Friday, May 18, 2012

Dick Clark, the man behind 'Bandstand' By Geoff Boucher



Television's Dick Clark helps cut his 47th birthday cake during a break in rehearsals for an upcoming television special in Santa Monica, Ca., December 1, 1976. Helping him celebrate are (l) singer Barry Manilow and comedian David Brenner. Clark is wearing a smock to protect him while he is madeup. Photo: Anonymous, AP / 1976 AP

Television's Dick Clark helps cut his 47th birthday cake during a break in rehearsals for an upcoming television special in Santa Monica, Ca., December 1, 1976. Helping him celebrate are (l) singer Barry Manilow and comedian David Brenner. Clark is wearing a smock to protect him while he is madeup.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_20427084/dick-clark-man-behind-bandstand?source=rss

04/18/2012

LOS ANGELES -- Dick Clark, the youthful-looking television personality who literally introduced rock 'n' roll to much of the nation on "American Bandstand" and for four decades was the first and last voice many Americans heard each year with his New Year's Eve countdowns, died Wednesday. He was 82.

Clark died after suffering a heart attack at a Santa Monica hospital following an outpatient procedure, according to a statement by his longtime publicist, Paul Shefrin. Clark's health had been in question since a 2004 stroke affected his speech and mobility, but that year's Dec. 31 countdown was the only one he missed since he started the annual rite during the Nixon years.

With the exception of Elvis Presley, Clark was considered by many to be the person most responsible for the bonfire spread of rock 'n' roll across the country in the late 1950s. "Bandstand" gave fans a way to hear and see rock's emerging idols in a way that radio and magazines could not. It made Clark a household name and gave him the foundation for a shrewdly pursued broadcasting career that made him wealthy, powerful and present in American television for half a century.

Nicknamed "America's oldest teenager" for his fresh-scrubbed look, Richard Wagstaff Clark was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on Nov. 30, 1929.

Clark and "American Bandstand" not only gave young fans what they wanted, it gave their parents a measure of assurance that this new music craze was not as scruffy or as scary as they feared. Buttoned-down and always upbeat, polite and polished, Clark came across more like an articulate graduate student than a carnival barker.

He helped transform rock 'n' roll into a cultural force, and in the beginning he did it by introducing artists such as Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and the Comets, James Brown, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers for the first time. All made their national television debuts on "Bandstand."

As the music matured through the years, Clark played a potent role in star-shaping, and the Mamas and the Papas and Madonna would join the long and eclectic list of performers who got that first big boost on "Bandstand." Clark himself joined many of his show's guests in 1993 when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

On Aug. 5, 1957, from the no-frills Studio B of WFIL-TV on Market Street in Philadelphia, Clark greeted a national audience for the first time with the backdrop of a faux record store, a concrete floor and a crowd of giddy teens in clean-cut mode: Ties for boys, no slacks for girls and no gum chewing were the rules from the first day.

That 3 p.m. show, broadcast locally, quickly became the first hour and a half of national airtime devoted to teenagers, their music and their fashions. By the end of 1958, it was a full-fledged sensation with 40 million viewers tuning in to ABC to learn about the newest dance step, rock star or fashion style.

The first record on the premiere show was the then-shocking single "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" by the ribald Jerry Lee Lewis. The juxtaposition of bracing music such as that with the show's tame trappings -- party games, a roll call of giggling kids, viewer voting on the best couple -- would do more to put the emerging music into the mainstream than any other forum of the day.

While Clark embodied a "safe" aura on camera, off camera he was the prototype for the fledgling music scene's new-model impresario. There would be close to three dozen songs played on the show on any given day, and Clark huddled constantly with record executives and his staff to decide which tunes got the highly coveted airtime.

By 1959, there was grumbling in the industry that "Bandstand" was too beholden to Philadelphia interests, particularly those that intersected with Clark's growing portfolio of companies. From a hit record's birth in the vinyl-pressing shop to its christening on the radio station turntable, Clark had a stake in its business life.

For the fans watching at home, Clark was simply the chaperon on their first date with rock 'n' roll.

"It's got a great beat, and you can dance to it," or some permutation of that phrase, became the mantra of fan life during the "Bandstand" tradition of rating records. Three records would be played, and members of the "Bandstand" dancing brigade would give them a numeric grade anywhere between the odd parameters of 35 and 98. Clark would announce the average, and fame and fortunes could be decided with that calculation.

That staple feature, along with the lip-syncing appearances by new stars and the countdown of the day's hits made the show the template for the entire new television sector of music shows. "Soul Train," "Solid Gold," "America's Top 10" and "MTV's Total Request Live" were among the range of shows that would borrow from the formula. To artists, especially in the show's first decade, a booking on the show was a stamp of career arrival.

Clark would host "Bandstand" until 1989, leaving just a few months before the show's cancellation. Its impact had waned in the music video and MTV era, but Clark, the show's signature name, endured in his role as the unofficial emcee of American broadcasting.

On "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve," launched in 1972, he counted down the last seconds of every year from Times Square in Manhattan. He found a surprise hit in the 1980s with "TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes," a franchise that correctly banked on the appeal of Hollywood stars flubbing their lines. His work and investments went into game shows, among them "$20,000 Pyramid" and "Scattergories," as well as television movies and awards shows.

Ryan Seacrest, who subsequently took over main hosting duties on the countdown show from Clark, said in a statement Wednesday, "I idolized him from the start. He was a remarkable host and businessman and left a rich legacy to television audiences around the world."

"I loved Dick Clark. He was so instrumental in my career as well as all the other Motown acts and so many others in the recording business," singer and songwriter Smokey Robinson said.

Clark is survived by his wife, Kari Wigton Clark, whom he married in 1977. He is also survived by two sons and a daughter from two previous marriages.

In 1981, with "Bandstand" entering its twilight, Clark said that the show was No. 1 on his personal career countdown. "I feel about 'American Bandstand' the way I would about a member of my family.

"I'm sentimental about it. It was the beginning of everything for me."

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