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Waiting to get on the show

After waiting outside on Market Street in the heat and cold and rain, kids lucky enough to get into American Bandstand were anxious and excited. Walking through the doors to Philadelphia's WFIL-TV's Studio B, where teenage life and music were all important, was like walking into Oz. The light, cameras, and music made the studio a magical place. There was, as with any television show, a lot of illusion. Television was still a relatively new medium in 1957, and studio was crude by today's standards. The cameras and lights were large, bulky, and hard to move, making trick shots of kids dancing virtually impossible. The studio was cold, the lights were hot, the music was loud, and the floor was hard. Girls wore sneakers or flat shoes to save their feet from soreness from the cement floor. But the kids were oblivious to the physical discomfort; they were the stars of the first TV show to feature real teenagers