50 Fun Facts About American Bandstand

In which city did American Bandstand begin in 1952 as a local show on WFIL-TV's Channel 6?

Philadelphia teens queued around the block to get in, and the show made national celebrities of local high-schoolers, complete with fan mail.

Along with Ricky Nelson, which 1950s rock superstar never performed on Dick Clark's American Bandstand?

Elvis Presley and Nelson were the only leading rock and roll stars of the era to skip the show. Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry both made early national appearances on it.

Which Hank Ballard B-side became a 1960 dance craze after Dick Clark pushed a cover on American Bandstand?

The Twist first caught on with teens on Buddy Deane's Baltimore dance show. Deane tipped off Clark, who could not book Ballard and had a local singer record it instead.

Which duo sang on American Bandstand in 1957 as schoolboys billed as Tom & Jerry?

Simon & Garfunkel earned the spot with Hey Schoolgirl, a single imitating their idols the Everly Brothers. Garfunkel called himself Tom Graph, a nod to his love of mathematics.

Which singer told Dick Clark on American Bandstand in 1984 that her ambition was to rule the world?

Madonna had just performed Holiday, which peaked at number 16 that month. Two weeks later she made her first appearance on British television.

Which John Waters film was inspired by The Buddy Deane Show, which kept American Bandstand off Baltimore TV?

Hairspray renames Deane's programme The Corny Collins Show, and Waters gave the real Buddy Deane a bit part as a television newsman.

American Bandstand's 1950s dress code required boys to wear ties and banned which now-everyday trousers?

Jeans and open shirts were out, girls had to wear dresses or skirts, and chewing gum was prohibited. The producer believed that teens who dressed right behaved right.

Charlie O'Donnell, Dick Clark's American Bandstand sidekick, later became the voice of which game show?

Wheel of Fortune had O'Donnell as its announcer from 1975 to 1980 and again from 1989 until his death in 2010. He first joined Clark on the dance show in 1958.

On which holiday did American Bandstand's Dick Clark launch a TV special to rival bandleader Guy Lombardo?

New Year's Eve on television meant Lombardo's big-band broadcasts until Clark's Rockin' Eve offered a younger alternative. It became the dominant special after Lombardo died in 1977.

Don Cornelius named American Bandstand as the model for which Chicago-born dance show he hosted?

Soul Train started on Chicago's WCIU in 1970, and Cornelius hit back in 1973 when Clark launched a rival soul programme, which was cancelled within weeks.

American Bandstand moved to which city in 1964 after its station's new home lacked a big enough studio?

Los Angeles had become the record industry's new heartbeat thanks to surf and car-culture music, and the move west hurt the East Coast labels that had supplied the show's acts.

Which singer added lyrics to Bandstand Boogie and sang the American Bandstand theme from 1977 to 1986?

Barry Manilow recorded it for his 1975 album Tryin' to Get the Feeling, adding words about the show to a big-band instrumental the programme had used since the 1950s.

Which frequent American Bandstand guest sang Dangerous on its 50th anniversary special in 2002?

Michael Jackson shared the Pasadena bill with Cher, Stevie Wonder and members of Kiss, as Clark returned to ABC to host the one-off celebration.

Which American Idol figure joined Dick Clark in 2004 to announce a planned revival of American Bandstand?

Ryan Seacrest and Clark aimed for the 2005 season, but Clark's stroke that December helped shelve the plan. One segment survived as So You Think You Can Dance.

After years of weekday broadcasts, American Bandstand became a once-a-week show on which day in 1963?

Saturday afternoons suited Clark: a whole week of shows was already being videotaped in a single day, which freed him to produce and host concert tours.

Which cable channel is widely blamed for American Bandstand's ratings slide in the 1980s?

MTV made a studio of dancing teens look dated, and the damage grew as stations bumped the show for college football after a 1984 court ruling opened up those broadcasts.

Which nickname did American Bandstand host Dick Clark earn for his perennially youthful looks?

America's Oldest Teenager stuck because Clark seemed barely to age across more than three decades in front of a studio full of dancing high-schoolers.

Which annual ceremony did Bandstand host Dick Clark create in 1973 after ABC lost the Grammys?

American Music Awards gave ABC a replacement once the Grammys moved to CBS, and its winners are picked by a poll of the public rather than by an industry academy.

Which word-association game show did American Bandstand's Dick Clark begin hosting on CBS in 1973?

The $10,000 Pyramid held its ratings even when the Watergate hearings pre-empted it, and Clark went on to win three Emmys as best game show host.

How did most musical guests on American Bandstand perform their latest singles for the studio audience?

Lip-syncing to the record was the rule, and it sold: singer Gene Pitney reckoned a single appearance could move 20,000 to 40,000 copies the next day.

Which original Bandstand host was fired in 1956 after a drunk-driving arrest, making way for Dick Clark?

Bob Horn was arrested while the station's sister newspaper was running an anti-drunk-driving campaign, so image-conscious bosses dropped him and went looking for a cleaner-cut face.

On which American Bandstand segment did teens score new singles and explain their marks to Dick Clark?

Rate-a-Record had two audience members grade each song on an odd scale that ran from 35 to 98, and Clark averaged their scores on the spot.

American Bandstand's Dick Clark gave up his record-company stakes amid a congressional probe into which practice?

Payola meant paying broadcasters to favour a record. ABC had Clark give up his music publishing and record-company interests, and he then told a House subcommittee in 1960 that he had never taken it.

Dick Clark's wife Barbara suggested which American Bandstand star's stage name, in homage to Fats Domino?

Chubby Checker was born Ernest Evans. A boss at a produce market had already nicknamed him Chubby, and his Domino impression for the Clarks supplied the rest.

Which Danny & the Juniors hit was titled Do the Bop until American Bandstand's Dick Clark suggested a change?

