Jamboree (1957 film)
| Jamboree | |
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Mexican movie poster
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| Directed by | Roy Lockwood |
| Produced by |
Max Rosenberg Milton Subotsky |
| Written by | Leonard Kantor Milton Subotsky |
| Starring |
Dick Clark Frankie Avalon Fats Domino Charlie Gracie Buddy Knox Jerry Lee Lewis Carl Perkins Slim Whitman Ron Coby |
| Music by | Neal Hefti |
| Cinematography | Jack Etra |
| Edited by | Robert Broekman |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
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Release date
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Running time
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71 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Jamboree, known as Disc Jockey Jamboree in the United Kingdom, is the name of a black and white 1957 rock and roll film, directed by Roy Lockwood. Its story is about a boy and girl, Pete Porter and Honey Wynn, played by Paul Carr and Freda Holloway, who become overnight sensations as a romantic singing duo who run into trouble when their squabbling managers, played by Kay Medford and Bob Pastine, try to turn them into solo acts. Against this backdrop in cameo performances appear some of the biggest names of rock and roll in the 1950s lip-syncing to their recordings.
Jamboree is a film that was built upon the popularity of a name which at the time was becoming associated with rock and roll music and it appears to have derived its name from a show starring disc-jockey Alan Freed that began airing over Radio Luxembourg in 1956 (the year before this movie was released). Freed recorded his featured segment while working for WINS in New York City. A great rivalry developed during this time between Alan Freed and Dick Clark who appears in this film. Freed was the pioneer of rock and roll movies (Rock Around the Clock; Don't Knock the Rock; Rock, Rock, Rock), however, Congressional Hearings into payola practices and radio broadcasting eventually ruined Freed's career, while Clark's career continued uninterrupted.
Jamboree was essentially a music film in the manner of music videos that followed many years later on MTV where the storyline was secondary to the musical performances, with the amateurish acting becoming less relevant than the musical performances themselves. However, this movie is of historical importance due to the cameo performances by various musical acts that are featured.
Included in Jamboree are Buddy Knox, who performs "Hula Love", a no. 9 hit on the Billboard pop singles chart; Jimmy Bowen, who performs "Cross Over"; Dick Clark acting as the host for a show within the film, which was released shortly after first appearing as host of American Bandstand on TV; Fats Domino, who performs "Wait and See"; Charlie Gracie (who became an even bigger hit in the UK than he was in the United States), who performs "Cool Baby"; Jack Jackson (British bandleader who acted as the disc jockey host of the Decca records show on Radio Luxembourg; Jerry Lee Lewis (who belts out "Great Balls of Fire" in a version that is different from the Sun 45 release); Lewis Lymon and the Teenchords;Jack Payne (another British band leader); Carl Perkins (who sings "Glad All Over"); Jodie Sands, who performs "Sayonara"; Frankie Avalon, who sings "Teacher's Pet"; Slim Whitman, who gathered a tremendous following in Europe, who performs "Unchain My Heart"; Aaron Schroeder in a cameo role as the Songwriter; The Four Coins, who perform "A Broken Promise"; and, Count Basie and his Orchestra, featuring Joe Williams on vocals. Connie Francis overdubbed her vocals for Freda Holloway.
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