DICK _CLARK

Dick Clark - Truly a Man for All Seasons

by Jerry Pippin

April 18, 2012 - It should not have been a shock but it was. When the bulletin came into my computer screen this afternoon, it seemed like I had lost a dear friend even though I had never met Dick Clark. I knew he was in ill health, after all he had a stroke in 2004 and his death came after elective surgery with heart failure. But it seemed like Dick Clark had always been part of my life.

Three things stand out about Dick Clark for me. First of all, he and I did something very similar. When he was 13 he walked into his first radio studio and said to himself, "This is the kind of job I want." That was about how it happened with me as well.

The other two things are separated by decades but they are still memories for me. In 1957 his American Bandstand show went national on the new and fledging at the time ABC Television Network. The format was simple and copied by almost everyone in local TV. Get a bunch of teenagers together in a studio, play the top hits of the day and that was it. Clark added an element that local stations couldn't, he was able to get the top acts to show up and lip-sync their songs for nothing except promotional value.

He was smart enough to know that he could make or break an act and as far as I know he always took that fact seriously. He is probably solely responsible getting black acts into the main stream. Remember his show started in 1957, well before the Civil Rights Act and a larger portion of the national audience had never seen mixed audiences, little alone mixed races dancing together on camera.

My memories go back to high school when we would drive over to a hot dog stand on the West Side of Muskogee called Chet's. Chet was an interesting man and his "dogs" were delicious. Every afternoon after school or many at least we would go there and Chet always had on American Bandstand on the little black and white TV behind the counter. Many of us did not have TV at home and we would watch Dick Clark play the hits while drinking a Coca Cola and devouring those little hot dogs he sold. They were not the foot long one, just little ones but so very good Never did figure out the secret and like Dick Clark until today, Chet's was still going strong selling those little dogs.

My second memory of Dick Clark was in Las Vegas. I remember one New Year's eve in the 80s, Dick was doing the annual ABC New Years Eve special. Always from Times Square but that year they had added live action from downtown Las Vegas on Freemont Street. Thousands were there including myself and as we counting down the last 10 seconds in unison, the entire crowd, it was something to behold. Only one thing was odd about it, Las Vegas is in the Pacific Time zone so it was 9:00 p.m. not midnight and if I remember we did it again three hours later.

Dick Clark in his later life became one of Hollywood's top TV packagers of almost anything including game shows, awards shows and a few other formats over the years. Even after his stroke 8 years ago, he continued to work despite some speech problems. He was still active in broadcasting almost up to the day he died, earlier this morning.

Truly a Man for All Seasons -On Thursday, April 19, 2012, the day after the passing of Dick Clark, Jerry presented a tribute show with top 40 Disc Jockey Scooter Seagraves and entertainer Jack Blanchard with personal stories and impressions of the man and his effect on the entertainment business. MP3 Running time: 30 min, 50 sec
Windows Media Version

Dick Clark was an ABC Man- He was with the network from 1957 'til the day he died in Santa Monica of a heart attack. It's fitting we feature the tribute to Clark from ABC News, April 18, 2012.

Jack Blanchard and Misty Morgan appeared on the American Bandstand Show in 1970- Here is what Jack says about Dick Clark:
"Dick Clark has died and it saddens us. He was always good to us. At a restaurant, many years after we were on Bandstand, he came over to our table and talked with us while his dinner got cold. A really nice guy. One in a million."