Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Dick Clark, Legendary Television Host And Cultural Icon, R. I. P.

Dick Clark, the eternally boyish-looking longtime host of  television's American Bandstand who also was for nearly four decades the host of the annual New Year's Rockin' Eve telecasts, passed away on Wednesday morning at Saint John's Medical Center at Santa Monica, California following a massive heart attack at age 82.


Mr. Clark became host of Bandstand, then a local Philadelphia television show aired over WFIL-TV in 1956, replacing disgraced original co-host Bob Horn, who had been arrested for drunk driving (and who was being implicated in a suspected local pornography ring).


Dick, who had been a disc jockey at WFIL Radio, managed to save the TV show with his boyish charm as well as his acquiring increased knowledge about rock 'n' roll music.


In 1957, the ABC Network was looking to upgrade the quality of its' weekday afternoon programming and ultimately look to WFIL to deliver a network version of the locally-televised music-and-dance program to replace its' old English movies that had aired in that time slot, thus, American Bandstand debut nationally over ABC in August of that year.  The solid ratings for that time slot, thanks to housewives as well as kids who came home from school gave the network the idea of giving Dick his own prime-time program.


Following the late-1957 failure of a Monday-night version of American Bandstand, Dick fared much better with a new half-hour musical-variety program originating live from New York on Saturday nights, The Dick Clark Show.  For most of the show's 2 1/2 year run (February 1958-September 1960), the program, which featured many pop, rock 'n' roll, and rhythm and blues artists lip-synching to their latest hit recordings, was sponsored by the makers of Beech Nut Gum and was informally referred to as The Saturday Night Dick Clark Beechnut Show.


The show went off the air shortly after Dick, who in the wake of the payola scandal, divested himself of his ownership and holdings in music publishing and recording companies.


But it was at that time that Mr. Clark began expanding his entertainment empire to include the production of motion pictures and other TV shows.


By the fall of 1963, American Bandstand, which in time had been reduced from 90 minutes to 60, and then to 30, was moved to a 60-minute weekly Saturday afternoon time slot.  The series moved to Los Angeles in early 1964.  The show would remain on ABC until 1987, then survived in syndication until 1988, only to be followed by a brief run on cable-tv's USA Network, which ended in 1989.


Dick would go on to have a successful career as a game-show host, especially hosting several incarnations of The $10,000 (later $25, 000) Pyramid.


He also hosted, along with fellow former Philadelphia resident Ed McMahon, various incarnations of TV's Censored Bloopers.


It was in 1973 that Dick began hosting his annual Rockin' New Year' Eve telecasts, and he hosted it every year until he suffered a well-publicized stroke late in 2004.  He did return the following year and, despite somewhat slurred speech, would make appearances each year afterward.


Here's a clip from an episode of The Dick Clark Show in which Dick hawks Beechnut Spearmint Chewing Gum.


FlavorIFIC!


Thanks very much for the memories and rest in peace, Dick.


No comments: