REGULARS Gallery 3. Sullivans co-author, Ray Smith, recently retired after 40 years as an Emmy-winning Today show producer. Click here to see some of your favorites back in action. In Philadelphia, however, WFIL opted to tape-delay the game show for later broadcast in another time slot, and to continue on with Bandstand, though only for the local audience. Norman and I met in January 1959 while standing outside of the studio waiting to get inside. 10/7/1957 9/5/1987 ABC 60 minutes News Shows . Carole Ann Scaldeferri Spada, 70, of Newtown Square, a regular dancer on American Bandstand from 1957 to 1961, has died. However, the couple will shortly be returning to Los Angeles, which will be their permanent residence. 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.. We sent some 15,000 fan letters each week. Michael Jackson, a frequent Bandstand guest, performed In fact, she was "the first female car racer at Cecil County Drag Strip," according. In 1964 Dick Clark took Dick Clark Productions and American Bandstand to Hollywood, Los Angeles in search of new markets for his myriad projects. Once a week, she goes to a hop thrown by another Bandstand original, 76-year-old Philadelphia radio and TV personality Jerry Blavat, who bills himself as The Geator with the Heater and The Boss with the Hot Sauce.. Local radio disc jockey Buddy Deane was chosen as the host of The Buddy Deane Show on Channel 13, and began a daily two hour broadcast on September 9, 1957. In September 1964, Bandstand began using a new logo based on the ABC circle logo, reading "ab" in the same typeface followed by a number representing the year the show aired. When she heard the news of Clark's death Wednesday, Gibson immediately headed to Hollywood to be with other former Bandstand regulars at Clark's star on the Walk of Fame. "Dick Clark introduced records, and the camera followed teenagers as they selected partners to dance," writes historian Matthew Delmont. This started with "'65", then "'66", "'67", "'68" and "'69" when each year arrived. Two of the regulars, Arlene Sullivan and Ray Smith, published the volume asBandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years, 1956-1963,with Sharon Sultan Cutler as a non-Bandstand-member co-author. He molded the image of the American teenager so America would accept rock-and-roll.". Bob Horn Host (Bob Horns Bandstand), Bandstand Boogie The kids who showed up every day (Bandstand aired every weekday afternoon for the first six years) knew all the most popular steps. Brancaccio says thats what attracted him to it. Norman was born on January 18, 1944. . Kenny Rossi and Arlene Sullivan, Bunny Gibson and Eddie Kelly, Pat Molittieri, Carmen Jimenz, Joyce Shafer. Mixed REGULARS Galleries. He was six weeks shy of his 47th birthday. Clark said this about Horn: Dancing was a major feature of Bandstand. . He retained his youthful looks through the 1980s, burnishing his reputation as Americas Oldest Living Teenager. Dick Clark died at age 82 in Santa Monica. LGBT identities were hidden on the shows dancefloor. Never, did I ever think that I would be with him, holding his hand when he passed away. Ray Smith was one of the shows secretly gay dancers. Music by Charles Albertine In 1988, the National Park Service listed 4548 Market Street on the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. And, for me, the kids on Bandstand were all I aspired to be. This story has been shared 115,637 times. On September 13, 1969, the Bandstand set was given a complete overhaul and Les Elgart's big band version of "Bandstand Boogie" was replaced by the Mike Curb theme. Jerry Oppenheimer is a best-selling author. At 74, Sullivan still dances once a week at a party thrown by another Bandstand dancer. I still really didnt know who I was. They were real kids from Philly, and if you watched every day, you could tell who was breaking up and who was making up. Score: 4.4/5 (45 votes) . But . In addition to appearances by big pop stars of the day, Sullivan's on-screen romance with Kenny Rossi was a huge draw for the show. 4/8/1989 10/7/1989 Syndicated The program was permanently shot in color starting on September 9, 1967. It got me out of my shell, but I learned I was a regular teenager who happened to dance on a show that unexpectedly became very popular. When WFIL-TV moved to a new facility on City Line Avenue (one that did not have a studio that could accommodate the show), ABC moved production of Bandstand to the ABC Television Center (stage 5) in Los Angeles (now known as The Prospect Studios) on February 8, 1964, which coincidentally was the day before the Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. I said, In that case, Im staying. I was shocked. We only had three channels in those days. Carol Highsmith, photographer, Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. Making matters worse, on September 13, 1986, ABC reduced Bandstand from a full hour to 30 minutes;[13] at Clark's request, the 2,751st and final ABC installment[14] (with Laura Branigan[15] performing "Shattered Glass"[16][17]) aired on September 5, 1987. For a brief time in 1973, Bandstand alternated its time slot with Soul Unlimited,[10] a show featuring soul music that was hosted by Buster Jones. Yes, yes, I know. I am not sure I can post that part of the video as I have no rights to the music they play and is heard in the background of the parade. "Dangerous". . The new legislation effectively ended payola in the music business.2, American Bandstandtoo weathered the payola storm. Sullivan says Bandstand host Dick Clark knew most of the cast was gay, but was determined to keep it under wraps for the sake of the show. "It is with much sadness that we have lost one of the most loving and beautiful souls - Carole Scaldeferri Spada has passed away," Bunny Gibson, who identified herself as a "Bandstand buddy," posted on Facebook. The Regulars, also known as The Committee were only a part of the Bandstand story. From 1963 to 1987 Bandstand was on only once a week, on Saturday. "After that, it was history.". It was a local show Philadelphia, Jersey, the Lehigh Valley [Pennsylvania]. These experienced Regulars considered an infrequent participant or a first time visitor an amateur. I wonder what they would have thought about a kid in TV Land, practicing the new steps in front of her bedroom mirror and praying to God her little brother didnt catch her at it. The news hit hard. The bashing of Bandstand regulars, gay and straight, happened all the time, Sullivan and Smith reveal. Give me some Thumbs UP!This is Bunny Gibson and the American Bandstand Regulars live at Sesame Park outside of Philadelphia on July 21,. Not only does Bandstand Diaries detail Smith's and Sullivan's personal experiences, it also includes interviews with more than 40 Bandstand regulars, reveals Dick Clark's back story and . from CBS in November 1957, they renamed the program as Who Do You Trust? In 2014, the National Enquirer interviewed Frank Brancaccio and Eddie Kelly, other series regulars. The Hand Jive. Wagon Train Website,