Clay Cole Show
Encyclopedia
The Clay Cole Show 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
". 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
. In 1965, the show was re-named Clay Cole's Discotek. 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.
Cole was the first to introduce stand-up comics such as Richard Pryor
, George Carlin
, and Fannie Flagg
to a teen audience. He was the first to produce a full hour of all-black performers, his historic Salute to Motown 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.
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.
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. Cole died on December 18, 2010.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, hosted by Clay Cole
Clay Cole
Clay Cole was an American host and disk jockey, best known for his eponymous television dance program, The Clay Cole Show, which aired in New York City on WNTA-TV and WPIX-TV from 1959 to 1968.-Origins:...
.
First bnroadcast on WNTA-TV (now WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
) 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
Palisades Amusement Park
Palisades Amusement Park was an amusement park located in Bergen County, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City. It was situated atop the New Jersey Palisades lying partly in Cliffside Park and partly in Fort Lee. The park operated from 1898 until 1971, remaining one of the most...
, where Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker is an American singer-songwriter. He is widely known for popularizing the twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard's R&B hit "The Twist"...
first performed and danced "The Twist
The Twist (song)
"The Twist" is a twelve bar blues song that gave birth to the Twistdance craze. The song was written and originally released in 1959 by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters as a B-side but his version was only a moderate 1960 hit, peaking at 28 on the Billboard Hot 100...
". When WNTA-TV was sold in 1963, the show moved to WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
-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
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
), Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
, Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
, Simon & Garfunkel, Richie Havens
Richie Havens
Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
, Tony Orlando
Tony Orlando
Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis , better known as Tony Orlando, is an American show business professional, best known as the lead singer of the group Tony Orlando and Dawn in the early 1970s. Discovered by producer Don Kirshner, Orlando had songs on the charts in 1961 when he was 16, "Halfway to...
, Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American music group, originally formed in 1967 in New York City. Since its beginnings in 1967, the band has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a multitude of musical styles...
and The Rascals
The Rascals
The Rascals were an American blue-eyed soul group initially active during the years 1965–72. The band released numerous top ten singles in North America during the mid- and late-1960s, including the U.S. #1 hits "Good Lovin'" , "Groovin'" , and "People Got to Be Free"...
. In 1965, the show was re-named Clay Cole's Discotek. Clay produced a full hour with just one guest, Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
. Clay's all-star, ten-day Christmas Show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater
Brooklyn Paramount Theater
The Paramount Theatre is a former movie palace located at 1 University Plaza at the intersection of Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues in downtown Brooklyn, New York. Originally opened in 1928, the building has been owned by Long Island University since 1962...
holds the all-time box-office record for that theater.
Cole was the first to introduce stand-up comics such as Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
, George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
, and Fannie Flagg
Fannie Flagg
Patricia Neal , known professionally as Fannie Flagg, is an American actress, comedienne and author. She is perhaps best-known for the 1988 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which was adapted into the 1991 movie Fried Green Tomatoes; Flagg was nominated for an Academy Award for...
to a teen audience. He was the first to produce a full hour of all-black performers, his historic Salute to Motown 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.
In 1968, at the height of his show's popularity, Clay, unhappy with the shift in pop music to psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
acid rock
Acid rock
Acid rock is a form of psychedelic rock, which is characterized with long instrumental solos, few lyrics and musical improvisation. Tom Wolfe describes the LSD-influenced music of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Iron Butterfly, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Cream,...
and heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, left the show.
Clay Cole's memoir of the early years of rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and live television, Sh-Boom
Sh-Boom
"Sh-Boom" is an early doo-wop song. It was written by James Keyes, Claude Feaster, Carl Feaster, Floyd F. McRae, and James Edwards, members of the R&B vocal group The Chords and published in 1954. It was a U.S...
! The Explosion of Rock 'n' Roll (1953-1968) has been published by Morgan James. Cole died on December 18, 2010.
See also
- Buddy Deane Show
- Groovy ShowGroovy ShowThe Groovy Show is a half-hour live dance program aired on weekday afternoons on KHJ-TV Channel 9, in the Los Angeles, California market from 1967 to 1970.-Overview:...
- The Milt Grant ShowThe Milt Grant ShowThe Milt Grant Show was a Washington, D.C. teen dance party program aired on WTTG from 1956 to 1961. It was hosted by a former radio deejay, who recognized the untapped potential of the teen rock and roll music market, and convinced the management to let him host a dance party show - but only if he...
- Wing DingWing DingWing Ding was an annual concert held by WXRX 104.9 FM, in Rockford, Illinois, during Memorial Day weekend, that started years ago as a chicken wing competition but later evolved into a full blown rock concert. It started in 1993 and the final Wing Ding took place on May 24, 2009...
- John WatersJohn Waters (filmmaker)John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
- Brooklyn Paramount TheaterBrooklyn Paramount TheaterThe Paramount Theatre is a former movie palace located at 1 University Plaza at the intersection of Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues in downtown Brooklyn, New York. Originally opened in 1928, the building has been owned by Long Island University since 1962...