Good early morning all you lurkers and readers of my Animated blog. As many of you know by now Dick Clark passed away yesterday, April 18th. A lot of people who are older than I am first knew of Clark as the host of the American Bandstand program beginning in 1956. The program had a series of hosts since it's debut in 1952 but obviously Clark is the one person universally identified with the program.
The technical information in this modest overview of Dick Clark's career, such as air-dates and specific titles of television programs, was obviously researched by me from multiple on-line sources as I had to look up some data for accuracy. I blended the information I found with my own commentary, opinion, and recollections and the results are what you'll read below.
I knew of Dick Clark first and foremost as the host of a game show, Pyramid. I used to watch the show when it was still in production during the 1980's. Most kids loved summer break because there was, of course, no school...and I loved the summer for that reason, too, but unlike a lot of others I also liked summer break because I could watch all those game shows that aired during the daytime!!
Yes...believe it or not...the daytime line-up through the week was filled with game shows on the big three networks and in syndication. There were game shows during the day and soap operas in the afternoons. The soap opera is now facing the extinction list on network television just as the game show did in the early '90s.
So, I first knew of Dick Clark as a game show host. As I got older I learned more about him and how much of an impact he had on pop-culture. The stats show that he hosted American Bandstand for 33 years (1956-1989) and so it's quite logical that a lot of the remembrances from people will be connected to that program. It was still a local television program when Clark became the host in 1956. It went national the following year and a huge chunk of it's run was on ABC (1957-1987) with it's final two seasons in syndication (1987-1989). A secondary program, almost similar to American Bandstand, aired in the late '50s titled Dick Clark's Saturday Night Beechnut Show. A lot of the clips of pop and rock performers taped on Clark's two programs show up a lot on infomercials. The major difference between the two shows is the Bandstand program featured a dancing format while the other one didn't.
My remembrances of him, as mentioned, are centered around Pyramid and the New Year's Rockin' Eve countdown program. I'm no fan of rock and rap music and so I wasn't a big watcher of the full New Year's Eve show...but I'd tune in around 20 minutes 'til midnight and catch the eventual ball drop in Times Square. The program that would come to be known as Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve began on New Year's Eve 1972 with a program produced, not hosted, by Clark.
After producing two more New Year's Eve music specials (1973 and 1974), Clark became the on-camera host beginning on New Year's Eve 1975. He would remain the host of this program through New Year's Eve 2008. As it's been well documented, Clark suffered a stroke in December 2004...weeks before New Year's Eve. The special that year was hosted by Regis Philbin. Clark returned as host for the next four specials with impaired speech as a result of the 2004 stroke (hosting 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008). Joining him as co-host on all the specials was Ryan Seacrest from Fox's program, American Idol. Starting on New Year's Eve 2009 Seacrest assumed the position as host while Dick Clark's on-camera activities decreased (although he was always present during the countdown to midnight). The show's title became Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest. The annual specials, for those who didn't know, were always titled for the forthcoming year. New Year's Rockin' Eve 2009, for example, would have an air-date of December 31, 2008. December 31, 2011 marked the final appearance of Dick Clark on-camera...on the New Year's Rockin' Eve 2012 telecast. I am one of the people who didn't mind that Dick continued to appear on camera after his stroke. I know of people who weren't comfortable about it...and Dick Clark himself knew that a lot of people weren't comfortable with his appearances...but he often remarked that he wanted to show that you don't have to go into hiding and retreat into the shadows due to the effects of a medical condition.
I've read cynical comments from people who say that Clark didn't have to appear on TV anymore because "he's a millionaire and didn't need the money". I've also read sickening comments from people who say that Clark was "selfish" because he didn't want to "give up" the New Year's appearances after the stroke affected his speech. In reality, though, Dick Clark had every right to continue to appear on the program...it was his program, after all.
Let's be introspective for just a moment. This is directed at those who've criticized him as being selfish...
For those out there who've labeled Dick Clark as being "selfish" for staying in the spotlight after his stroke, take a look in the mirror. Aren't you also being selfish? Aren't you thinking of just yourself and your uneasiness and your comfort levels when it comes to Dick Clark's latter-day appearances? Aren't you thinking of how you want to remember him?
