At the end of each school day, they trooped to the former WFIL-TV studio in West Philadelphia, while young viewers across the nation tuned their sets to watch them. Taking center stage each week was superstar Bandstand couple Justine Carrelli and Bob Clayton, two of the show's most popular dancers. They dont look at middle school kids or junior high kids, he said. He was married to Tahitian dancer Mireille of the Mai-Kai Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. American Bandstand played a crucial role in introducing Americans to such famous artists as Prince, Jackson 5, Sonny and Cher, Aerosmith, and John Lydon's PiLall of whom made their American TV debuts on the show. American Bandstand Dancers Justine Carrelli Miller and Bob Clayton Arlene asked him to dance and thus Arlene and Kenny happened. I figured I had no chance in hell, but I was smitten by her the same way I was smitten by Marilyn Monroe and actresses like that. He still treats me like Im the queen of the hop, Justine said. 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!. It turns out she was only 10 months older. Unsure and fearful about her true sexual identity, Sullivan tried passing as straight. Both were ratings disasters. Davey Frees, president of the American Bandstand Fan Club, never got to the studio while the show was on the air. Then it was hosted by Bob Horn and was called Bob Horn's Bandstand.On July 9 of 1956 the show got a new host, a clean-cut 26 year old named Dick Clark. Kenny and Arlene met up again in the late 70s and to this day remain close friends. . 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. Movies Showing. Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), [2] known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was an ace professional with a kind and sincere manner. In fact, she was "the first female car racer at . Connie Francis. When ABC picked up the game show Do You Trust Your Wife? Arelene, whose mother was a devoted fan, claims she danced on the show "to get my mother's attention." Within three months, Arlene was a regular appearing five days a . In the early 1960s, a new collection of teen regulars succeeded Arlene Sullivan's generation on American Bandstand's dance floor. See production, box office & company info, Bandstand Boogie (The Theme of 'American Bandstand'), Nostalgic? Later, in hindsight, I guessed that made me the first white Rosa Parks. 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. The show was American Bandstand, and Dick Clarks clean-cut style meant the program had parents stamp of approval. 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.[41]. Self - Harlem Globetrotter 1 episode, 1961 John Laws . Bob 'Showboat' Hall . Dance Art. But he arrived Tuesday, beaming in a pink Dick Clark novelty tie. unsold game show pilots). American Bandstand: With Dick Clark, Charlie O'Donnell, Peaches Johnson, Stan Rodarte. Bandstand Diaries co-author Arlene Sullivan wrote about meeting Kenny in script. "[5] In one humorous segment broadcast for years on retrospective shows, comedians Cheech and Chong appeared as the record raters. Carole Ann Scaldeferri Spada, 70, of Newtown Square, a regular dancer on American Bandstand from 1957 to 1961, has died. Dick Clark 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. "[40] WFIL defended these local associations in order to maintain support. In late spring of 1957, the ABC television network asked their O&O's and affiliates for programming suggestions to fill their 3:30p.m. (ET) time slot (WFIL had been pre-empting the ABC programming with Bandstand). After a ten-month hiatus,[27] Bandstand moved to cable on USA Network[28][29] on April 8, 1989,[30] with comedian David Hirsch[31][32][33][34][35] taking over hosting duties. I hope more people of the past can enjoy their past by checking Bandstand Dairies,looking things up on the computer and contact your old fiends. Carmen Jimenez, a regular from 1957 to 1961 who now works as a social worker, remembered the strange sensation of having fans, including one who started sobbing at the sight of the dancers in a hamburger joint. Instead of shortening or moving Bandstand, ABC opted to just begin Bandstand at 3pm, cut away to Who Do You Trust? I hope you've had a good half-hour. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Sullivan was almost 14, the required age for the show, when she became a Regular. To recognize the anniversary, Gov. And now we have computers. Clark was known for integrating his audiences as well as his performers unusual in the late 50s. Jim explained he had been a fan and wanted to have lunch with her on his way to California. Togethera certain magic radiated from them when they were dancing!!! I was trying to hit them over their heads with my pocketbook, but they just wouldnt give up. Soul Unlimited was not well-received among its target audience of African-Americans, ostensibly due to its being created by a white man (Clark), and because of its alleged usage of deliberately racial overtones despite this fact. He had no idea if she was married. God bless friendships !!! Here is a short recap of her recollections. I was surprised how short she was, he said. Stewart was the owner of a TV/Radio business in Philadelphia and even though he was an older gentleman, his advertising account was a large one for WFIL-TV, so he was put on the program to appease the account. She saw the hang up and returned the call, thinking it might be an interested buyer. 