american bandstand regulars who have died

Known for her perky personality, Pat Moliterri is credited with inventing the dance, the Hop, by combining elements of the Slop and the Bop.Sadly, Pat died in in the mid-seventies of a heart attack. New book keeps memories of 'American Bandstand' alive I was truly blessed in my life with wonderful family, friends and fans. There is another chapter about Clark. We've received your submission. REGULARS Gallery 3. . She also mentions a gay dancer who was pushed in the train tracks, and another who was dangled over an elevator shaft. Were goin hopin today New York: Ballantine, 1985. Weekday afternoons were spent with the kids in Philly, the kids on American Bandstand. A funeral director in Newtown Square confirmed Monday night that Mrs. Spada had died, but declined to divulge the details before meeting with her family. They knew what was going on, but they never asked the question., Sullivan says there were at least four other popular girl dancers on Bandstand who she quickly learned were lesbians and we all started hanging out together. Elmhurst Blotter: Man charged with battery for allegedly punching a security guard at a bar, Hinsdale police blotter: multiple thefts reported by patients at Hinsdale Hospital, Glenview police blotter: Harwood Heights woman charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Henderson remained the chief newsreader for Australia's Channel 9 until finally announcing his retirement in 2002. NEW PAGE! American Bandstand (1952-89) was a massively popular music television program with strong Philadelphia roots, storied national success, and the power to shape the music industry and society. .When he spoke to us off-screen, it was usually from the podium; it gave him command over his domain, and as I have learned over the years, Clark liked and wanted to be in command.4, Smith recalls the closetingof American BandstandsLGBT youths. ". Home Yesteryear Nostalgia Where Are the American Bandstand Regulars Now? I was SO mixed up., Today, Arlene Sullivan lives with a partner and, despite having suffered strokes, still loves to dance. Hundreds of kids lined up each day hoping to be one of the few lucky ones who got to dance alongside the Regulars and share part of the magic that was American Bandstand. They wrote thousands of letters. In 1962, ABC trimmed the shows airtime from 90 to 60 minutes. The program moved production in 1964 from Philadelphia to Hollywood, months after it began airing once per week. The American Bandstand Regulars tell us what Studio B means to them today and yesterday, with special guest appearance by the American Bandstand Fan Club pre. Norman had a very, very unique sense of humor, which made him so popular with all that knew him. Like Rick Pierce, Bandstand dancer Sandra Mae Dawson, who died Feb. 25, 2008, at age 66, was into car racing. He said funeral services are pending. Fiorentino was known on the show as "Nicky Blue.". Photo taken on October 27, 1981. [2] Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Paylola and Sponsorship Identification, Federal Communications Act, Amendments, 1960. She tracked them down for the new coffee-table book, Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years, 1956-1963. Jerry Lee Lewis was the first guest on the national show and it would over the decades feature the TV debuts of such stars as Prince, the Jackson 5, Aerosmith, Sonny and Cher and dozens of other performers. Huge DiscountsThere are savings on everyday items you already buy, and savings on the things youve been waiting for a sale on to spoil your pet with. The show then aired at 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, corresponding with the typical school days end. ofGreaterPhiladelphia. This American Bandstand tribute book celebrates Dick Clark and the Regulars with 700 Photos. In addition to his other ventures, Clark maintained a virtual lock on New Years Eve television withDick ClarksNew Years Rockin Eve. Most of us would love her to do a Spotlight Dance once again and tell us know how she is doing today. However, advertisers do to enable personalized ads. We only had three channels in those days. What they didnt know was that Arlene and several of the other female dancers, and most of the handsome teen boys, were gay. Or sign up for our monthly Nostalgia e-newsletter or other e-newsletters tailored for boomers! PAT MOLITTIERI GALLERY IN LOVING MEMORY OF PAT MOLITTIERI - passed away at much too young an age Pat kissing her mother You can see her with her Dad in the thumbnail gallery. OnAmerican Bandstandsdance floor, Sullivan was first partnered famously with Kenny Rossi (1957-58), a multitalented Italian-American student at West Catholic Boys High School, and such was her national popularity that her fan mail eventually totaled some 500 letters weekly. In fact, it was dangerous. This investigation targeted the practice of payola, and it was most likely triggered by rumors circulating that charged Dick Clark with promoting records in which he held a financial stake onAmerican Bandstandand taking kickbacks from record companies to include their records on the shows playlist. Carole Ann Scaldeferri Spada, 70, of Newtown Square, a regular dancer on American Bandstand from 1957 to 1961, has died. The two sides were "Drive in Movie " and "Dream Girl." Dick Clark never played either song on American Bandstand. He held nothing back. "When he saw me, he said, 'I knew I'd see you again,' with a smile on his face," Gibson