QUESTION: How many lives has American Rock N' Roll touched?
How many careers did Dick Clark
launch or foster?
How many of the millions of watchers of the 7,500-plus shows
he produced had moments of happiness and memories that lasted a lifetime because
of those shows?
ANSWER:
Immeasurable!
I never met the man. I never actually pursued
it. And it's ironic, because all these tributes and testimonials I have been
reading were by people I have known for years! Legends like Little Anthony,
Neil Sedaka, Danny & The Juniors, Frankie Avalon, Frankie Valli, Tom
Dreesen, Mary Wilson, Pat Boone, James Darren, Nancy Sinatra ... the list goes
on and on. All good friends of ours, and all who attribute their careers to
Dick Clark.
I didn't even approach my good buddy, the
late Ed McMahon and former television partner of Dick's whose gift of a video
of him saying, "And now, heeeeeeeere's Ronnie" in the same vein as Johnny Carson
is one of my most treasured possessions. Man, I should have asked him for the
introduction.
At each of our shows, I always try to
facilitate fans' meet and greet with the stars. After they nervously shake
their hand, take a photo and get an autograph, they usually thank me for helping
them with the "bucket list" item of meeting their idol.
Again, a bit of irony, as Dick Clark was on MY
bucket list. He epitomized what I wanted to be when I grew up. A well
respected and widely loved conduit between music and the masses. Not an actual
performer, yet an entertainer in his own right. He was somebody who brought joy
to millions via song, dance and a familiar smile.
I think I never really pursued the intro
because inside I kind of felt a warm familiarity with him. With so many single
degrees of separation between us, coupled with the too-many-to-count times I saw
him on one show or another, it was as if he was by my house for pasta the night
before.
With all those fabulous Rock N' Roll moments
we all witnessed over the years, I think my favorite Dick Clark moment was his
last "New Year's Rockin' Eve special, this past December thirty-first. Still
handsome with the boyish good looks, he struggled with his speech after a
terrible stroke. He kept his dignity though, and also kept his tradition of
kissing his beloved wife at midnight. Although the kiss was physically awkward
for him, he did it with a passion I have rarely seen. It showed a love that not
even a massive stroke could stifle.
It seems the legacy of rock stars gets grander
upon their death. Their music lives on for generations. Their images get
plastered on coffee mugs and mouse pads and refrigerator magnets. But guys like
Dick Clark usually don't have that kind of staying power. My seven-year-old
daughter will grow up and know who Sinatra, Elvis and Michael
were.
I will do my best to tell her about Dick Clark
and American Bandstand. More importantly, I'll tell her to be aggressive in
pursuing her "bucket list."
Ron Onesti
Onesti
Entertainment
Thanks, Ron ... beautiful sentiment.
(kk)
Hi Kent,
I'm sure you will receive a number
of notes about Dick Clark's passing.
Dick and I were partners in the
United Stations / Unistar radio networks for fifteen years. He was a rare
combination of talent and businessman; perhaps the best. Growing up, I had
really appreciated Bandstand and his Saturday Beech-nut show, because they were
about the only opportunity to see rock and roll on tv in the late 50s. When I
got in the business and met the artists from that era, I soon found out how
important that show was to so many of them, as deejays around the country picked
up on the records that Dick played on the show. That was certainly the case for
my fellow Pittsburghers, The Skyliners and their first hit "Since I Don't Have
You". Dick may have done more to bring rock and roll into the mainstream than
anyone; he took it into living rooms all over the country with his tv shows
(rather than just the transistor radio under the covers) and kept the music
alive through our "Rock, Roll and Remember" radio show.
Ed Salamon
I first met Dick Clark when he and I were
the guests on "Sunnyside," a half-hour Los Angeles TV talk show. The topic, of
course, was the history of rock and pop and I found Dick to be just as charming
and knowledgeable in person as he had always come across on my home screen. The
best part, though, came after the taping -- when Dick and I returned to the
program's backstage green room and continued our conversation for another two
hours!
