"We're goin' hoppin', we're goin' hoppin' today, where things are poppin' the Philadelphia way" - the opening of the "American Bandstand" theme song, written by Barry Manilow...
August 5th marks the 49th anniversary of the network debut of "American Bandstand". I remember it well because it was one of the first mailings I did after starting my first full-time job in the ABC mailroom. Dick Clark, who I would later work for at United Stations, had replaced Bob Horn in Philadelphia in October of '52. 'Bandstand' was a local show then but on August 5th, 1957, the world would be introduced to a TV dance show that would become one of the most popular shows in TV history and expose more new artists, music and dances to the landscape than any other show had done previously or since...
At the beginning and in glorious black and white, the show was on daily. It would move to Saturdays in 1963 and from Philadelphia to Los Angeles in February, 1964. Color started in 1967, syndication in '87 and cable in '89. In 2004 Dick Clark announced plans to revive the show in time for 2005 but his stroke ensued and that plan was tabled...
While artists did a lip-synch to their hit records, there were two exceptions. B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis were the only recording artists to actually sing on the show. Feeling uncomfortable with lip-synching they requested live performances. "American Bandstand" was formatted like a good top 40 radio station with special features like the "spotlight dance", "ladie's choice" and "rate the record" ("it has a good beat and you can dance to it"). The first song played on the network version of the show was "Whole Lotta Shaking Goin' On" by Jerry Lee Lewis. The first guests were Billy Williams and the Chordettes. The announcer on "American Bandstand" was Charlie O'Donnell who was one of the original jocks on WOR-FM...
"American Bandstand" was such a phenomenon that the podium that Dick Clark stood at now resides in the Smithsonian...
"Ten Timeline Memories"...
1735] Freedom of the press was established with the acquittal of John Peter Zenger. The writer of the New York Weekly Journal was charged with seditious libel by the royal governor of New York. The jury ruled that "the truth is not libelous"...
1790] The Revenue Cutter Service is formed. This U.S. naval task force was the beginning of the U.S. Coast Guard...
1821] "The Saturday Evening Post" is published for the 1st time as a weekly...
1892] Andrew and Abby Borden are axed to death in their home in Fall River (MA) by Andrew's daughter from a previous marriage who was accused of the killings but later acquitted ("Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother 40 whacks and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41")...
1958] Billboard Magazine introduces the Hot 100. The 1st #1 was "Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Nelson (Tommy Noonan was the 1st person to do the charts at Billboard)...
1964] The bodies of Michael H. Schwerner, James E. Chaney and Andrew Goodman are found in an earthen dam in Mississippi. The three were civil rights workers who had disappeared on June 21...
1983] Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield throws a ball during warm-ups and accidentally kills a seagul on the field in Toronto. Winfield is arrested by the police but later released...
1985] In a game I attended, Tom Seaver, pitching for the White Sox, wins his 300th game against the Yankees on "Phil Rizzuto Day" ("Holy Cow"). They gave Rizzuto a cow on the field..Same date - different game: Rod Carew picks up his 3,000th hit (3 Hall of Famers in the waiting: Seaver, Carew and Rizzuto. The cow didn't have enough votes to get it)...
1987] The FCC rescinds the "Fairness Doctrine" requiring "balanced reporting on controversial issues and political campaigns" (equal time)...
2004] Staten Island ferry boat pilot, Richard Smith, pleads quilty to manslaughter charges in a crash that killed 11 commuters the previous October...
#1 on this date: [1974]"Feel Like Makin' Love" - Roberta Flack...
Released on this date: [1974] "Love Me Like A Rock" - Paul Simon...[1987] "Dirty Dancing" LP...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
Commentary...
Bob Sherwood wonders where Fort Wayne was in the listing of the original NBA teams created by the merger of the BAA and NBL. Believe it or not, it was the NBA website that omitted Ft. Wayne. Further research shows that the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (can you imagine the New York Steinbrenner Yankees ? Actually I kinda can) played in the NBL for the last time in the 1947/48 season and did play in the NBA following the merger in 1949. Right you are, Bob. Bob, as well as Harvey Mednick mentioned the poker hand that Wild Bill Hickock had when he was shot and killed: 'Aces and eights", which became known as the "Dead Man's Hand". But most importantly, Mr. Sherwood mentioned that today is the birthday of the better half of the Sherwoods, Carol Bork Sherwood. Happy birthday Carol...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday"...
