Bandstand (Australia)

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Bandstand
Genre Pop
Created by Bruce Gyngell
Mayfield B. Anthony
Based on American Bandstand
by WFIL-TV
Presented by Brian Henderson
Country of origin Australia
No. of seasons 15
Production
Producer(s) Warwick Freeman (1958–66)
Ray Newell (1966–68)
Brian Morelli (1970–72)
Production location(s) Sydney
Running time 55 min
Release
Original network Australian Television Network (1958-1963)
Nine Network (1963-1972)
Picture format B&W kinescope film
B&W videotape
Original release 15 November 1958 (1958-11-15) – 17 June 1972 (1972-06-17)
Chronology
Preceded by Accent on Youth

Bandstand, was an Australian pop music, variety television show which screened from November 1958 to June 1972. It was produced at the studios of TCN-9 in Willoughby, New South Wales and eventually became a national program as Nine Network expanded into other Australian cities in the early 1960s. It evolved from an earlier series, Accent on Youth (March–November 1958), which in turn followed on from TV Disc Jockey (June 1957–February 1958). The host of Bandstand was radio presenter Brian Henderson, who was also a newsreader for TCN-9 from January 1957 until his retirement in November 2002.

Willoughby, New South Wales Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Willoughby is a suburb located on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 8 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Willoughby.

Nine Network Australian broadcast television network

The Nine Network is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network, that is a division of Nine Entertainment Co. with headquarters in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney, Australia. The Nine Network is one of three main free-to-air commercial networks in Australia.

Accent on Youth was an Australian television series which aired in 1958, from 25 January 1958 to around October of that year on Sydney station TCN-9. It evolved into a new series titled Bandstand, which debuted shortly after Accent on Youth ended. Originally presented by John Godson, it quickly acquired Brian Henderson as new host. A music series aimed at teenagers, it evolved from the earlier TV Disc Jockey series. Broadcast on Saturdays, it was originally a 30-minute show aired at 6:00PM, later moved to 2:30PM and expanded to an hour at 2:00PM.

Contents

Founding

Bandstand was created in November 1958 by TCN-9 television executive Bruce Gyngell in consultation with Mayfield B. Anthony, who based it on the American show of a similar name, American Bandstand . [1] The host for virtually the entire run was Brian Henderson, who was also a local newsreader from January 1957. [1] [2] From 1960 it developed a national profile as the Nine Network expanded into other Australian cities. [3]

Bruce Gyngell AO was an influential Australian television executive, prominent for 50 years in both Australian and UK television. Although Gyngell began his career in radio, in the 1950s he stepped into the arena of early television broadcasting, helping to set up Channel 9, the first commercial TV station in Australia. He is credited with introducing the sofa format of breakfast television and in later life, for expressing his attraction to eastern ideas which ranged through Zen Buddhism, meditation and Insight philosophy.

<i>American Bandstand</i> American music-performance show

American Bandstand is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the program's producer. It featured teenagers dancing to Top 40 music introduced by Clark; at least one popular musical act—over the decades, running the gamut from Jerry Lee Lewis to Run–D.M.C.—would usually appear in person to lip-sync one of their latest singles. Freddy Cannon holds the record for most appearances, at 110.

TCN-9 broadcast pop music television show, TV Disc Jockey, from June 1957 to February 1958. [2] [4] Its host was John Godson, with each episode filmed in front of about 40 teenagers, who "listen to the records, rock-'n-roll, drink vast quantities of coke, and generally have fun under the eye of the TV camera." [4] In March 1958 TV Disc Jockey was replaced by Accent on Youth. [2] Henderson was its host and by May 1958 he was the most popular local identity with the station's viewers. [5] The show was renamed as Bandstand and Henderson continued as its host until its last episode on 17 June 1972. [1] [2] By then he was chief news reader and remained in that position until retirement in November 2002. [6]

Synopsis

The Bandstand Family

Bandstand is closely associated with a core group of pop performers, who regularly appeared on the show, which became known as the Bandstand Family. [1] Over the years they included Col Joye, Little Pattie, Warren Williams, Lucky Starr, Sandy Scott, Bryan Davies, Johnny Devlin, Laurel Lea, Judy Stone, Digby Richards, Bee Gees, the Allen Brothers (a duo of the unrelated, Peter Allen and Chris Bell), Cathy Wayne and Olivia Newton-John. [1] The Bandstand Family toured Australia and were recorded on albums. Most of the artists were signed with Festival Records – Gyngell's old employers. [1]

Colin Frederick Jacobsen AM, better known by his stage name Col Joye, is an Australian pioneer rock singer-songwriter, musician and entrepreneur,, with a career spanning some sixty years. Joye was the first Australian rock and roll singer to have a number one record Australia-wide and experienced a string of chart successes in the early Australian rock and roll scene, that was emerging from the USA and the United Kingdom.

