A family member revealed that one day Horn felt so depressed that he put a pistol in his mouth and his wife had to talk him out of committing suicide. Henry Gordon said in 1995 as he looked at an old photo of the kids at Bandstand: Anything that looks like a black face in this picture is probably a white face in the shadows. He personally picked the kids to be on the committee by watching us dance and seeing how we got along with people. Clark revamped Horns show for national broadcast by ABC. The Mann Act was law, barring anyone from transporting a person across state lines for an immoral act, even when it was consensual. In this part of the story well see what Bob Horn did that ended his career and also caused the ABC network and its Philadelphia affiliate to ignore the 50th anniversary of the programs start. Coincidence played a major role in this drama of entertainment history. She was an attractive brunette who sat with Bob at a table in a small studio while engineers observed their behavior from behind glass. Allisons show also attracted a different type. 'AMERICAN BANDSTAND': Dancers from early days take a step back Elliot surprised me with a trip with all our best friends in April of 2022, Sofia remembers. There are no plans to televise the event. Ive been dreaming of meeting Stephen Sanchez and had asked my fianc several times if we could go to one of his gigs, Sofia explains. Catholic schools in those days were 99% white. Blitz, author of , Other deejays of that time, however, were more gracious than Horn. Former 'American Bandstand' Dancers React to Harvey Sheldon, a white high school student who later became a songwriter, reported that he jitterbugged with a black girl on the show in 1952 or 53 and no one said anything about it. Carole Ann Scaldeferri Spada, 70, of Newtown Square, a regular dancer on American Bandstand from 1957 to 1961, died Sunday, Dec. 8, of congestive heart failure at a Springfield hospital. One of the gifts from them was Lois. American Bandstand Broadcast History. 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. For example, Bernie Jacobs, the man who ran the modeling agency and set Steve Allison up with his accuser, also arranged modeling jobs for Lois, Horns accuser. He made national headlines when he shut down a Philadelphia movie theater that was showing Brigit Bardots And God Created Woman, charging that it was obscene. I always thought Horn did a poor job relating to the kids. One example is Bob Menefee, the top-paid disc jockey at WIP. We recapped the night and ordered big bowls of pasta along with every French food you could imagine, Sofia says. Management was so happy with Horns ratings that they let him choose whatever music he wished; he didnt need to shove those songs. When questioned as to why a married man would do this, Horn responded by saying that Lois knew many of his friends and drifted into the same pattern as I did. 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. 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. Clark revamped Horns show for national broadcast by ABC. Sort of healthy trouble. From the first day, I established the most platonic of friendships with the kids. She just walks up and introduces herself. 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. I knew all their names. For example, Bernie Jacobs, the man who ran the modeling agency and set Steve Allison up with his accuser, also arranged modeling jobs for Lois, Horns accuser. But I had to take a double-take when they showed black people in the stands, she says. He died in Hollywood in 1969, age 53. These happenings would never have become known if one man had just listened to Maxines restrictive instruction. Published April 26, 2023 Updated April 27, 2023, 12:58 a.m. To me, it embodies the classic elegance and femininity that Karl Lagerfeld was such a genius at.. This is what Clark said about Horn: He was a man in his late thirties, was heavyset with a double chin, long, narrow nose and greased-back black hair. When Blancs campaign was launched, friends of Walter Annenberg hoped that the DA would find some dirt on WPENs popular night-time talk host, Steve Allison, because Allison often criticized Annenberg and the Inquirer. So, when he went on TV, Bandstand was the obvious choice for a name. Breakfast ended at around 11 a.m., and the group went straight into hair and makeup. Blanc decided to go on a crusade of his own and he chose entertainment celebrities as his target. Tony Mammarella had to calm them down. 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. On the other hand, Blancs total and Blancs margin of victory was not anywhere near what his predecessor, Richardson Dilworth, had achieved in 1951. Bandstand began as a local program on WFIL-TV (now WPVI ), Channel 6 in Philadelphia on October 7, 1952. Legally we had to get married in the States beforehand, so right before [we left for France], we got married at home with just our parents. His demeanor was haughty. Steves a one-man F. B. I., Fearless Broadcast Investigator. It was odd that Blanc replaced Kefauver in Teenage Models, Inc because Kefauver was the DAs role model. April Stevens Dies at 93; Her Deep Purple Became a Surprise Hit These record-promo men knew of her, and got her into the station to meet Horn. Bandstand had a lurid involvement with sexual assault that hasnt been fully explored publicly, until now in detail in Part Two of this story. American Bandstand started life as a Philadelphia TV show in 1952, with Bob Horn as master of ceremonies. