"7"Afro-Americans who lived in communities as diverse as Chicago, Norfolk, and Buxton, Iowa, congregatedsometimes along class lines, but always together," Earl Lewis argues. My Place. Black students from Philadelphia high schools and junior high schools danced on Bandstand starting in 1952 when Bob. Did Billy Graham speak to Marilyn Monroe about Jesus? . d. Chuck Berry, An important component of the Beach Boys' success was: a. sweet soul Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012. The pop audience's perception of the image and authenticity of folk music was the result of the: All of the following were professional songwriters at the Brill Building EXCEPT: Groups like Donald and the Hitchhikers, Tiny and the Tinniettes, Little Joe and the Diamonds, Cobra and the Fabulous Entertainers, and the Dacels saw Teenage Frolics as a way to perform for other black teenagers and become known beyond their high schools and neighborhoods. Smith's versatile blues encompassed gallows humour (Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair), social commentary (Poor Man's Blues), salty innuendo (Kitchen Man) and lusty good times (Gimme a Pigfoot). tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_10', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_10').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Born in West Palm Beach, Florida, Mitch Thomas graduated from Delaware State College and served in the army before becoming the first black disc jockey in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1949.11Eustace Gay, "Pioneer In TV Field Doing Marvelous Job Furnishing Youth With Recreation," Philadelphia Tribune, February 11, 1956; Gary Mullinax, "Radio Guided DJ to Stars," The News Journal Papers (Wilmington, DE), January 28, 1986,D4. He was going to be on 'Bandstand' and they wanted to go see him. American Bandstandfirst aired 5 August 1957 in the 3-4:30 afternoon slot. Sterling Tucker, director of the Washington branch of the Urban League, worried that WOOK's focus on the "Negro market" was out of step with civil rights efforts,"You don't go along the road of segregation to achieve integration. In the 1920s US, glamorous, funny black female singers were the blues' first and revolutionary hitmakers. https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/American%20Bandstand%27s%20West%20Philadelphia%20Home.jpg, American Bandstand's West Philadelphia Home, https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Dick%20Clark%20.jpg, Dick Clark Hosts American Bandstand at Studio B, https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Dick%20Clark%20at%20podium.jpg, Dick Clark and American Bandstand Youngsters, https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Dick%20Clark%20and%20youngsters.jpg, https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Pop%20Singer%27s%20.jpg, https://collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Line%20outside%20Studio%20B.jpg, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, American Bandstand: West Philadelphia's Seven-Year Wonder 1957-1964, Starting Local: WFIL-TV, Bob Horn, and Philadelphia's Bandstand, Going National: Dick Clark and ABC's American Bandstand, Whose Music, Whose Dances? "59"Dance Party (The Teenarama Story), Research Narrative," Box 2, Kendall Production Records, Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum. c. George "Shadow" Morton d. Ricky Nelson, A distinctive vocal feature of the Everly Brothers was: As Grant introduced The Four Aces' "I Just Don't Know," he exited the scene, the camera pulled back to focus on teens who flocked to pick up their free Pepsi. 1955-1958. Read about our approach to external linking. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_16', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_16').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); The station's bet on Thomas was part of a larger strategy that included hiring white disc jockeys Joe Grady and Ed Hurst to host a daily afternoon dance program that started at 5 p.m., after Bandstand concluded its daily broadcast. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Worklife and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. Storer Broadcasting Company purchased WPFH in 1956.25Herbert Howard, Multiple Ownership in Television Broadcasting (New York: Arno Press, 1979), 142147. Handy's anonymous musician now resembles the archetypal bluesman: a solitary, enigmatic vagrant, singing songs of "suffering and hard luck" to nobody but himself. While performers, record companies, and music fans welcomed Teenarama's promotion of R&B, WOOK's music programing drew criticism from Washington's black press and the city's black leaders. a. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_3', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_3').