recalled. . A case in point is Arlene Sullivan, a popular Regular who has described her own emerging lesbian sexual orientation, which she says was masked by her dance partnerships with boys. Carole Ann Scaldeferri Spada, 70, of Newtown Square, a regular dancer on American Bandstand from 1957 to 1961, has died. That really annoyed me, said Smith, Because quite a few of the Philadelphia dancers on Bandstand died of AIDS., According to Brancaccio, Clark didnt want racial integration on his show either. I can honestly say that I was the most blessed person in the world the day I met Norman and he and I became steady dance partners., Meeting Norman 28 talking about this. Hes a heckuva good dancer who does a mean jitterbug! He said, 'In all my days, I never thought I would ever meet you, and here you are standing right in front of me.' My husband and I met on a blind date and six months later on April 12, 1964 we were married. Back in July, I received a most endearing email from Duke which told of his experiences in life. Unlike Smith, she expresses no animosity toward Clark. However, the couple will shortly be returning to Los Angeles, which will be their permanent residence. She was 36. American Bandstand only allowed dancers from 14 to 18. American Bandstand Dancers - Legacy.com Dick Clarks tight control on the sexual expression of his cast extended to a denial years after the show had ended. The result of her journey is the very worthwhile "Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years 1956-1963," a colorful, charming and evocative book (more at bandstanddiaries.com). James Morgan, who danced 17 times on Bandstand and stayed interested in it over the years, said Mrs. Spada had run a beauty parlor in the suburbs. The show epitomized many important aspects of ever-evolving American popular culture: mass communication, popular music, youth culture, dance and fashion trends, as well as race and gender relationships. I was so afraid that I started trying to talk myself into being straight. She calls it her one night out.. Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years 1956 to 1963 - Facebook Clark felt such conventions helped boost the perception of rock-and-roll, which in the 1950s was a controversial genre often disliked by older generations. Norman was born on January 18, 1944. Everybody knew the names of The Regulars on Bandstand. Sullivan and the other dancers often congregated in Rittenhouse Square, the historic epicenter of what is known as the City of Brotherly Loves Gayborhood. There even was chatter and fear that Clark, who died at 82 in 2012, sent members of his production staff to spy on them and report back the names of the suspected gay regulars. Rock Obituaries: Knocking on Heavens Door. West Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, Jersey you learned the different styles of the same dances., The Regulars did the Pony, Jitterbug, Calypso, Cha-cha and a slow dance that she says wasnt exactly a waltz: The kids didnt stand in one spot. In the wake of the quiz show scandal, however, a subcommittee of the House of Representatives set up hearings to determine if the practice should be made illegal. (noted 9/12/21) . Bunnys mom, Betty, made her promise that she would graduate. Ripley W.va, Great article Larry love your antiques blog . American Bandstand - Home - Facebook 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. Im sure shell be thrilled to hear well wishes and from Bandstand friends and fans and donations would help her a lot. Whose Culture? ", "I was shaking like a leaf," Colanero recalled. Arlene Sullivan, one of the most popularAmerican Bandstandregulars, presents another perspective on the shows closeted world. We elevated them into celebrities. , Puppy love 8-9; quote from unpaginated photo section. Parents across America would never, NEVER have allowed their kids to put Bandstand on, she writes. Sullivans last appearance onAmerican Bandstandwas in 1960.7, In the early 1960s, a new collection of teen regulars succeeded Arlene Sullivans generation onAmerican Bandstandsdance floor. One chapter in the book, "Tributes to the Regulars," features short sketches of some of those dancers who have died. "My heart hurts," said Gibson, a regular from 1959 to 1961. Sullivans co-author, Ray Smith, recently retired after 40 years as an Emmy-winning Today show producer. She told me she got so many letters from fans who thought I looked like her and [with our dark hair], we did look alike. I still have my HI-FI sitting against a wall between my living room and dining room. How to Be a SuperAger in The SuperAging Revolution, Jumble for Kids and Adults: Cartoons and Twins. EARLY BANDSTAND FASHIONS. Clark now eyed California as where the action is. And in February 1964 Clark moved to Los Angeles, where it would continue until 1989, though lacking its West Philadelphia spontaneity. Meet the Regulars of American Bandstand Fabian and Bobby Rydell Hang With American Bandstand Regulars By Rick SiegelFabian, the teenagers heart throb from the 50's, hob knobs along with the America. Pat Molitteeri was credited with inventing the dance, "The Hop" by combining elements of the Slop and the Bop, Pat died in the mid -1970s of a heart attack at age 36, Carmen Jimenez still lives in Philadelphia today and recollects the fun she had being on the show. It was shot live from Studio B at Forty-Sixth and and Market Streets, where the two-and-a-half-hour show was broadcast regionally on WFIL-TV Channel 6. He would dance on the show until early 1960. Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years 1956 to 1963 In her memoir forBandstand Diaries, she writes frankly and poignantly of her youthful struggle with her emerging identity as lesbian, a sexual orientation she would fully embrace as an adult. ABC gave Clark a choice: divest his music-related interests or step down as host of the show. Clark chose to continue withBandstand.3. The bashing of Bandstand regulars, gay and straight, happened all the time, Sullivan and Smith reveal. My friends went to church dances every Friday and Saturday night. Happy tears. American Bandstand Day: Dick Clark receives a proclamation designating Market Street as Bandstand Boulevard. http://dickclark.com Unsure and fearful about her true sexual identity, Sullivan tried passing as straight. Five-foot-two, brown-eyed, brown-haired Arlene and handsome Kenny, a year younger, were among the TV music shows elite, its stars, the vaunted regulars along with another couple often on camera pert, blond Justine Carrelli and suave Bob Clayton. "He was the commander," Colanero said. By Jordan McClain and Amanda McClain | Reader-Nominated Topic. In a fine introduction to this book one of those people, singer Bobby Rydell, recalls his first appearance on the show in 1959 and the many that followed, as well as a "short but sweet" romance with one of the teen dancers, writing: "To appear on 'American Bandstand' was everyone's dream.". 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. Follow Backgrounders on Twitter Bandstand (Australia) - Nostalgia Central Clark was determined to keep the homosexuality of popular Bandstand regulars a secret, Smith said. But . When ABC picked the show up, it was renamed American Bandstand, airing its first national show on August 5, 1957. A show where well-dressed teens gently bop around to the big hits while maintaining an appropriate distance apart hardly seems like it would be a hot bed of sexual experimentation, but American Bandstand apparently featured a crew of Philadelphia kids who had more than dancing in common. And, for me, the kids on Bandstand were all I aspired to be. We sent some 15,000 fan letters each week. They are extending the honeymoon in Stone Mountain, Georgia, where Duke has called home. Norman and I met in January 1959 while standing outside of the studio waiting to get inside. Movies. "When I walked through those doors, that was the only place I wanted to be," said Gibson, 66, an actress who now lives in Los Angeles. Clark and producer Tony Mammorella (1924-1977) dubbed this group The Committee, led from 1954 to 1956 by future DJ Jerry Blavat (1940-2023). On the other hand, they had each other. I was trying to hit them over their heads with my pocketbook, but they just wouldnt give up. I never had a crush on her. They were introduced as a result of an email sent to the Fifties Web. Fiorentino, whose mother died when he was 12, said Clark became a role model. Sadly we also lost: 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.. First called Bandstand, the program premiered October 6, 1952, hosted by Philadelphia radio DJ Bob Horn (1916-66). Rock, Roll and Remember. Particularly during the shows prime Philadelphia years (1952-63), Philadelphia youth culture became American culture through American Bandstand. After school in the late 1950s, millions of American teenagers raced home to watch the gyrations of fellow teens on their parents tiny black-and-white televisions in the living room. Indeed. "After that, it was history.". . "My heart hurts," said Gibson, a regular from 1959 to 1961. I kissed a girl, and I liked it! Sullivan, now 74 and long out of the closet, reveals in a fascinating self-published book, Bandstand Diaries billed as The Book Youve Waited Over 50 Years to Read!. you could do in half time - the hop, the bop, and the stomp," she wrote. Rachel Fuda and Dolores Catania Get Honest About What It Takes to Look Like a Housewife, JoJo Says Theres Definitely Parallels Between Her and, Mica Burton's Rebellion Against Her Dad, LeVar Burton, Was Being a 'Star Wars' Fan, 50% Off Pet Items for Amazon Pet Day - Starting Now, Rachel Fuda and Dolores Catania Get Honest About What It Takes to Look Like a 'Real Housewife'. Like Smith, she believes that if her true sexual preference and that of others on the show had become public in the days before Stonewall and todays LGBT power, Bandstand would have been taken off the air. Ray Smith was one of the shows secretly gay dancers. Filmed in the cramped quarters of the WFIL Studios at 46th and Market Streets in Philly, Bandstand is such a part of Americana that Dick Clarks podium now resides in the Smithsonian. American Bandstand: West Philadelphia's Seven-Year Wonder 1957-1964 And more than 250 fans too, a number of them quite young, who had just heard of the show and were curious. American Bandstandsrelegation to a weekly schedule stripped it of much of its power as a potential hit song exposer, writes the music historian John Jackson. As the music historian John Jackson observes, from the 1970s on American Bandstandno longer served as Clarks primary video outlet. For the next several decades, Clark would achieve high national visibility as a popular gameshow host and as the impresario of periodic primetimeAmerican Bandstandhit-song reunions (not to mention a spate of video cassettes and books) that fed on white Americas nostalgia forAmericanBandstandsdays in West Philadelphia, evoked