If you answer all those questions with a "yes" then you're the selfish person...not Dick Clark. If he were truly a selfish person he would have retreated into retirement and stayed out of the public eye because of how uneasy/uncomfortable some were. Also, if he were truly a selfish person he'd want people to only remember him before the stroke's impact on his life. So, then, before anyone wants to tag him as being selfish, have a mirror handy.
Getting back to the music...
Although I'm no fan of rock and rap music I do like hearing some artists that are considered pop and Easy-Listening. Barry Manilow, for example...Manilow and a frequent collaborator, Bruce Sussman, wrote new lyrics for Bandstand's theme, by the way. The theme's title is "Bandstand Boogie" and the song first appeared on Manilow's 1975 album, Tryin' To Get the Feeling, but it didn't become the show's actual theme song until 1977. The Manilow recording would remain the theme song for the remainder of the program's run on ABC (through 1987). The program, of course, had a couple of other theme songs prior to Manilow's recording assuming that role in 1977 (after all, the show had been on the air since the '50s) but it was Barry's recording that became synonymous with the program.
Now, aside from Pyramid and the New Year's countdown, I was also a watcher of the various blooper programs that he hosted with Ed McMahon. Research shows that each of the two hosted, separately, similar highly rated TV specials but the dynamic of having the two of them present a program blending elements of those specials resulted in the creation of the bloopers and practical jokes series. The program aired with a series of different titles but the one that had the longest run was officially known as TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes. It aired on NBC and was a production shared between Dick Clark and Johnny Carson. Blooper programs were all the rage in the '80s...but the one Dick Clark and Ed McMahon hosted together proved to be the most popular of them all (in spite of it only being in production as a weekly series for two seasons, 1984-1986!). The shows typically aired on Saturday evenings or Sunday evenings during it's run. After the series ended as weekly program in 1986 the two would host a series of blooper specials on NBC throughout the rest of the '80s and into the '90s. The franchise moved to ABC in the late '90s with Dick Clark as the sole host.
The blooper shows, topical in nature considering they always consisted of bloopers and jokes from then-current programming, nevertheless continued to air as filler programming on TBS in the '90s and earlier this decade whenever a baseball game or sporting event was postponed or delayed. The blooper programs would also air as mid-season replacements whenever a series was canceled. So, as you can see, it had a lengthy shelf life in spite of it's sporadic production.
Dick Clark hosted Pyramid for ABC, CBS, and in Syndication between the years of 1973 and 1988. The longest running incarnation aired on ABC from 1974 to 1980 as The $20,000 Pyramid. CBS was the original home of the then-titled $10,000 Pyramid (1973-1974). The series was syndicated from 1974-1979 with a slightly larger top prize, as The $25,000 Pyramid and hosted by Bill Cullen. For a little more than half a year in 1981 Dick Clark hosted the syndicated $50,000 Pyramid in which a tournament element was introduced. This syndicated run lasted 95 episodes, airing daily from the months of January through September.
The show was revived once again as The $25,000 Pyramid in 1982 on CBS with Dick Clark once again as it's host. This is the series that I remember watching on television as a kid. The show ran on CBS until, ironically, New Year's Eve 1987! It was brought back again in the spring of 1988 and it went out of production permanently in the summer of 1988. In the meantime, Clark hosted the syndicated $100,000 Pyramid from 1985 through 1988...bringing an end to his 15 year association with the game show.
Afterward, Clark remained in the public eye, of course...hosting a short-lived game show called The Challengers in the early '90s. The New Year's Eve program, though, would remain the most visible program for Clark from 1990 onward. I hadn't even mentioned his production company being involved in so many programs...including the annual Academy of Country Music awards as well as the American Music Awards...plus radio programs and CD's specializing in the Oldies format (early rock music) and the Bandstand restaurant chain. After all this is just my modest over-view of Dick Clark's career.
Thanks to video hosting web-sites and cable TV chances are you'll see Dick Clark forever...he definitely had an impact.
November 30, 1929 - April 18, 2012.
