An
American teenage dance-party
TV show; it ran from the mid 50's to the late 80's. It was a local half-hour show in
Philadelphia when
Dick Clark became the host, and
ABC took it national (it was broadcast on weekday afternoons, followed by a game show hosted by
Johnny Carson). The formula was typical: "wholesome" local kids, dressed in the latest
bourgeois styles, danced the latest dance steps to the latest
Top 40 hits; a couple of bands or singers would appear, to
lipsync their latest
45.
Clark would move the show to Hollywood, the epicenter of youthcult, and begin to build his media empire, with AB (which became an hour-long Saturday-afternoon program), Where the Action Is, and later, a series capitalizing on the Rock and Roll Revival, et al.