Bandstand Beat

"Philadelphia U.S.A." slipped away, but Dick Clark quickly found an answer

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 sentiment^⁠1”), 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

Original Bandstand host caught up in lengthy Philadelphia vice investigation

Dick Clark's ascension to hosting duties of popular Philadelphia teenage dance show Bandstand was made possible by original host Bob Horn's transgressions. We pick up the story after Clark had been on the job just a few months before Horn again popped into the news:

"On October 23, 1956, [original Bandstand host Bob] Horn’s career slide accelerated when he was among a dozen people served with warrants issued by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office alleging morals offenses after a five-month, tri-state vice racket investigation. Also arrested that day was another well-known Philadelphia broadcaster, Steve Allison of WPEN radio.

Allison was the initial target of the probe, but Horn’s association with 16-year-old Lois Gardner led to charges against him of statutory rape and corrupting the morals of a minor.

While Horn was clearly the city’s most influential record spinner to the teenage crowd, Allison had a similar grip on liberal-minded adult Philadelphians. His late-night radio program was broadcast from the same ground floor studio used for Grady and Hurst’s 950 Club in the afternoon. At night it became the Ranch Room, a sort of quasi-nightclub where Allison, sometimes decked out in a tuxedo, could interview guests, play music or take phone calls from listeners. He was known as “the man who owns midnight.”

Politically, Allison was the polar opposite of Walter Annenberg, owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer and WFIL-TV and radio. Annenberg was no friend of Allison, who frequently sniped at the Inquirer.

The format of Allison’s show lent itself to late-night hanky panky. Food and drinks were served and there was little screening of the studio audience. The Ranch Room was a good place to mingle with people who wanted a taste of night club glamour and maybe make a solid professional connection or two.

There developed a cadre of regulars, similar to the young dancers on Bandstand. One of these was a young man named Bernard Jacobs, the owner of the Trend Model Agency. Jacobs, who would be cited as the “mastermind of the ring” investigated by Blanc, also brought models from his agency. Another Allison guest was James Worden, a dog breeder who often invited people he met at Allison’s show to parties (some described them as orgies) at his family estate — called Hound Dog Hill — in Montgomery County. It was only natural that Jacobs’ and Worden’s worlds would intersect.

Things went smoothly until a teen-age girl at one of Worden’s soirees hooked up with a lout who went too far and the 17-year-old reported the rape to police."

Did you know? Dick Clark had an uncanny ability to create hits on American Bandstand, even under the most unlikely circumstances. 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

Local record labels were an early key to Dick Clark, American Bandstand's success

Within six months of its network debut, the success of American Bandstand had established Philadelphia as a major center for rock & roll. This excerpt from Bandstandland picks up the story:

"Having successful national labels like Cameo and Swan in [Philadelphia] proved crucial to the success of Bandstand, which depended on three guest stars each day, Monday through Friday. Whenever [Dick] Clark needed someone on short notice, there were plenty of artists available. A third Philadelphia label also helped — Chancellor Records.

Clark had no official business ties to Chancellor either, but he enjoyed a close relationship to one of the label’s co-founders, Bob Marcucci. Marcucci’s plan to attend medical school at Penn State had been dashed when his parents divorced when he was 17. Instead, he worked at a variety of jobs in South Philadelphia to help support his mother. Ten years later, he borrowed $10,000 from his father to start a record label with a longtime friend and fellow songwriter, Peter DeAngelis.

They set up shop just a couple blocks east of Cameo and Swan, a few stories above the Forge Room restaurant in the Chancellor Hall Hotel. The landmark building provided the name and logo for their new enterprise.

It was a rocky start for Chancellor Records. The label’s first record — “I Love My Girl” by locally popular vaudevillian Cozy Morley — was a bust. They nearly went bankrupt with their second offering — “Calypso Parakeet” by 9-year-old Patty Brandon — when they sent out hundreds of live parakeets to disc jockeys while promoting the disc, which also flopped.

