Im a typical housewife, says Peanuts. The Buddy Deane show aired 6 times a week and had a dance committee just like in hairspray. I got a little power-crazed, admits Joe. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. That really hit home then., He adde, That scene where Tracy and [Link] are making out outside and the homeless guy walks up the street singing, that is exactly true. Mary Lou, the Annette Funicello of the show, was the talk of teenage Baltimore. In 1957, Deane was chosen by former WITH associate Joel Chaseman to host "The Buddy Deane Show," a dance show for teenagers on WJZ-TV Channel 13. Hairspray, which started as a camp film with a modest $2.7 million budget, grew into a popular and commercially successful Broadway musical and movie. From 1957 to 1963, only white teens were allowed to attend the weekday broadcasts of the Buddy Deane Show, with the exception of one Monday each month when black teenagers filled the studio (the . Committee members included Mike Miller, Charlie Bledsoe, Ron Osher, Mary Lou Raines, Pat(ricia) Tacey, and Cathy Schmink. From then on, all bare shoulders were covered with a piece of net. The Deaners didnt mind. Image Credit: OzNet.com Winston Joseph Deane was born on August 2, 1924, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Mr. Deane hosted a crowd of exuberant teens, who danced to the music of live rock bands, including many name acts. . Buddy called me up before the cameras, and I wasnt dressed my best. 2023 IndieWire Media, LLC. 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. In a long list of reasons why we find it difficult to wait for freedom, King writes: When you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she cant go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. Many years later they married. It was called The Waverly Theater back then, and Waters, looking dapper in a purple pinstriped suit, recalled that night as one of the last times he saw his friend and muse Divine before his death. The school tried to throw me out before. 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. At her appearances at the record hops, kids would actually scream when youd get out of the car: Theres Mary Lou! A special. 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. Hairspray encourages its audience to take the fight to integrate a teenage TV show seriously, but it does so through songs, dances, and costumes that celebrate and satirize the 60s. The first big stars were Bobbi Bums and Freddy Oswinkle, according to Arlene, but no matter how big anyone got, someone came along who was even bigger. Joe Cash and Joan Teves became the shows first royalty. Buddy Deane was the host of a Baltimore dance show that ran on TV from 1957 to 1964 six days a week. Yet Joe was a dropout when he went on the show and then, once famous, went back to finish. It was similar to Philadelphia's American Bandstand. And they all came together on the Buddy Deane Show, Baltimore's legendary teen dance show. Deane began his broadcasting career at KLXR in Little Rock, Arkansas. It suggests a way of understanding race that allows viewers to disavow bigotryframed in the story as the belief that white and black Americans should live in separate sphereswithout acknowledging, confronting, or seeking to overturn the actual structures of discrimination. . So the rules were bent a little; the big ones, the ones with the fan mail, were allowed to stay. It is hosted by the titular Corny Collins, with the exception of the monthly Rhythm and Blues special which is hosted by Motormouth Maybelle . 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. Black History Month . Waters took inspiration from the real-life Buddy Deane Show, a local dance party program that ran from 1957 to 1964 in the Maryland area. The films executive producer Craig Zadan argued that what makes Hairspray work is, you never feel like were on a soap box, or were preaching to you, or were saying this is a lesson you need to learn and yet, hopefully, you come away from it with something serious to talk about afterwards. There is no guarantee that viewers will take up these discussions, but Hairspray offers plenty of material for those who choose to do so. Ric Ocasek as the Beatnik cat; Pia Zadora as the Beatnik chick; Production. Some of the old Committee kept up with the times and made the transition with ease. "How 'The Buddy Deane Show' really went off the air is the white kids crashed Negro Day to integrate it. . As well, a show was broadcast from a local farm in Westminster, Maryland. All Rights Reserved. Waters based the main storyline and "The Corny Collins Show" on the real-life "The Buddy Deane Show" and racial events surrounding it. The Buddy Deane Show was taken off the air because home station WJZ-TV was unwilling to integrate black and white dancers. Though black and white . In Little Rock, white teens went from protesting integration at Central High School to dancing in the afternoon on Steves Show. With the show beginning at 2:30 in some years, cutting out of school early was common. Chaseman had this idea for a dance party show, with Buddy as the disc jockey, and Buddy asked Arlene to go to work for him. Interviews with leading film and TV creators about their process and craft. Another royal Deaner couple who met on the air and later married was Gene Snyder and Linda Warehime. At just 10 years old, he and a friend set up their own radio station in a chicken coop that belonged to Deane's mother. I remember it well, recalls Evanne. Deane also held dances at various