Someone else would want to come on the Committee and take your place. Want to post on Patch? Some do remember a handful of kids getting high on cough medicine. [citation needed]. Truth is, the era wasn't as innocent as some might contend. I couldnt be bothered with education. Mary Lou Barber: Because I was on the Committee and I was president, [I went to] these summit meetings. So you cant imagine how excited I was when I finally got a chance to interview these local legends twenty years later. Deane also presented British artist Helen Shapiro, who sang her Baltimore hit, "Tell Me What He Said," at about the time that she was touring England with The Beatles as one of her support acts. so they had a points system. Committee members had to look sharp, have a style and be willing to appear on weekends for Deane's dances from Westmin-ster to Salisbury. Warner, Tony, Buddy's Top 20: The Story of Baltimore's Hottest TV Dance Show and the Guy Who Brought it to Life! Baltimore, MD 21286. With the show beginning at 2:30 in some years, cutting out of school early was common. Ive never said they were racist. The Committee, initially recruited from local teen centers, was to act as hosts and dance with the guests. The kids became celebrities. . Its like anything you see today. It was a family: Buddy was the father, Arlene was the mother.. People laugh and I go, I remember that, I remember that.. I had beehives. I found out that my father was on this show. (Marvin Joseph/THE WASHINGTON POST), Almost 20 of the original stars of The Buddy Deane Show show off their signature dance, The Madison. (Jessica Goldstein/The Washington Post). Several local art contests were also held on the show, with viewers submitting their own art work. Linda Snyder: We were on the show Monday through Saturday, six days a week. . If the boys dared to sport chino pants, the crease had to be razor sharp. . We really sprayed it, remembers Mary Lou today from her home in Pennsylvania. . I wanted to go, but my parents wouldnt let me. Fabian, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Darin, all of them. . Register for a user account. Billy, especially, was picked on unmercifully "up on Belair Road," but deep inside, the ones making fun -- some of whom would wind up with heroin habits or work down at Bethlehem Steel -- were deeply envious of him. Mary Lou Raines received 100 letters a week. My mother wanted me to go, she took me down to the tryouts. 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. . When I was on, the kids at school were cool with it. When the subject comes up today, most loyalists want to go off the record. she yelped. I think Im honoring their great stardom. Another royal Deaner couple who met on the air and later married was Gene Snyder and Linda Warehime. In mixed marriages (with non-Deaners), many of the outsiders resented their spouses pasts. Girl Scout leader, very active in my kids school. Mary Lou is still a star. We all watched that and the Mickey Mouse Club. [At my audition], I was not quite 14. I had to wear stockings and cha-cha heels. Gene and Linda Snyder met on The Buddy Deane Show as committee members in 1959 and have been married for 46 years. Hairspray came to CCBC Essex's Cockpit in Court theater, and so did the real original castthose Committee members from the old Buddy Deane Show, whose moment in history became the premise for . The racial integration of a take-off of the show, dubbed The Corny Collins Show, provides the backdrop to the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. He just didnt understand., But some have dealt with the problems in good humor. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. September 17,2011 Parkville American Legion Hall Putty Hill Rd & Old Harford Rd 8PM til' Midnite $25.00 per ticket God forbid, in school, if you didnt smile, you were conceited. Vicki Defeo: Ive tried to think this through, because it sounds ridiculous, but [integration] was a non-issue to us. Or dancing with other Committee members when you were supposed to be dancing with the guests (a very unpopular rule allowed this only every fourth dance). And who could forget those great ads for the plastic furniture slipcovers that opened with the kids jumping up and down on the sofa and Royal Parker screaming, Hey kids! ". Best, Yes, I miss it very much. But something unforeseen happened: The home audience soon grew attached to some of these kids. Although WJZ-TV, owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting (now CBS since January 2, 1995), was an ABC affiliate, the station "blacked out" the network broadcast of American Bandstand in Baltimore and broadcast the Deane program instead, reportedly because Bandstand showed black teenagers dancing on the show (although black and white teenagers were not allowed to dance together until the show was moved to California in 1964). My father was very strict. We don't have any reviews for Buddy Deane Show. Most Deaner girls wouldnt even tongue-kiss, claims Arlene, remembering the ruckus caused by a Catholic priest when the Committee modeled strapless Etta gowns on TV. The Buddy Deane Show is a teen dance television show, similar to Philadelphia's American Bandstand, that aired on WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Maryland from 1957 until 1964. . Buddy wanted it to end happily, but WJZ angered Deaners when it tried to blame the ratings. It was a different time, and a different generation, thats all., We had no problem with it, added Gene Snyder, who sat with his wife, whose maiden name was Linda Warehime. . I watched it for the fashion and for the drama, because Buddy Deane encouraged them to [date and] break up on film. Can't find a movie or TV show? Vicki Defeo: Some of the people who were popular way back that Im friends with now, back then I wouldve been like, wow! The best little jitterbugger in Baltimore. For those who get to Ocean City, please stop in