2013. Donald Hodge, letter to J.D. host and continued as the show became American Bandstand with Dick Bessie Smith recorded one last session in 1933, for one-sixth of the fee she used to command, before she died after a car crash in 1937. The classic blues singers were already in decline when the Great Depression finished them off. Docu-Drama. For The Mitch Thomas Show, Teenage Frolics, and Teenarama Dance Party this meant trying to attract sponsors to advertise to black television audiences. 1966-67], Lewis Family Papers, folder 140. Thus the first black singer to record anything also became the first to record the blues. University of California Press. . b. his trademark fast tremolos on the guitar New York Public Library Digital Collections, Billy Rose Theatre Division. This site requires Javascript to be turned on. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_3', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_3').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); That same year, black students from St. Augustine University and Shaw University staged sit-ins at lunch counters in Raleigh to protest the whites-only policies at Woolworths and other stores.4Jeffrey Crow, Paul Escott, and Flora Hatley, A History of African Americans in North Carolina (Raleigh: Division of Archives and History,North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1992). c. musical playlets Ramsey describes "community theaters" as "sites of cultural memory" that "include but are not limited to cinema, family narratives and histories, the church, the social dance, the nightclub, the skating rink, and even literature. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_50', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_50').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Both of these options were cost prohibitive for many of the African American viewers WOOK hoped to reach. Delmont also explores Washington, DC's whites-only program. "44Anonymous ("102 Pilot St.), letter to J.D. As Grant introduced The Four Aces' "I Just Don't Know," he exited the scene, the camera pulled back to focus on teens who flocked to pick up their free Pepsi. What the show didn't do was fully integrate its studio audience as soon as he became host, as Clark has claimed. c. they had top 40 albums Julie Malnig (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 182198; George Lipsitz, Midnight at the Barrelhouse: The Johnny Otis Story (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010); and Brian Ward, Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and Race Relations (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998). Print fond memoriesThis pocket Bluetooth printer lets you print your precious memories before they hit Instagram. Then it was hosted by Bob Horn and was called Bob Horn's Bandstand.On July 9 of 1956 the show got a new host, a clean-cut 26 year old named Dick Clark. Broadcasting daily evidence of Philadelphia's vibrant interracial teenage culture would have offered viewers images of black and white teens interacting as peers at a time when such images were extremely rare. "Seventeen (WOI-TV's teen dance show), 1958." tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_10', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_10').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Born in West Palm Beach, Florida, Mitch Thomas graduated from Delaware State College and served in the army before becoming the first black disc jockey in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1949.11Eustace Gay, "Pioneer In TV Field Doing Marvelous Job Furnishing Youth With Recreation," Philadelphia Tribune, February 11, 1956; Gary Mullinax, "Radio Guided DJ to Stars," The News Journal Papers (Wilmington, DE), January 28, 1986,D4. This 2019 photograph shows the building that once housed WFIL-TV and Studio B at 4548 Market St., where Dick Clarks American Bandstand was broadcast live every weekday afternoon from 1957 to 1964. But all he had to do was lip-sync and wiggle a bit and the screaming would start. this meant trying to attract sponsors to advertise to black television audiences. The rest are largely forgotten. Checker himself twisted as he performed the song. The Afro-American papers cultivated an older and more middle class black audience than the viewers and listeners WOOK-TV and WOOK-radio targeted. Teenagers lined up daily at the entrance to Studio B and American Bandstand. It contains a story line and an epilogue. DVD. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2010), 6263, 7778; Barlow, Voice Over, 98103. c. King and Goffin Like other white teens that protested the desegregation of Central High, Hazel Bryan danced regularly on Steve's Show. What is wrong with reporter Susan Raff's arm on WFSB news. The entrepreneurial songwriter Perry Bradford, a man so stubborn he was known as "Mule", knew better. When American Bandstand started broadcasting nationally in 1957, it had to avoid being tainted by the anti-rock and roll protests taking place across the country. Interested in submitting your work to Southern Spaces? | Blues are here to stay." There were two black dancers on this show, the "black Bandstand," or whatever you want to call it. Overweight at age 40, Horn was neither boyish-looking nor telegenic, and, quite unlike Clark, he had a salacious reputation among his colleagues. And I remember that there was a dance that [American Bandstand regulars] Joan Buck and Jimmy Peatross did called "The Strand"and it was a slow version of the jitterbug done to slow records. Horn had appointed a committee of 12 youngsters to monitor the behavior of their peers in the studio; Clark expanded the size of this committee and he enforced a code of conduct that required boys to wear a suit jacket, shirt, and necktie; prohibited girls from wearing tight sweaters, low-necked dresses or pants; and banned gum, smoking, and obscene or profane language. Lastly, no one under age 14 or older than 18 [was] to be admitted.1. The abbreviated (15 minute) programs are necessary because of ABC's scheduling of American Bandstand from 12:301:30 p.m. each Saturday. In a long list of reasons why "we find it difficult to wait," King includes, "when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental skythen you will understand why we find it difficult to wait." ", The explosive popularity of classic blues discs was a democratic revolution. And the other people were copying the style, the whole idea. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_35', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_35').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); WRAL, however, offered Teenage Frolics signal strength and stability, and Lewis's success at attracting advertisers and navigating station politics kept the program on the air for twenty-five years. Any racist similarities a. accusations of Communism All kids are creative, but we don't let them express it . c. Phil Spector Dance Party: The Teenarama Story. He is currently finishinga book titledMaking Roots: How an Epic Book and Television Miniseries Made History and Why Roots Still Matters(under contract with University of California Press). From 1976 to 2011, however, Clark became progressively bolder, and . DVD. In Norfolk in 1951 and 1952, they began calling it rhythm and blues. While Black artists were permitted to perform, only white dancers were allowed. As a new generation of black female singers broke through in the 1930s Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Memphis Minnie some of the first wave sought refuge in other branches of showbusiness. Among local programs, the Al Benson Show and Richard Stamz's Open the Door Richardboth had brief periods of success in 1950s Chicago.24J. c. George "Shadow" Morton Christopher Sterling and John Michael Kittross, "Voice of the People: In Defense of WOOK-TV,", "Nation's First Minority Group TV Station to Broadcast Today,", Nan Randall, "Rocking and Rolling Road to Respectability,". a. In 1934, at the age of 17, Fitzgerald performed at the famous Apollo Theater in New York City and won the prize of $25 for Amateur Night. New York: Cinreach, 2013. And The Stroll became a big thing. There was a protest in the early 60's, I think it was 1963 (my parents were there as teens). This obsession with the "genuine" black experience proved fatal for the classic blues. d. It is an example of a surf song. For many young people being blocked from amusements parks, swimming pools, and skating rinks would be their first exposure to what King calls the feeling of "forever fighting a degenerating sense of 'nobodiness. She sang for her classmates and family members, and even had the opportunity to perform with her church's choir where she says she really received training for her voice and style. If white teen shows sought to shore up the supremacy of whiteness in youth music culture, the black teen shows visualized black teens as equal participants in the production and consumption of music culture. And if you liked this story,sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called The Essential List. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012. Once you really had a rocking roll show up here. b. Phil Spector Counter to host Dick Clark's claims that he integrated American Bandstand, my research revealed how the first national television program directed at teens discriminated against black youth during its early years and how black teens and civil rights advocates protested this discrimination.8Matthew Delmont, The Nicest Kids in Town: American Bandstand, Rock 'n' Roll, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in 1950s Philadelphia (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012). Once some decent songs were funneled through this process, notably Turn Me Loose, Fabulous Fabian was on his way to stardom. This series is guest edited by Grace Elizabeth Hale, Commonwealth Chair of American Studies, professor of history, and director of the American Studies Program at the University of Virginia. "61"Voice of the People: In Defense of WOOK-TV," Washington Afro-American, February 23, 1963. