Here's another excerpt From Bandstandland:
"As good as Dick Clark was in his role as the amiable host and as relevant as the music he played was to his young audience, American Bandstand would have failed without the ebullient, energetic, teenage dancers that lit up the screen every weekday afternoon.
At its core, Bandstand was a unique visual experience. Not only could you listen to the music you enjoyed in the comfort of your own living room, you could see that you weren’t the only one who got happy feet when Danny and the Juniors belted out “At the Hop.”
Bandstand also benefited from being in Philadelphia, a city with a rich dance history. That was especially true in the black community, many of whom had migrated from the juke joint south, bringing with them dances like the Monkey Glide, the Chicken Scratch and the Shimmy.
South Street and its black clubs were where you would go if you wanted to hucklebuck, kangaroo dip or bunny hug. Flash tappers like the Nicholas Brothers were national sensations, playing for two years at Harlem’s Cotton Club and appearing in many Broadway shows and Hollywood movies. And women tap dancers like Edith “Baby Edwards” Hunt and Hortense Allen Jordan drew huge crowds wherever they appeared.
From its earliest days, Bandstand spread the gospel of dance. There was the Bunny Hop craze that broke out during the Bob Horn years. When Clark took over just as rock & roll was coming into vogue, so, too, did the dances change.
It was the bop that inspired “At the Hop” and made Pat Molittieri an early American Bandstand star. There was a steady parade of dance contests on the show, seven in all during the Philadelphia years, each featuring a slightly different style of dancing. The show introduced at least two new popular dances to American teens before 1959 — the stroll and the chalypso."
© 2019 Larry Lehmer
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.