and see us at the Blue Ox on the bayside at 127th street. And the guys had to wear a coat and tie, so wed keep stuff in the car. Didnt you dance on the Buddy Deane Show? This is 50 years later.. On the air before Dick Clark debuted, the show was a hit from the beginning, says Arlene today. To be selected you had to bring a character reference letter from your pastor, priest, or rabbi, qualify in a dance audition, and show in an interview (the Spotlight) that you had personality. At first the Committee had a revolving membership with no one serving longer than three months. We even did this hideous dance called the roach, where you would spray with an imaginary bug killer and "squish, then squash" the pests. From 1957-1965, Deane was chosen as host of WJZ-TV, Baltimore's "The . Mary Lou laughs at the memory of doing a pimple medicine spot on camera. I was able after a while to afford some clothes from Lees of Broadway (whose selection of belted coats and pegged pants made it the Saks Fifth Avenue of Deaners). ' And Evanne still shudders as she recalls, Once I was in the cafeteria. So was Aqua Net. This was the adults, who didnt know what to do, so they shut the whole thing down.. Dance was the thing. . Even doing commercials was expected. You Can't Stop the Beat: The Secret History of Hairspray as Live TV Big hair was a plus. He was one of the first disc jockeys in the area to regularly feature rock-and-roll. This Committees committee, under the watchful eye of Arlene, chose new members, taught the dance steps, and enforced the demerit system, which could result in suspension or expulsion. After saying goodbye to the Committee members . I didnt mean to, because I never would have messed up the makeup.. Buddy said to me, Well, heres my little girl whos been with me the longest. I hardly ever cried, but I just broke down on camera. They still get together and they still do a pretty sharp Madison. Linda Snyder: We still love to go dancing. And, yes, they were actually "records" in 1983. There was no sexiness in dress for the girls. It was maddening: the Mashed Potatoes, the Stroll, the Pony, the Waddle, the Locomotion, the Bug, the Handjive, the New Continental, and, most important, the Madison, a complicated line dance that started here and later swept the country. . I wanted to join the circus., Two other ponytail princesses who went on to the Buddy Dean hall of fame were Evanne Robinson, the committee member on the show the longest, and Kathy Schmink. Deaners seem to come out of the woodwork, drawn by the memory of their stardom. [1], As with many other local TV shows, little footage of the show is known to have survived. Mary Lou Barber: Ive only been able to watch [Hairspray] a couple of times because so much of it hits home. To qualify, first you needed a solid command of the day's dances -- the pony, Madison, jitterbug, bop, cha-cha, the stroll, the twist -- and there was even a "cool" style for slow dancing. And it sounds dreadful. The pictures I've just posted are of the reunion dance for the Buddy Deane Committee Members with Buddy Deane playing the records. Thats how they rotated Committee members. Mary Lou Barber: Arlene would throw a spotlight on you, and theyd throw questions at you: What do you like about yourself, what do you like about the show? Today they seem opposites. . The Committee to Honor Buddy Deane. The Buddy Deane Show was taken off the air because home station WJZ-TV was unwilling to integrate black and white dancers. Buddy Dean - Oznet In 1985 the Committee members are for the most part happy and healthy, living in Baltimore, and still recognized on the street. Acts that appeared on the show first were reportedly barred from appearing on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, but if they had been on Bandstand first they could still be on The Buddy Deane Show. Many came away from the movie Hairspray thinking that Buddy Deane, and not WJZ's management, was responsible keeping black teen-agers off the show. Could it be? 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. John Waters: I never purposely thought I was making a movie that was any more commercial than any of the other ones. My dad use to pick myself and Eva Anne up from Gwynns Falls Junior High and her Mom would then pick us up after the show. The rivalry with Dick Clark meant that Deane urged all his performers not to mention American Bandstand or visits to Clark in Philadelphia. Jump to. Its made more money playing all over the country than it did on Broadway, where it was a huge hit.". I was aggressive. The Buddy Deane Show was a teenage dance party, on the air from 1957 to 1964. Id get hate mail. I even named some of the characters in my films after them. Five kids in my neighborhood were on the committee -- Concetta Comi, Georgia Ann Richter, Peggy Keaton, Joan Darby and Billy Pritchard. (Editors note: The show requested a character reference from a priest, minister or rabbi; references from teachers or principals were also accepted.) committeemembers - thecommitteetohonorbuddydeane - Google Sites It was a fluke. It was really no big deal to us. . The star system was born. Neither Deane nor Waters believes Baltimore was ready for an integrated teen dance program in 1964. As well, a show was broadcast from a local farm in Westminster, Maryland. Actor: Hairspray. Several marriages resulted from liaisons between Committee Members. . And when we sprayed it, we had to blot it so it didnt leave residue. We have that common bond. 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.. John Waters: By that point, I dont think The Buddy Deane Show was on everyones lips anymore. If you made the short list, you were required to bring in a letter of reference from your parish priest, minister, rabbi or a teacher. This undated photo shows dancers on "The Buddy Deane Show."

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buddy deane show committee members