Maryland American Legion posts and National Guard armories which were not taped or broadcast on television. All rights reserved. We used to go to stand in front of Reads Drugstore, and people would ask for our autograph.. Museum Day; Art; Books; Design; Food; Music & Film; Video; Newsletter; Travel. The Buddy Deane Show was over. Ninfa O. Barnard Special to The Commercial By representing this realityin bubble-gum, technicolor clarityHairspray does something that pure documentation, at times, cant: It makes a difficult part of a nations history accessible (and entertaining) to millions of viewers. The musical is based on John Waters' 1988 campy movie of the same name. Here is the new video celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Buddy Deane Show and the former Catonsville Community College (now CCBC). Even today Gene and Linda are the quintessential Deaner couple, still socializing with many Committee members, very protective of the memory, and among the first to lead a dance at the emotion-packed reunions. 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. This man approached me, telegrammed me, showed up at the show. Deane helped the Bill Haley and the Comets song "Rock Around the Clock" become a hit in Baltimore a full year before it became a worldwide success by promoting their music while at WITH. That was our whole social life, being a Buddy Deaner, says Gene. The Buddy Deane Show was a teen dance television show, created by Zvi Shoubin, hosted by Winston "Buddy" Deane (19242003), and aired on WJZ-TV (Channel 13), the ABC affiliate station in Baltimore from 1957 until 1964. At first I was so shy I hid behind the Coke machines., But Evanne used to come right home and head for the TV. You cant do this. I remember once we all got arrested at the drive-in for underage drinking, and the black kids didnt get out and the white kids did. Im Joe, too. There was a change in the works., Part of that change was the racial integration movement. Originally an all-white teen show with a monthly "Negro . The Committee, initially recruited from local teen centers, was to act as hosts and dance with the guests. The early look of the Committee was typically 50s. While he wasnt on the committee, Waters occasionally danced on the show as a guest. The story also locates racial prejudice in a single character, Velma Von Tussle (played in the live musical by Kristin Chenoweth), which enables the other white characters to remain largely innocent bystanders to the discrimination faced by the programs black teenagers. Originally an all-white teen show with a monthly "Negro . Oh sure, if you were Joe College [pre-preppie], you just didnt do The Deane Show. Did you ever tum into a Joe College? I ask innocently. Once a month the show was all black. "Do You Love Me" by The Contours, or "Hide and Go Seek" by Bunker Hill). 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. 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. It was a fluke. It was the era of rock n' roll ducktail, pegged pants, and beehive haridos. Nationally, American Bandstand blocked black teens from entering the studio during its years in Philadelphia, despite host Dick Clarks claims to the contrary. Deane died in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on July 16, 2003, after suffering a stroke. (97) Soon after, he and his family moved to Memphis, Tenn. You Cant Stop the Beat, for example, is an upbeat dance number that resolves the issue of segregation on the Corny Collins Show. It aired for two and a half hours a day, six days a week. and later on, growing up, it was a definite blow: reality. I still have a whole box of fan mail, says Evanne. American Bandstand, one of the most popular television shows ever, broadcast from Philadelphia in the late fifties, a time when that city had become a battleground for civil rights. While at WITH, Deane was the first Baltimore disk jockey to capitalize on the new musical phenomenon that was rock 'n' roll. Buddy Deane used to boast that every major rock 'n' roll star of the era appeared on the show, except Elvis Presley and Rick Nelson. 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. They are still referred to, good naturedly by some, as the Ken and Barbie of the show. Gene, a member of the first Committee, and I underline first, later became president of the Board. "The Buddy Deane Show" ran on Baltimore's WJZ-TV from 1957 to 1964. [citation needed]. When Barry Levinson, another Baltimore native, requested video from the show for his film Diner, the station told him it had no footage. It was a real kick! Her fame even brought an offer to join the circus. Why not do The Deane Show on TV again? Dick Clark patterned his ABC-TV show, Where the Action Is, after local remotes done by Deane in Maryland. Almost all dancers wore swim wear and beach attire, with music provided by WJZ-TV. [1], Deane's dance party television show debuted in 1957 and was, for a time, the most popular local show in the United States. 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. But Hairspray also resonates for at least one of the same reasons it did in the 80s: It shows how seemingly innocent moments in popular culture were also sites of struggle over who was worthy of being a counted as a somebody in America. On the one hand, the storys feel-good conclusion implies that colorblindness is the silver bullet that ends racial discrimination, that good intentions and individual acts of bravery are enough to bring about harmony. 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