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TED McALLISTER'S THIS WEEK IN OLDIES HISTORY
August 7, 1955 - Rock ‘n roll came to The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. Ed brought on stage Bill Haley & The Comets to sing the first ever number one rock ‘n roll hit, Rock Around The Clock.
August 7, 1963 - The first “Beach Blanket movie” opened in theaters nationwide. Beach Party starred Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon.
August 8, 1966 – The Mamas & Papas made Newsweek magazine in an article describing them as “weird and wild, right out of a Charles Addams family portrait.”
August 8, 1967 – George Harrison visits San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district to check out the scene during “The Summer of Love.”
August 9, 1965 – The Silkie recorded You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away with Paul McCartney playing guitar, George Harrison on tambourine and John Lennon producing the song. It became a Top 10 hit on the Fabulous 40 Survey in the fall of 1965.
August 9, 1965 - Nino Tempo & April Stevens and James Brown were on TV on Where The Action Is.
August 10, 1959 - Four members of The Platters were arrested after being found in the company of prostitutes at the Sheraton Gibson Hotel in Cincinnati. They were acquitted, but the bad publicity all but ruined the group's career. After a string of hits in the ‘50s, The Platters had only two more hits following the incident. FYI: The judge was Gilbert Bettman.
August 10, 1979 – Smokey Robinson released his first solo single since leaving The Miracles. Cruisin’ would end up a Top 5 hit for Smokey.
August 11, 1966 - Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs grabbed a Gold Record when Lil Red Riding Hood was certified as a million seller.
August 11, 1972 - Elvis and Priscilla Presley filed for divorce.
August 12, 1964 - Little Millie Small, the Queen of The Bluebeat, sang My Boy Lollipop at the New York World’s Fair.
August 12, 1968 - The Beach Boys performed in concert at Finsbury Park in London, England. The live concert was taped and became the album The Beach Boys ‘69 Live In London, but it wasn’t released in the U.S. until 1976.
August 13, 1952 - Big Mama Thornton recorded Hound Dog - the song that would later be re-done by Elvis and become a number one hit for 10 weeks by the King.
August 13, 1959 - Bobby Darin’s acting career began when he signed a one million dollar, 6-picture deal with Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. It’s the same week Bobby’s new record Mack The Knife was released in stores. It would go on to become the biggest record of 1959.
August 14, 1958 - Alan Freed brought his Big Beat Show all-star revue to the Cincinnati Gardens. What a lineup! The concert featured Danny & The Juniors, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Billie & Lillie, The Chantels, The Diamonds, Frankie Lymon, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly & The Crickets.
August 14, 1966 - The Beatles performed in concert at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. I Feel Fine was illegally recorded at the concert and appeared on bootleg Beatles albums. Several Cleveland disc jockeys were suspected, but no one was ever actually accused. A young Ted McAllister was working at one of the Top 40 radio stations in Cleveland at the time. Hmmm.
August 15, 1964 - MGM studios signed The Dave Clark Five to a film contract to star in the movie Having A Wild Weekend.
August 15, 1965 - The Beatles performed before 56,000 people at New York's Shea Stadium. At the time it was the largest crowd ever to attend a rock 'n roll concert. The Beatles received $160,000 for the concert — a record amount at the time. Ed Sullivan introduced The Beatles who then performed 12 songs in 30 minutes after which John Lennon was robbed backstage by three Cuban gunmen. Rough crowd! The Supremes, The Ronettes, Bob Dylan, The Exciters and Del Shannon stopped by to see The Beatles.
August 16, 1965 - Mike Smith, the lead singer of The Dave Clark Five, was pulled off stage by wild fans at a concert in Chicago. He suffered two broken ribs and missed two concert dates with the group.
August 16, 1973 - Bobby Darin played his last concert dates, beginning a 10-day engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton.
August 16, 1977 - Elvis died at age 42.
August 17, 1964 - The Supremes hit number one on the Billboard chart for the very first time when Where Did Our Love Go topped the charts for the week ending August 22, 1964. It was the first of 12 national number one hits for The Supremes.
August 17, 1996 – Rock And Roll Hall Of Famers Duane Eddy played the Grand Ole Opry 34 years after he turned down the offer because the Opry, at the time, banned saxophones on stage. .
August 18, 1965 - Elvis met Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits at a party in Honolulu. Elvis was in the islands to film his next movie Paradise Hawaiian Style. The Hermits were in town for a concert date.
August 18, 1969 - Neil Diamond got his first Gold Record when Sweet Caroline was certified as a million-seller.
August 19, 1966 - The Rascals performed at The Fillmore in San Francisco.
August 19, 1967 - Ringo and Maureen Starkey’s second child was born, Jason Starkey.
