IRENE CARA DEAD AT 63

 

You can read the full story here.

Best-known for her hit singles “Fame” and “Flashdance…What a Feeling”, she made a couple appearances on American Bandstand as a guest performer. Her song “Breakdance” was also featured in an episode of Kidd Video.

B.J. THOMAS DEAD AT 78

 

You can read the full story here.

He performed his songs on several episodes of American Bandstand.

LITTLE RICHARD DEAD AT 87

You can read the full story here.

He was a singer, songwriter and musician hailed as one of the “Founding Fathers of Rock”. He had made appearances on, American Bandstand, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures and Sesame Street, and his music he wrote was featured in The Beatles (“Long Tall Sally”) and The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper (“Casper the Friendly Ghost”). He also composed the theme for the original Magic Schoolbus.

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: CASEY KASEM

CASEY KASEM

(April 27, 1932-June 15, 2014)

Notable Roles: Robin/Dick Grayson, Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, Alexander Cabot III, Bluestreak, Cliffjumper

Born Kemal Amin “Casey” Kasem, he was inspired by the radio show Make Believe Ballroom to pursue a career in radio. His first job was covering sports at Northwestern High School in Detroit before voicing children characters on radio shows run by Wayne State University. In 1952, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Korea where he worked as a DJ/announcer on the Armed Forces Radio Korea Network. Following the war, Kasem returned to Michigan where he began his professional radio career; eventually winding up in California. While at KEWB in Oakland, Kasem served as both the music director and on-air personality. Inspired by a magazine he found in the trash, he created a show that mixed biographical tidbits about the artists and songs he played. Kasem’s career took off in 1963, starring in several low-budget movies and radio dramas, as well as hosting “dance hops” on local television. Those televised appearances attracted Dick Clark, who hired him as co-host of Shebang in 1964, which led to his appearing on other programs. Kasem’s vocal talents ended up driving him towards voice acting, which began with voicing Robin the Boy Wonder for Filmation’s The Adventures of Batman animated series. His breakout, and most well-known role was that of Shaggy Rogers in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! for Hanna-Barbera. He would reprise the role across several series and made-for-TV movies, briefly quitting the role in a dispute over Shaggy being featured in a Burger King commercial (Kasem was vegan and requested Shaggy be at least vegetarian), up until his eventual retirement from voice acting. Kasem also reprised the role of Robin for Hanna-Barbera’s Super Friends franchise. In 1970, Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs launched the weekly 3-hour radio program American Top 40. The show would count down the week’s 40 biggest hits—according to the Billboard Hot 100 weekly chart—in ascending order to the most popular song. Like his earlier radio show, Kasem included biographical information, trivia, flashbacks, long-distance dedication segments and often used the answer to a trivia question he posed as a hook to keep people tuned in over a commercial break. He would play himself hosting the countdown in a voice cameo role in the 1984 film Ghostbusters. In 1983, Kasem helped found the American Video Awards in the hopes that it would become the Oscars of music videos; but the show only lasted until 1987 (MTV would launch their own awards show in 1984, which is still going as of this writing). In 1988, Kasem left American Top 40 over a contract dispute with ABC Radio Network and started Casey’s Top 40 with Westwood One, as well as Casey’s Hot 20 and Casey’s Countdown. The shows were essentially the same despite their varying lengths, except he used the Radio & Records’ chart. However, when Top 40 was cancelled in 1995, he regained the rights in 1997 and relaunched the program the following year with Premiere Radio Networks, along with two spin-offs both named American Top 20 (one of them eventually being cut down to 10). Along with further television guest-starring roles and various commercials, Kasaem starred as Mark in Battle of the Planets and played several roles in Transformers; eventually leaving the latter when he felt it contained offensive caricatures of Arab countries. From 1989-98, he hosted Nick at Nite’s New Year’s Eve countdown of the top reruns of the year. Kasem retired from Top 40 in 2004, with Ryan Seacrest taking over the show, and in 2009, Premiere ended its partnership with Kasem, cancelling American Top 20 and Top 10. 2009 also found him retiring from regular voice acting; however, he did reprise the role of Shaggy for “The Official BBC Children in Need Medley” uncredited, and Shaggy’s father, Colton Rogers, in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, also uncredited. In 2013, Kasem was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, which left him unable to speak in his final months. He died in 2014. In 1981, Kasem was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1985, he was inducted into the Nation Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1992. He also received the Radio Hall of Fame’s first lifetime achievement award in 1997. In 2003, he was awarded the Radio Icon award at the Radio Music Awards.

Saturday Credits:

American Bandstand

The Batman/Superman Hour

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

Sesame Street

Josie and the Pussycats

Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space

The New Scooby-Doo Movies

Super Friends

Hong Kong Phooey

Emergency +4

The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour

Dynomutt Dog Wonder

Wonderbug

Scooby’s Laff-A-Lympics

What’s New Mr. Magoo?

