"Good Trouble" --A Short History of "Shindig!"...

...and How it Broke Down America's Color Barrier in a Black & White World.

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To understand the genesis of "Shindig!", you have to go a bit farther back in time, and do a bit of traveling-- to the increasingly restless mood of England in the late 1950s, as a booming generation of post-war youngsters started to come of age.

With little for them to call their own in the popular media of the day-- programming on both UK radio and television was unremittingly adult-oriented, and well, pretty square, at best-- the prospect of their generation developing a "voice" must have appeared pretty bleak.

And then one day in early 1957, unexpectedly, there was "Six-Five Special."

The brainchild of an Oxford-educated, BBC-trainee by the name of Jack Good, "Six-Five Special" (so-named for its Saturday evening 6:05 PM time slot) was a breath of fresh air-- and a chance for the British teenagers to actually be **seen** dancing and enjoying the music of the day, with performances by popular stars such as Petula Clark and Lonnie Donegan.

Although no doubt surprised and delighted with the almost-overnight popularity of the show, The Beeb was not sold on the lasting appeal of this so-called "'rock and roll" to the mass audience, and in any event was in no way interested in airing a program solely dedicated to the teen set. To that end, they prevailed upon Good to include public service, educational & informational content in the program, an edict which Good fought at every opportunity.

Finally tiring of the Corporation's meddling, Jack Good left the show in 1958.

If there was any concern among the English youth about the future of pop music on UK television, it was groundless-- Good, dedicated to the purity of his programming vision, briskly set up shop over at rival ITV and was given free reign to produce the show that he wanted the "Six-Five Special" to be-- and he delivered in spades.

If "Six-Five" had been a breath of fresh air, ITV's new "Oh Boy!" was a lightning bolt that galvanized the young British viewing public.

Viewing footage of the few remaining "Oh Boy!" episodes today, it's easy to see why-- each episode of the program was broadcast live, so the framing, pacing and every camera shot would have to have been meticulously planned in advance, with nearly no room for error during the actual broadcast. With so many music segments blending as seamlessly as possible into one another, the stage floor direction must have rivaled the choreography of a military assault.

Of course, with the frenetic, rapid-fire pacing of the sight and sound (courtesy of director Rita Gillespie, who Jack Good had lured away from the BBC), the show's excitement is absolutely palpable. There are ragged edges to the proceedings, of course (with that much adrenaline coming off of the performers, how could there **not** be?), but the program's breakneck pace is exciting, engaging & distinctive, even with over 60 years of distance. And the teenagers in Britain, with someone finally giving **their** music a showcase, absolutely lapped it up.

With success, of course, came pressure and more conflict with network executives.(A situation that's not unique to the BBC or the United States, it seems). After a year and a half of repeatedly (and sometimes quite heatedly) defending his production decisions, Good left "Oh Boy!", determined to ply his trade elsewhere.

By 1960, although he continued to have success in the UK entertainment industry, Good realized that was not enough to satisfy him.

It was during this time that Fate would intervene... as part of his record production work, Jack struck up a friendship with a young American songwriter named Sharon Sheeley. Sheeley had already made a name for herself by becoming the youngest woman to write a #1 hit single in the U.S. ('Poor Little Fool", for Ricky Nelson). At the time of their meeting, she was in the UK accompanying her boyfriend, singer Eddie Cochran, on his tour of the country.

In April of that year, however, she was a passenger in the car accident that killed Cochran, and seriously injured singer Gene Vincent. Sheeley herself suffered a broken pelvis in the crash, and returned to the United States to convalesce. After a year of recovering from her injuries and grieving the loss of Cochran, she met, fell in love and married a young Los Angeles disk jockey named Jimmy O'Neill.

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O'Neill was a rising star in the L.A. market. He was one of the youngest disk jockeys in the country, and his was the first voice broadcast on the future-powerhouse radio station KRLA, when it switched over to its dominant Top-40 format. By 1962 , in addition to his day job, O'Neill was also hosting a local TV variety/talk show "The Jim O'Neill Show" on station KCOP. (Of note-- O'Neill's house band for the program was "The Leon Russell Band"-- fronted by the 20-year old future rock legend).

Jack Good & Sharon Sheeley had remained in touch over the past two years, and it was her that he reached out to in 1962, when his restless spirit led him on a new quest: to bring his Midas touch across the ocean, and produce a teen music show in America.

Good, of course, was aware of his competition-- Dick Clark's Philadelphia juggernaut "American Bandstand". But as he would later relate, he was characteristically unimpressed with what he saw:

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"I saw this so-called special done by a bloke, Dick Clark, and I'd already come to the conclusion that Dick Clark's shows were hopeless, and I could do better."

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Naturally, if a better show was to be made, Jack Good felt it was his destiny to be the one to make it. And for that matter, with "Oh Boy!", he'd already done it before... and what was there to stop him from doing it again?

So, with renewed determination, Jack Good decided to do just that, and bring the spirit & excitement of "Oh Boy!" to American television.

