Over lunch at the Thunderball Lounge, in East Baltimore, Kathy remembers, I could never get used to signing autographs. Checking back with the studio, no one had information concerning footage of African American dancers. The Buddy Deane Show was a show from the late 50's to the mid 60's. The show was a teen dance television show, similar to Philadelphia's American Bandstand. I was with this guy named Jeff. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. It would be a treasure to pass down to my future generations. . Whats great about the choreography in [You Cant Stop the Beat] is that, subtly, the black dancers and the white dancers have the same choreography, the executive producer Neil Meron said in the DVD commentary for the 2007 film. Waters: We used to go to the hotel and hed say, Come in, and hed be in bed with a cleaning woman smoking pot., It was Tracy saying to Link: Please dont look at my legs without the benefit of nylons.. For example, Carole King appeared on the show playing her single "It Might as Well Rain Until September", nearly a decade before she burst to popularity with her landmark 1970 album, Tapestry. Integration ended The Buddy Deane Show. She was the one of the biggies who refused to be on the Board (they had power; a liked because of it). Then we made up on camera.. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Hundreds of thousands of teens learned the latest dances by watching Committee members on the show, copying their personal style, and following their life stories and interactions. Evanne and her brother run the John Brock Benson Dance Studios, in Pasadena, and have a line of dancers who appear at clubs all over the state. The producers of Diner wanted to include Buddy Deane footage in their film, but most of the shows were live and any tapes of this local period piece have been erased. Buddy Deane, a native of Pine Bluff, was one of the first radio hosts to understand the appeal of Rock n' Roll in its infancy, the host of a popular 60s teen dance show, the inspiration for a film and musical character in Hairspray, and so much more. In the beginning, there was Arlene. The rivalry with Dick Clark meant that Deane urged all his performers not to mention American Bandstand or visits to Clark in Philadelphia. We have a telegram, Buddy would shout almost daily, for Mary Lou to lead a dance, and the cameraman seemed to love her. I was really mad. These were the first role models I knew. Romance was one thing; sex was another. It was horrible/ says Joe. The Buddy Deane Show was a teen dance television show, created by Zvi Shoubin, hosted by Winston "Buddy" Deane (1924-2003), and aired on WJZ-TV (Channel 13), the ABC affiliate station in Baltimore from 1957 until 1964. Winston Joseph Deane was born on Aug. 2, 1924, in Pine Bluff. Its fairly neat, commercialized, and revisionist portrayal of 1960s Baltimore sharply contrasts with the current messy, national discussion of identity politicsa disjunction that could prompt new audiences to reevaluate their assumptions about how racism operates. Because Buddy Deanes competition was soap operas, the budding teenage romances were sometimes played up for the camera. Fran Nedeloff (debuting at 14 in 61, Mervo, cha-cha) remembers the look: Straight skirt to the knee, cardigan sweater buttoned up the back, cha-cha heels, lots of heavy black eyeliner, definitely Clearasil on the lips, white nail polish. Joanie, whose mother wanted me to be a child star, hit the show in early 57 at age 13 (you had to be 14 to be eligible, but many lied about their ages to qualify), followed a few months later by Joe, 17. Hairspray is John Waters most commercially successful film the 1988 dancing comedy spawned a hit Broadway musical, a movie and TV movie of that musical, plus multiple sequel and TV show offers that never saw the light of day. The Best Picture Race Got a Lot More Confusing This Week, Tom Cruise Made the Rounds This Week, but Other Oscar Nominees Got More Applause Than Top Gun: Maverick, These Oscar Categories Are the Hardest to Predict, Translating the Unconscious Into Images: The Cinematography of Bardo, Poker Face Takes Viewers on a Cross-Country Road Trip Without Leaving New York, Why TR Looks Different from Every Other Movie of 2022, The 50 Best Movies of 2022, According to 165 Critics from Around the World, All 81 Titles Unceremoniously Removed from HBO Max (So Far), 10 Shows Canceled but Not Forgotten in 2022. It was a family: Buddy was the father, Arlene was the mother.. On Wednesday, NBC is broadcasting Hairspray Live! Buddy himself, the high