Advertising on American Bandstand
With a college degree in advertising and an uncanny ability to
speak to teenagers, Dick Clark was the perfect pitchman for
sponsors whose products - from shampoo to acne medication to
watches - were targeted at the adolescent market. In the late
fifties, as the teenage market expanded and the number of
teenagers jumped from seven million to twelve million, Clark
shifted from local spokesman for Barr's, a popular Philadelphia
jewelry store, to a national spokesperson doing endorsements for
hair tonic, chewing gum and soda. He helped link up enough
sponsors to make American Bandstand one television's most
profitable daytime shows
The
Dance Contests
One way to spotlight the songs, the dancers, and the dances on
American Bandstand was to hold dance contests. Kids in the
studio loved them, and the viewers did, too. The rules were
simple. Contestants had to sign up to get a number, then once a
week they pinned numbers on their backs, much like they did in
the dance marathons in the thirties. During the contests, viewers
cast ballots for their favorite dancers. Each contest lasted
three or four weeks, after which winners were announced on the
air. Several of the winners confessed that the voting was done
more on popularity merit. Still, they took their prizes, which
ranged from portable TVs to juke boxes.
Dance
Contest Prize
As audiences for Bandstand grew, so did the
stakes for the dance contest winners, who took home prizes that
ranged from record albums to brand new cars. Here is a picture of
the first-prize, a Ford Sunliner in the Pony contest won by Frani
Giordano and Mike Balara.
Dottie Horner and Frank Sagamoula won the
Chalypso Conest in 1957
Paula Kopicko and Ritchie Cartledge won the 1962 Mashed Potato
Contest
The
Original Set
Dick Clark inherited the original set for American Bandstand from
Bob Horn's Bandstand, the show Clark took over in 1956. The
painted background was that of a record shop of the late forties
or early fifties, when records were big, clunky 78 RPMs. Clark's
high podium, like a bandstand, set him apart from the dancers.
The podium was donated to the Smithsonian Institute in 1981.
Roll
Call
"Joanne seventeen South Philly," "Mark J, fourteen
Bartram,' "Scott fifteen, North Catholic." Roll Call
was a regular feature on American Bandstand and how the viewers
at home got to know the kids on the show. When the show was only
broadcast locally the kids gave the names of their schools, as
well as names and ages. When the show went national in 1957, they
gave their names, ages and their hometown.
Clues
Kids watching Bandstand at home were looking for any clues that
signaled romance between kids on the show - who danced with whom,
how closely they danced, and how slow they danced together. In
the innocent fifties euphemisms for touching and sex abounded in
the American culture, especially in television. Harmless games -
where kids came into more innocent contact with each other -
spiced up the Bandstand program. In this awkward moment, teens
cooperated to eat up the string attached to a marshmallow. Of
course, if both partners succeeded they came as close to kissing
each other as was possible on a show that morally towed the line.
Johnny Mathis signs autographs at the autograph
table during his October 15, 1957 debut on American Bandstand.
For teens who grew up in the late fifties, Mathis was the
unchallenged make-out king, whose silky smooth voice really
filled a darkened room. When Mathis released two singles in 1957,
"Wonderful, Wonderful" and "It's Not For Me To
Say," teenagers had their Frank Sinatra. The following year
he had seven hits, including the classic "Chances Are."
His album, Johnny's Greatest Hits (1958), the first of
the greatest hits albums, remained on the charts a record 490
weeks. Only Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (1979)
surpassed it.
Rate-A-Record
"It's got a great beat and you can dance to it." Those
immortal words came to represent the most popular feature of
American Bandstand, Record Review. The formula was simple: three
kids listened to three records and rated them between thirty-five
and ninety-eight. A fourth teen calculated the average, often
with the help of Dick Clark. The kids were usually right in their
judgments, picking scores of songs that became top ten winners,
demonstrating once again how their opinions counted.
Getting
Mail
Dick Clark and Frani Giordano
For millions of American teens who could not get to Philadelphia
to meet their favorite regulars in the American Bandstand studio
the next best thing was voting for them in one of the shows many
dance contests. The contests were a regular feature, giving
viewer's a chance to see their favorite couples and the newest
dances. Tens of thousands of fans sent their ballots to American
Bandstand, PO Box 5, PA. In a normal week, the show received
45,000 letters. During the contests, 150,00 ballots and
letters came in, prompting Clark to joke that all the mail bags
in Philadelphia were being used to carry mail to show.
Halloween
With five shows a week, fifty-two weeks a year the producers of
American Bandstand had to come up with features to keep the show
fresh, interesting, and fun. One way was to celebrate Christmas,
New Year's, and Halloween. the Halloween shows were the most
amusing since they incorporated games, mask, and special guest
stars like the ghoulish Zacherle performing the novelty hit,
"Dinner With Drac 1" (1958) One of the most popular
games was musical chairs, where the masked teens rushed to find a
seat when the music stopped, and others ended up on the studio
floor. The thin line between childish and teenage behavior
sometimes evaporated with party games that were silly but
made for good fun and more importantly, better TV.
One of the most popular dances created by the
Bandstand crowd was the Chalypso, a combination of two popular
fifties dances., the Cha-Cha and the Calypso. The simple dance
could be done to songs as different as the Shirelle's "Will
You Love Me Tomorrow" (19570 and Gene Pitney's "Every
Breathe I Take" (1958). When the Chalypso became popular,
several songs were written specifically for it; the most
successful was Billy and Lillie's "La Dee Dah" (1957).
These two dancers demonstrate the steps to Dick Clark.