The All-New Super Friends Hour

Yogi’s Space Race

Jana of the Jungle

Challenge of the Superfirends

The World’s Greatest Superfriends

The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show

Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels

The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show

Richie Rich

Space Stars

The Gary Coleman Show

The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour

Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo

Superfriends

The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show

Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show

The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries

The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

Saved by the Bell

Histeria!

What’s New Scooby-Doo?

Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!

AMERICAN BANDSTAND

AMERICAN BANDSTAND

(WFIL-TV, ABC, Syndication, USA Network, October 7, 1952-October 7, 1989)

WFIL-TV (1952-64), Dick Clark Productions (1964-89)

MAIN CAST:

Bob Horn - Host (1952-56)

Lee Stewart – Co-host (1952-55)

Tony Mammarella – Host (1956)

Dick Clark – Host (1956-1989)

David Hirsch – Host (1989)

American Bandstand was a musical television program that showcased Top 40 music as teenagers danced along to the songs. The show began in 1950 as Bandstand on Philadelphia’s WFIL-TV Channel 6 (now WPVI-TV), a local program replacing a weekday movie that would air in the timeslot. It was hosted by Bob Horn as a spin-off to his radio show of the same name. Bandstand was a precursor of sorts to MTV as it would show short musical films produced by Snader Telescriptions and Official Films with occasional guests. However, the ratings were abysmal and Horn quickly grew bored with the show. He decided to change it to a dance program that showed teens dancing on camera as records played; based on an idea from WPEN (now WKDN) radio show, The 950 Club.

Dancers choosing the next song Bob Horn would play.

The new Bandstand debuted on WFIL-TV on October 7, 1952. The studio could hold up to 200 dancing teenagers for which time was allotted for Horn to interview them to find out their names, schools, hobbies and whatever else. The music films from the previous version were maintained as filler while dancers were changed out between segments. Horn was given a new co-host in Lee Stewart. Stewart was a local businessman and a large advertising account for WFIL, and his being made co-host was part of the deal. He remained with the show until 1955 when WFIL became more financially stable and didn’t rely on his account as much. In 1956, Horn was fired from the show after becoming involved in a series of scandals; including his involvement in a prostitution ring and being arrested for a DUI while WFIL was doing a news series on drunken driving. Producer Tony Mammarella served as interim host until Dick Clark was hired for the position permanently.

America's teenager: Dick Clark.

That spring, ABC was looking for programming suggestions to fill their 3:30 PM timeslot. Clark pitched the program to ABC president Thomas W. Moore, who eventually agreed to carry the show and bring it to a national audience under the new name, American Bandstand. Baltimore affiliate WAAM (later WJZ) opted not to air Bandstand in favor of attempting to produce their own similar program. Local disc jockey Buddy Deane was named the host of The Buddy Deane Show which aired for two hours daily. A rivalry occurred between Clark and Deane that often resulted in acts first booked on Deane’s show being rejected by Bandstand, and acts first booked on Bandstand were asked never to mention their previous appearance. Deane’s show only ran for 7 years, ending in 1964.

In October of 1957, ABC gave Bandstand a new 30-minute evening show on Monday nights, but it failed in the ratings and was cancelled that December. Also, in November, ABC opted to air their newly acquired game show, Who Do You Trust?, right in the middle of Bandstand on most of their networks. WFIL chose to tape-delay the game show for a later broadcast and air Bandstand in its entirety.

Clark interviewing The Beatles.

By 1959, Bandstand had a national audience of 20 million viewers. It became daily essential viewing and greatly influenced American pop culture. As the show entered the 1960s, ABC opted to truncate the show’s runtime from 90-minutes to 60, and then down to a daily half-hour program. By 1963, the show abandoned its live format and an entire week’s worth of programs were videotaped on the preceding Saturday. This move actually allowed Clark the freedom to pursue other interests as both a producer and host while remaining as Bandstand’s host. That year, the show also moved to Saturday where it would remain in various timeslots after noon throughout the rest of its run.

Many of the local Philadelphia teens became famous following their appearances on the show. Clark would often interview the audience members in a segment called “Rate-a-Record”. He would ask them to rate two records on a scale that Clark would average out, then asked the audience to justify those scores. The segment gave rise to the phrase “It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it” when describing the songs. Once, the comedy team of Cheech and Chong appeared on the show as participants in a humorous segment of “Rate-a-Record”.

Clark interviewing musical guest Paul Petersen in front of their ABC-inspired logo.

In 1964, production of the show moved from Philadelphia to ABC Television Center in Los Angeles (currently The Prospect Studios) and they adopted a new logo that emulated the ABC logo, reading “AB” in a circle accompanied by the current two-digit date. After a disastrous first attempt to go color in 1958, which failed because of the size of the cameras required at the time in the small studio space plus ABC’s refusal to transmit in color, Bandstand finally went colorized beginning on September 9, 1967. In 1969, the show gained an entirely new set and another new logo. Notably, after the move, the dancers featured on the show became more integrated. Because of segregation, while WFIL happily exhibited the city’s interracial music scene in order to create a successful program, they kept black teenagers out of the studio so as not to alienate viewers and advertisers.