priest, returned for the event. Based loosely on the 1988 film by John Waters, Hairspray centres on Baltimore teen Tracy Turnblad (Carmel Rodrigues), who in 1962 wants nothing more than a chance to dance on the local pop music TV. Almost every rock 'n' roll star except Elvis graced the Deane Show stage. The first stars I could identify with. As well, a show was broadcast from a local farm in Westminster, Maryland. Mary Lou laughs at the memory of doing a pimple medicine spot on camera. No matter how progressive we become, there will always be those who will still hang on to the tradition of hate. [1], Deane's dance party television show debuted in 1957 and was, for a time, the most popular local show in the United States. Waters grew up with "The Buddy Deane Show" in Baltimore, and modeled his fictitious "Corny Collins Show" after it. You are watching the "Buddy Deane Show." "The Buddy Deane Show" defined a new generation of rock & roll as well as dance on television in the late 1950s. With the nation in a divisive place, he argued, viewers are looking for entertainment that can be really healing. The New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani saw a similar dynamic at play when Hairspray, the musical, debuting shortly after 9/11, won over fans: Hollywood and Broadway producers have decided [what] Americans want is nostalgiathe logic being that people in times of trouble will gravitate toward comfort entertainment that reminds them of simpler, happier times [such as] the candy-colored Broadway musical Hairspray., Hairsprays history of race in America suggests that racism is an issue of attitudes rather than of policies. Originally an all-white teen show with a monthly "Negro . Jones). . I saw the show as a vehicle to make something of myself, remembers Joe. He was one of the first to showcase rock and roll music on a continual basis. Seeing Hairspray as more than simply a post-racial American fantasy requires taking the storys teen dance show setting seriously. He just didnt understand., But some have dealt with the problems in good humor. And the whole concept of the Committee changed. Participants dressed in "country" style, and danced to country and western music as well as pop. On Sept. 13, 1964, he introduced The Beatles before their concert at the Baltimore Civic Center, and a few days later, he and his family moved back to Arkansas. He was mad because I was as popular as he was. I even named some of the characters in my films after them. Buddy: Deane in the 50s when she worked for a record wholesaler and he was the top-rated disc jockey on WITHthe only DJ in town who played rock n roll for the kids. While the rest of the nation grew up on Dick Clarks American Bandstand, (which was not even shown here because Channel 13 already had Buddy Deane), Baltimoreans, true to form, had their own eccentric version. I appreciate the contribution that you and NOBLE BRUN, and other Black dancers on the Buddy Dean dance show made on that series. The introductory essay in Dick Clark's American Bandstand (1997) is illustrative in this regard. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. Arlene Kozak, Buddys assistant and den mother to the Committee. Voters approve of . Washington D.C.'s The Milt Grant Show offered "Black Tuesday" and Baltimore's The Buddy Deane Show had "Negro Day" because . The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached, or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Baltimore Magazine. Although the show has been off the air for more than twenty years, a nearly fanatical cult of fans has managed to keep the memory alive. Ladies and Gentleman . Kings mention of Funtown is preceded by references to lynch mobs, police brutality, and the airtight cage of poverty, and followed by references to hotel segregation and racial slurs. In 1948, Deane married Helen Stevenson, his childhood sweetheart, whom he first met when he was just four years old. Waters's nostalgic and detailed appreciation for The Buddy Deane Show, . There were a lot of obscene phone calls., And the rumors, God, the rumors. The show began in September of 1957 when an Arkansan named Winston Joe "Buddy" Deane was approached by Joel Chaseman, the head of programming at WJZ-TV. From 1964 to 1984, Deane hosted a show and owned KOTN-FM and KOTN-AM radio stations at Pine Bluff. and later on, growing up, it was a definite blow: reality. I still have a whole box of fan mail, says Evanne. The movie was eventually turned into a musical by the same name. Yeah it was Cosenel, says Joe. I was totally star-struck and had as much