Models Inc. was based on a Senate investigation of modeling schools, and in its original form the film opened with a statement by U.S. 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. Catholic schools in those days were 99% white. Now I only dance at weddings, said Carole, 42. April Stevens Dies at 93; Her Deep Purple Became a Surprise Hit Some of the regular boys all white started talking angrily among themselves about how theyd like to beat up the boy after the show. Bob was color blind, Sheldon told me; On the first shows there were black couples dancing on the floor along with white couples. American Bandstand premiered locally in late March 1952 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. People were routinely arrested when they drove across a state border and had sex. Theres an El stop there and we used to watch the kids line up. He was convicted and sentenced to jail for that, but not for his sexual activities. His demeanor was haughty. Clipp called Grady and me to his office, Hurst related, and asked us to start in two weeks. This was her unique moral code. When the TV program American Bandstand passed its 50th anniversary, there was no commemoration. But soon WFIL built the set that became famous, which is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution, simulating a corner of a music store. (The Richie and the Grainge families have been friends for more than 20 years, as Lionel frequently collaborates with Elliots father, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group Sir Lucian Grainge, and the couple was introduced through mutual friends.). Family and friends stayed at the iconic Hotel du Cap in the South of France for the whirlwind wedding weekend, which began with a rehearsal dinner on Friday night. We had it all timed, and it felt like someone was looking out for us up above because it was a very cloudy day and then the clouds parted., Walking down the aisle with her father was something Sofia had always dreamed about. He even went back on the air a few minutes later and said: Hey, that record wasnt bad after all.. We read our vows then because we felt it was very personal, something for just our families to hear and experience in the privacy of our home., Afterward, guests gathered for cocktails, dinner, and speeches, with the brides sister Nicole emceeing the entire evening. He also danced in a group called the Outrageous Waack Dancers with Daniel and Jody Watley. So, when he went on TV, Bandstand was the obvious choice for a name. The white kids, especially those who attended parochial schools, normally dressed this way while black kids did not. What were the results of this elaborate investigation? After his dalliance with Dorothy, Allison allowed these men and girls free reign around the station. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. She says there would always be a long line. Bourgeois Tagg. 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. Horn personally selected the committee, and he happened to choose only white kids to serve on it. That belief is persuasively challenged by recent scholarship:American BandstandThe Philadelphia Way not only excluded black teens from the show but also represented black dances as having originated on the show with its white dancers. On Thursday, for the first time in a quarter century, 27 of the original Bandstand dancers, including Joe, Kenny, Arlene, Carole, Flossie and Jim, reunited to rehearse their steps for a rock n roll celebration over Labor Day weekend in Philadelphia. Everyone in the country knew Kefauvers smiling image; virtually no one knew the ordinary, middle-aged face of Vic Blanc. Having the opportunity to create this dress and work so closely with Madame Olivia Douchez, premire of haute couture salons, and observing their art and immaculate attention to detail was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.. We stayed up laughing all night, she admits. Well, Blanc won his election, and that was the reason for all this, wasnt it? Hosted by Bob Horn as a television adjunct to his radio show of the same name on WFIL radio, Bandstand featured short musical films produced by Snader Tele Steves a one-man F. B. I., Fearless Broadcast Investigator. Our Philadelphia program had a history of racial exclusion that was more complex and much more interesting. For my Bob Adleman, the public relations man for WPEN, arranged an elegant event at Longchamps Restaurant on Rittenhouse Square where Allison would accept the honor. Who were the first guests on American Bandstand? Whose Culture? He admitted that he gave her birthday presents a record player one year and one hundred dollars cash another year. On the day that Allison was indicted, he was about to receive an award for public service from the City of Philadelphia. Public high schools were more integrated 72% white when Bandstand started, according to Philadelphia School District statistics, while blacks were 28% while Asians and Latinos were less than 1%. It was odd that Blanc replaced Kefauver in Teenage Models, Inc because Kefauver was the DAs role model. Other results: Some of the men were convicted of participating in unnatural sex. Others were charged with corrupting the morals of minors, but the judges in the majority of these cases decided that the men were dealing with girls who were already corrupted, so they either acquitted the men or gave them light punishment. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. This is but one of the many bitter memories that I and many of the people that I grew up with have about, Henry Gordon said in 1995 as he looked at an old photo of the kids at, Anything that looks like a black face in this picture is probably a white face in the shadows. Ill bet she knows more artists in the business than I do.. When I took over the programming of Menefees afternoon show in the summer of 1953, Menefee attacked me on the air. For the most part, the white kids from West Catholic and Roman Catholic, etc., were intimidated when we got on the floor. Dick Clark took over as host in 1956, and the show made its network debut on ABC-TV on Aug. 5, 1957. Anyway, they havent performed in, like, five years, and they brought their band out from Nashville and LA, and it was one of the most fun nights of my life. He was the first performer to be introduced on the Grand Ole Opry, the first African-American performer on the show, and the first performer to have his music recorded in Nashville. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. My dad, Elliots dad, and Elliots best friend, Jack, gave incredible speeches. Dick Clarks American Bandstand was the offspring of deejay Bob Horns Bandstand, which WFIL-TV broadcast daily from 1952-56 from a WFIL studio at 4548 Market St. While Clark opened. One of the gifts from them was Lois. Consequently, black teens were in effect erased from the national youth culture that formed aroundAmerican Bandstand.. Philadelphias broadcasting sex scandal of 1956 was an early object lesson. Tallulah Dancier is a black woman who started watching the show around that time: I would hurry home and watch Bandstand as I did my homework. He picked his own employee, Bob Horn, and copied from WPEN the idea of teenagers in the studio. So, simultaneously, the DA was investigating Horn, Allison and Valino and people associated with them, and everything came to a head, so to speak, at the same time. The young dancers on American Bandstand were the reality stars of the 1950s and '60skids nationwide rushed I went to Alan Freeds concerts at the Paramount and black kids didnt show up there either. Menefee was a curmudgeon on the air. For the other two looks, Sofia collaborated closely with her stylist, Liat Baruch, and Douchez to scour through Chanel couture shows of the past and choose the It has a fictional plot about the racial integration of a 1960s teen television dance program, and it reminds me of my own experiences surrounding Bandstand in the 1950s. Allison and Horn were each acquitted, but neither one of them got their jobs back. Most people around the station found him less than charming. Sort of healthy trouble. To put this in perspective, when the later-to-become-famous Ed Rendell was elected District Attorney in 1977 his vote total was much less than Blancs only 212,000. Black kids were turned back at the entrance without any explanation. Several wore miniskirts, others donned sneakers and pedal pushers. I didnt know it at the time, but Blanc must have been on his way to or from his secret lair on some occasions when he stopped by to see my dad. A postscript was added a decade later in California. Valino was convicted of arranging an abortion and his singing career virtually ended. The program, starting in 1952, originally was simply named Bandstand. After the indictment was announced, Adleman hastily wrote a press release to save the city from embarrassment. Allison thought this decision was reprehensible and criticized Annenberg for it. Although Clark was relatively new at his job, he took a strong stand and told the affiliates that hed make no changes to meet their objections and so blacks did appear, but infrequently. For the reception, I wore drop-diamond earrings by Kwiat, Fred Leightons parent company, and for the party, my chandelier aquamarine stone earrings were by Fred Leighton and served as my something blue., Elliot wore a Ralph Lauren suit at the rehearsal dinner and a Tom Ford tuxedo for the wedding day itself, while the seven bridesmaids were in all black. It was common for promo guys to give bottles of whiskey as Christmas gifts. Blanc tried to become a recognizable figure that year. He took us fishing on his boat and introduced us to his wife and kids. They were some of the most famous kids in America, dancing every day on American Bandstand.. ABC gave, Theres a dramatic difference between the description of Horn by his adult co-workers and what we hear from his teenage fans. They've still got the moves, more than a half century later! You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. This is but one of the many bitter memories that I and many of the people that I grew up with have about American Bandstand.. For the other two looks, Sofia collaborated closely with her stylist, Liat Baruch, and Douchez to scour through Chanel couture shows of the past and choose the references that she loved. He had become District Attorney when Richardson Dilworth resigned that office to successfully run for mayor in 1955. One example is Bob Menefee, the top-paid disc jockey at WIP. At WFIL they thought: What a wonderful idea for TV! Allison and Horn were each acquitted, but neither one of them got their jobs back. Race and American Bandstand, The Seven-Year Itch: West Philly Loses American Bandstand, Report accessibility issues and request help. I was watching one by one each bridesmaid and groomsman walk down the aisle, and we were inching closer to the front, and I couldnt believe it was happening, she says. Clarks daily afternoon program pioneered in musical television by showcasing a range of black and white pop music performers, including R&B, rock n roll, and country. Seven months after his first DUI incident, and just before he was to go on trial on the morals charges, Horn was charged again with drunk-driving when he sped his Cadillac the wrong way up a one-way street in North Philadelphia. He took my friend Adam and me out fishing on his boat, along with some of his record-company friends, and asked us for ideas to improve the show. Frank Spagnuola, a white Italian-American, was a Bandstand regular. ET. Original Bandstand When the program moved to California in 1964, it presented its first regular dancer who was black. WebBy the mid-1970s, moreover, American Bandstand ratings were in decline and faced a challenge from Soul Train. Horn developed a daily ritual of kids judging new records. stage to black R&B and rock n roll performers, he and his producers segregated the studios dance floor and white teenagers adapted black dances for white audiences. These kids invented new dance steps and made The Bunny Hop and The Bristol Stomp popular. Blitz, author of Bandstand: The Untold Story, defends Horn against accusations of rudeness and says that Horn avoided friendships with co-workers because he had more experience and knowledge and didnt need to learn from them.
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