After relocating temporarily to L.A., and re-establishing contact with the newly-wed Sharon Sheeley, over the course of the next few months, Jack, Sharon & Jimmy O'Neill hammered out the refinements to the "Oh Boy!" format that would help it to translate to the American television market. Not the least of which would be the professionalism, polish and flexibility that would come from videotaping the program, rather than attempting to broadcast it live.

While often given credit for creating "Shindig!", Jimmy O'Neill was always quick to try and set the record straight:

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"...I don't want to take anything away from Jack Good. It was his baby, one hundred percent. But obviously my experience as a successful disc jockey in Los Angeles and my friendship with Jack gave me considerable influence with him."

"But, the last word belonged to Jack Good... until, of course, the network executives got involved (laughs)."

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Satisfied at last that the rough edges of the format had been smoothed out enough to interest the networks, it was decided that Jack would finance the taping of a full pilot show, using $15,000.00 of his savings. And so, in early February, 1963, the group met at a rented CBS sound stage to try and bring Jack Good's vision to a new life.

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Pilot #1:
"Young America Swings the World"
(Recorded 2/2/63 - NEVER BROADCAST)

With: The Leon Russell Band, (featuring Glen Campbell, David Gates, and Hal Blaine)

Featuring:
Jackie De Shannon - "Sing Sing Sing."

P.J. Proby - "Endless Sleep" & "Turn Me Loose."

The Chambers Brothers, Clydie King and the Sweet Things - "Peppermint Twist" & "What'd I Say?"

Tura Johnson (from Sweden) - sings "Personality" in Italian.

Scooter Teague - "Mack the Knife."

Jesse Collins - "Believe What You Say."

Also appearing:
The Chaps
The Young America Girls

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Here's an excerpt from the program:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1421312367936871

An impressive first effort. O'Neill handled the hosting duties, bringing Leon Russell and his band along from the KCOP show, to serve as the musical anchor to the proceedings-- note the alums from the fabled L.A.-based "Wrecking Crew" in the lineup!

If not exactly ripped from the Top-40 charts, the guest & music selection skews decidedly young, though perhaps owing to budgetary restrictions, the program lacks a real "name" artist at this point.

But although he drew upon a proven format, and had his ever-faithful director Rita Gillespie calling the camera shots, the resulting silence from the network offices as they shopped the show around town in the weeks and months to follow was deafening... and ultimately, defeating.

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NEXT: "Young America" gets an unexpected renewed lease on life, a new identity, and travels to the country.

 

After weeks, and then months, of dashed hopes and disappointments in his effort to drum up interest in the "Young America" pilot, Jack Good turned his attentions back to England in 1963-- just in time to bear witness to a sea-change in the British music scene: the rise of four young men from Liverpool, who seemed to be single-handedly re-writing the record books in the British music industry.

Meanwhile, still blissfully unaware of the revolution that was brewing overseas, Jimmy O'Neill continued his efforts to expand his own career. In mid-1963, O'Neill was asked by an ABC executive to audition for a spot as an announcer on one of their daytime game shows. Per the exec's request, O'Neill brought along a sample of his television work for their review. He picked what was probably the most professionally-produced sample he had: a kinescope of the "Young America" pilot episode.

The ABC executive in question, a young Vice-President of Daytime Programming named Chuck Barris, called O'Neill the next day to tell him two things: Jimmy wasn't going to get the job that he auditioned for-- but Barris was **very** interested to learn more about the film that he had dropped off...


Chuck Barris, with wife Lyn, and columnist Hedda Hopper

With the lifeline of a much-needed expression of interest by an executive at the network, the program began moving through ABC's chain of command for approval. Almost immediately, though, there were skirmishes. Although interested in the concept of the program, the network, flush in the success of its newly-renewed college campus hit "Hootenanny", justifiably felt that it had its thumb firmly on the pulse of what the youth of America wanted to watch.

But there was undeniably **something** about this odd new program that grabbed the eye & ear... maybe the target audience just needed to be shifted a bit. Oh, and that title...

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Pilot #2
Shindig [Country & Western format, hosted By Roy Clark]
(Recorded 1/17/64)
(Broadcast Date: 5/9/64; KABC-TV Los Angeles ONLY)

Opening medley (song excerpts):

1. Roy Clark - "I'm Movin' On,"
2. The Collins Kids - "Oh Lonesome Me"
3. The Wellingtons & The Eligibles - "Gotta Travel On"
4. Roy Clark - "Y'all Come"
(end of opening medley)

Roy Clark - show introduction

Chris Crosby - "Honeycomb"

Dodie Stevens - "Jambalaya"

P.J. Proby - "Cumberland Gap" and "Rock Island Line"

Johnny Cash - "Bad News"

Roy Clark introduction
The Wellingtons - "God Did a Wonderful Thing"

Roy Clark - "Cowboy Boots"

The Collins Kids - "Night Train to Memphis"

Roy Clark - "Deacon Jones"

Johnny Cash - "Dark as a Dungeon"

Finale (with closing credits):
P.J. Proby - "Hitchhike to Georgia"

*****************************************************************

The news of the American network's proposed changes had to have been a classic example of attraction/repulsion to Jack Good. While he no doubt was gratified to see some portion of his vision come to fruition, this program in no way reflected the interests and tastes of his target teenage audience. One dead giveaway to his ambivalence about the production: both his name and Rita Gillespie's are the **last** names on the show's concluding credit roll.

