azar) would be brought in to host in Clark's stead. This log was entered as evidence at Allison’s trial, and this self-serving document — combined with a parade of civic leaders and city officials as character witnesses — got Allison a not-guilty verdict. The slimmer, more youthful, “squeaky clean” deejay Dick Clark would inherit the program and Horn’s role as deejay host and adapt both for a national audience. Horn ended his career working in Texas using a pseudonym. His 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. radio show took place in a club-like setting where food and drinks were served, so it was a magnet for playboys, for girls who wanted to taste show biz glamour, and men who wanted to arrange introductions and get some action. Michael Jackson, a frequent Bandstand guest, performed He is buried at the Forest Park cemetery in Houston, Texas with the simple epitaph, "Bandstand". We thought it was unfair but we followed the rules. Freddy Cannon holds the record for most appearances, at 110. Cuz Bongiorno became a regular at Bandstand early in 1953. ", "Forty years after 'Bandstand' debut, Clark and dancers celebrate", "ORIGINAL DANCERS WILL GRANDSTAND AT `BANDSTAND' REUNION", "American Bandstand, Season 30, Episode 38: Laura Brannigan (Final ABC show)", "Dick Clark's On a Roll : He Tunes In to TV Trends", "Dick Clark celebrates American Bandstand's 35th", "AB now in syndication: Jody Watley, Dan Hill, David Spade", "RETRO: Fairbanks, Alaska (October 24, 1987)", "Retro: Northern Wisconsin, Sat. I know the producers found it embarrassing. “Bob Horn complimented me on my dancing ability and for the way I dressed. In the course of his probe Blanc discovered connections between many disparate people. But when it came to rock ‘n’ roll music, he was not a pioneer at all. Horn was kind and fatherly to these teenagers. Horn loved jazz, especially Dizzy Gillespie, Erroll Garner and Sarah Vaughan, and he produced Vaughan’s first Philadelphia concert. These kids invented new dance steps and made The Bunny Hop and The Bristol Stomp popular. After the indictment was announced, Adleman hastily wrote a press release to save the city from embarrassment. She isn’t reluctant or shy. "Studio 'B'" measured 80' x 42' x 24', but appeared smaller due to the number of props, television cameras, and risers that were used for the show. To discredit Lois’s reputation, the defense produced a man, with no connection to Horn, who testified that Lois once accepted money to have sex with him. Horn’s radio program was called The Bob Horn Bandstand, which had a nice, alliterative sound. Dick Clark, wherever you are, we miss you. But when the program passed its 50th anniversary, there was no commemoration. Menefee was a curmudgeon on the air. “Horn didn’t act like a star,” he says. Cameraman Vince Gasbarro said: “Horn was old-looking. He admitted that he gave her birthday presents — a record player one year and one hundred dollars cash another year. Management was so happy with Horn’s ratings that they let him choose whatever music he wished; he didn’t need to “shove” those songs. The sad truth, though, is that the kids who danced to the records appeared to be almost all white. His conversation with them was stilted; he never associated with them as equals. Published 2003 in TotalTheater, copyright by Steve Cohen. Horn developed a daily ritual of kids judging new records. When the ABC television networ… Four months later, Horn was arrested on morals charges. By coincidence, it relocated to Los Angeles the same week — in February 1964 — that the Beatles flew to New York for their first appearance on Ed Sullivan. Off-camera his personality was abrasive, egotistical and aggressive. The hosting job went to a dour fellow named Bob Horn, who had been running the Bandstand show on WFIL radio. Dick Clark Comes to Bandstand “It became a second home for me, an Italian-Jewish kid from a broken family in South Philly. The disc jockey might have gone back on the air after a few days, however, if the city’s district attorney hadn’t made a phone call to the station. Segregation such as seen on Bandstand during the late Fifties and early Sixties was characteristic of American society during that time, when ‘separate but equal’ was still viewed as legitimate by many Americans.”, Black composer Leroy (“After the Lights Go Down Low”) Lovett is from an older generation and looks at things more benignly. The next day Bill Sylk — owner of WPEN and the Sun Ray Drug chain — called Walter Annenberg and said ‘If you steal my talent I’ll pull a million dollars of Sun Ray advertising out of the Inquirer.’ After that threat, WFIL withdrew its offer to us and that was the end of that.”. [21] The show's new set was similar to that of Soul Train. Worden’s parties included nudity and sexual promiscuity. unsold game show pilots). The men sat on chairs against the walls of the studio and the girls sometimes knelt in front of them and pleasured them. All of these singers were white, and their style was pop, not rock ‘n’ roll. The use of videotape allowed Clark to produce and host a series of concert tours around the success of American Bandstand and to pursue other broadcast interests. After you got a committee card you didn’t have to wait in line to get into the show. Time to give credit where it is due! District Attorney Victor Blanc was a friend of my father’s who appeared to be intelligent and reasonable. One show from this first season (December 18, 1957, indicated as the "Second National Telecast") is now in the archives of Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications. His demeanor was haughty. I always thought Horn did a poor job relating to the kids. Of course it never was. On July 31, 1966 While mowing his lawn, Bob Horn had a heart attack brought on by heat stroke. Despite the fact that three area high schools - West Philadelphia High, West Catholic High for Girls, and West Catholic for Boys was [5], Bandstand originally used "High Society" by Artie Shaw as its theme song, but by the time the show went national, it had been replaced by various arrangements of Charles Albertine's "Bandstand Boogie," including Les Elgart's big-band recording remembered by viewers of the daily version. The white kids had no problem with the new dress code. Dec 7, 2018 - Here are some of the most popular Regulars who danced on Dick Clark's American Bandstand beginning in 1957. Frank Spagnuola, a white Italian-American, was a Bandstand regular. Tony Mammarella was the original producer with Ed Yates as director. From September 13, 1986, to September 5, 1987, Manilow's version was replaced at the close of the show by a new closing theme arranged by David Russo, who also performed an updated instrumental arrangement of "Bandstand Boogie" when Bandstand went into syndication. The program’s first host was Bob Horn. Most people around the station found him less than charming. Time to give credit where it is due! I went to Alan Freed’s concerts at the Paramount and black kids didn’t show up there either. Bob Horn, for all his character flaws, was a transitional figure in rock and roll history. So, when he went on TV, Bandstand was the obvious choice for a name. American Bandstand premiered locally in late March 1950 as Bandstand on Philadelphia television station WFIL-TV Channel 6 (now WPVI-TV), as a replacement for a weekday movie that had shown predominantly British films. Philadelphia’s broadcasting sex scandal of 1956 was an early object lesson. Bob is asking me to rate a record. This, however, was basically a talent show and dancing was secondary. After a ten-month hiatus,[32] Bandstand moved to cable on USA Network[33][34] on April 8, 1989,[35] with comedian David Hirsch[36][37][38][39][40] taking over hosting duties. The combined impact of Bandstand's move to California and the Beatles' arrival devastated Cameo-Parkway and inflicted permanent damage to the artists signed to the label.[8]. He gave special attention to local singers including Sunny Gale, Gloria Mann, Georgie Shaw and Micki Marlo. What I did find lacked detail, was disjointed or incorrect. The segment gave rise, perhaps apocryphally, to the phrase "It's got a good beat and you can dance to it. [2] Horn was temporarily replaced by producer Tony Mammarella before the job went to Dick Clark permanently. Not nasty trouble. It also was a prototype for musical television properties including cable channel MTV and Fox's reality-competition show American Idol. Everyone in the country knew Kefauver’s smiling image; virtually no one knew the ordinary, middle-aged face of Vic Blanc. Set pieces from Soul Unlimited were utilized by Bandstand for its 1974–1978 set design. The show's popularity helped Dick Clark become an American media mogul and inspired similar long-running music programs, such as Soul Train