August 5
AMERICAN BANDSTAND DAY
It all began when a radio disc jockey working for WFIL Radio was pressed into hosting duties for a local, after-school dance show on WFIL-TV 6 in Philadelphia. Originally hosted by Bob Horn, the show was American Bandstand; the young, handsome DJ/host from Utica, New York was Dick Clark.
And on this day in 1957, Dick Clark’s American Bandstand caught the attention of network executives at ABC-TV in New York, who decided to put the show on its afternoon schedule. However, the one thing they couldn’t do was disrupt an airing of the hugely popular Mickey Mouse Club at 5 p.m. What to do? Halfway through the American Bandstand show, Clark would tell listeners to come back for more of the show ... but “right now ... here comes the Mouse!” At that time, the network would cut away from Philadelphia and show Walt Disney’s Mouseketeers. Following the show ... American Bandstand would return for another 30 minutes.
Many artists, acts and groups of the rock ’n’ roll era debuted on American Bandstand -- Simon and Garfunkel, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker -- catapulting Clark into the spotlight as one of TV’s most prolific producers and hosts.
If only the writers at Billboard magazine could have seen the future when they wrote in 1957 that Clark’s show succeeded as a “sociological study of teenager behavior,” but failed as “entertainment.” American Bandstand lasted until 1987 on the network, ABC-TV’s longest-running show. A permanent exhibition of American Bandstand memorabilia and personal histories, featuring the original Bandstanders, is on display at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.
We’d have to say ... that’s entertainment!
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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