Among other things, I recall him
explaining how a large chunk of of his kinescope archives -- 16mm films of past
episodes of "American Bandstand," his Beechnut show, etc. -- had disappeared
over the years. It turned out that some employees of his had systematically
secreted various films out of the building and sold them on the
collector's market to whomever happened to be the highest bidder. In some
cases, the film footage and audio tracks happened to have been stored on
separate reels. That's why Dick still had the audio of Buddy Holly's appearance
on "Bandstand" but not the images. Further investigation revealed that that
one-of-a-kind film reel was in the hands of a collector in Australia -- who
refused to give it up or even offer Dick a copy print. It was at that point
that Clark started buying up whatever vintage footage of rock and pop stars he
could find. He even bought the surviving kinescopes of the clearly un-rocking
"Arthur Murray's Dance Party" simply because on one show the guest was -- Buddy
Holly. Dick wound up amassing an amazing array of film and video performances
-- amazing for a number of reasons, not least of which because most people
producing pop music shows in the past viewed them as exceptionally disposable --
like yesterday's newspaper. Local stations, recording their sock hop type shows
on expensive two or three inch videotapes, often allocated ONE reel of tape to
the producers of such series. After each episode aired, next week's show was
recorded right over last week's on the same tape. Few foresaw the historical
significance of those TV appearances -- but, then again, few foresaw the value
of archiving much television at all. Over the years, executives at all the
networks routinely ordered purges of all kinds of archival programming. A lot
of the TV retrospective specials you see now and then? The tiny clips of
vintage shows included are sometimes all that is left of huge TV hits of the
past -- as those clips were recycled from earlier similar TV
documentaries. The rest of the original footage is GONE.
Dick Clark, though, went to great pains to
hold on to as much of his TV output as he could -- which is why you can still
see him today hosting '60s and '70s game shows via videotape which still exists
solely because HE saved it.
Clark was a smart businessman who stayed
on top of trends, eventually owning a production company with shows on all three
broadcast networks plus in syndication simultaneously. If his career had
matched that of most '50s celebrities, we'd lump him in today with Edsels and
poodle skirts as yet another icon of a long ago era. Dick, though, remained
contemporary and never wore out his welcome.
Was he a perfect guy? No -- but in many
ways he did personify the American dream. He couldn't sing, dance or write
music, but he had a smooth, low-key style in the spotlight and a savvy,
in-touch-with-the-times ear that could recognize and maximize talent. He was
driven by a deep desire to succeed and achieve excellence -- and to do so
maintained a schedule which would leave most people gasping after simply reading
it.
Personally? The Dick Clark you saw on TV
was pretty much the Dick Clark you experienced offscreen. He was bright, sharp,
low-key and really knew what he was talking about. (I know -- I tested him lots
of times!) I used to get a call from Dick or someone on his staff in later
years when they were putting together a home video or TV retrospective and
needed to rebuild the soundtrack by finding some obscure record Dick didn't have
which an act had lip-synched to. Clark had the film but not the audio. I'd dig
out the record and send him a dub.
It's interesting to note that regardless
of how famous radio DJs became over the history of rock 'n' roll, in almost
every case that intense fame was limited to the single market their station
served. Only a few DJs -- Casey Kasem and Wolfman Jack among them -- managed to
achieve coast-to-coast or even international fame. And none exceeded the
success of the guy for whom "American Bandstand" proved to be not his end-all
but a springboard to more and more right into the 21st century: Dick
Clark.
Gary Theroux
P.S. I archived that "Sunnyside"
episode -- so THAT still exists!
One day later, and I am still shocked at the passing of Dick
Clark. An icon, an institution … a friend. I first met Dick through my father,
who worked for Decca Records, and watched in fascination as he seemed to have
all his ducks in his life in a row. In watching the terrific coverage of his
life on several shows last night (kudos to Access Hollywood), I was struck by
just how his business was always together. He said in one interview, that he
knew once he began on TV, that it would ultimately end, so he got into producing
and built Dick Clark Productions; which then had the Golden Globes and numerous
other TV entities. I also saw where he received several Emmys for his work on
the 25,000 Dollar Pyramid and let’s not forget his work with Ed McMahon (his
former next-door neighbor in Philadelphia) on the show TV’s Bloopers and
Practical Jokes; which may have been the first-ever reality show. His work with
the American Music Awards was exemplary as well. He said in an interview, that
when ABC lost The Grammys, they came to him to ask what he might do. And, his
response was that there never had been a music-awards show, where the actual
consumers votes. Hence, the AMAs were born. When I worked with Debbie Gibson,
she hosted the AMA’s in the late-80s and did an excellent job. It was great to
see Dick again and as he was a true Gibson-fan back then, all went very well. We
actually had Gibson on a segment of American Bandstand, with then-label-mates
INXS. That was an experience of a lifetime as back then, Bandstand was the show
to be on. When I think about that particular show, I’m drawn to the fact that
because of that show, so many people got into the business of music; whether as
a performer, player or being behind-the-scenes. The wealth of music and the
various artists that appeared on there is mesmerizing. Go take a look; it’ll
blow you away! There’ll never be anything like it ever again. I think the one
thing that has become abundantly clear is that New Year’s will never be the same
again. Someone pointed out that because of Clark’s efforts; he made New York and
Times Square in particular, into a worldwide destination. For that alone, New
York should properly remember him. An era is over; I don’t think there’s another
personality on the scene today that can even come close. On a personal note: His
energy was always off the charts; he was a dynamo … a force of nature.