Showing posts with label ed mcmahon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ed mcmahon. Show all posts
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Ed McMahon: 1923-2009
"Hi-Yo!" was a familiar phrase heard for years on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. Delivered by Ed McMahon, it became as synonymous with Ed as the greeting he delivered at the start of each episode bringing out Johnny Carson night after night/week after week/year after year for 30 years. Ed and Johnny's on-air partnership went further than the late-night show. Ed was Johnny's side-kick on the game show, Do You Trust Your Wife, later re-titled Who Do You Trust, for a number of years in the late 1950's prior to the two of them leaving that show to become a fixture on late-night TV.
I had always liked watching Ed whenever he'd appear on TV talk-shows and during the conversational moments on the Tonight Show when Ed sat on the couch or the chair and became involved in the Carnac skits, especially. As was the custom, Ed was the straight-man in the various comedy sketches that Johnny and company appeared in...
In the early years on through the middle period, specifically the mid to late '70s, Ed and Johnny performed in a lot of sketches. Carnac was the most popular and best-remembered but Ed was also on hand during a quirky sketch about a woman named Aunt Blabby who had a similar personality, almost, to Jonathan Winters character of Maudie Frickert. Carson appeared as Aunt Blabby and the concept of this skit was having Ed be an interviewer who would then proceed to bring up a lot of words synonymous with older people and death...causing Aunt Blabby to utter a one-liner or show some sign language with her cane...in the thumbnail image below we see a typical exchange between Ed and Johnny in an Aunt Blabby skit...
Ed and Johnny...bantering about day-to-day activities...late 1970's. Johnny passed away four years ago in 2005
Ed, being the announcer, often did live commercials in the early days of the show and he became famous for his loud laughter...there'd be a skit going on and over the audience's laughter you'd hear Ed laughing in his distinct way. This distinct laugh became a running joke on the show and on other program's that spoofed Carson, most notably Saturday Night Live.
Throughout Ed's involvement on The Tonight Show, he branched out into other area's. In addition to being Carson's side-kick, Ed could be seen every year, starting in 1973, on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon each Labor Day weekend. McMahon became involved in the MDA behind-the-scenes as well and made what was his final appearance on the telethon last year...his 35th year as co-anchor of the telethon. You can visit the MDA web-site for pictures of Jerry Lewis and Ed McMahon.
In the 1980's he became popular with an alternative audience probably too young to be viewers of The Tonight Show when he became host of the syndicated program, Star Search. In the picture above, Ed is host of a 1990 episode...and not much had changed appearance wise three years later...
On the final episode of The Tonight Show in May 1992 Ed joked that Johnny should appear on Star Search if he yearns to be on TV again. Ed hosted the talent show program for 12 years, 1983-1995, it airing usually on Saturday or Sunday evenings or late-night. It pre-dated American Idol even though on Star Search home viewers didn't vote on the contestants...the studio audience voted in case there was a tie between the panel of judges. In the Championship series, the official judges were left out while the studio audience played judge. Several singers and groups and comedians went through the show on their way to fame. Notable: LeAnn Rimes, Drew Carey, Jenny Jones, Britney Spears, country group Sawyer Brown, Bill Engvall, Alanis Morissette, Jessisa Simpson, and on and on...
In addition to hosting Star Search, he and Dick Clark became synonymous with blooper programs. Originally, both Dick Clark and Ed McMahon hosted individual blooper programs in 1982-1983 but then they were paired together in one all-encompassing program in 1984.
The series that became TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes came about as a series of specials in the early 1980's. A lot of networks jumped on the blooper bandwagon and soon a blooper craze was underway. The gimmick of the shows was seeing well-known actors and actresses messing up their lines on camera during rehearsal. The element that was missing in all of the copy-cat shows was the practical jokes...where a celebrity would be taped/filmed in either an embarrassing situation or in a situation that often resulted in a low-key actor becoming hostile. At just the right moment, the celebrity would be informed that they were being featured on Bloopers and Practical Jokes and it was all a joke. It was basically a Candid Camera kind of scenario. Each program consisted of recurring segments...one that I remember the most was a segment where an individual or a couple appear in disguise and audience members have to try and figure out who the mystery person happens to be. In one episode Don Adams and Barbara Feldon appeared in heavy make-up...revealing themselves by segment's end...ripping off their made-up disguises to audience applause. Dick Clark usually hosted this segment.