August 20, 1960 - Connie Francis made her acting debut in the movie Where The Boys Are.
August 20, 1965 - The Turtles sang It Ain’t Me Babe on a special edition of Where The Action Is live from Hawaii.
August 21, 1961 – Patsy Cline recorded Crazy.
August 21, 1966 - The Beatles played a doubleheader, playing an afternoon concert at Crosley Field in Cincinnati to make up the rained out concert date from the day before, then onto St. Louis where they appeared as the 3rd of 5 acts on stage at Busch Stadium that evening. The Beatles played early due to approaching thunderstorms threatening to shorten the concert. The Ronettes and The Cyrkle followed The Beatles on stage.
August 22, 1961 – Roger Maris hit his 50th home run against The Angels as he continues to chase The Babe for the single-season home run record.
August 22, 1966 - Tommy Roe made a guest appearance on TV on Where The Action Is. His hit at the time was Sweet Pea.
August 22, 1966 – Jerry Lee Lewis agreed to play the character “Iago” in a rock ‘n roll version of Shakespeare’s Othello titled Catch My Soul.
August 23, 1966 - The Beatles performed in concert at Shea Stadium in New York on their last American concert tour. Before the concert The Beatles were presented with a large cake by the management of Shea Stadium. When John learned the cake did not contain a scantily-clad woman he said; “We don’t want any of your lousy cake.” Nice touch, John.
August 23, 1968 - The Rascals grabbed a Gold Record when People Got To Be Free was certified as a million-seller.
August 24, 1963 - Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas’ Bad To Me hit number one on the British Melody Maker chart. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The record didn’t become a hit in the U.S. until 9 months later.
August 24, 1966 - Tommy James & The Shondells grabbed the first of their four Gold Records when Hanky Panky sold over a one million copies.
August 25, 1957 - Today in 1957 was that magic moment in TV history when Steve Allen jumped into a pool of jello...and The Coasters sang Searchin’ on TV on The Steve Allen Show.
August 25, 1967 - Rick Nelson’s summer replacement TV show Malibu U brought Lou Christie, The Doors, Chad & Jeremy and Marvin Gaye to Malibu Beach.
August 26, 1957 - Buddy Holly & The Crickets made their first appearance on network television singing That’ll Be The Day on American Bandstand.
August 26, 1965 - Duane Eddy played his “twangy guitar” and Peter & Gordon sang their first hit A World Without Love on TV on Where The Action Is.
August 27, 1965 - Elvis played host to The Beatles at his Bel Air, California home. According to Paul McCartney, Elvis was playing the bass riff to Mohair Sam while watching TV when they arrived. The Beatles joined in jammin’ with Elvis on the Charlie Rich hit, which turned out to be both The Beatles and Elvis’s favorite song at the time. It’s the only time the King and the Fab Four ever got together.
August 27, 1966 - Johnny Rivers sang his new record, Poor Side Of Town, on American Bandstand. The record hadn’t even been played on the radio yet. It was released two weeks later. By November of ‘66 it became Johnny’s only number one hit.
August 28, 1961 - Here’s a record chart oddity! Elvis Presley had no records in the top 10 this week in 1961...BUT two Elvis sound-a-likes had hits in the top 5! Joe Dowell’s Wooden Heart, a song Elvis sang in his movie G.I. Blues, was number one…and Ral Donner’s You Don’t Know What You Got was #5.
August 28, 1961 – Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes was released. It became Motown’s first million-seller.
August 29, 1958 - John Lennon and Paul McCartney welcomed a new member to their band The Quarrymen. It's George Harrison.
August 29, 1962 - Elvis Presley’s 10th movie, Kid Gallahad, opened in theaters across the country. Charles Bronson and Gig Young co-starred with the King. (Use with Elvis titles)
August 29, 1964 – Roy Orbison released Oh Pretty Woman.
August 30, 1965 - The Drifters and Del Shannon made guest appearances on Where The Action Is.
August 30, 1986 - The Beatles were back on the charts with Twist And Shout, 22 years after the record was originally a hit! The song was featured in the hit movie Ferris Buehler’s Day Off and was discovered by a whole new generation of kids.
August 31, 1963 - The British music charts were filled with future American hits this week in 1963. In the Top 10: She Loves You by The Beatles, I’m Telling You Now by Freddie & The Dreamers and You Don’t Have To Be A Baby To Cry by The Caravelles. The number one record in England this week was Bad To Me by Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas - which ends up in the top 10 in America almost a year later.
August 31, 1965 - Gene Chandler and We Five appeared on Where The Action Is. We Five sang their up-and-coming hit, You Were On My Mind.
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