Marcucci and DeAngelis finally turned the corner with a pop song by another Philadelphia singer, Jodie Sands. Sands’ “With All My Heart” was a top 20 national hit in the summer of 1957, landing her a spot on the national portion of American Bandstand in the show’s second week. More importantly, Sands’ success led to a national distribution deal for Chancellor with ABC-Paramount and locked in a spot for Sands in Clark’s Jamboree movie.

 Sands not only joined fellow Philadelphian Charlie Gracie on the Jamboree roster but brought along another bonus, the band Rocco and the Saints, which featured two of Sands’ Chancellor label mates — Andy Martin and Frankie Avalon."

Did you know? A vice investigation opened to door for Dick Clark's taking over hosting duties on 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

American Bandstand's early success stretched its budget but drew a huge following

American Bandstand was given a short trial run by the ABC network before committing to a permanent spot on the 1957 fall schedule. They also gave the show some financial help to get started, but not very much.

This excerpt from Bandstandland picks up the story:

"It didn’t take Dick Clark long to learn that the $1,500 that ABC had budgeted for American Bandstand each week didn’t go very far, especially when he was booking two acts per day just for the network portion of the show. But the resourceful Clark came up with a solution.

Though he variously referred to his system of payment as “kickbacks” or “check swaps,” the bottom line was that no act was paid more than scale and many acts performed for free.

“We paid the people as long as we had a budget. When we ran out of the budget, either the record company would pay them or they’d swap the check back.”^⁠1

Meanwhile, American Bandstand was fast gaining a reputation among artists as the place to be. In the show’s first month guests included Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Its influence extended to the kids watching the show, too.

Chartered buses from far outside Philadelphia often delivered throngs of teens to the WFIL doorstep, where they could live out their dancing fantasies. Bandstand parties popped up all across the country every afternoon. Record sellers added TV sets to their stores and encouraged people to watch the show there.

In Cleveland, Ohio, WERE disc jockey Tom Edwards reported that the Bandstand influence “is reflected at my record hops, where the kids are now doing the new steps they’ve learned from the Philly kids.”^⁠2

 ¹ Up Close With Patsy Smullin, California Oregon Broadcasting, Inc,, May 13, 2001.

² Billboard, Sept. 9, 1957.

Did you know? Having successful record labels like Swan, Cameo and Chancellor was a key to American Bandstand's early success. 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

 

Picking which records to play on Bandstand was no simple task for Dick Clark

Here's another excerpt from Bandstandland:

Background: After Dick Clark took over Bandstand in 1956, Philadelphia's already active music scene got even busier.

"That meant that salesmen like Gunter Hauer and Joe Beiderman could fill the trunks of their cars with records and head out to the 50-60 stations they had targeted in their eastern Pennsylvania-Delaware market. They hit record hops, too, often towing along artists, ginning up interest wherever they could.

They couldn’t hit every place they wanted so they also sent records by mail. When word reached Universal salesman Tom Kennedy that some jockeys were passing the packages along to their kids unopened, he started inserting a Tootsie Roll pop, just the right size to fit in a 45 record’s hole. The packages started being opened.

The traffic of promotion men became so heavy around the WFIL studios that [producer Tony] Mammarella and Clark soon designated Tuesday as record promotion day. As many as 10-12 promotion men would crowd into the small meeting room at the rear of the Brown Jug every Tuesday to talk shop and swap stories.

“Next to the Brill Building in New York, more music deals were made in that back room than anywhere else at the time,” Clark said.^⁠1

While Clark spent a good deal of his time working on the nuts and bolts of producing Philadelphia’s top-rated daytime television show, he also worked on introducing himself to the kids who made the show so popular.

He doubled the number of regulars on the Committee and worked to win over those Philadelphia teens who remained loyal to [original host Bob] Horn and were skeptical of Clark."

¹ Dick Clark & Richard Robinson, Rock, Roll & Remember, p. 64.