I’ll miss
you Dick, RIP.
David Salidor
Dick Clark with Debbie Gibson
Dick Clark ... and a very young David Salidor
(Is David taking notes on how to become a successful music mogul ...
Or did Dick Clark just ask him for his autograph?!?!?)
"We're goin' hoppin,' we're goin' hoppin' today,
We're goin' hoppin,' the Philadelphia Way"
For many of us, we remember that popular
theme song before it had lyrics ... the original instrumental by Les
and Larry Elgart.
To a whole generation of kids -- Dick
Clark introduced us to most of the young rising stars of 50's and 60's music:
Elvis, Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, Duane Eddy, The Everly Brothers, Leslie Gore,
Connie Francis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dion and The Belmonts and so, so many more.
If you were a kid growing up in Chicago,
Atlanta, Dallas, or -- like me -- in Sacramento -- you would rush home from
school each afternoon to watch the latest dance craze -- the daily 'rate a
record,' ("I'll give it a '10' because I can dance to it"), what the 'cool' kids
were wearing, and what those stars who you were singing along to on the radio
actually looked like. After all, it was a full twenty-five years before
MTV. It was in black and white and it was 'live.'
But to a twelve year old kid -- with
dreams of being a deejay, Dick Clark was your idol, your hero. As the years flew
by we all knew that somewhere -- in some dark closet -- there was a picture of
Dick growing old, but to all of us, he was 'forever young' in our eyes and in
our hearts. Yes, he was -- and would always be -- America's oldest
teen-ager.
There aren't a lot of folks who get to
actually know their heroes, but in my case, I was blessed to know Dick. He was
the first to call me when I left the Beach Boys organization in 1971. He was one
of the first ones I interviewed for a radio program I wrote, produced and hosted
for Jefferson Broadcasting's WBT, Charlotte, NC, in 1973 - 74.
The program was called 'The History of the
West Coast Sound.' I traced the music from the earliest days of movie
soundtracks, including Sinatra and Nat King Cole, into the surf songs of the
early 60's, the slick 'wrecking crew' sound of the mid-60's, and into the
psychedelic period beginning with the 'summer of love' in 1967.
When I asked Dick about his thoughts of
this period, he answered very specifically and very openly. "Fred, it was
drug music. It was the closest rock and roll ever came to committing
suicide." Wow. Here was a guy who told it as it was. I always admired Dick for
that.
I was fortunate to get to visit with Dick
a number of times after I moved to Nashville in 1974. One was a Billboard
conference, one was an Academy of Country Music event in Las Vegas.
When Dick suffered his stroke in 2004, I
-- like many -- worried that it was the last we'd see of Dick Clark. After all,
wasn't he like John Wayne -- wasn't he supposed to always be there?" Or so we
naively thought. But unlike Paul "Bear" Bryant or Joe Pa Paterno -- who retired
only to die a short time later -- Dick Clark was not ready to hang it up. Dick would never give up that microphone
'until they pried it from his cold, dead hands!'
Each New Years I was drawn to his ABC
"Rockin' New Years Eve" special. Seacrest had stepped in to do the 'heavy
lifting,' so to speak, but the calendar could not turn over a new year until we
saw Dick kiss Kari, give us that smile and farewell salute. My wife, Debbie, and
I, would time our kiss, with their kiss. It became an annual tradition.
We'll all go on with New Years -- and
Times Square -- but it will be a bit sadder this coming December 31st. Another
true American hero has 'left the building.'
Rest in peace, my dear old friend. You
will be missed by millions of us who grew up watching you each weekday
afternoon, on the popular Dick Clark Saturday Night Show and on the numerous
specials and Awards shows that bore your name.
Dick, my prayers and thoughts go out to
Kari, your family, and extended family. And, yes, you are still my hero.
Fred Vail
Treasure Isle Recorders, Inc.
Nashville, TN -- "Music City,
USA"
Dear Friends:
Thanks for all the MANY links
everybody has been sending me today regarding the passing of Dick Clark; and
especially those pertaining to Earl Scruggs a couple of weeks back (who was MY
personal musical hero) Over the years, I actually did have quite a bit of
behind-the-scenes dealings with Dick Clark, though we actually met only twice
... I'm sorry I have to make this a 'form letter', but it would take me the
next several days to reply to everyone personally, so please forgive me.