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); That same year, black students from St. Augustine University and Shaw University staged sit-ins at lunch counters in Raleigh to protest the whites-only policies at Woolworths and other stores.4Jeffrey Crow, Paul Escott, and Flora Hatley, A History of African Americans in North Carolina (Raleigh: Division of Archives and History,North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1992). (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), 9192. WRAL's mailing to advertisers also included a list of the schools and organizations that had visited the show. Unfortunately though, because of her poor appearance and dress, they did not give her the opportunity to be booked for a week at the Apollo, which was supposed to be part of the winning prize. host and continued as the show became American Bandstand with Dick This essay examines four programs that brought music and dance to southern and border state audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Teenarama host Bob King came to WOOK in 1956 from WRAP radio in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, where he hosted an R&B show.51James Lee, "He Plays Teens Picks," Washington Star, [n.d.] ca. For the best experience please upgrade your IE version or switch to a another web browser. a. Whereas the likes of Ma Rainey travelled to the city to record their music, song collectors moved in the opposite direction, taking their recording devices to the South in order to capture what the leading folklorist John Lomax called "sound-photographs of Negro songs, rendered in their own native element". In 1957, itwas one of these fan clubs thatmade the most forceful challenge to Bandstand's discriminatory admissions policies.15Art Peters, "Negroes Crack Barrier of Bandstand TV Show," Philadelphia Tribune, October 5, 1957; "Couldn't Keep Them Out [photo]," Philadelphia Tribune, October 5, 1957; Delores Lewis, "Bobby Brooks' Club Lists 25 Members," Philadelphia Tribune, December 14, 1957. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_15', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_15').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Although many of these teens watched both Bandstand and Thomas's show, as Bandstand grew in popularity and expanded into a national program, The Mitch Thomas Show remained the only television program that represented the region's black rock and roll fans. b. his trademark fast tremolos on the guitar You are signed in as (Sign out). The teens held and drank their sodas while dancing, keeping the sponsor's product in the picture throughout the song. The Video Beat, 2015. The Nicest Kids in Town: American Bandstand, Rock 'n' Roll, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in 1950s Philadelphia. I was sort of a celebrity at local dances. The Milt Grant Show dedicated almost every minute to selling products, and Grant, as this message to potential sponsors makes clear, was a compelling and unabashed salesman. . In a letter to potential advertisers, WRAL billed Teenage Frolics as "a live and lively dancing party featuring colored teenagers from high schools in the Channel 5 area." In 1958, more than 20 years after her first performance at the Apollo Theater, Ellla Fitzgerald become the first African American to win a Grammy. Broadly speaking, the playing was slick, the rhythms hot, the songwriting polished, the lyrics tough and ironic, the stagewear glamorous and the stars overwhelmingly female. What is wrong with reporter Susan Raff's arm on WFSB news. this meant trying to attract sponsors to advertise to black television audiences. As historian. . "55"WOOK Says it Isn't Just One-Color TV," Washington Star, February 11, 1963. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_55', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_55').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); These critiques reflected differences in age and class between the readership of the Afro-American and potential viewers and listeners of WOOK-TV and WOOK-radio.56John Henry Murphy, Sr. started publishing the Afro-American newspaper in Baltimore in 1892. DVD. It is a fictional performance that only vaguely host and continued as the show became American Bandstand with Dick We couldn't go on Shindig on a regular basis. Simon Singers drug store and luncheonette at the southeast corner of Market and Farragut streets was a hangout for American Bandstand Regulars. b. Phil Spector New York: Cinreach, 2013. Ultimately, these televised teen dance shows encourage us to expand the range of sounds and images we associate withblack youth in the South. Earl Lewis. The Afro-American papers cultivated an older and more middle class black audience than the viewers and listeners WOOK-TV and WOOK-radio targeted. d. Philadelphia, In the early 1950s, many folk musicians ran into problems due to: Dick Clark at his customary podium onAmerican Bandstandas the programs teenagers dance. Despite the racial segregation of the studio audience, The Milt Grant Show offered black performers like LaVern Baker valuable exposure to white consumers. Peter, Paul, and Mary The pop audience's perception of the image and authenticity of folk music was the result of the effort of the music industry to market the movement. Broadcasting from Wilmington, Raleigh, and Washington, these shows reached regional audiences, but varied in terms of signal strength and network affiliations. Please enable Javascript and reload the page. Hairspray (the movie) is not a documentary. Delmont, Matthew. Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude. In January . We're going to make them do it in the glaring light of television. Then it was hosted by Bob Horn and was called Bob Horn's Bandstand.On July 9 of 1956 the show got a new host, a clean-cut 26 year old named Dick Clark. Bessie Smith recorded one last session in 1933, for one-sixth of the fee she used to command, before she died after a car crash in 1937. More recently, when asked about the racial policies of Bandstand in a 2011 New York Times interview, he answered simply: "As soon as I became the host, we integrated." Eager to compete with Bandstand and the afternoon offerings on the other network-affiliated stations, WPFH hoped that Thomas's show would appeal to both black and white youth in the same way as black-oriented radio.16On the crossover appeal of black-oriented radio, see Brian Ward, Radio and the Struggle for Civil Rights in the South (Gainsville: University Press of Florida, 2004); William Barlow, Voice Over: The Making of Black Radio (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999); and Susan J. Douglas, Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination (New York: Times Books, 1999), 219255. Most of his obituary writers have repeated some version of this claim. While WTTG-TV lacked a network affiliation, Grant proved skilled at recruiting and serving sponsors.65WTTG-TV was was founded as a DuMont station and DuMont ended network operations in 1956. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_65', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_65').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); "Grant provides an all-out sponsor and agency service," Billboard reported in 1961. The show blocked black teens from the studio, though complaints from black viewers eventually led to one show perweek featuring a black studio audience (so-called "Black Tuesday"). Williams and Walker. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_9', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_9').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); The Mitch Thomas Show debuted on August 13, 1955, on WPFH, an unaffiliated television station that broadcast to Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley from Wilmington.10"The NAACP Reports: WCAM (Radio)," August 7, 1955, NAACP collection, URB 6, box 21, folder 423, TUUA. "Now every phonograph company has a coloured girl recording. b. the Drifters Finally, the visibility these shows offered to teenagers was closely tied to the salability of teen music culture. Bessie Smith by Jackie Kay is published on 18 February. "30Brett Gadsden, Between North and South: Delaware, Desegregation, and the Myth of American Sectionalism (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), 7. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_30', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_30').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Many teens who danced on The Mitch Thomas Show or watched the program would have experiencedde jure school segregation and the slow realization of educational equality promised by Brown. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_56', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_56').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); At the same time, the critics expressed concern that the station's management and white president, Richard Eaton, would not attend to community interests and concerns beyond musical entertainment. 1967], Lewis Family Papers, folder 140. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1562_1_45', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1562_1_45').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); As television production became increasingly centralized in Los Angeles in the 1960s, Teenage Frolics was part of the everyday life of black teenagers in the Raleigh area. Clarence Burton Jr., defending the station and raising a question about the teen dance show that predated Teenarama. In a 1998 interview for the documentary Black Philadelphia Memories, Thomas recalled that "the show was so strong that I could play a record one time and break it wide open. Created by black deejay Don Cornelius as a black dance show, Soul Train started in Chicago in 1970 before being picked up by stations across the country the following year. b. they were pop-oriented As labels such as Okeh, Paramount and Columbia rushed into the so-called "race records" market, they snapped up dozens of women like Smith, ("Queen of the Blues"), including Gertrude "Ma" Rainey ("Mother of the Blues"), Bessie Smith ("Empress of the Blues"), Ida Cox ("Uncrowned Queen of the Blues"), Ethel Waters, Sara Martin, Edith Wilson, Victoria Spivey, Sippie Wallace and Alberta Hunter. This meant buying additional hardware to receive the channels, or, after Congress passed the All-Channels ReceiverAct in 1962, buying a newer television set.50Christopher Sterling and John Michael Kittross, Stay Tuned: A History of American Broadcasting, Third Edition (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002), 255256, 351352, 383, 415416.

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