Speaking of Dick Clark - Anyone know this about American Bandstand?

This thread doesn't have a good beat, and I can't dance to it.

Well, did you know that Dick Clark was NOT the original host of American Bandstand. A fellow by the name of Bob Horn, from Pine Grove, PA (Not too far from Philly) was the original host of "Bandstand" later renamed "American Bandstand" by ABC.

Check out the Wiki on this little known fact!

I wonder, as with a lot of old shows that didn't have syndication value after first viewed, if a lot of the tapes were erased and reused. This was common with sporting events in those days and could be the same with AE. So, full episodes just might not exist any longer.

I never saw the show, did bands perform live? Did they lip sync? Were there major acts?

vertigo235 said:

This thread doesn't have a good beat, and I can't dance to it.

Click to expand...

LOL. Brings back a lot of memories. That was the standard answer, wasn't it?

Actually, now that I think about it, the reverse of that was the standard answer.

I agree with the pp, I'd be surprised if complete tapes exist for many (any?) shows. I have no idea if they even have the rights to release the music performances on video.

Since the best method of recording in the early days was kinescope, basicly aming a 16mm camera at a TV monitor it was an expensive process. They might have used it for some of the really big groups that came on, but not for the whole show. Then you had various types of video tape. Some of which cannot be played anymore. These were also expensive tapes and if they recorded anything, it would be the perfomaces, not the show itself, at least until the costs came down.

Some of the performaces footage can be found on youtube, so they do exist and I've seen some really bad footage of the rate-a-record segments. I know one exists of them rating Please, Please Me which lead to Dick Clark's company turning down The Beatles.
And to answer VegasVic, There were often major acts and they always lipsynced usally with no effort to cover the fact up either. It was standard practice at the time on almost every show. Much easier to do that than mess with everything needed to get good sound.

Hi there:
Thanks!
I'm hoping that some footage exists somewhere. I keep thinking that there's a plan to wait until Dick Clark dies and then things will be released. It's hard for me to believe that someone with Dick Clark's business savvy would not have had things kept, in some fashion, if it was possible "in those days". Yikes, I guess I am that old!

Since I don't know the technical side of things, it's helpful to hear how things were recorded/taped.

When I went to the R&R Hall of Fame, I thought, for sure, they'd have a bit more info or perhaps, even some hard to find recordings, but, alas, no luck!

I want to see Kenny and Arlene again and hear some of those 'rate a record' and also watch some of the dance contests.... They were great!

Little Stevie Wonder doing "Fingertips"....remember it as if it was yesterday..even if it was lip-synced! Some great, great musical and tv moments.... I do hope they're not lost forever.

WO312 said:

LOL. Brings back a lot of memories. That was the standard answer, wasn't it?

Actually, now that I think about it, the reverse of that was the standard answer.

Click to expand...

Yup

I would think music rights issues would have killed this before it ever even got started.

If you google "American Bandstand DVD", one link claims to be selling a DVD of the earliest known surviving show from '57. If that's true, everything before that is lost.

VegasVic said:

I never saw the show, did bands perform live? Did they lip sync? Were there major acts?

Click to expand...

A lot of major acts but mostly by pretend instrument playing and lip sync is how I remember it.

I suspect I watched it when it was still in Philadelphia (and assumed it was in Los Angeles). I wonder if any of the Lloyd Thaxton show is left. He talked about lip synching like he may have invented it.

Somebody on the wiki notes there are 883 surviving eps.

If there's truth to that, it would mean roughly mid-1971 to the short-lived revival's end in 1989 was saved, with some leeway for scattered early eps that might have survived as well.

This is all guesswork.

I would be surprised if they have even considered releasing full episodes, if for no other reason than the music licensing costs would be high. This also tends to be the number one answer when anybody asks why there aren't DVDs of either American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance (which has, on occasion, had to dub in other music for some of the auditions).

It looks like the '80s episodes were at one point rebroadcast on VH1. There are some few clips on YouTube from these rebroadcasts.

Even into the mid-1960s, a number of ABC affiliates in the South opted not to carry "American Bandstand" because the dance floor on the show was integrated. I know from my TV Guide collection that the ABC affiliate in my hometown of Tampa did carry it back then, but I have a feeling it was less because they were atypically progressive on racial issues and more because they didn't have anything to replace it with.

Very interesting topic - I never watched AB, but given the early days of SNL's music sound quality, I can't blame them for lip synching to the records And speaking of that tangent, I'm surprised as many big time acts agreed to go on SNL given how badly their songs were certain to be butchered.

Hope you can find some good AB vids!

LoadStar said:

It looks like the '80s episodes were at one point rebroadcast on VH1. There are some few clips on YouTube from these rebroadcasts.

Click to expand...

I remember watching some of those, they may have gone back to the late seventies. One had and a performance by Prince and the interview afterward made it apparent he was always a bit of an arrogant d*ck.

VegasVic said:

I never saw the show, did bands perform live? Did they lip sync? Were there major acts?

Click to expand...

Lip sync, at least in the 80s when I was watching it.

..just like they do for the vast vast majority of performers on the New Years Rockin' Eve show.