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_61', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_61').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); As Burton suggests, during its five years The Milt Grant Show (19561961) was an officially segregated program. As Delmont tells it: "There was a singer named Bobby Brooks, an African-American teen singer from South Philadelphia who was their favorite singer. Earl Lewis. a. a smooth rhythm and blues influence in their harmonies tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_11', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_11').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); His television show, broadcast every Saturday, resembled Philadelphia's Bandstand,at the timea local program hosted by Bob Horn,and other locally broadcast teenage dance programs. ", Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was one of several black women who dominated the classic blues African-American culture's first mainstream breakthrough (Credit: Getty Images). Smith's versatile blues encompassed gallows humour (Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair), social commentary (Poor Man's Blues), salty innuendo (Kitchen Man) and lusty good times (Gimme a Pigfoot). The first Black "super couple" on "American Bandstand" was Famous Hooks and June Strode, still fondly remembered today by "Bandstand" enthusiasts In the "American Bandstand" dance contest in 1966, featuring dancers from all over the country, a brother and sister couple from Detroit, Lester and Leslie Tipton, won first place. "12Otis Givens, interview withauthor, June 27, 2007. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_12', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_12').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Similarly, South Philadelphia teen Donna Brown recalled in a 1995 interview,"I remember at the same time that Bandstand used to come on, there used to be a black dance thing that came on, and it was The Mitch Thomas Show . For the writer Zora Neale Hurston, His Negroness is being rubbed off by close contact with white culture.". cancelled. b. the Drifters Screenshot from Steve's Show, a documentarydirected bySandra Hubbard (Morning Star Studio, 2004). "Now every phonograph company has a coloured girl recording. Because you would look at Bandstand and we thought it was a joke. By 1933, record sales were just 7% of what they had been in 1929 and many of the theatres had closed or been turned into movie theatres. The plan faltered, and the station suffered significant operating losses over the next year.26Ibid. They feared the backlash that might happen if Black boys danced close to white girls. Clark. And that says more about our desire to embrace a more comforting narrative of racial progress than it does about Clark's legacy. King's mention of "Funtown" is preceded by references to lynch mobs, police brutality and the "airtight cage of poverty," and followed by references to hotel segregation and racial slurs. d. Splatter Platter, The Beach Boys' first number-one hit was: Directed by Matt Wolf. - The canny mythology of Dolly Parton, - Why Grace Jones is pop's greatest pioneer. The show blocked black teens from the studio, though complaints from black viewers eventually led to one show perweek featuring a black studio audience (so-called "Black Tuesday"). Clark had Checker simplify the dance step by toning down the hip movement. Clark was the host of American Bandstand in the late '50s through the mid-'60s. It wasn't until the 1920s that record . With limited televisual evidence, my analysis draws on archival documents, promotional materials, newspapers, photographs, and interviews to explore how these shows got on and stayed on the air and what they meant to their audiences. It became one of the biggest rock n roll records of all time.6. J. D. Lewis' Teenage Frolics, which aired from 1958 to 1983, stayed on the air longer than any other local teen dance program. Broadcast icon Dick Clark, the longtime host of the influential "American Bandstand," has died, publicist Paul Shefrin said. Lee Andrews and the Hearts was the first black singer to appear on American Bandstand, which went national with ABC in 1957. J.D. Jeffrey Crow, Paul Escott, and Flora Hatley. on Saturday, May 14th. "40David Cecelski, Along Freedom Road: Hyde County, North Carolina and the Fate of Black Schools in the South (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press), 9. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_40', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_40').