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The show gave many new music artists their first exposure to national audiences, including Iggy Pop, Ike & Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Talking Heads , Simon & Garfunkel and Madonna. But some things still didnt change. Courtesy American Bandstand. Four months later, Horn was arrested on morals charges. He was born Lee Shulman and started his career as an ad salesman. Every day after school, we would head for the TV studio which was near my high school West Philly High. As well as a blue embroideredS&E on the inside of the dress above my heart.. Dick Clark took over as host in 1956, and the show made its network debut on ABC-TV on Aug. 5, 1957. In all, 27 men were arrested. Most acquaintances describe Horn as arrogant and self-centered, although none of the dancers on his show saw him that way. A black man who grew up a few years after that is Thomas E. Kennedy: I grew up at 47th and Haverford, two city blocks from the studio. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. In contrast, when Acosta once appeared on Bandstand on the full network he was not allowed to slow dance with Lynn. Dick Clark, at podium at upper left, is surrounded by teen-age fans on his nationally televised dance show "American Bandstand" in Philadelphia in this June 30, 1958, file photo. I was asked to be a character witness at his trial and I testified that he never tried anything with us. Celebrities including Cameron Diaz, Benji Madden, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Joel Madden descended upon the iconic hotel in the South of France for the whirlwind wedding weekend, which took both Instagram and TikTok by storm. October 7, 1952 And two, a scandal at another Philadelphia station. Pop Conference 2023 - 'Let's Get it Together:' Gatherings, Club Allison and Horn were each acquitted, but neither one of them got their jobs back. Ill jump and, hey, I may even show em my handstand, because Im on the American Bandstand., Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Since he was a huge fan of jazz and so many jazz artists were black, there was no way Bob would allow the dance floor to be lily white.. ABC gave, Theres a dramatic difference between the description of Horn by his adult co-workers and what we hear from his teenage fans. The Inquirers publisher supported the work of the House Un-American Activities committee and its crusade against Communist sympathizers in the entertainment field. One singer who appeared on his show says Horn was a loud-mouth smart-ass with an appetite for girls. Other acquaintances use words like arrogant and self-centered. And everyone at ABC Television tried to ignore the programs first years. 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. 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 Some of the kids would jitterbug in an impromptu fashion while Grady and Hurst played popular records on the air. According to show-business contemporaries of his, Horn was a free-swinging, hard-drinking man who smoked several packs of cigarettes a day. It was common for promo guys to give bottles of whiskey as Christmas gifts. Although Horn wanted to run it solo, Clipp insisted on copying the 950 Club format with two hosts, and picked a partner for him the short, bespectacled Lee Stewart. American Bandstand Changed American Culture American Bandstand: West Philadelphia's Seven-Year Wonder Horn said he went to her home once for a party. American Bandstand 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 grind was a very sexy dance that you did on a slow record. He picked his own employee, Bob Horn, and copied from WPEN the idea of teenagers in the studio. Jimmy Boyd. You had to line up at the end of each show and the producer picked whom he wanted to come back, so you had to please him. And it was Frees, not any of the original Bandstanders interviewed Thursday, who remembered the words to the shows theme song, written by Barry Manilow. American Bandstand 1,013 American Bandstand Dancers Premium High Res Photos Created by black deejay Don Cornelius as a black dance show, Soul Train started in Chicago in 1970 before being picked up by stations across the country the following year. On one of those jobs Lois gave oral sex to one of the Allison crowd for $40 and on another job had sex with a man for a hundred dollars, all this when she was 15 and in the midst of her relationship with Horn. When you place those new singers alongside older ones like Etta James, Roy Hamilton and Al Hibbler, you see a substantial list of black artists. They were some of the most famous kids in America, dancing every day on American Bandstand.. Elliot asked Sofia to marry him in Hawaii after a year of dating. What is a 7 letter word that starts with O? At WFIL they thought: What a wonderful idea for TV! Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. A low-budget sexploitation film called Models, Inc. was distributed by Philadelphia film executive Jack Harris. My friends Famous Hooks and Lori Montgomery were told they could no longer be dancing partners because of our racial difference., The producer told us very nicely that it was okay with him personally, but some stations wouldnt like it, so please dont do slow dances together. The Beach Boys were already the kings of 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. Bandstand began as a local program on WFIL-TV (now WPVI ), Channel 6 in Philadelphia on October 7, 1952. Horn was a pioneer when he made the youngsters the stars of the show, and when he gave teenagers a forum to set their own standards of music, dance steps and style. I always said it would be a dream to do our first dance to Stuck on YouHello was a surprise, and the whole room was singing along., The after-party, which had a nightclub-inspired vibe, featured a performance from Good Charlotte, who both Sofia and Elliot grew up listening to. A 1957 jury deadlocked, then a judge acquitted Horn at a second trial, this one without a jury. 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. WebPulitzer Prizeeligible magazine The National Enquirer broke an old but interesting story this week about Dick Clarks American Bandstand. Among notable guests appearing that first season, some making their television debuts, were: Paul Anka, Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke, Bobby Darin, The Del-Vikings, The Diamonds, Buddy Holly, Johnny Mathis, Simon & Garfunkel ( Tom & Jerry), Andy Williams, Jackie Wilson, and others. First, they required that boys show up wearing suits and ties. They felt that if the show was perceived as a Negro show, white teenagers would stay away. He asked me to be on the committee and be an example for others. The Secret Gay Lives Of The "American Bandstand" Dancers Who was the first black dancer on American Bandstand? The 24-year-old model and designer, who is also the youngest child of legendary singer Lionel Richie, became engaged to Elliot Grainge, a music executive and founder of 10K Projects, in April of 2022. It was very sweettruly unbelievable!, Following dinner, Sofia changed into a fun, flirty Claudia Schifferinspired Chanel look. Lois testified that Horn took her to apartments where she willingly had sex with him, and she specified four dates starting in 1953 when she was 13. I never saw him drunk or rude or vulgar., Several of these men agree that they all were virgins then. Also available in a computer colorized version. "I spread the Beehive across America," said Bunny Gibson, 56, on the show from 1959 to 1962. Allison then moved to California. Still, within hours after his DUI arrest, Horn was suspended from Bandstand. At the very beginning, Horns Bandstand had some racial integration. A low-budget sexploitation film called Models, Inc. was distributed by Philadelphia film executive Jack Harris. She enjoyed seeing the TV series American Dreams, produced by Dick Clark in 2002, because it recalled one of the best periods in her life. Taking center stage each week was superstar Bandstand couple Justine Carrelli and Bob Clayton, two of the show's most popular dancers. As host of American Bandstand, Clark introduced rock & roll to many Americans. Maybe he was on edge because the vice trial was about to start a few days later. Bourgeois Tagg. This system permitted the show to legally turn away anyone without the pass while at the same time maintain the lily white studio audience since the passes were only distributed at the all-white West Catholic High School For Boys and the all-white West Catholic High School For Girls. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Maxine went to the cops and hollered rape. Who were the original dancers on American Bandstand? The DA spent considerable time and money on his probe, renting a center city storefront as an unmarked headquarters instead of using his own office in City Hall. David Frees of Ephrata is president and founder of the American Bandstand Fan Club, which has more than 800 members in the United States, Europe and Japan. When Horns personal indiscretions led to his ouster from Bandstand in 1956, he was replaced by the more youthful, slimmer, squeaky clean Dick Clark. Because of the sex accusations, the drunk-driving and a jail term, there was no chance hed get another chance on the air in Philadelphia. Teenagers sat in rows on bleachers that were assembled on one side of the studio. American Bandstand, abbreviated AB, is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions that aired regularly from 1952 to 1989, [1] and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the program's producer. The reunion gossip even included a love story. Horn would tell them that he wanted cases of whiskey, and named his brands. He took my friend Adam and me out fishing on his boat, along with some of his record-company friends, When Horn was arrested for drunk-driving on June 21, 1956, hardly anyone aside from station staffers and music industry insiders knew about his sexual life, and it didnt come to light even then. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories, To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. She enjoyed seeing the TV series, When the program moved to California in 1964, it presented its first regular dancer who was black. When he ran dances out-of-town he always made sure that each of us had rides to get there and back. Making out in the back seat or copping a feel is the most that any of us ever did.. They were more interested in stations that played r&b all the time, and they stopped coming by their own choice., Deejay Jerry Blavat says: Blacks didnt go to public music events. These men were, you might say, realists. When I saw him socially, he did not seem like a zealot or a crusader. This was her unique moral code. In 1951 Ed Sullivan was so consumed with anti-Communist zeal that he wrote a lengthy accusation of choreographer Jerome Robbins for supporting the Commie cause. Sullivans home paper, the New York Daily News, thought the article was too angry and too personal and refused to run it, but the Philadelphia Inquirer published it on page one. He gave special attention to local singers including Sunny Gale, Gloria Mann, Georgie Shaw and Micki Marlo. 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. Most people around the station found him less than charming. When I danced on TV people noticed me, and it led to my career in the business. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Some blacks complained that these cards were sent mainly to all-white parochial schools, but I cant find evidence of that. In 1977, Carole appeared on a Dick Clark television special, where Richard spotted her. Dorothy said that she did it willingly. Original Bandstand Members Back In Philadelphia To Boogie PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ They twisted, coffee-grinded and jitterbugged their way into the nations living rooms on the original American Bandstand in the 1950s. We would do dances like the slop, bop, slow drag and the grind, which originated in the black dance halls. Thats not what we experienced.. Clark looked like one of the kids. (Horn was 40 when he left Bandstand and Clark was a babyfaced 27.) It was a seven-and-a-half-minute walk down the alle for each of us, Sofia notes. My favorites have always been Hello and Stuck on You, Sofia says. There were four makeup artists and four hairstylists, who all flew in from London, and God bless them, they were fantastic! The bride got her hair and makeup done with her friends and decided to keep things classic. Well, Blanc won his election, and that was the reason for all this, wasnt it? I found her to be a cheerful person, eager to please, up to a point. Hed take me home to spend weekends with his family in Levittown and in the summer Id be the cabin boy on his boat at Stone Harbor., Dave Feldman also started coming in 1953. He tangles nightly with the bigwigs on every hair-raising issue., When Allison met the 19-year-old news editor of the station, Sam Smith, Allison explained why he had to leave Philly: Look, all I did was put my cock in the mouth of some under-age girls. I was so innocent that I thought they wouldnt stand in our way. It said that his guests that night were movie star Denise Darcel and crooner Johnny Desmond and that he went home immediately after the broadcast. The Tennessee senator had achieved national prominence when he waged a public crusade against crime bosses with televised hearings. dancers on American Bandstand Published April 26, 2023 Updated April 27, 2023, 12:58 a.m. Clark became a national icon with the popular dance show American Bandstand in the late We were family for years, Carrelli, 68, tells Parade.com about Clark's passing. American Bandstand 4 Who was the first black country singer? She was petite, less than 100 pounds, with a big bosom. In addition, the show has performances by popular musicians and audience Read allDick Clark hosts a daily to weekly dance show that features the latest hit music for the attending teens to dance to. For those of you that question or challenge this please try and recall a scene from the shows in Philadelphia where the girls were not wearing Catholic school uniform dresses and the boys were not wearing the white shirt and tie Catholic school boys uniform. Then he was arrested and we never made the record. She, like Colella, finds it hard to believe that Horn had an affair with a teenage girl. 