August 6, 1960: ‘The Twist’ Debuts & How Chubby Got His Name!

At the start of this great clip, Dick Clark’s intro of Chubby is done in front of a crane mounted RCA TK10 at The Little Theater, home to Clark’s New York based ‘Saturday Night Beechnut Show’ which he did once a week for 3 years. Below, Conway Twitty, Chubby Checker and Dick Clark twist it up for the camera at rehearsal. In 1960, Conway was still a pop artist and had not yet gone to the country side.

How Chubby Checker Got His Name:

After hearing Philadelphia’s Ernest Evans do a spot on impression of Fats Domino one night, Dick Clark’s wife nick named him Chubby Checker. Later, Dick talked to a local record label about rerecording Hank Ballard’s original version of ‘The Twist’ with a black artist and suggested Evans. The rest as they say is history.

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