I
'sort of met' Dick Clark twice -- and this is really strange ... one day in the
mid 70s, I'd taken the subway (in NYC) and got off at the West 48th Street
station, I ran up the stairs ... and right there at the curb was Dick Clark
standing with his secretary! I was still playing with Bill Haley at the time,
and I was about to say hello and introduce myself -- but within two seconds they
both jumped into a cab and took off! The first time I'd actually contacted him
for anything was in early 1976, when I'd notified him of the passing of the
Comets' long time sax player Rudy Pompilli ... and he sent a nice personal
letter back thanking me for the notice.
Next, was in October 1987 at the
first Philadelphia Music Awards. I had managed to get the original 1954 Comets
members back together for the first time in 25 years, and booked onto this event
... and Dick Clark was also an honored guest on it as well. He met with all of
us on the band, but very briefly ... At this event, he didn't stay in the same
place for more than 3 seconds -- there was such a constant crowd of people just
waiting to talk to him ... he'd just disappear like the wind, and stay in his
hotel suite most of the time!
Over the past 30 years, he and his secretary
would regularly write to me and send me video clips of various Bill Haley
concert footage and have me IDENTIFY everybody in the clip! This was because of
his plans to use the clip in an upcoming TV special ... the tricky part was that
over the years on the Comets, there were THREE upright bass players in
succession who had the first name of "Al" and who all looked alike!!! Al Rex, Al
Pompilli,
and Al Rappa ... all of whom were dark-featured Italians with black
hair as well as dark eyebrows -- and it took an expert on the Comets to be able
to correctly identify them in photographs and films / videos ... and not even
Dick Clark was sure who was who -- so he'd regularly send me the clip and I
would write back with the correct names of everyone ... and what their addresses
(or their survivor's addresses) were, to mail release forms! He'd always send
me a nice letter on his letterhead thanking me for my help! I think I still
have these letters laying around here in the files -- as well as the video
clips.
I had also sent him some rare videos of 1970s concert performances of
the band from
Europe and Brazil, for his own collection. His secretary told
me he owns one of the biggest collections in the world, of live concert footage
of EVERY ARTIST imaginable -- and that his film and video collection was MUCH
bigger than that of Ed Sullivan's estate!
Thanks again to
everyone;
Respectfully,
Bill Turner
Here is the clip from the
Philadelphia Music Awards, October 27, 1987, with the reunited Comets at :29 I'm
playing electric bass standing toward the back of the band. This was shown
nationally on "Entertainment Tonight"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmG8vzi6784
I had been thinking about
Dick Clark quite a bit lately, I'm not sure why. I had known him in three
different capacities: I had written several syndicated radio specials for him
and his production company; he had contributed, as a guest, to several of my own
productions; and I had had many great conversations with him socially and at
professional functions. The latter of the three was always the best.
When I
worked for him, the interaction was always perfunctory. Do the job. Do it
well. And make it easy for Dick to knock it out and move on to the next
project. I never had an issue with him at all. It was always professional and
pleasant, but never all that warm and fuzzy. And truthfully, in that capacity,
we only crossed paths for mere minutes at a time. In the mid-'80s, he was
looking for a new writer-producer for his weekly Top 40 National Music Survey show, and he had
his lieutenant, Frank Furino, call and offer me the job (I had previously been a
writer for Casey Kasem's American Top
40). I had just assumed a similar position with Dan Ingram's
ill-fated Top 40 countdown for CBS and had to pass. I was torn, but Dick was
very pragmatic and said, "Frank, call the next person on the list." Dick Clark
Productions was not famous for big paychecks, but working with him on a
daily would have been pretty cool.
Now when I was producing radio specials
for other companies and networks, I often called on Dick to provide a support
interview — an expert voice lending authority on the subject at-hand or
providing insight on a performer that he had known for years (Bobby Darin and
Paul Anka were his two favorites). Dick never turned down one of my requests.
He often made himself available at his Burbank office the very same day of my request,
and always within the week. There was no phalanx of handlers and publicists to
contend with; when I called, I always got his personal secretary or him
directly. In conversation on one occasion, he admitted to me that he had indeed
once infamously said that he "was a whore for a buck," yet he never requested
any compensation for any of his contributions to my own productions.