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. He had a wife and four children, aged 2 to 7, at home, but visiting them would require an almost-two-hour round-trip to come back for his 11 p.m. radio show, so he stayed in Philadelphia. Sun | T.G.I.F. In the course of his probe Blanc discovered connections between many disparate people. Secondly, the producer started to require admission cards. All rights reserved. Kevin Stewart: Old School Shirt Makers New York, Alexandra Rouvet Duvernoy: Trumpisms Commentary by A.H. Scott, Dean Rosenzweig: Cats and QueensUfos and Other Things, Kitchie Ohh: Resolution Revolution - Tony Ward. He died in 1968 at the age of 71. The sad truth, though, is that the kids who danced to the records appeared to be almost all white. List of acts who appeared on American Bandstand - Wikipedia 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 Beach Boys on American Bandstand. Vogue may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Your email address will not be published. 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. A trio of dresses was created by Chanel for her three major wedding-weekend events: the rehearsal dinner, which took place on Friday night at a private estate; the ceremony; and the after-party. Clipp called Grady and me to his office, Hurst related, and asked us to start in two weeks. Then we lined up and did the darn thing! Sofia laughs. We had over seven minutes to chat, though, and he said: Youre the love of my life, and Im so happy for you. It was very emotional, and I feel so lucky that I have my parents. The Boys. People were routinely arrested when they drove across a state border and had sex. The sexual relationship, however, was not revealed until later. A big studio was on the ground floor, which WPEN used for the 950 Club in the afternoon and for Steve Allisons talk program at night, while the stations offices were on the second floor. This was also a time of day when ABC didnt feed any network product to the local stations, leaving WFIL with a time gap to fill locally. Dick Clark, a television host and entrepreneur who sold rock-and-roll to Middle America on the dance show American Bandstand and counted down the new year with millions of TV viewers as emcee of an annual celebration in New Yorks Times Square, died April 18 at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., after a heart attack , PHILADELPHIA (AP) In the late 1950s and early 60s, everyone knew Bob and Justine, Kenny and Arlene, and Ed and Bunny. He asked for, and received, whiskey, cash and women from record-promotion men. One day a group of American Bandstand dancers went to Harmony Park, a popular club in Anaheim, and got drunk. One early photo shows the studio with an audience that was almost half black. It was hysterical, Sofia says. 8 Surprising Facts About The Legendary Dance Show Harris also made the films title more suggestive by changing it to Teenage Models, Inc. Harris replaced the Kefauver footage with Blanc so he could get on the good side of the district attorney especially since Harris distributed sexually-suggestive films. What was the real name of the Coward of the County? American Bandstand: West Philadelphia's Seven-Year Wonder We re-created the Claudia Schiffer corset dress from the early 90s, she explains. 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. The Buddy Deane Show was taken off the air because home station WJZ-TV We blacks watched from across the street. Stewart had no charisma and eventually was dropped from the program. We blacks watched from across the street. Horn was kind and fatherly to these teenagers. In fact, that same summer the shows DJ who also did live commercials, a guy named Dick Clark, would take over as Bandstand 's full-time host. The following year on August 5, 1957, the show first aired on ABC, was changed to American Bandstand and became a national sensation. Sofias diamond drop earrings were by Kwiat. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Record promoters, the men who came around and asked disc jockeys to spin their products, told me that he was more demanding of payola than anyone at any Philly station. Ad Choices, 47 Best Mothers Day Gifts to Give Mom This Year, Where to Watch the 2023 Met Gala Livestream, Everything You Need to Know About the 2023 Met Gala, The 66 Best Met Gala Dress-Code Rejectors of All Time, The 31 Best Met Gala Beauty Looks of All Time, Kaia Gerber Steps Out In the Breakout Sneakers of Summer. Horn asked his dancers to recommend new songs. WebFans have long wondered whatever became of Arlene and Kenny, Bob and Justine, Frani, Pat, Carole, Carmen, Frankie, Billy, Richie and so many more of those Regulars we loved. When it came to the rehearsal-dinner look, the team worked to re-create a gown worn by Stella Tennant in the 1997 Chanel couture fall show. https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Bandstand%20historical%20marker%20%281%20of%201%29.jpg. Now WebAmerican Bandstand Tidbits. American Bandstand - Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia ET. He said fans often spot the American Bandstand display in his store and gawk at photographs of their favorite Bandstanders. They are true rock stars. Senator Estes Kefauver, who was running for Vice President in 1956. Menefee was a curmudgeon on the air. Our Philadelphia program had a history of racial exclusion that was more complex and much more interesting.