fun that night as I did at the Cannes Film Festival. When that little red light came on, so did my smile, she says, laughing. This article is among features at explorepinebluff.com, a program of the Pine Bluff Advertising and Promotion Commission. The Funtown reference is powerful because it captures one of the ways that Jim Crow segregation and white supremacy played out for children and teenagers. Buddy could take his seat beneath the famous Top 20 Board, and the tension would build. And if you dared to dance the obscene Bodie Green (the Dirty Boogie), you were immediately a goner. NBCs Hairspray Live! Many top acts of the day, both black and white, appeared on The Buddy Deane Show. The night was full of delightful anecdotes, including these ten you may not have heard before. Buddy Deane. I took off my steady ring and threw it down. Why? Id wonder. She wasnt even a fan of the show. Hairspray was the actors first film, before Dead Poets Society, which came out the next year. Deane fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded a Purple Heart during his time in the Europe. An then there was teased hair, replacing the 50s drape with a Buddy Deane look that so pervaded Baltimore culture (especially in East and South Baltimore) that its effect is still seen in certain neighborhoods of this great Hairdo Capital of the World. Joe started working for Buddy as teen assistant and, along with Arlene, oversaw the Committee and enforced the strict rules. In 1950, Deane moved to Baltimore to host 1230 AM WITH after Stan Kenton, a performer and guest he was interviewing, informed him of the opening at the radio station. Joe Cash has Jonas Cash Promotions, in Columbia and Silver Spring.. (my own promotional firmwe represent Warner Brothers, Columbia, Motown85 percent you hear in this market)and Active Industry Research, in Columbia (a research firmIm chairman of the board). Buddy Deane, a native of Pine Bluff, was one of the first radio hosts to understand the appeal of Rock n Roll in its infancy, the host of a popular 60s teen dance show, the inspiration for a film and musical character in Hairspray, and so much more. Why Europeans Dont Get Huge Medical Bills. I had a lot of black friends at the time, so for me this was an awkward thing, says Marie. This sentiment carries through to the songs lyrics. It was broadcast for two hours a day, six days a week and featured local teenagers dancing to their favorite music played by live bands. He was 16 at the time of filming. It was similar to Philadelphia's American Bandstand. The best little jitterbugger in Baltimore. . The Buddy Deane Show was over. The Buddy Dean Show was the inspiration for the "Corny Collins Show" in the 2007 musical. . To this day, Im reluctant to tell some of my black friends I was on Buddy Deane because they look at it as a terrible time.. On the last day of the show, January 4, 1964, all the most popular Committee members through the years came back for one last appearance. Buddy wanted it to end happily, but WJZ angered Deaners when it tried to blame the ratings. . Nicknamed "Buddy" as a child, Deane . The Deaners didnt mind. Even doing commercials was expected. C. Fields in drag.), This movie is the only radical movie I ever made because it snuck in mid-America. . And the girl Deaners, God, hair-hoppers as we called them in Towson, the ones with the Etta Gowns, bouffant hairdos, and cha-cha heels. While other radio hosts thought rock 'n' roll music was just a passing trend, refusing to play it in favor of pop songs, Deane played rock 'n' roll music on a regular basis. John Waters with Divine (Harris Glen Milstead) at the Baltimore premiere of Hairspray, Originally, I had it, the idea was Divine was gonna play the mother and the daughter like in The Parent Trap. New Line [Cinema] wouldnt let me, he said. That's what really happened, and the show shut down." 3. Every day Id come to the studio in knee-highs, and Id have to take them off. On the air before Dick Clark debuted, the show was a hit from the beginning, says Arlene today. "How 'The Buddy Deane Show' really went off the air is the white kids crashed Negro Day to integrate it. Dick Clark patterned his ABC-TV show, Where the Action Is, after local remotes done by Deane in Maryland. Owing to Deane's mid-South roots and work history, he featured many performers from the ranks of country and western music (e.g., Skeeter Davis, singing "The End of the World" and Brenda Lee singing "Sweet Nothin's"), who then achieved cross-over hits among rock and roll fans. 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