I'd
arrive and set up my recording gear in his office that sported a grand desk with
wooden posts and a trellis-like frame above, and an adjacent wall of bookshelves
that seemed to house every tome ever written on the subject of pop music. As a
collector myself, I asked him if he had kept a lot of mementos from throughout
his career, especially souvenirs from his legendary, multi-artist Caravan of
Stars tours. And he said, yes, that he had a warehouse full of records, posters
and programs and scripts, but had, in fact, donated quite a few artifacts to the
Smithsonian a few years earlier. We'd get down to business – conduct the
interview that was required — and he would, unfailingly, give me the pithy,
perfect quotes that every writer-producer hopes for when assembling
documentary-style programming. He'd smile and ask, "You have everything you
need?" And once confirmed, he might not even look up again from whatever was on
his desk, from the time I started dissembling my mic and cables until I walked
out the door.
Dick ultimately aggregated the radio stations nationwide that
were running his programs into a network that, in two different guises, were
known as Unistar and United Stations. Ever the superb promoter, Dick would
always appear at the semi-annual broadcast conventions in the Unistar suite to
glad-hand with affiliates, both potential and established. It was here, and on
other social occasions, that I most enjoyed being within his sphere. While most
of the visiting deejays, GMs and such would approach him, dumbstruck, for a
photo op or an autograph, I had the chance to speak with him at length –
sometimes hours — about radio, Rock & Roll, my getting kicked off the
"25,000 Pyramid" (another story, another time) and countless other topics.
Once, when we were both attending a conference in Dallas, I had coincidentally found a copy of
his 1950s advice guide to teenagers at a local antiquarian bookstore. Of
course, I couldn't wait to stick it under his nose at the Unistar suite that
night. When I did, he put his arm around my shoulder and announced to the crowd
in the room, "I am usually so delighted to have this young man in my presence."
(Dramatic pause.) "This is not one of those times." I couldn't
have been more pleased to have been his foil.
As I said, I'd been thinking a
lot about Dick Clark lately. Talking about him, too. As the consummate
broadcaster, no one was better, extemporaneously, in front of a mic or a
camera. Nobody. And as successful as he continued to be as an entrepreneur and
producer of TV programming, I know that his diminished capacity as a
communicator since his stroke weighed heavily on him. Just a few days before
his death, I had told someone that I was going to drop him a line, wishing him
well and thanking him, not only for our variety of interactions, but for his
tremendous influence upon me as a broadcaster and writer.
On Wednesday
morning, my friend Bill called to see if I had heard the news. As it turned
out, I had been talking to him about Dick just the night before, at precisely
the time he had died. There's absolutely no explanation for that. A
coincidence, to be sure. But this sort of thing, as friends have pointed out,
seems to happen to me quite a bit — a strong sense of premonition or confluence
of activity around the passage of those who have influenced me. Unaware that
Johnny Carson had been ill, I bundled up a package of magazines commemorating
his retirement a decade earlier to send to him at his office in Santa Monica in the hopes
of having them signed. And, on a whim that very same day, I went to Costco to
pick up the highlights DVD of "The Tonight Show." The breaking bulletin of his
death on TV that evening was unfathomable to me. Similar circumstances
prevailed when John Lennon died. Again, another story another day.
Dick
Clark's impact on pop culture and television programming can't truly be
measured. He gently and insidiously helped usher Rock & Roll into the
mainstream when conventional media might have left it at the gate ... or burned
it at the stake. That first wave of post-World War II teenagers – the original
American Bandstand generation
— was the very first to wield true economic power and enormous influence on
fashion, entertainment and manufactured goods. The media cast a spotlight on
them, Wall Street sat up and noticed, and Dick Clark was the smooth, polished
guy with a foot in both camps that brokered the deal. He may have gone on to
other endeavors and greater financial success, but he certainly never surpassed
the cultural clout he had in the late-'50s and early-'60s. But for me, right up
until the end – and now beyond — he has, and will remain, a profound influence
upon me. Thanks, Dick ... until next time.
Scott
Paton
SOUND OF PHILADELPHIA PIONEERS KENNETH
GAMBLE
AND LEON HUFF MOURN THE PASSING OF DICK
CLARK
PHILADELPHIA -- "As fellow Philadelphians, we
have admired Dick Clark and the 'American Bandstand' brand for many years, as
it promoted Philadelphia music around the nation,” said Kenneth Gamble and Leon
Huff in a joint statement. “Dick Clark was one of our inspirations for creating
the ‘Sound of Philadelphia’ music brand. More importantly, we thank him for
being one of the pioneers in promoting the Philly Dance and Music scene for
the nation and world to enjoy. We send our sincere and deepest condolences to
Dick Clark's family.”
And the hits just keep on comin' ...
More Dick Clark coverage tomorrow in Forgotten Hits!
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