- The Clay Cole Show
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The Clay Cole Show Also known as Rate the Records
Talent Teens
Teen Quiz
The Record Wagon[1]
Clay Cole's Discotek[2]Format Music, variety Broadcast Original channel WNTA-TV
WPIX-TVOriginal run 1959 – 1968 The Clay Cole Show (1959–1968) was a rock music television show based in New York City, hosted by Clay Cole.
First bnroadcast on WNTA-TV (now WNET) in September 1959 as Rate the Records, within two months the format was changed, and an hour-long Saturday-night show was added. In the summer months, the show was expanded to an hour, six nights a week, live from Palisades Amusement Park, where Chubby Checker first performed and danced "The Twist".[3][1] When WNTA-TV was sold in 1963, the show moved to WPIX-TV, where for five years it was successful, thanks to first-time guest appearances of the Rolling Stones (on a program with one other guest, The Beatles), Neil Diamond, Dionne Warwick, Simon & Garfunkel, Richie Havens, Tony Orlando, Blood, Sweat & Tears and The Rascals.[2][1] In 1965, the show was re-named Clay Cole's Discotek.[2] Clay produced a full hour with just one guest, Tony Bennett. Clay's all-star, ten-day Christmas Show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater holds the all-time box-office record for that theater.[4][5]
Cole was the first to introduce stand-up comics such as Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and Fannie Flagg to a teen audience.[3][1] He was the first to produce a full hour of all-black performers, his historic Salute to Motown[3][1] Unlike other teen music show hosts, Cole danced to the music he played on his shows; he was also unafraid to book lesser-known performers.[3][1][6]
In 1968, at the height of his show's popularity, Clay, unhappy with the shift in pop music to psychedelic acid rock and heavy metal, left the show.[1][3]
Clay Cole's memoir of the early years of rock and roll and live television, Sh-Boom! The Explosion of Rock 'n' Roll (1953-1968) has been published by Morgan James.[7][8] Cole died on December 18, 2010.[2][1][3][9]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Grimes, William (24 December 2010). "Clay Cole, Host of TeenageDance Shows, dies at 72". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/24/arts/television/24cole.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=clay%20cole&st=cse. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- ^ a b c d Grimes, William (26 December 2010). "Clay Cole; hosted teen show that drew rising musical stars". Boston.com. http://mobile.boston.com/art/29/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2010/12/26/clay_cole_hosted_teen_show_that_drew_rising_musical_stars/?single=1&p=2. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Hinckley, David (21 December 2010). "Clay Cole, legendary 1960s rock 'n' roll teen guru who introduced Rolling Stones, dies at almost 73". New York Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/12/21/2010-12-21_cole_clay_legendary_1960s_rock_n_roll_teen_guru_who_introduced_rolling_stones_di.html. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- ^ "Clay Cole and the Paramount Theater". Brooklyn Music. 3 August 2009. http://brooklynmusic.blogspot.com/2009/08/clay-cole-and-paramount-theater.html. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- ^ "Brooklyn Paramount". New York Theater Organ Society. http://www.nytos.org/historical.html. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- ^ Weintraub, Bernard (16 February 2003). "Pioneer of a Beat Is Still Riffing for His Due". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/16/arts/pioneer-of-a-beat-is-still-riffing-for-his-due.html?scp=19&sq=clay+cole&st=nyt&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- ^ Hinckley, David (3 December 2009). "City traffic reports are cutting through the gridlock". New York Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/12/03/2009-12-03_a_bumper_time_for_traffic_news.html. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- ^ Cole, Clay; Hinckley, David, eds (2009). Sh-Boom!:The Explosion of Rock 'n' Roll (1953-1968). Morgan James. pp. 318. ISBN 1600376398. http://www.amazon.com/Sh-Boom-Explosion-Rock-Roll-1953-1968/dp/1600376398. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- ^ Thedeadrockstarsclub.com - accessed December 2010
External links
Categories:- American variety television series
- Dance television shows
- Local music television shows in the United States
- 1950s American television series
- 1960s American television series
- 1959 television series debuts
- 1968 television series endings
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