Did you know? Here are a few facts about American Bandstand that you may have missed:
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WFIL-TV's Studio B (The American Bandstand studio) measured 80 feet by 42 feet, including the space taken up by the bleachers.
- High Society by Artie Shaw was the original Bandstand theme song, but was replaced by Bandstand Boogie. The most popular version of Boogie during the Philadelphia years was by the big band of Les Elgart.
- From October 1957 to December 1957, Dick Clark hosted a Monday night prime-time version of American Bandstand. It was a flop.
- In the film Dead Poets Society, the Robin Williams character criticizes a textbook's instruction to give poetry numerical ratings: "How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? 'I like Byron, I give him a 42 but I can't dance to it'!"
- American Bandstand pretty much killed off The Mickey Mouse Club. After watching high energy teens dancing on Bandstand, older teens were switching off their TV sets rather than sticking around to watch a bunch of younger kids doing vaudeville routines on the slower-paced kiddie show.
- Because of Clark’s heavy use of hair tonic, some kids would call him “shellac head.”
- Just before Dick Clark moved American Bandstand out of Philadelphia, he began hosting a game show called The Object Is.
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.
