American Bandstand/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Dueling Shows: With Soul Train.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Charlie O'Donnell, later a prolific announcer of Game Shows.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: Don't hold your breath for a DVD set (or even reruns).
  • Missing Episode: Like many shows of the era, most of the 1950s and early 1960s episodes are gone due to the expense of video tape at the time.
  • Shout-Outs: copied from The Other Wiki:
    • In the 1958 song "Queen of the Hop", Bobby Darin mentions the show, while also indicating its daily TV schedule during the early years of the show.
    • In his song "Sweet Little Sixteen" recorded 1957, Chuck Berry name-checks the show with the lyric "Cause they'll be rocking on Bandstand in Philadelphia, PA".
    • Travis Bickle watches American Bandstand while holding his Smith and Wesson Model 29 in Taxi Driver, while Jackson Browne's "Late for the Sky" plays.
    • The show was featured prominently in the 2002–2005 NBC-TV drama series American Dreams, which like Bandstand was executive produced by Dick Clark. In a 2005 episode, Eddie Kelly and Bunny Gibson – one of the most famous couples to appear on American Bandstand in the Philadelphia years – were the only two to make cameo appearances on the acclaimed TV series. Along with that, Kelly and Gibson were named a number of times in the script, and Kelly referred to in the last episode. Actor Paul D. Roberts made frequent appearances as Dick Clark, while Michael Burger played announcer Charlie O'Donnell. Clark frequently provided voice-overs as his younger self.
    • In the film Escape from New York, the theme song is heard while in the cab and near the end when Snake Plisskin takes out the President's address and replaces it with the tape that had the American Bandstand theme.
    • Pam Tillis' video for her 1994 cover of "When You Walk in the Room" depicted a mid-1960s performance on American Bandstand, and featured a voiceover by Dick Clark.
    • In the quarterfinals of season 7 of America's Got Talent, contestant Ulysses performed a cover of the American Bandstand theme song.
    • In episode 4089 of Sesame Street, there was a parody of American Bandstand called "American Fruit Stand" where a duck named "Duck Clark" hosted the program. It featured Miles singing songs about fruits to the tune of famous oldies songs such as "Johnny B. Goode", "Twist and Shout", and "I Feel Good".

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