The Dick Clark Show
| The Dick Clark Show | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | ''Dick Clark's Saturday Night Beechnut Show'' |
| Genre | Musical variety |
| Presented by | Dick Clark |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 136 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Louis M. Hayward Charles Reeves |
| Location(s) |
Little Theater (Manhattan) New York |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Dick Clark Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | February 15, 1958 – September 10, 1960 |
The Dick Clark Show (also known as Dick Clark's Saturday Night Beechnut Show) was an American musical variety show broadcast weekly in the United States on the ABC television network 7:30-8 PM (Eastern Time) on Saturdays from February 15, 1958 through September 10, 1960, sponsored (except for the first two shows) by Beechnut Gum.
Given that the show ran continually year-round for over two-and-a-half years, resulting in 136 episodes, there were no seasons as such — however, the "first season" of 29 shows could be said to run from the premiere through August 30, 1958, the "second season" of 53 shows, September 6, 1958 through September 5, 1959, and the "third season" of 54 shows, September 12, 1959 through September 10, 1960.
Dick Clark, hosting throughout the entire series, introduced musical guests, who sang/performed (or, more often, lip-synced) their latest popular hit. Often, after a performance (and sometimes before), Clark interviewed the musician(s). Between performances on some shows, he also interviewed non-musical celebrity guests, usually a television or movie star — Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Tony Randall, and Chuck Connors, among others.
The show was staged live, in New York City, at Manhattan's Little Theater, 240 West 44th Street (except for one set of three shows broadcast remotely from Hollywood, California, August 22, 1959 through September 5, 1959, and another set of five shows broadcast remotely from various locations across the country, June 11, 1960 through July 9, 1960). For the Manhattan broadcasts, the audience sat in theater seats, rather than standing and dancing as in Clark's concurrent pop-music show, American Bandstand — this distinction is the best method to identify whether a video recording of an artist's performance is from this show, or from American Bandstand.
At the end of each show, Clark would announce the ten most popular songs from the current Top 40 in reverse order from #10 on down to #1, as the "American Bandstand Top Ten". On the first show, Clark played a brief soundclip from each top ten record as its title was announced. On each subsequent show, Clark played the soundclip only for those records which were "new" on the Top Ten that week. This ritual became so embedded in American culture that it was imitated in many different media and contexts throughout the years - a most-notable example being a nightly satirical piece during David Letterman's two late-night talk shows, Late Night and Late Show.
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