This sort of blooper program wasn't new but it hadn't been on mainstream television in years which helped the concept during the early '80s and it was a ratings hit each time NBC would air them. It became a weekly series in the mid '80s and then became a series of specials again as the 1990's dawned. The show, at one time, was also called Super Bloopers and Practical Jokes. The series continued to appear on the NBC schedule off and on...usually airing as mid-season filler programming whenever a show was canceled. Dick Clark took the show to ABC in 1998 and new blooper programs continued to air periodically through 2004...sometimes during rain delay's of baseball games on cable channel, TBS, a rerun of the show will air. Both Dick Clark and Johnny Carson produced the blooper programs...in other words, Dick Clark Productions and Carson Productions.
Still, after all of these assignments, Ed was also popular for the TV commercials he appeared in...Budweiser being one company he did commercials for...years later he did senior citizen commercials for Colonial Penn Life Insurance and he was the spokesman for Publisher's Clearing House for quite a number of years. Here is a TV commercial from 1963 featuring Ed, a pool table, and some beer that I found on You Tube...although Ed is 40 here, his voice sounds the same as it did at 50, 60, 70, etc., etc.
Ed's legacy should be remembered for all of the wonderful laughter and smiles he brought to the program's he was affiliated with. That's the way I, and I imagine, so many others will remember him. However, in some circles, his legacy will be a mixed bag given the troubles both physically and financially that he went through during his last years and the mild controversies he dealt with during his later years. A lot of the controversy comes from an audience who is unapologetic and cynical and view Ed McMahon in the same way you'd view a nobody. His impact, nor his popularity, does not phase some people out there who love to see celebrities suffer "like everyday folks do" and for some they loved reading about the financial woes Ed suffered in his final years.
So, keeping that in mind, you'll see two extreme's at play when people discuss the life AND career of Ed McMahon all over the internet. I am not saying his final years should be ignored...but some people out there want to highlight the controversies he had the last few years with the insurance companies. They don't want to discuss the overall picture...or the overall career. It's just as wrong to ignore the negatives as it is to ignore the positives...but on some web-sites and message boards all you're bound to see is one snippy remark after the other pertaining to his final years and not his life as a whole.
Brace yourselves.
I had always liked watching Ed whenever he'd appear on TV talk-shows and during the conversational moments on the Tonight Show when Ed sat on the couch or the chair and became involved in the Carnac skits, especially. As was the custom, Ed was the straight-man in the various comedy sketches that Johnny and company appeared in...
In the early years on through the middle period, specifically the mid to late '70s, Ed and Johnny performed in a lot of sketches. Carnac was the most popular and best-remembered but Ed was also on hand during a quirky sketch about a woman named Aunt Blabby who had a similar personality, almost, to Jonathan Winters character of Maudie Frickert. Carson appeared as Aunt Blabby and the concept of this skit was having Ed be an interviewer who would then proceed to bring up a lot of words synonymous with older people and death...causing Aunt Blabby to utter a one-liner or show some sign language with her cane...in the thumbnail image below we see a typical exchange between Ed and Johnny in an Aunt Blabby skit...
Ed and Johnny...bantering about day-to-day activities...late 1970's. Johnny passed away four years ago in 2005
Ed, being the announcer, often did live commercials in the early days of the show and he became famous for his loud laughter...there'd be a skit going on and over the audience's laughter you'd hear Ed laughing in his distinct way. This distinct laugh became a running joke on the show and on other program's that spoofed Carson, most notably Saturday Night Live.
Throughout Ed's involvement on The Tonight Show, he branched out into other area's. In addition to being Carson's side-kick, Ed could be seen every year, starting in 1973, on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon each Labor Day weekend. McMahon became involved in the MDA behind-the-scenes as well and made what was his final appearance on the telethon last year...his 35th year as co-anchor of the telethon. You can visit the MDA web-site for pictures of Jerry Lewis and Ed McMahon.
In the 1980's he became popular with an alternative audience probably too young to be viewers of The Tonight Show when he became host of the syndicated program, Star Search. In the picture above, Ed is host of a 1990 episode...and not much had changed appearance wise three years later...