In 1973, Clark managed to cause a bit of racial controversy of his own when he attempted to expand the Bandstand brand. He created the similar Soul Unlimited, hosted by Buster Jones, with a focus on soul music. Bandstand and Unlimited would share a timeslot for several weeks. Two years prior, Don Cornelius had created his own dance program, Soul Train, which featured music from genres such as R&B, jazz, funk, soul, and hip hop (although Cornelius wasn’t a fan of that particular genre, feeling it did not positively reflect African-American culture). Cornelius and Jesse Jackson openly accused Clark of trying to destroy television’s only program created and run by African-Americans. Unlimited’s target audience also wasn’t pleased with the show due to its alleged use of racial overtones on top of its being created by a white man. Ultimately, Unlimited was cancelled after a few weeks and some of its set pieces were integrated into Bandstand’s.

As Bandstand entered the 1980s, ratings began to steadily decline. MTV and other programs began to fill the niche Bandstand had dominated over the decades, taking away more and more of their audience. Also, many ABC affiliates opted to pre-empt or delay the program for things like college football games, which were getting ever-increasing ratings, or for special presentations like an unsold pilot. In 1986, ABC once again reduced Bandstand from an hour down to 30 minutes. Clark decided to end the show’s association with ABC on September 5, 1987 and moved it to first-run syndication two weeks later, restoring the hour format. The show was now filmed at KCET’s Studio B with a new set similar to Soul Train and was distributed by LBS Communications.

Following the broadcast on June 4, 1988, Bandstand went on a 10-month hiatus. When it returned in April of 1989, it had moved over to cable’s USA Network with comedian David Hirsch assuming hosting duties. Clark remained on as executive producer. The new version of Bandstand ditched the studio setting for the first time and was filmed outdoors at Universal Studios Hollywood. However, Bandstand had ultimately run its course and was cancelled after 26 weeks. Of the over 3,000 episodes produced across the decades, only 883 are known to survive.

Donna Summer co-hosting in 1978.

Throughout the show’s run, a number of the musical acts whose songs were played appeared on the show, many of whom it would be the first time on American television, typically lip-synching to their songs and sitting down for an interview with the host. Some of the acts included Aerosmith, Frankie Avalon, The Bee Gees, E.G. Daily, Def Leppard, ELO, Marvin Gaye, The Guess Who, Corey Hart, Hall & Oates, Billy Idol, the Jackson 5, Janet Jackson, B.B. King, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, The Mamas & the Papas, Mike + the Mechanics, The Monkees, Juice Newton, Oingo Boingo, The Osmonds, Ray Parker Jr., The Pointer Sisters, Prince, Quaterflash, Della Reese, REO Speedwagon, R.E.M., Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Run-D.M.C., Sha Na Na, Shalamar, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, The Temptations, Conway Twitty, Wham! and “Weird Al” Yankovic. In 1978, Donna Summer became the only musical act to also serve as a co-host as part of a promotion for her upcoming film, Thank God It’s Friday.

Clark posing with New Edition over an anniversary cake.

Bandstand used several themes over the years. Its first was “High Society” by Artie Shaw. After the series was picked up by ABC, the theme became varying arrangements of “Bandstand Boogie” by Charles Albertine. Les Elgart’s big-band version of the theme was released as a single in March of 1954 by Columbia Records. Mike Curb wrote the synthesized rock instrumental piece “Bandstand Theme” which was used from 1969-74 and also received a single release by Forward Records. A new disco version of “Bandstand Boogie” arranged and performed by Joe Porter replaced it in 1974. Another version of “Bandstand Boogie”, this time by Barry Manilow, became the theme from 1977 through 1986. Although Manilow had previously recorded and released the song in 1975, the show’s version featured lyrics by him and Bruce Sussman referencing elements featured on the program. Porter’s theme was retained as bumper music for commercial breaks alongside Billy Preston’s “Space Race”, which had been used on the show since 1974. David Russo arranged a new closing theme that was used from 1986-87, and later performed a new version of “Bandstand Boogie” when the show went into syndication.

In 2002, Clark hosted a special 50^th anniversary edition of the show in Pasadena, California. Frequent guest Michael Jackson led a group of performers that included The Village People, Brandy, members of KISS, Dennis Quaid and The Sharks, Cher and Stevie Wonder. In 2004, Clark, along with frequent collaborator Ryan Seacrest, announced plans to revive the show for the 2005 season. However, these plans were indefinitely delayed when Clark suffered a stroke that year, and would never come to fruition before his death in 2012. A segment of the proposed revival, a national dance contest, was eventually turned into the series So You Think You Can Dance. 

EPISODE GUIDE:

N/A