Did you know ...
... that although Alan Freed is often credited for coining the phrase "rock & roll," Philadelphia journalist Maurie Orodenker was a more likely source, having used the term as early as 1942 while working at Billboard magazine?
... that while Dick Clark was presenting a stage show in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Aug. 29, 1961, an announcer from WKYT-TV in Lexington, Ky., (just 80 miles down the road from Cincinnati) was filling in for him on American Bandstand back in Philadelphia? That announcer, Nick Clooney (pictured in 1954), was better known in those days as the brother of singer Rosemary Clooney. Today he's better known as the father of Oscar-winning actor George Clooney, who was less than four months old at the time his proud papa filled in for Clark.
... that in November 1961 Chancellor Records recalled Fabian's Wild Party 45 (Chancellor 1092) because the title of the flip side — Made You — was too suggestive? It was replaced with The Gospel Truth. Made You had been an English hit by Adam Faith from the movie Beat Girl and was written by John Barry. Both versions of the record are readily available today. In case you missed the original:
Author Larry Lehmer's book about Dick Clark and American Bandstand -- Bandstandland: How Dancing Teenagers Took Over America and Dick Clark Took Over Rock & Roll --is available from Sunbury Press. Go here to learn the story behind the writing of Bandstandland or here to listen to the Pennsylvania Cable Network's interview with author Larry Lehmer.
Larry Lehmer's book about the last tour of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens -- The Day the Music Died -- is available at Amazon.