and Top of the Pops. As fate would have it, during the summer of 1952, the FCC ended its four year ban on the establishment of new TV stations, and the network abandoned radio in favor of TV. Hosted by local radio personality Bob Horn, the original Bandstand nevertheless established much of the basic format of its later incarnation. “The event will be re-scheduled later,” his press release said. The show that evolved into American Bandstand began on Philadephias WFIL-TV in 1952, a few years before the popular ascension of rock and roll. When Horn got busted, the teenagers were shocked. As fate would have it, during the summer of 1952, the FCC ended its four year ban on the establishment of new TV stations, and the network abandoned radio in favor of TV. Then my crowd all sat down. There were trysts of another Jacobs model and another WPEN announcer, and other girls had encounters with a publicist and a photographer, respected professionals who were in love with their wives and felt they were just having some harmless, job-related fun on the side. Dick Clark later wrote that he kept that dress code when he took over because “it made the show acceptable to adults who were frightened by the teenage world and teenage music.” Some observers might say that he was making the show acceptable to people who were frightened by the appearance of blacks. Other performers including Brandy, members of KISS, Dennis Quaid and his band The Sharks, Cher, and Stevie Wonder also performed to remember the iconic program.[46]. The sex-with-minors angle was too shocking for public consumption, and the station didn’t dare to reveal it. He asked for, and received, whiskey, cash and women from record-promotion men. Maybe he was on edge because the vice trial was about to start a few days later. In addition, the girl who accused Joe Valino of arranging her abortion was one of the models who attended the Allison show and met men there. “We would do dances like the slop, bop, slow drag and the grind, which originated in the black dance halls. It reflected the fact that Horn played big band recordings by Harry James, Tommy Dorsey and other similar artists. A 1957 jury deadlocked, then a judge acquitted Horn at a second trial, this one without a jury. Microsoft is not compensated for these results. One television precursor was the Paul Whiteman TV Teen Club, on WFIL and the ABC television network starting in 1949, which also showed kids dancing. If Clipp couldn’t get those people, he nevertheless could steal their format. Two weeks later, Bandstand moved to first-run syndication,[17][18][19] restored to its former hour length,[20] and videotaped at KCET's Studio B. But they weren’t there. Despite Horn’s risk-taking, his sexual activities would never have come to light if it weren’t for two outside factors. She was a cheerful person, eager to please, up to a point. One of the gifts from them was Lois. Just out of school, I was apprenticing in public relations under his tutelage.) First, they required that boys show up wearing suits and ties. [47] American Bandstand was a daily ritual for many teenagers throughout the nation. American Bandstand (TV Series) (2 episodes, 1966 - 1967) (writer - 12 episodes, 1966 - 1969) (performer - 9 episodes, 1966) - A Salute to Mama Cass Elliot (1969)... (writer: "Bandstand Boogie 1968-1969") - Episode #10.19 (1967)... (as Robert "Bob" Horn, "Bandstand Boogie (THE NEW AMERICAN BANDSTAND 1967)") [7] On September 7, 1963, the program was moved from its weekday slot and began airing weekly every Saturday afternoon, restored to an hour, until 1989. Hey, our thanks to Laura Branigan for joining us here on American Bandstand today. Due to a combination of factors that included the size of the studio, the need to have as much space available for the teenagers to dance, and the size of the color camera (owing to the technological limitations of the day) compared to the black-and-white models, it was only possible to have one RCA TK-41 where three RCA TK-10s[3] had been used before. Prosecutors decided there weren’t strong enough grounds to indict the man for that, but Maxine’s story about what went on at the party triggered Philadelphia District Attorney Blanc’s investigation of sex involving radio and TV personalities. Chuck Downey, Frank McGuigan, and I (nicknamed “Mickey Bandstand” back then) were on the cover of the first Bandstand Yearbook released in 1955.