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. "Bandstand's Backyard". The county budget for the fiscal year 2022-2023, which ends on June 30, is $93,597,569 in expenditures versus revenues at $82,665,933. Arlene Sullivan and Bunny Gibson went on to write memoirs about their time spent on Bandstand and growing up as members of the Baby Boom generation. I met Arlene in 1961 she was very sweet.Unfortunely I never got to meet Kenny. we were like a little family together, and we all had something in common, and we all stuck together, and that made it easier for us.. What they didnt know was that Arlene and several of the other female dancers, and most of the handsome teen boys, were gay. It does not store any personal data. Notes: Jul 1960: Name listed as PATRICIA ANN MOLITTIERI; Oct. He was adorable.". Justine got in, and along with her dance partner and soon-to-be-boyfriend, Bob Clayton, became one of the shows most popular couples. They went back to her office to look at old photos on the computer. Clark decided to pitch the show to ABC president Thomas W. Moore, and after some negotiations the show was picked up nationally, becoming American Bandstand on August 5, 1957. But I didnt have any crushes on any of the straight girls. Nov 17, 2013 - A formal Justine & Bob American bandstand girl. Like the white homeowners associations' concerns about property values, WFIL's version of defensive localism built on a belief that integration would hurt the station's investment in 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. share their memories of the late Dick Clark and more. Tuesday, Justine Carrelli and Bob Clayton took another spin in the same studio, where they joined more than two dozen other middle-aged teen dancers from ``American Bandstand. Host Dick Clark and former teen idols such as Chubby Checker and Connie Francis also made it to the 40th anniversary celebration. At the height of their popularity, they received as many as 500 letters a day. Justine said yes. This show was on for 32 . But they were just normal kids, many of whom, in the early days, made their way daily from their respective high schools in Philadelphia to the televised dance party, The American Bandstand dancers ended up living all across the United States and followed a variety of careers. I started going out to straight clubs.. A Midlothian-based freelance writer, Martha Steger has received national awards for her journalism, essays, short fiction and poetry. She never saw much of Clark outside of the studio. On Bandstand, she became lifelong friends with one of the celebrity guests, straight Annette Funicello, of Mickey Mouse Club and Beach Party fame. Kenny loved to sing. We moved around the floor the way our parents did in the 40s. And "American Dreams" (Sundays, 8 p.m., Channel 2) definitely isn't it, despite being in the most prime . They wrote thousands of letters. Prior to the move, Bandstand had sourced many of its up-and-coming acts from Philadelphia's Cameo-Parkway Records. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Im sorry young lady, you dont look 14 to me, was his answer. 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. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. That was the start of our romance, Jim said. Michael Jackson, a frequent Bandstand guest, performed She tracked them down for the new coffee-table book, Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years, 1956-1963. Sex sells books and ranks right up there as one of the very best publicity hooks, even if you haven't written erotica or a romance novel.omance novel. In particular, Arlene remembers him singing Because of You by Tony Bennett. Unfortunately, that was the beginning of their separation. Famous Americans. The kids of today missed out. But back in the Bandstand days, Smith was one of the shows secretly gay dancers. This development created a sometimes heated rivalry between Dick Clark and Buddy Deane, when performers who appeared first on Deane's program were refused booking on American Bandstand. Oldies. [18][19][20] Dubbed as The New American Bandstand and distributed by LBS Communications, the series' tapings were moved from the ABC Television Center to the Hollywood studios of Los Angeles's PBS member station KCET,[21] with a new set was similar to that of Soul Train. Clark eventually assumed ownership of the program through his Dick Clark Productions company. As Sullivan puts it: The boys danced. Many factors were involved in this, particularly the launch and rise of MTV and other music programs on television, and along with that, the number of ABC affiliates opting to pre-empt or delay the program. The parents of one kid on the show found out that he was gay . He was also reportedly involved in a prostitution ring and brought up on morals charges. 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. PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ Justine and Bob were a popular teen couple from Philadelphia who flickered on black-and-white TV screens in the late 50s, wearing the latest clothes, doing the latest dance steps, listening to the latest rock `n roll. Karen Hardie. Dick Clark hosts a daily to weekly dance show that features the latest hit music for the attending teens to dance to. [2] Freddy Cannon holds the record for most appearances, at 110. The Beach Boys were already the kings of surf pop by their first appearance on American Bandstand in 1964. With American Bandstand being originally located in Philadelphia, segregation easily affected the concentrated area. Here is a short recap of her recollections. One show from this first season (December 18, 1957, identified as the "Second National Telecast") is preserved in the archives of Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications. Watch American Bandstand 1950s: Justine Carrelli and Bob Cayton highlighted on American Bandstand. Jerry Oppenheimer is a best-selling author. Justines friends, who were the same age, got into the show one day, but she was turned away. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. I got stopped at the door and said to the cop, but Lucille and Diane got in and theyre in my class, she said. Horn, however, was disenchanted with the program, and wanted to change the show to a dance program with teenagers dancing along on camera as records played, based on an idea that came from a radio show on WPEN, The 950 Club, hosted by Joe Grady and Ed Hurst. . The BBC's. The couple, born again Christians, run a no-smoking, no-gossip beauty shop in the Philadelphia suburbs. This version was canceled after 26 weeks, and its final show (with The Cover Girls performing "My Heart Skips a Beat" and "We Can't Go Wrong") aired on October 7, 1989,[37] thus ending the show's 37-year run.[38][39].