Race car driver Jeff Gordon (35), Roger Clemens (44), "Live with Regis and Kelly" producer Michael Gelman (45), Democratic Illinois Senator and party "darling" Barak Obama (45), Billy Bob Thornton (51), Richard Belzer (62), Frankie "Sea Cruise" Ford (67) and ancient White House reporter Helen Thomas (86)...
[Timeline countdown: 32 days until Labor Day, 36 days until NFL kickoff, 61 days until MLB playoffs amd 149 days remaining in 2006]
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Saturday, August 5, 2006...
Ten Timeline Memories...
1861] The federal government levies its first income tax (3% of all incomes over $800). The wartime measure is rescinded in 1872...
1864] Union Admiral David G. Farragut gives his famous order: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" as he leads his fleet in an attack on Mobile Bay (AL)...
1884] The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor...
1921] The first play-by-play broadcast of a baseball game is done by Harold Arlin on KDKA (Pittsburgh) as he describes the action between the hometown Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies...
1924] "Little Orphan Annie" by Harold Gray debuts in the New York Daily News...
1957] "American Bandstand" goes network (ABC-TV)...
1962] The body of 36-year old blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe is discovered in her Los Angeles home. Death was ruled as a probable suicide from an overdose of sleeping pills but to this day, controversy remains as to the reasons for her death...
1966] John Lennon makes his famous pronouncement that "The Beatles are more popular than Jesus"...
1979] Willie Mays enters Baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown (NY). The "Say Hey Kid" got 95% of the vote...
1985] The establishment of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is announced...
Wedding Bells: 1964] Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft...
Released on this date: 1967] "Ode To Billy Joe" - Bobbie Gentry...1972] "Nights in White Satin" - Moody Blues...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday"...
Patrick Ewing (44), Maureen ("Marsha Brady") McCormick (50), Samantha ("Emotion") Sang (53), Rick Derringer (59), Songwriter Jimmy Webb (60), Loni Anderson (60), veteran actor John Saxon (he went to my high school - okay ?) (70), The first man to step on the moon Neil Armstrong (76)...
[Timeline countdown: 31 days until Labor Day, 35 days until NFL kickoff, 60 days until MLB playoffs and 148 days remaining in 2006]
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Sunday, August 6, 2006...
Ten Timeline Memories...
1890] Convicted murderer William Kemmler becomes the 1st person to be executed in the electric chair (at Auburn State Prison in New York)...
1926] Gertrude Ederle becomes the 1st American woman to swim the English Channel. The 19-year old does the swim in 14 1/2 hours...
1945] The Enola Gay, an American B-29 bomber drops the 1st atomic bomb. The bomb named "Little Boy" is dropped over the center of Hiroshima, Japan. An estimated 140,000 people are killed (the enormity of it all still is staggering)...
1960] A monumental day on "American Bandstand" as Chubby Checker lip-synchs "The Twist" and a new dance sensation is born...
1965] President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the "Voting Rights Act" giving every American the right to vote (with no exceptions) by law...
1970] Janis Joplin, Paul Simon, Steppenwolf and Johnny Winters perform in an anti-war festival at Shea Stadium...
1973] Stevie Wonder is seriously injured in a car accident, slipping into a 4-day coma before recovering (Stevie was not driving)...
1986] William J. Schroeder dies after living 620 days with the Jarvik-7 man-made heart. He was the world's longest surviving recipient of a permanent artificial heart. Schroeder was 54...
1989] The Red Sox retire Carl Yastrzemski's #8 uniform number at Fenway Park (to this day, his 1967 "Triple Crown" season was the greatest performance of any player I've ever seen)...
1997] Apple Computer and Microsoft agree to share technology in a deal giving Microsoft a stake in Apple's survival (say what you will about Bill Gates but he's a mensch)...
Released on this date: 1965] The LP "Help!" - Beatles...
Person we lost today: 1991] "60 Minutes" mainstay Harry Reasoner, from a blood clot in his brain, at 68 in Westport (CT)...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple references are used in the timeline]...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday"...
Soleil ("Punky Brewster") Moon (30), "Ginger Spice" Geri Halliwell (34), M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense", "The Village", "Lady in the Water") (36), David (The Admiral) Robinson (41) and the wacky dentist on "Bob Newhart" Peter Bonerz (68)...
[Timeline countdown:30 days until Labor Day, 34 days until NFL kickoff, 59 days until MLB playoffs and 147 days remaining in 2006]
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