February 15, 1958…Dick Clark Goes Primetime From New York
February 15, 1958…Dick Clark Goes Primetime From New York
59 years ago today, “Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Beechnut Show” debuted on ABC, live from The Little Theater at 234 West 44th Street. These two videos will give us a good look inside and outside the 300 seat venue, but first a bit of history.
To make sure there was an audience for the show, ABC did a 13 week primetime test of “American Bandstand” from Philadelphia that lasted from October 7 till December 16, 1957. The ratings for the half hour show were good, but Clark and others came to the conclusion that the primetime version need more stars and less dancing to records.
In ’57, ABC had leased The Little Theater for their new show with Johnny Carson as host of “Do You Trust Your Wife”, which soon became “Who Do You Trust”. It was available weekends and the NYC teens wanted a show like this, so that’s where it was done using at least two artist per half hour show, and sometime three. The show ran weekly for almost three years on Saturday nights as Bandstand continued weekdays from Philly.
Very few performances were done live, but in this clip with Jerry Lee Lewis doing “Great Balls Of Fire”, it is live. This starts in the lobby with “Short Shorts” and the The Royal Teens bop their way to the stage. The glass booth behind them is the audio booth.
In the Conway Twitty clip below, we get the full show intro from Dick outside the theater as Conway starts in the lobby and moves to the stage. The glass booth behind him is the video control room. Who knew that Sarid’s was next door? Enjoy! -Bobby Ellerbee
Dick Clark Top Ten songs on Saturday Nights:)
The Helen Hayes Theatre is located diagonally across 44th Street from the famous Shubert Theater and right next door to Sardi’s . . .
I believe The Little Theater became the home of Merv Griffin when he was doing his show for Group W.
One tends to forget that Conway Twitty started out as a rock n’ roller.
Years ago I used to pass that place on the way to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. If my memory is correct it’s now called The Helen Hayes Theater?