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Teenage Frolics offered a black cultural space that bridged this period between segregatedand integrated schools. They didn't need that bridge to the South anymore. First, were important for black teens because the shows offered televisual spaces that valued their creative energies and talents. In July 1956, Dick Clark, a commercial pitchman and deejay with an unsullied reputation, inherited WFIL-TVsBandstandfrom scandal-tainted Bob Horn and revamped it for a national audience of teenage consumers as ABCsAmerican Bandstand, which first aired in August 1957. Lewis (WRAL), June 24, 1967, Lewis Family Papers, folder 140; Daniel Jackson, letter to J.D. Barry Malone, "Before Brown: Cultural and Social Capital in a Rural Black School Community, W.E.B. b. Joan Cannady, who was the first black student to attend Germantown Friends High School in the northeast section of Philadelphia, remembers watching the program to hear black music that was not played at parties with her white classmates. Less obviously, the Iowa teens were also emulating teens on The Mitch Thomas Showa black teen dance show that broadcast locally from Wilmington, Delaware, to the Philadelphia areawhose version of the Stroll influenced the American Bandstanddancers. In the summer of 1959, Ballards version of The Twist, described as an underground phenomenon, was being danced to by torso-twisting, hip-thrusting black teenagers. A hallmark of earlyAmerican Bandstandwas Clarks promotion of Italian-American male teen idols, sex-symbol pop singers who hailed from South Philadelphia: Frankie Avalon (ne Francis Avallone), Bobby Rydell (ne Ridarelli), and Fabian (ne Fabiano Forte). While the advertisement used large, bold font to tout the city's majority African American population to potential advertisers, smaller letters tried to put a positive spin on the station's limitations,"281,000 UHF sets in operation in WOOK area as of Oct. 1, 1964. Who was the first host of American Bandstand? "47Cash Michaels, "Memories of Teenage Frolics," The Carolinian, December 4, 1997. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_47', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_47').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Comparing the show to Soul Train in 1997, The Carolinian, a Raleigh-based African-American newspaper, commented that Teenage Frolics "gave the Hollywood production a run for its money in these parts."48Ibid. Show,", On Mitch Thomas' concerts, see Archie Miller, "Fun & Thrills,", Ray Smith, interviewwithauthor, August 10, 2006. Jackie Kay's book and George C Wolfe's film are important reminders of the period when the blues was mass-market party music and its reigning stars were women, proud and majestic in feathers and gold. b. teenage symphonies Arlene with singer Frankie Avalon at an American Bandstand event. We couldn't go on American Bandstand on a regular basis. c. Los Angeles Storer Broadcasting Company purchased WPFH in 1956.25Herbert Howard, Multiple Ownership in Television Broadcasting (New York: Arno Press, 1979), 142147. Lewis, July 7, 1967, Lewis Family Papers,folder 139. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_38', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_38').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Despite Helms's backhanded reference, Pepsi's sponsorship offered Teenage Frolics a national brand sponsor, something neither The Mitch Thomas Show nor Teenarama possessed. 224 likes, 8 comments - Jermaine (@therealblackhistorian) on Instagram: "Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers began in 1954 as a singing group founded at Edward W. Stitt . Who is the first black female singer? Whose Culture? In addition to viewer letters, Lewis received mail from local music groups that watched and wanted to appear on the show. Some commented they looked like grampas'. These kids are typical of all the kids who are given something to do, some responsibility. Most people listening to a dance program would rather hear the latest records. In Raleigh, token school integration did not begin until 1960, six years after Brown.3Sarah Caroline Thuesen, Greater Than Equal: African American Struggles for Schools and Citizenship in North Carolina, 1919 1965 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013), 225229. The first order of business was to lure disaffected Horn loyalists to his version ofBandstand. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_9', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_9').