Little Pattie Australian singer

Patricia "Little Pattie" Thelma Thompson OAM, is an Australian singer who performed as a 1960s surf pop singer and then in adult contemporary music. Her debut single from November 1963, "He's My Blonde Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy", achieved #2 chart success in Sydney and peaked at #19 on the national Kent Music Report. She appeared regularly on television variety programs, including Bandstand and toured supporting Col Joye and the Joy Boys. Little Pattie was entertaining troops during the Vietnam War in Nui Dat, Vietnam, as an Australia Forces Sweetheart, when the nearby Battle of Long Tan began on 18 August 1966. In 1994 she received the Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal "in recognition of her services in support of the Australian Armed Forces in operations in Vietnam."

Leslie William Morrison, known professionally as Lucky Starr, is an Australian rock and roll, pop and country music singer, guitarist and television presenter. His most popular single, "I've Been Everywhere", appeared in early 1962, which peaked at number one in Sydney.

Crew

The musical director was Bob Young; all the band tracks and vocal performances were pre-recorded at Natec Sound Studios in Bligh Street Sydney. Its Audio Director was Max Alexander who also worked for Channel Nine.

Bandstand had three producer-directors over its timespan. The original was Warwick Freeman who was responsible for its development and building its image. Second was Ray Newell who carried on the tradition. Brian C. Morelli took over in 1969 he returned the programme to live vocals and successfully produced the show on location including the Australiana Village, Wilberforce NSW and in Singapore and Malaya, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl Melbourne for the King of the Pops Award night. He also instigated the Bandstand Awards. The categories were voted on by all of the Network stations, Australia wide, who transmitted Bandstand. As well, under Morelli's leadership, he continued the Junior Bandstand annual series and introduced a teenage series entitled Midi-Bandstand. The show continued until the final broadcast, with Henderson, on 17 June 1972. [1] [2]

Attempted revivals

An attempt was made in 1976, by the Nine Network, to revive the show with a new host, Daryl Somers. Its format was based on the BBC production, Top of the Pops , and ran for two years. The change in music tastes however gave this type of format a limited life. Morelli was engaged again for the 1976-78 series, it was produced by the Reg Grundy group and featured popular music groups and soloists including former Six O'Clock Rock host, Johnny O'Keefe. New release international artist's promotional films were also integrated.

Daryl Paul Somers, OAM is an Australian television personality and musician, and a triple Gold Logie award-winner. He rose to national fame as the host and executive producer of the long-running comedy-variety program Hey Hey It's Saturday and continued his television celebrity and status as host of the live-performance program Dancing with the Stars.

<i>Top of the Pops</i> British music chart television series

Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1 January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was shown every Thursday evening on BBC One, except for a short period on Fridays in mid-1973 before being again moved to Fridays at 7:30pm in 1996 and then to Sundays on BBC Two in 2005. Each weekly programme consisted of performances from some of that week's best-selling popular music artists, with a rundown of that week's singles chart. Additionally, there was a special edition of the programme on Christmas Day, featuring some of the best-selling singles of the year.

<i>Six OClock Rock</i>

Six O'Clock Rock was an Australian Rock and Roll television show which showed on ABC from 28 February 1959 to 1962 and was broadcast at 6PM on Saturday evenings.

The Swedish quartet ABBA, who were first introduced to Australia in 1975 by Molly Meldrum on Countdown, would appear on Bandstand in 1976 as part of the initial revival of Bandstand, ABBA were brought to Australia to film the Bandstand Special 'The Best Of ABBA'. They also appeared on an episode of the show which was shown the week before the Special went to air. This appearance included a short interview with Daryl Somers and a performance of Mamma Mia.

See also

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Brian Weir Henderson AM is a retired Gold Logie winning Australian radio and television personality and pioneer known for his long association with the Nine Network in Australia as a television news anchor and variety show presenter, as host of the Australian version of the US music program Bandstand. Henderson was born in New Zealand and is nicknamed "Hendo".

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kimball, Duncan (2002). "Media – Television – Bandstand". Milesago: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964–1975. Ice Productions. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "History of Bandstand". TCN-9 . Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  3. ↑ "Bandstand for Canberra TV". The Canberra Times . 37 (10,354). 12 October 1962. p. 27. Retrieved 17 February 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  4. 1 2 Musgrove, Nan (12 June 1957). "Television Parade". The Australian Women's Weekly . 25 (1). p. 12. Retrieved 17 February 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ Strachan, Cynthia (7 May 1958). "Television Parade". The Australian Women's Weekly. 25. p. 31. Retrieved 17 February 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ Tabakoff, Jenny; Peatling, Stephanie (22 October 2002). "That's the way it is – Hendo to call it a night". The Sydney Morning Herald . Fairfax Media . Retrieved 17 February 2017.
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