Dick Clark, who took a Philadelphia dance show nationwide and brought rock ‘n’ roll into America’s living rooms every weekday afternoon for decades, shaping tastes and making careers, died of a massive heart attack Wednesday morning in the Los Angeles
Dick Clark, who took a Philadelphia dance show nationwide and brought rock ‘n’ roll into America’s living rooms every weekday afternoon for decades, shaping tastes and making careers, died of a massive heart attack Wednesday morning in the Los Angeles area.
“The world’s oldest teenager” was 82.
Clark, who had Type 2 diabetes, died at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., where he had gone Tuesday night for an outpatient procedure, according to a statement by his publicist.
“The King of the DJs died today, and his name was Dick Clark,” Twist legend Chubby Checker said in a phone interview. An appearance on “American Bandstand,” the show Clark rode to stardom, was something very special for an aspiring singer. “Being on ‘Bandstand’ was like getting a Nobel Prize,” Checker said. “From 3 o’clock in the afternoon until 5:30, nobody was on the street. They were watching “Bandstand. Can you imagine that?”
Legendary Philadelphia DJ Jerry Blavat described Clark as a culture-changer. “He became the good-looking American guy who made rock and roll respectable, who transformed people’s attitude to the music,” Blavat said. “If it weren’t for Dick Clark, a whole generation of people would never have gotten the opportunity they did.”
The “oldest teenager” nickname came from Clark’s easy rapport with his young audience, and from a clean-cut look that remained boyish until he suffered a stroke in December 2004 that slowed him down and slurred his speech.
But it didn’t end his TV career. TV audiences knew him in recent years as the old trouper, valiantly struggling against his stroke-induced impairments, who ushered in each New Year — except the one right after his stroke — from Times Square in New York on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”
But long before that, Clark became Philadelphia’s first national TV celebrity. In 1956, he took over as host of an already successful local dance show called “Bandstand” and made it even more successful, steering it onto network TV the following year as “American Bandstand.” His style was silky smooth as he bantered with young audience members, who assessed songs for their beat and danceability.
The show would run for 30 years on ABC, with Clark hosting the entire time. It would also run briefly in syndication and on cable channel USA, although without Clark. He moved the show to Los Angeles in 1964. Until then, Checker said, “American Bandstand’ was Philadelphia, and Philadelphia was music. There was no other place on the planet. Ed Sullivan had a little taste. But it was really 46th and Market Street, and that was it. And Philadelphia should be proud.”
Among the young dancers on “Bandstand,” a regular even before Clark arrived, was Blavat, who would go on to DJ fame in Philadelphia as “The Geator with the Heater.” Blavat was loyal to previous host Bob Horn, and even picketed against Clark when he first came to the show.
“But I have to say, Dick won me over,” Blavat said. “He told me, ‘I want people who will be as loyal to me as you were to Bob.’ I was his friend from then on.”
Like Blavat, singer Bobbie Rydell said Clark had a gift for inspiring friendship. “Ask him for anything, and he’d be there at the drop of a hat,” Rydell said. “I’ve been his friend since I first played on ‘Bandstand,’ in the summer of 1959. A lot of the guys who came from South Philly — Frankie Avalon, James Darrin, Chubby Checker, myself — he meant a lot to us all. God bless him.”
Kal Rudman, publisher of the music and broadcasting tip sheet The Friday Morning Quarterback, described Clark as a savvy entrepreneur:
“He was the rainmaker, he was the market maker, he was like the sultan of the whole damn world,” said Rudman. “He had ears and he was bright. He had tremendous power, and he had his test market right in front of him, the kids. … If the kids got up and really danced, or if everybody got up, that’s how he knew he had a winner.
“Dick had that power. It was his reach. It got so big, and the cost of producing that show was so damn low. It was unbelievable. He had a virtually record-breaking run, no pun intended. He was a genius.”
Checker, who introduced the Twist to a national audience on “Bandstand,” recalled that he was just 16, and still known as Ernest Evans, when he first met Clark. “It was about two years before we did the Twist,” recalled Checker, who said he last saw Clark in September.
“History was made the day Chubby Checker went on ‘Bandstand’ with the Twist,” Checker said. “Because with the Twist, you were looking at your girl, and she was looking at you. And the Twist did that. And it was all because of Dick Clark.”
“‘American Bandstand’ was the forerunner of all the music shows on TV that followed it,” Checker said, from “Soul Train to MTV. “And dancing, as we know it today, is because of the way they danced on ‘American Bandstand.’”
Philadelphia recording executives Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff called Clark “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.”
Clark came to Philadelphia in 1952, and found a home in Drexel Hill (where he and TV personality Ed McMahon were neighbors) and a job on WFIL radio.
“Radio and television were in the same building, and he was doing a lot of television commercials, too,” recalled Lew Klein, then WFIL-TV general manager. “He did Tootsie Rolls, Barr’s Jewelers, and commercials on the Paul Whiteman show. He had to compete for those jobs with other announcers, and he won a lot of auditions.”
Klein said that ABC was reluctant at first to take “Bandstand” nationwide. “We worked hard to convince them,” he recalled. “Finally, they said they’d give it a try, it’s summer time, OK, fine. … The ABC people, I think, were humoring us. They put it on. Within about six weeks, it became a phenomenon. I think everyone was surprised. Everyone but us. And that’s what launched Dick Clark as a national personality.”
When “Bandstand” went national on ABC in 1957, it managed to make the sexually charged rhythms of emerging rock ‘n’roll acceptable to the mainstream. The host’s wholesome image had much to do with that.
Over the years, Clark made numerous cameo appearances in films, often playing himself (“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind;” “Bowling for Columbine”). In the first “Spy Kids” movie in 2001, he was a financier.
Clark is survived by his wife, Kari, whom he married in 1977. He had three children from two previous marriages: Richard Jr., Duane, and Cindy.
Staff writer John Timpane, former Inquirer staff writers Beth Gillin and Murray Dubin, and former TV critic Jonathan Storm prepared parts of this article.
