| American Bandstand |
American Bandstand logo |
| Format |
Music |
| Starring |
Dick Clark (1957–1989)
David Hirsch (1989) |
| Country of origin |
 United States |
| No. of episodes |
883 (surviving) |
| Production |
| Running time |
90 Minutes / 60 Minutes (originally two hours and fifteen minutes on WFIL-TV/Philadelphia only) |
| Broadcast |
| Original channel |
ABC (1957–1987)
Syndication (1987–1989)
USA Network (1989) |
| Original run |
August 5, 1957 – October 7, 1989 |
Dick Clark, host of American Bandstand
American Bandstand is a television show that aired in various versions from
1952 to 1989. It is known not only for the emerging performers that it promoted (from Jerry Lee
Lewis to Run DMC) but the many dance styles it featured through the decades.
Show description
It premiered locally as a live show, Bandstand, on Philadelphia television station WFIL-TV (Channel 6, now
WPVI-TV) on October 7, 1952 in
"Studio 'B'", which was located in their just-completed addition to the original 1947 building (4548 Market Street), and was
hosted by Bob Horn, with Lee Stewart as co-host until 1955. Tony Mammarella was the original
producer with Ed Yates as director.
The measurements of "Studio 'B'" were 80'x42'x24'. It looked smaller than that due to the number of props, television cameras, and bleachers that were used for the show. The show was briefly shot in color in 1958 when WFIL-TV started experimenting with the then-new technology.
The size of the studio made it possible to only have one camera (RCA TK-41) where three
black & white models were used before (RCA TK-10). WFIL-TV went back to black & white two weeks later when ABC-TV refused
to carry the color signal and management realized that the show lost something without the
extra cameras.
The series originally featured Horn merely hosting two collections of filmed musical performances from both Snader and
Official films (forerunners of modern music videos), but this was soon changed to the familiar format of having kids dance to hit
records, an idea that came from a Philadelphia radio show, The 950 Club.
On July 9, 1956, Horn was fired for a drunk driving arrest. He
was replaced temporarily by producer Tony Mammarella before the job went permanently to Dick
Clark. After some badgering of the network by Clark, The show was picked up nationally by ABC (becoming American Bandstand) on August 5,
1957. The program was broadcast daily (first live, then on kinescope when Clark went on tour with the singers) until 1963 and
then aired weekly until 1989. The show's popularity helped Clark become an American
media mogul and inspired other similar long-running music programs, such as Soul Train
and Top of the Pops.
Format
The show featured teenagers dancing to Top 40-type music introduced by Clark; at least one
popular musical act would usually appear in-person to lip-sync one of their latest singles.
Clark would often interview the teenagers about their opinions of the songs being played, most memorably through the
"Rate-a-Record" segment (to which the phrase "It's got a good beat and you can dance to it" is credited, perhaps apocryphally).
In 1957, Patti Page was crowned American
Bandstand's favorite female vocalist in its first nationwide audience poll.
Theme music
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 "Bandstand Boogie" composed by Charles
Albertine, including the big-band version performed by Les Elgart remembered by viewers of the daily version. From 1969 to 1974
"Bandstand Theme", a synth instrumental version written by Mike Curb opened each show.
Moreover, from 1974 to 1977 an orchestral disco version of "Bandstand Boogie" arose playing during the opening and closing
credits. Joe Porter was the music arranger and performer of this orchestral disco version of American Bandstand's theme song at
this time.
From 1977 to the end of its ABC run in 1987, the show opened and closed with Barry
Manilow's rendition of the theme, which he originally recorded for his 1975 album Tryin'
to Get the Feeling. The song's new lyrics, which heavily referenced the series, were co-written by Manilow and Bruce Howard
Sussman.
The Manilow version was replaced by an updated instrumental arrangement of "Bandstand Boogie" when Bandstand went into
syndication.
From 1974 onward, Bandstand featured another instrumental at its mid-show break—Billy
Preston's synth hit "Space Race".
Changes
The show moved from its weekday slot to Saturday afternoons on September 7,
1963.
Production of the show moved from Philadelphia to Los Angeles on
February 8, 1964, which coincidently was the same
weekend that WFIL-TV moved from their 46th and Market location to their new facility located on City Line Avenue. Color
broadcasts began for good on September 9, 1967.
Bandstand moved from ABC to syndication on September 19, 1987, and to cable's USA Network on April 8, 1989
with a new younger host, comedian David Hirsch. Clark remained executive producer. The show ended on October 7, 1989.
In 2004, Dick Clark announced plans to revive the show in time for
2005 but it did not happen. Clark's plan to revive American Bandstand eventually did
come to fruition, just not in the way that was expected. The revived "Bandstand" was to feature a national dance contest, but
after several tries to come up with a workable format, they decided to go just with the dance contest component which became
So You Think You Can Dance. Dick Clark Productions is credited as the show's co-producer and longtime DC employee Allen
Shapiro serves as co-executive producer.
American Dreams
-
The show was featured prominently in the 2002–2005 NBC-TV drama series American
Dreams, which like Bandstand was executive produced by Dick Clark. In a
2005 episode of American Dreams, Eddie Kelly and
Bunny Gibson—one of the most famous couples to appear on American Bandstand in the Philadelphia years—were the only two to make
cameo appearances on the acclaimed TV series. Along with that, Eddie Kelly and Bunny Gibson were named a number of times in the
script and Eddie Kelly referred to in the last episode.
References in popular culture
- In the movie Grease, Rydell High School plays host for a dance contest on a televised
show similar to American Bandstand. In the movie, it was called National Bandstand.
- In 1988, the popular John Waters film Hairspray's The Corny Collins Show is a mix between this and Baltimore's Buddy Deane Show.
- In the 1989 film Dead Poets Society, English teacher John Keating, played by
Robin Williams belittles the school's poetry textbook's introduction to poetry. The
introduction describes a method of giving poems numerical scores of "perfection." He derides this by saying "we're not laying
pipe, we're talking about poetry. How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? "I like Byron, I give him a 42 but I can't
dance to it!"
- In 2001, IGT acquired the rights from Dick Clark Productions and
created and developed a slot machine based on the show's popularity.
- In 2004 the band Low released the compilation album A Lifetime of Temporary Relief: 10
Years of B-Sides and Rarities, featuring the track "Peanut Butter Toast And American Bandstand" which mentions the show.
- In 2005, rapper Bow Wow came out with the featured single Fresh Azimiz from the album Wanted. The song, produced by Jermaine Dupri mentioned the popularity of
American Bandstand in the line, "I'm goin' down in history like American Bandstand."
See also
References
External links
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