Hullabaloo | |
---|---|
Genre | Musical variety |
Written by | John Aylesworth Frank Peppiatt |
Directed by | Steve Binder Bill Davis |
Narrated by | Johnny Holliday |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 48 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Gary Smith |
Running time | 45–48 minutes (January 1965–August 1965) 22–24 minutes (September 1965–April 1966) |
Production companies | The Gary Smith Company Hullabaloo Enterprises |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | January 12, 1965 – August 29, 1966 |
Hullabaloo was an American musical variety series that ran on NBC from January 12, 1965, through April 11, 1966 (with repeats to August 1966). [1] Similar to ABC's Shindig! [2] and in contrast to American Bandstand , it aired in prime time.
Directed by Steve Binder, who went on to direct Elvis Presley's 1968 "comeback" special, Hullabaloo served as a big-budget, quality showcase for the leading pop acts of the day, and was also competition for another like-minded television showcase, ABC's Shindig! A different host presided each week [1] —among these were Sammy Davis Jr., Jerry Lewis, Gary Lewis, Petula Clark, Paul Anka, Liza Minnelli, Jack Jones, David McCallum and Frankie Avalon—singing a couple of his or her own hits and introducing the different acts. Chart-topping acts who performed on the show included Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas & the Papas, Dionne Warwick, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, Sonny & Cher, the Supremes, Herman's Hermits, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the Animals, Roy Orbison and Marianne Faithfull. The first 13 episodes of Hullabaloo included black and white segments taped in London and hosted by the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein where he introduced up and coming UK music acts to the American audience. [2] [3] [4] Sid Bernstein was the booking agent for Hullabaloo. Peter Matz, later of The Carol Burnett Show , was the orchestra leader. [2] Peppiatt and Aylesworth were the writers.[ citation needed ]
Some of the programs in the series were videotaped at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. Most were taped in New York City, either at NBC's Studio 8H in the RCA Building (which was built for Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra, and would later house Saturday Night Live ), or at NBC's color studio in the Midwood section of Brooklyn (where The Cosby Show would be filmed many years later).
Much of the series' color videotaped footage was later transferred over to kinescope on film – as such copied in black and white. In 1973, after the shows production company declined to own the original color masters (as NBC was purging much of the content from its archives in the wake of the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules [5] ), the episodes were wiped and only three half-hour episodes are known to exist in their original color videotaped form. [6] [7]
The three surviving color episodes were hosted by Michael Landon, Jerry and Gary Lewis (both co-hosted the same episode) and Paul Anka, respectively and featured: the Byrds, and David Winters (Landon), Paul Revere & the Raiders (both Landon and Lewis') the Cyrkle, Lesley Gore, Peter and Gordon (Anka), Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Barry McGuire (Lewis’).
The show was choreographed by David Winters, who selected and choreographed the Hullabaloo Dancers, a team of four men and six women who appeared on a regular basis. Two of them, Michael Bennett and Donna McKechnie, went on to achieve considerable fame on Broadway. Dancer Patrick Adiarte, who also attempted to launch a solo singing career on the series, went on to play Ho-Jon in the television series M*A*S*H . Another female dancer, model/actress Lada Edmund Jr. (known today as Lada St. Edmund, was best known as one of the caged "go-go girl" dancers in the "Hullabaloo A-Go-Go" segment near the closing sequence of the show. [1] She also had a brief recording career with the singles "I Know Something" and "The Larue." She later co-starred with Jon Voight in the 1969 film Out of It and in Act of Vengeance released in 1974. Dancer Suzanne Charney also had some degree of fame on Broadway as the lead frug dancer in Sweet Charity , reprising her role in the 1969 film as well. David Winters went on to direct or produce over 200 TV shows, specials and films.
The series was originally a one-hour broadcast, airing 8:30–9:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Its first season ran 18 new episodes from January through May 1965 then, from June through August 1965, it featured selected repeats, which aired 10:00–11:00 p.m. [1]
The second season of 30 new episodes ran from September 1965 to April 1966. Reduced to thirty minutes, the episodes aired 7:30–8:00 p.m. on Monday. [1] From May through August 1966 it aired repeats, and was replaced by the sitcom The Monkees in September 1966.
Highlights of many of the segments have been compiled for release in VHS and DVD formats. Additionally, a special entitled “Hullabaloo—a 60’s Flashback” has been produced under “My Music” umbrella for use by PBS stations during pledge drives; it premiered in March 2013.
Hullabaloo was mentioned in the lyrics of the 1980 Ramones song "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?":
Do you remember Hullabaloo?
Upbeat, Shindig! and Ed Sullivan , too?
Do you remember rock 'n' roll radio? [8]
The show was also featured in the movie Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998).
In Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood , fictional actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) appears as a guest host on Hullabaloo, singing the 1956 song "Green Door".
The year 1966 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in that year.
The year 1965 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1965.
American Bandstand (AB) is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired regularly 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. The program was televised from Philadelphia from its 1952 debut until its move to Los Angeles in 1963.
Michael Landon was an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza (1959–1973), Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983), and Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven (1984–1989). Landon appeared on the cover of TV Guide 22 times, second only to Lucille Ball.
Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo, located in the town of Juan-les-Pins. The bar's name was taken from the French title of the Scottish comedy film Whisky Galore! The French bar then licensed its name to the West Hollywood rock club Whisky a Go Go, which opened in January 1964 and chose the name to reflect the already popular craze of go-go dancing. Many 1960s-era nightclub dancers wore short, fringed skirts and high boots which eventually came to be called go-go boots. Nightclub promoters in the mid‑1960s then conceived the idea of hiring women dressed in these outfits to entertain patrons.
The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by Dean Martin. The theme song to the series was his 1964 hit "Everybody Loves Somebody".
Shindig! was an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles, who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley, British producer Jack Good, and production executive Art Stolnitz. The original pilot was rejected by ABC and David Sontag, then executive producer of ABC, redeveloped and completely redesigned the show. A new pilot with a new cast of artists was shot starring Sam Cooke. That pilot aired as the premiere episode.
The Hollywood Palace is an hourlong American television variety show broadcast Saturday nights on ABC from January 4, 1964, to February 7, 1970. Titled The Saturday Night Hollywood Palace for its first few weeks, it began as a midseason replacement for The Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show, which lasted only three months.
Gary Lewis & the Playboys were a 1960s era pop and rock group, fronted by musician Gary Lewis, the son of comedian Jerry Lewis. They are best known for their 1965 Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "This Diamond Ring", which was the first of a string of hit singles they had in 1965 and 1966. The band had an earnest, boy-next-door image similar to British invasion contemporaries such as Herman's Hermits and Gerry and the Pacemakers. The group folded in 1970, but a version of the band later resumed touring and continues to tour, often playing for veterans' benefits.
NBC Studios are located in the historic 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, New York City. The building houses the NBC television network headquarters, its parent NBCUniversal, and NBC's flagship station WNBC, as well as cable news channel MSNBC.
Where the Action Is is a music-based television variety show that aired in the United States from 1965 to 1967. It was carried by the ABC network and aired each weekday afternoon. Created by Dick Clark as a spin-off of American Bandstand, Where the Action Is premiered on June 28, 1965. The show was another step in the then-current trend of entertainment programs that targeted the teenage audience by focusing on pop music, following in the footsteps of Shindig! and Hullabaloo. Dick Clark's voice could be heard doing the artist introductions, and he sometimes did filmed interviews.
Davenie Johanna "Joey" Heatherton is an American actress, dancer, and singer. A sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, she is best known for her many television appearances during that time, particularly as a frequent variety show performer, although she also appeared in acting roles. She performed for over a decade on USO tours presented by Bob Hope and starred in several feature films, including My Blood Runs Cold (1965) and The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977).
The Go!! Show was an Australian popular music television series which was produced before a live audience and aired on Network Ten ATV-0, Melbourne, from August 1964 to August 1967, running one hour three nights a night.
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. Many of the scripts of the series are archived at the UCLA Library in their Special Collections.
"Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" is a song by American punk rock band Ramones, released by Sire Records as the second single and opening track from the band's fifth studio album End of the Century (1980). It was released on May 16, 1980. Produced by Phil Spector, the song and album marked a change in the Ramones' sound, in an attempt to achieve commercial success.
Avalon is a historic nightclub in Hollywood, California, located near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, at 1735 N. Vine Street. It has previously been known as The Hollywood Playhouse, The WPA Federal Theatre, El Capitan Theatre, The Jerry Lewis Theatre, The Hollywood Palace and The Palace. It has a capacity of 1,500, and is located across the street from the Capitol Records Building.
"The Jazz Singer" is a videotaped adaptation, starring Jerry Lewis, of Samson Raphaelson's 1925 play of the same title. It was broadcast on October 13, 1959, as the second episode of the American television anthology series Ford Startime on NBC.
Lost television broadcasts are television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives.
Tonight Starring Jack Paar is an American talk show hosted by Jack Paar under the Tonight Show franchise from 1957 to 1962. It aired during late-night.
Lada St. Edmund is an American personal trainer, dancer, singer, actress and stunt performer. St. Edmund became a popular nationally known go-go dancer on the 1965–1966 NBC-TV rock music series Hullabaloo. She later became the highest paid stuntwoman in Hollywood history.