At the Hop went to number one after the group performed it on the show. Clark had warned them that the Bop dance fad was already on its way out.

Which slow line dance, likened by Dick Clark to the Virginia reel, did American Bandstand turn into a craze?

The Stroll put boys and girls in two facing lines while couples took turns down the middle. The Diamonds' hit of the same name grew from an idea by Clark himself.

John Lydon caused chaos on American Bandstand in 1980 with Public Image Ltd after leaving which punk band?

Sex Pistols frontman Lydon clowned around and invited the studio audience onto the stage. Clark later ranked it among his 100 favourite performances.

In 1957 ABC split American Bandstand in two to fit a game show hosted by which future late-night legend?

Johnny Carson's Who Do You Trust? sat in the middle of the dance show's slot until 1961. A year in, Ed McMahon became his announcer and their long partnership began.

Whose overlooked single Who's Sorry Now became a hit after Dick Clark championed it on American Bandstand?

Connie Francis expected the record to vanish like her earlier flops. Instead it sold a million copies in the US, and the show's viewers later voted her best female vocalist.

Which 1978 film musical has its school dance aired live by a fictional show called National Bandstand?

Grease casts Edd Byrnes as Vince Fontaine, the television host who brings National Bandstand's cameras into the Rydell High gym.

Which Palisades Park singer holds the record for American Bandstand appearances, with 110 in total?

Freddy Cannon got that 1962 hit from an unlikely songwriter: Chuck Barris, who later hosted The Gong Show.

Which disco star was the only singer ever to co-host American Bandstand, joining Dick Clark in 1978?

Donna Summer was promoting Thank God It's Friday, her first film, whose song Last Dance went on to win the Academy Award for best original song.

Which cable channel carried American Bandstand's final 26 weeks in 1989 after its syndicated run ended?

USA Network revived the show after a ten-month break, with Clark behind the scenes as executive producer. It was cancelled after half a year, ending a 37-year run.

Where was American Bandstand's last season, hosted by comedian David Hirsch in 1989, taped outdoors?

Universal Studios Hollywood hosted the open-air tapings, one more upheaval for a show that had gone from network television to syndication to cable in two years.

Which NBC drama of the 2000s follows Meg Pryor, a 1960s teen who dances on Dick Clark's Bandstand?

American Dreams restaged real performances from the dance show in most episodes, with modern singers playing the 1960s acts, and cast Brittany Snow as Meg.

Which country launched its own pop show called Bandstand in 1958, based on the concept of American Bandstand?

Australia kept its version on air until 1972, and newsreader Brian Henderson presented it for the whole run.

Which costumed group was the house band on Where the Action Is, Dick Clark's American Bandstand spin-off?

Paul Revere & the Raiders performed in Revolutionary War outfits, and Clark's shows helped them reach the top 30 a dozen times between 1966 and 1969.

Whose Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On had teens dancing on American Bandstand's first national broadcast in 1957?

Jerry Lee Lewis's rowdy hit went out to 67 ABC stations that August afternoon, an odd soundtrack for a studio full of clean-cut dancers.

Which Catholic school uniform detail, worn by girls on American Bandstand, became a national fashion trend?

Peter Pan collars spread because viewers copied the regulars, ordinary local schoolgirls who drew fan mail and set styles far beyond their own city.

Where did the podium Dick Clark used on American Bandstand end up, preserved as a piece of Americana?

Smithsonian Institution collections took in the lectern, and Guinness listed the series as television's longest-running variety programme.

Which swing bandleader's Bandstand Boogie was American Bandstand's theme when the show went national?

Les Elgart was a trumpeter who led the band with his saxophonist brother Larry. Their big-band instrumental stayed until a new rock theme replaced it in 1969.

Which future lieutenant governor of California co-wrote American Bandstand's rock theme of 1969 to 1974?

Mike Curb was a record executive in his twenties when he wrote it. He won the state's second-highest office in 1978, encouraged into politics by Ronald Reagan.

Which Gloria singer was the final guest of American Bandstand's ABC run, performing Shattered Glass in 1987?

Laura Branigan closed out thirty years on the network. Two weeks later the show reappeared in syndication, restored from half an hour to a full hour.

Which hometown record label fed American Bandstand many early acts, then declined after the show moved west?

Cameo-Parkway always had an act ready when the programme needed one at short notice, and the exposure made its singers stars. The 1964 move and the British Invasion ended the run.

What did Dick Clark call the concert tours he launched in 1959 on the back of American Bandstand's success?

Caravan of Stars tours ran into the mid-1960s. Clark's first job at WFIL in 1952 had been an easy-listening radio show called Caravan of Music.

Whose synthesizer instrumental Space Race filled American Bandstand's mid-show break for over a decade?

Billy Preston, once credited alongside the Beatles on Get Back, took the tune to number four in 1973, and Clark liked it so much he kept it for virtually the rest of the run.

Which American Bandstand regular and Bob Clayton formed its most popular dance team and even cut a record?

Justine Carrelli and Clayton were ordinary high-schoolers who ended up with fan clubs and coverage in the teen magazines, as did several of the show's best-known dancers.

What name was given to the trusted teens who policed dress code and admission on American Bandstand?

The Committee was led from 1954 to 1956 by Jerry Blavat, a teenage dancer who went on to become a disc jockey himself.

Walter Annenberg, owner of American Bandstand's home station WFIL-TV, also launched which 1950s magazine?

TV Guide was a gamble Annenberg took against the advice of his financial advisers, and it became one of his biggest successes. He also created the magazine Seventeen.

Weeks after going national in 1957, American Bandstand drew more fan mail than which hit ABC Western?

Wyatt Earp was the network's most popular show at the time, yet an afternoon dance party for high-schoolers was soon pulling in 15,000 letters a week.