American Bandstand was a television show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, hosted from 1957 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer. The show featured teenagers dancing to Top 40-type music introduced by Clark; at least one popular musical act—over the decades, running the gamut from Jerry Lee Lewis to Run DMC—would usually appear in-person to lip-sync one of their latest singles. Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon holds the record for most appearances at 110.

The show's popularity helped Dick Clark become an American media mogul and inspired other similar long-running music programs, such as Soul Train and Top of the Pops. Clark eventually assumed ownership of the program through his Dick Clark Productions company.

Changes

Early changes

When ABC picked up the game show Do You Trust Your Wife? from CBS in November 1957, they scheduled the program at 3:30PM ET—almost in the middle of Bandstand. Instead of shortening or moving Bandstand, ABC opted to just begin Bandstand at 3PM, cutaway to Do You Trust Your Wife? at 3:30PM, then rejoin Bandstand at 4PM. In Philadelphia, however, WFIL-TV opted to tape the game show, re-named Who Do You Trust, for delayed broadcast in another time slot and to continue with Bandstand, though only for the local audience.

A half-hour evening version of American Bandstand aired on Monday nights from 7:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m. (et), beginning on October 7, 1957. It preceded The Guy Mitchell Show. Both were ratings disasters. Dick Clark later claimed that he knew the prime-time edition would fail because its core audience—teenagers and housewives—was occupied with other interests in the evenings. The Monday night version aired its last program in December 1957, but ABC gave Clark a Saturday night time slot for The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show, which originated from the Little Theatre in Manhattan, beginning on February 15, 1958.

The program was broadcast "live" weekday afternoons. In the fall of 1961, ABC Television reduced American Bandstand's airtime from 90 to 60 minutes [4:00-5:00pm(et)], then further as a daily half-hour [4:00-4:30pm(et)] in September 1962; beginning in early 1963, all five shows for the upcoming week were videotaped the preceding Saturday. The use of videotape allowed Clark to tour with the singers and to pursue other broadcast interests. On September 7, 1963 the program was moved from its weekday slots and began airing weekly every Saturday afternoon until 1989.

Move from ABC to syndication and the USA Network

Bandstand moved from ABC (who wanted to reduce Bandstand to only 30 minutes rather than an hour) to syndication on September 19, 1987, and to cable's USA Network on April 8, 1989 with a new younger host, comedian David Hirsch. It was also shot outdoors at Universal Studios Hollywood. Clark remained executive producer. The show ended on October 7, 1989, in Hollywood, but it continued to tape live at the Harrah's Club & Casino in Reno, Nevada, and aired locally until the mid-1990s.[citation needed]

Revival plans

In 2004, Dick Clark announced plans to revive the show in time for 2005; although this did not occur, one segment of the revived "Bandstand"—a national dance contest—eventually became the series So You Think You Can Dance. Dick Clark Productions is credited as the show's co-producer and longtime employee Allen Shapiro serves as co-executive producer.

Theme music

Bandstand originally used "High Society" by Artie Shaw as its theme song, but by the time the show went national, it had been replaced by various arrangements of "Bandstand Boogie" composed by Charles Albertine, including the big-band version performed by Les Elgart remembered by viewers of the daily version. From 1969 to 1974 "Bandstand Theme", a synth instrumental version written by Mike Curb opened each show. Moreover, from 1974 to 1977 an orchestral disco version of "Bandstand Boogie" arose playing during the opening and closing credits. Joe Porter was the music arranger and performer of this orchestral disco version of American Bandstand's theme song at this time.

From 1977 to the end of its ABC run in 1987, the show opened and closed with Barry Manilow's rendition of the theme, which he originally recorded for his 1975 album Tryin' to Get the Feeling. The song's new lyrics, which heavily referenced the series, were co-written by Manilow and Bruce Howard Sussman.

The Manilow version was replaced by an updated instrumental arrangement of "Bandstand Boogie" when Bandstand went into syndication.

From 1974 onward, Bandstand featured another instrumental at its mid-show break—Billy Preston's synth hit "Space Race".

See also

• List of acts who appeared on American Bandstand
• Buddy Deane Show
• Soul Train
• The Clay Cole Show
• Electric Circus

References

External links

• American Bandstand at the Internet Movie Database
• American Bandstand at TV.com
• American Bandstand at Fifties web
• American Bandstand clips at YouTube. Accessed October 2008
• The Museum of Broadcast Communications - American Bandstand