In late 1958, Dick Clark decided to give "Try Me" by James Brown a spin on American Bandstand's Rate-a-Record segment. The song bombed. Although Clark's ability to predict a hit wasn't perfect, he had an uncanny ability to turn an apparent losing situation into a winner, as shown from this excerpt from Bandstandland:
“Try Me” wasn’t the only miss for Clark, who claimed he listened to upwards of 200 new records each week and could tell within a minute whether a tune had any hit potential. One notable song that slipped through Clark’s fingers was “Philadelphia USA” by the Nu Tornados, a group of high schoolers from Philadelphia, recorded with the assistance of the locally popular Ferko String Band.
The song, a jaunty tune in the style of the Philadelphia string bands that dominated the city’s Mummers’ Day parades, was co-written by Al Scalise and Bill Borelli. Borelli thought the song had more potential than he could satisfy with his own small label so he shopped it around, starting in Philadelphia. Clark was among those taking a pass on the song.
Also passing on the tune was Bernie Lowe. Lowe, still reeling from the Charlie Gracie lawsuit and settlement earlier in the year, was finalizing the sale of his Cameo Records to elevator music king Muzak for $250,000 when he was offered “Philadelphia USA.” Although the Muzak deal fell through at the last minute (reportedly “because Lowe suffered an attack of sentiment1”), Lowe rejected the song and Borelli had to go outside Philadelphia to find a home for the tune.
He found it in New York, with Carlton Records, a new label that was riding high thanks to the success of a Detroit area rockabilly singer, Jack Scott. Borelli also found a willing promoter in the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the song went on to become a top 30 hit. The Nu Tornados eventually appeared on Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Show and were rewarded with a half-time performance before 100,000 at the Army-Navy game at Philadelphia’s Municipal Stadium.
Noting “Philadelphia USA’s” success, Clark wasted no time in making up for his mistake. Using a soundalike group, the Quaker City Boys, Clark’s Swan Records rushed out “Teasin’,” a song that debuted just a month after Borelli’s song, and pushed it to a top 40 spot with a chart run that virtually matched that of “Philadelphia USA.”
1 Billboard, Dec. 1, 1958.
Did you know? Dick Clark wasn't popular with the teenagers who danced on the show when he first became host of Bandstand. Read more in this excerpt from Bandstandland. 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.
Excerpted from Bandstandland: How Dancing Teenagers Took Over America and Dick Clark Took Over Rock & Roll, now available from Sunbury Press. 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.
© 2019 Larry Lehmer