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); The Mitch Thomas Show debuted on August 13, 1955, on WPFH, an unaffiliated television station that broadcast to Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley from Wilmington.10"The NAACP Reports: WCAM (Radio)," August 7, 1955, NAACP collection, URB 6, box 21, folder 423, TUUA. Economics, more than a concern for racial equality, influenced WPFH's decision to provide airtime for this groundbreaking show. b. Boston Victoria Spivey appeared in King Vidor's 1929 movie Hallelujah, one of the first studio pictures to feature an entirely black cast. The female blues singers were on the losing side of a long, complicated argument about what the blues should be. 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. You appear to be using an older verion of Internet Explorer. Black students from Philadelphia high schools and junior high "We weren't able to get into Bandstand, [but] The Mitch Thomas Show gave me a little fame. Yet, as the third and fourth stories in this collection show, there was a downside toAmerican BandstandsPhiladelphia years. b. the Everly Brothers selected went together as a group. And that was something for the black kids to really identify with. This, however, did not stop her and she began playing gigs around New York City. Otherwise, Clark and his producer, Tony Mammarella, stayed with Horns formula of teens dancing to hit records in Studio B and showcasing the talents of lip-syncing musical guests. "I engineered a plan to get membership applications," Walter Palmer told me, "and gave them Irish, Polish and Italian last names. "I watch your show every Saturday and enjoy it very much," one viewer wrote. . Race and American Bandstand, The Seven-Year Itch: West Philly Loses American Bandstand, Report accessibility issues and request help. From one perspective, these televised teen dance shows were commercialized diversions during an era of profound changes in the racial dynamics of the South. But what did hurt me was the fact that I had originated the song, and I never got the opportunities to be in the top television shows and the talk shows. a. the Drifters Jimmy Peatross and Joan Buck tell a related story about learning how to do The Strand from black teenagers in, Art Peters, "Mitch Thomas Fired From TV Dance Party Job,", On the limitations of the de jure/de facto framework, see Matthew Lassiter, "De Jure/De Facto Segregation: The Long Shadow of a National Myth," in, Clarence Williams, "JD Lewis Jr.: A Living Broadcasting Legend,". Reproduced with permission ofThePhiladelphia Tribune. "And why not? d. Chuck Berry, An important component of the Beach Boys' success was: Despite this, Clark claimed for years that he integrated Bandstand by the late 1950s. a. Avalon and Vinton He was going to be on 'Bandstand' and they wanted to go see him. Bessie Smith was the first African-American singer. The earliest representative of African-American performers on this site is George Walker ("Her Name's Miss Dinah Fair"). Wald describes this as an "affective compact" that "complicates the clear division between production and consumption. c. the Everly Brothers Lewis (WRAL), n.d. [ca. I became interested in these teen dance shows while researching and writing a book on American Bandstand. This meant buying additional hardware to receive the channels, or, after Congress passed the All-Channels ReceiverAct in 1962, buying a newer television set.50Christopher Sterling and John Michael Kittross, Stay Tuned: A History of American Broadcasting, Third Edition (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002), 255256, 351352, 383, 415416. Is Brooke shields related to willow shields? You are signed in as (Sign out). It imagined the performers as men who sang their pain without concern for attention or financial reward, even though, in reality, they would very much have liked both. "Afro-Americans who lived in communities as diverse as Chicago, Norfolk, and Buxton, Iowa, congregatedsometimes along class lines, but always together," Earl Lewis argues. First, The Mitch Thomas Show, Teenage Frolics, and Teenarama Dance Party were important for black teens because the shows offered televisual spaces that valued their creative energies and talents. As labels such as Okeh, Paramount and Columbia rushed into the so-called "race records" market, they snapped up dozens of women like Smith, ("Queen of the Blues"), including Gertrude "Ma" Rainey ("Mother of the Blues"), Bessie Smith ("Empress of the Blues"), Ida Cox ("Uncrowned Queen of the Blues"), Ethel Waters, Sara Martin, Edith Wilson, Victoria Spivey, Sippie Wallace and Alberta Hunter. Sisters Gwendolyn and Lena Horton, for example, regularly walked from the Walnut Terrace neighborhood to appear on the show. I would appreciate your information by telling me if we can come and when we can come. While performers, record companies, and music fans welcomed Teenarama's promotion of R&B, WOOK's music programing drew criticism from Washington's black press and the city's black leaders. Historian Brett Gadsden describes Delaware as "a provincial hybrid, one in which ostensibly southern and northern modes of race relations operated. 1967], Lewis Family Papers, folder 140. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_45', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_45').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); As television production became increasingly centralized in Los Angeles in the 1960s, Teenage Frolics was part of the everyday life of black teenagers in the Raleigh area. The "Funtown" reference is powerful because it captures one of the ways that Jim Crow segregation and white supremacy were most meaningful to children and teenagers. Over the course of her career, she went on to win a total of 14 Grammys and even received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1967. Ultimately, these televised teen dance shows encourage us to expand the range of sounds and images we associate withblack youth in the South. Fred MacDonald, Blacks and White TV: African Americans in Television Since 1948 (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1983), 1721, 5764; Jannette Dates, "Commercial Television," in Split Image: African Americans and the Mass Media, ed., Davis and Barlow (Washington, DC:Howard University Press, 1993), 267327; Christopher Lehman, A Critical History of Soul Train on Television (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2008), 28; Richard Stamz, Give 'Em Soul, Richard! 'all-black' Fridays (taking into account that the show was a Daily What time does normal church end on Sunday? The history of the blues is dominated by men. In 1926, Blind Lemon Jefferson became the first solo singer-guitarist to have a hit record (Paramount's advertisement promised "a real, old-fashioned blues, by a real, old-fashioned blues singer") and he set a new fashion for earthier "country blues," followed by Blind Blake, Big Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson and Furry Lewis. Lewis (WRAL), June 24, 1967, Lewis Family Papers, folder 140, July 22, 1967; Gwendolyn Gilmore, J.D. http://www.museum.tv/eotv/musicontele.htm. "20Mullinax, "Radio Guided DJ to Stars." On Valentine's Day 1920, a little over a century ago, a 28-year-old singer named Mamie Smith walked into a recording studio in New York City and made history. It was a little more raucous. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_49', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_49').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Whereas all television sets could pick up VHFstations, which carried major network programming, UHF (ultra high frequency) stations required viewers to have special UHF tuners. "58Nan Randall, "Rocking and Rolling Road to Respectability," Washington Post, July 4, 1965. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_58', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_58').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); In an interview with filmmaker Beverly Lindsay-Johnson, who made an important documentary on the show, Teenarama regular Reginald "Lucky" Luckett recalled, "One of the key things about the program was that it got the [teens] involved. But Clark's recollections differ from archival materials, newspaper accounts, video and photographic evidence and the memories of people who were regulars on American Bandstand or who were excluded from the show. Only one kinescope of The Milt Grant Show is known to exist, but it features two separate performances by R&B performersone by the duo Johnnie and Joe (Johnnie Lee Richardson and Joe Walker), and the other by LaVern Bakerthat help explain how the show sought to manage the differences between black performers and white audience members. Vermont Public Radio. was more politically and aesthetically adventurous than The Mitch Thomas Show, Teenage Frolics, and Teenarama, these teen dance shows fostered a similar compact between their audiences and performers. . "I feel my audiences want to see me becomingly gowned," said Mamie Smith, who liked to perform in diamonds and furs, "and I have spared no expense or pains in frequenting the shops of the most fashionable modists in America." As if their enforced retirement weren't bad enough, these women suffered the double indignity of being retrospectively sidelined. Lewis (WRAL), n.d. [ca. Each show featured musical performances and records alongside dancing teenagers. Storer changed WPFH's call letters to WVUE and hoped to move the station's facilities from Wilmington closer to Philadelphia. c. It was produced by Phil Spector. Which folk music group had a hit song with a cover of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind"? Simon Singers drug store and luncheonette at the southeast corner of Market and Farragut streets was a hangout for American Bandstand Regulars. b. Cash Michaels, "Memories of Teenage Frolics,". . For these and other artists who played at Washington's historically black Howard Theater, Teenarama offered an additional opportunity to perform and promote their music while they were in the city.