in Barry Manilows Bandstand song with Manilows homage to The Philadelphia Way.. Forget that. New York: Popular Library, 1976. Writes Sullivan in the book, "A few years ago at a fancy party on Fifth Avenue in New York, a man in a tux in his late sixties came over and told me he grew up on a ranch in Wyoming. "It was arduous at first," she says. ", Songs she liked to dance to, Mrs. Spada wrote online in June 2010, included "Little Darlin'," "Sixteen Candles," "Tears on my Pillow," "Splish Splash," "Never on Sunday," and "Let's Do The Stroll.". My mother thought I was nuts. JUSTINE AND BOB. Despite changes over the years, the show continued to embody and represent evolutions in American music, fashion, dance, and other sociocultural norms. They even invented a few the Stroll, the Circle and the Chalypso. American Bandstand aired five days a week in live national broadcast until 1963, when the show moved west to Los Angeles and began a 24-year run as a taped weekly program with Dick Clark as host . "He presented himself as such a grown-up.". Kelly said he avoided Rittenhouse Square, knowing if he were seen there, theyd be banished, but it was an open secret that most of the boys on the show were gay. I started going out to straight clubs.. . Carole made the world a better place," Gibson wrote on a Facebook page called America's Original Bandstand Dancers. Sharon Sultan Cutler, who grew up in New York and now lives in Chicago, is co-author of Bandstand Diaries: The Philadelphia Years 1956-1963.. But back in the Bandstand days, Smith was one of the shows secretly gay dancers. "For all those who knew her throughout her life and for those who watched her dance on American Bandstand, Carole was full of love and full of God. He is a man of God and over the years has established both karate and prison ministeries. For More Bunny click here to go to Bunny Gibson.com, Bunny Gibson discusses the 50th celebration of American Bandstand. Throughout the rest of the 1950s, "American Bandstand" featured a number of famous acts including the debut of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel (November 22, 1957), Jerry Lee Lewis (March 18, 1958), and Dion and the Belmonts (August 7, 1958). Duke is a premier photographer of the martial arts as well as being an expert. I had asked Norman to dance when it was a ladies choice. Interracial couples were not allowed on camera, so they sat on the sidelines. His name was Dick Clark and in the next year the show was transformed from a local show to a syndicated across-the-nation program and its name was changed from "Bandstand" to "American Bandstand," airing five days a week. In 2019, a trio of formerAmerican Bandstandregulars assembled a book on their experiences on the popular show. They werent playing baseball they were DANCING. Clark joined Bandstand in 1956 and moved with the show to Hollywood in 1964. Filled with 700-some photographs, both old and new, it is handsomely designed and co-written with Ray Smith, who danced on the show for a short time, and Arlene Sullivan, who became one of the stars of the show, with her own international fan club for a time. DICK CLARK AND AMERICAN BANDSTAND: THE EARLY DAYS Random Thoughts Arlene Sullivan, a star on Bandstand, is now 74. It was shot live from Studio B at Forty-Sixth and and Market Streets, where the two . He kept his distance, she says. The followed the trend of solo ("open") dancing started by Chubby Checker and "The Twist.". Television host Dick Clark presides over the set of his show American Bandstand in 1957. For a time, she dated a neighborhood boy, Danny Rapp, lead singer of Danny & the Juniors, who had the hit song At the Hop., I was so afraid that I started trying to talk myself into being straight, Sullivan says. She would gobble down some cookies and milk and turn on the TV. It was horrible.. ", A musical about the 'Miracle' Cubs? 8 Surprising Facts About The Legendary Dance Show American Bandstand . One older brother survives Norman. In order to help establish a clean-cut image for the show, guys were required to wear ties with suit jackets or sweaters, while girls dressed in good taste, for example a high-cut blouse with a dress or skirt. In 1960, he attended Penn State as an English major. I did get to know Annette Funicello [a Mouseketeer on the original Mickey Mouse Club], who came to the show. He said that when he was a kid, he would come in off the range every day and watch me on 'Bandstand.' This site does not collect any information from you. Where things are poppin'(Pop!) By then, he was a big-time television producer. The show also incorporated appearances by acts like Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon, and Connie Francis, who would lip-sync performances. On a sociological front, the show helped popularize rock and roll and make it acceptable to many adults (i.e., parents). Sharon Sultan Cutler, of Chicago, talks about "Bandstand Diaries," the book she co-authored with Ray Smith and former American Bandstand participant Arlene Sullivan remembering the shows early days. Who died from American Bandstand? This historical marker recalls Dick Clarks American Bandstand, which was broadcast from West Philadelphia from 1957 to 1964. The rest is American Bandstand history. In August 1963, ABC reassignedAmerican Bandstandto Saturday afternoon. . The Secret Gay Lives Of The "American Bandstand" Dancers She never saw much of Clark outside of the studio.
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