Did you know? When American Bandstand went national, Dick Clark was faced with a new problem: How to get by on a small budget. 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

 

Even as a youngster, Dick Clark had decided he wanted a career in broadcasting

Here's another excerpt from Bandstandland:

Background: When Dick Clark succeeded Bob Horn as host of WFIL-TV's Bandstand in 1956, he was not well known to the show's audience. Here's a bit of Clark's pre-Bandstand biography:

"When he wasn’t listening to big band music on a wind-up Victrola posted in the hallway outside his parents’ bedroom, [young Dick] Clark was listening to the Philco radio in his bedroom. While he enjoyed music programs like Martin Block’s Make Believe Ballroom and Art Ford’s Milkman Matinee, it was the voices — Dave Garroway, Steve Allen, Garry Moore and especially Arthur Godfrey — that most fascinated him.

After his mother took Clark in 1943 to see The Camel Comedy Caravan starring Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, Clark decided that radio was the career for him. The once-shy teen blossomed into what he described as a “determined extrovert.” He claims to have set a school record for pushups and was voted by his peers as the “Man Most likely to Sell the Brooklyn Bridge.” He also was a member of the National Thespians and served on his school’s Dance Committee.

Socially, Clark was much more confident leaving high school than he was when he entered. He and his best friend, Andy Grass, shared a 15-year-old sedan they dubbed “The Green Hornet.”

He also had a steady girlfriend, cheerleader Barbara Mallery.

Although Clark met Mallery, better known as Bobbie, in her freshman year, literally bumping into her and spilling her books, it wasn’t until later that they got together for a double date. Although Mallery was Grass’ date on that night, Clark soon started dating Mallery and they were steadies until his graduation in 1947.

Just before Clark’s graduation, his uncle Bradley Barnard, owner of the Sentinel newspaper in Rome, N.Y., called his dad with a job proposition. Barnard was expanding into radio with a new station in Utica, Would the elder Clark be interested in leading the sales team at the new WRUN?"

Photo: Dick Clark as a youngster.

Did you know? Soon after Dick Clark took over Bandstand, Philadelphia became the center of the rock & roll universe. 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

Original Bandstand host Bob Horn was riding a huge wave of popularity in 1956

Here's another excerpt from Bandstandland:

Background: Bandstand and its host, Bob Horn, enjoyed phenomenal success in its first 3 1/2 years on Channel 6, WFIL-TV, in Philadelphia. In mid-June 1956, Horn capped a controversial four-month-long "Name That Lion" contest by naming its winner:

"[Bandstand host Bob] Horn was on a roll.

He and [producer Tony] Mammarella created a Bandstand Yearbook that sold more than 50,000 copies. He was the highest-paid personality at the station and pulled down extra cash from his many appearances at record hops. He was part owner in the Teen and Sound record labels with longtime associate Nat Segall and Bernie Lowe, a local pianist.

And the kids on the show loved him.

Bobbie Young, who started dancing on the show in 1954 and joined the Committee in 1956, said Horn often treated Committee members to dinner out when traveling to dances out of town. Another Committee member, Mary Ann Colella called the years she danced on Bob Horn’s Bandstand “happy, happy years.” Horn took her fishing on his boat and to his house in Levittown. “He was very fatherly,” she said.

Colella, whose parents were divorced, found comfort on Bandstand, from the cakes she got on her birthday to the postcards she received from record promoter Johnny Arthur, redeemable for Ship & Shore blouses. Four Coins manager Danny Kessler sent her records in hopes she’d tell Horn, who would play the record on Rate-A-Record and put her on to rate it.

“Of course, they always got a 98,” she said.

Horn’s public persona was one of a hep-talking, smooth operator who knew his way around a studio and who could hold his own with the pushy, eccentric people of the music business that he came in contact with daily.

It wasn’t that simple."

Did you know? As a youngster growing up in Mount Vernon, New York, Dick Clark drew inspiration from the great voices he heard on the radio. 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