On the final episode of The Tonight Show in May 1992 Ed joked that Johnny should appear on Star Search if he yearns to be on TV again. Ed hosted the talent show program for 12 years, 1983-1995, it airing usually on Saturday or Sunday evenings or late-night. It pre-dated American Idol even though on Star Search home viewers didn't vote on the contestants...the studio audience voted in case there was a tie between the panel of judges. In the Championship series, the official judges were left out while the studio audience played judge. Several singers and groups and comedians went through the show on their way to fame. Notable: LeAnn Rimes, Drew Carey, Jenny Jones, Britney Spears, country group Sawyer Brown, Bill Engvall, Alanis Morissette, Jessisa Simpson, and on and on...
In addition to hosting Star Search, he and Dick Clark became synonymous with blooper programs. Originally, both Dick Clark and Ed McMahon hosted individual blooper programs in 1982-1983 but then they were paired together in one all-encompassing program in 1984.
The series that became TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes came about as a series of specials in the early 1980's. A lot of networks jumped on the blooper bandwagon and soon a blooper craze was underway. The gimmick of the shows was seeing well-known actors and actresses messing up their lines on camera during rehearsal. The element that was missing in all of the copy-cat shows was the practical jokes...where a celebrity would be taped/filmed in either an embarrassing situation or in a situation that often resulted in a low-key actor becoming hostile. At just the right moment, the celebrity would be informed that they were being featured on Bloopers and Practical Jokes and it was all a joke. It was basically a Candid Camera kind of scenario. Each program consisted of recurring segments...one that I remember the most was a segment where an individual or a couple appear in disguise and audience members have to try and figure out who the mystery person happens to be. In one episode Don Adams and Barbara Feldon appeared in heavy make-up...revealing themselves by segment's end...ripping off their made-up disguises to audience applause. Dick Clark usually hosted this segment.
This sort of blooper program wasn't new but it hadn't been on mainstream television in years which helped the concept during the early '80s and it was a ratings hit each time NBC would air them. It became a weekly series in the mid '80s and then became a series of specials again as the 1990's dawned. The show, at one time, was also called Super Bloopers and Practical Jokes. The series continued to appear on the NBC schedule off and on...usually airing as mid-season filler programming whenever a show was canceled. Dick Clark took the show to ABC in 1998 and new blooper programs continued to air periodically through 2004...sometimes during rain delay's of baseball games on cable channel, TBS, a rerun of the show will air. Both Dick Clark and Johnny Carson produced the blooper programs...in other words, Dick Clark Productions and Carson Productions.
Still, after all of these assignments, Ed was also popular for the TV commercials he appeared in...Budweiser being one company he did commercials for...years later he did senior citizen commercials for Colonial Penn Life Insurance and he was the spokesman for Publisher's Clearing House for quite a number of years. Here is a TV commercial from 1963 featuring Ed, a pool table, and some beer that I found on You Tube...although Ed is 40 here, his voice sounds the same as it did at 50, 60, 70, etc., etc.
Ed's legacy should be remembered for all of the wonderful laughter and smiles he brought to the program's he was affiliated with. That's the way I, and I imagine, so many others will remember him. However, in some circles, his legacy will be a mixed bag given the troubles both physically and financially that he went through during his last years and the mild controversies he dealt with during his later years. A lot of the controversy comes from an audience who is unapologetic and cynical and view Ed McMahon in the same way you'd view a nobody. His impact, nor his popularity, does not phase some people out there who love to see celebrities suffer "like everyday folks do" and for some they loved reading about the financial woes Ed suffered in his final years.
So, keeping that in mind, you'll see two extreme's at play when people discuss the life AND career of Ed McMahon all over the internet. I am not saying his final years should be ignored...but some people out there want to highlight the controversies he had the last few years with the insurance companies. They don't want to discuss the overall picture...or the overall career. It's just as wrong to ignore the negatives as it is to ignore the positives...but on some web-sites and message boards all you're bound to see is one snippy remark after the other pertaining to his final years and not his life as a whole.
Brace yourselves.
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