In early 1957, Dick Clark had been the host of Bandstand (still a local show in Philadelphia) for less than a year but his star was clearly on the rise, as this excerpt from Bandstandland shows:
"As Bandstand continued to grow in popularity, the demand for Clark’s appearances at record hops grew as well. Working with good friend Eddie McAdam, Clark zipped from hop to hop carrying rolls of quarters and an empty 45-rpm record box. McAdam would take dollar bills from kids at the door to cover the 75 cent admission fee, give them back a quarter and stuff the dollar bills into the record case.
“[Eddie] used to sweat profusely. Literally, he would perspire all the time,” said Clark. “By the end of the night, the sweat would drip off the end of his tie and into the box with all the money, which was coming in hand over fist.
“We’d take the boxes of money and stick them in a spare bedroom. Two or three weeks would go by and then my wife and I would try to straighten out all these crumpled, sweaty one-dollar bills.”[1]

[1] Joe Smith, Off the Record, pp. 103-105.
Did you know? When Bandstand debuted as a local show in Philadelphia, it had two hosts. And neither one was Dick Clark. 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.
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. His 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