That's not necessarily to dismiss the final product. Although ultimately shelved by the network, the country pilot itself is... interesting. If the "Shindig!" we know had done a country episode during its run, it would have looked a lot like this. Although Jimmy O'Neill and the Blossoms are nowhere to be found, Rita Gillespie's distinctive direction and the sparse, dramatic lighting of the show's sets lends an air of "Shindig!" familiarity to the program, while simultaneously radically transforming the idea of what a country music show could look like.

While much of the musical selection seems to be fairly straightforward country music, the production style is anything but traditional. From the swing-y beat of the band, to the hip-shaking moves of the background dancers, this is decidedly **not** your father's "Country Jamboree."

Roy Clark is an affable, if not particularly charismatic host, and has a nice showcase number in the final segment of the program. While Jack Good's erstwhile protege, P.J. Proby, gets a fair amount of screen time in this pilot, the featured star of the show is the ever-popular Johnny Cash.

In the sudden wake of Beatlemania, though, the network apparently felt the need to get some reassurance that they were on the right track with their format tweaks. And the best way to accomplish that was to let the public decide. So with little-to-no fanfare, on May 9, 1964, Los Angeles TV station KABC gave the only public broadcast of either of the two "Shindig!" pilots.



There is no record of the ratings for that one-off broadcast, but it should be noted that Beatlemania continued largely unabated, both in Los Angeles and across the rest of the country, and P.J. Proby did not find it necessary to "buy a suit and get a haircut" as Roy Clark had joked in his introduction.

NEXT: Jack gets another chance to take the helm... and almost puts the ship on the rocks!

 

By mid-1964, the viewing landscape had changed. ABC knew that the days of "Hootenanny" were numbered. The corrosive nature of the network's ban of Pete Seeger and the The Weavers had spilled into the press, and had resulted in several public announcements from performers to boycott any appearance on the program. Additionally, it was clear that the show's new mix of Folk, Jazz & Country was noticeably out-of-step with the record-buying habits of America's teenagers.

But if "Hootenanny" was no longer the ticket to the newly-coveted "youth market", then what could replace it on the network's Fall program schedule? Who had the ear of all of the teenagers that were out buying records from all of these new British bands...?

Amazingly, someone remembered Jack Good.

When the call from the network came this time around, one could forgive Jack Good for feeling a rush of sweet vindication. After having been forced to oversee the production of a thoroughly-bastardized version of his pet project, he had spent his time since then cultivating important new contacts in the local British music scene. And no doubt was as surprised as anyone at how rapidly "the local British music scene" became "the world's music scene". Not the least of those new contacts was with Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager, and the guiding force behind a stable of chart-topping British artists.

The Beatles themselves, having cut their teeth on "Six-Five Special" & "Oh Boy!" , were already enormous fans of the producer, and readily agreed for him to create one of their first dedicated TV productions, "Around the Beatles", which would proved to be a smash UK ratings success in the spring of 1964.

(For completists only: Interestingly, Jack Good's friendship with Brian Epstein was not his only "six degrees" connection to the Beatles... Good had also featured ace guitarist Tony Sheridan and his group the Wreckers on several episodes of "Oh Boy!", some two years before Sheridan went to Germany and recorded his first Top-20 German hit record, "My Bonnie"-- using a certain scruffy young group from Liverpool as his backing band!).

On June 11, 1964, the article below appeared in the Los Angeles Times. (It must have been reassuring to prospective viewers that ABC was promising that "Shindig" would have **both** kinds of talent...)



With the success of "Around the Beatles" and Jack Good's burgeoning Rolodex of popular British bands to call upon, ABC committed to giving the program another chance. Could Jack possibly come back and show them exactly what he had in mind?

At long last, given the green light to do things his way, Jack agreed.

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Shindig
Episode #0 [Rejected version of Episode #1]
(Recorded 7/11/64 - NEVER BROADCAST)

Opening medley (song excerpts):
1. Delaney Bramlett & the Angels - "Tom Dooley"
2. The Blossoms - "Don't Hang Up"
3. Pat and Lolly Vegas - "A Hard Day's Night"
4. The Hollywood All Stars and the Blossoms - "Shout"
5. The Righteous Brothers - "Shout" & "(Up Above My Head) There's Music in the Air"
6. Little Richard - "Joy, Joy, Joy"
(end of medley).

Jimmy O'Neill intro
The Hollywood All Stars - "Jamaica Ska."

The Righteous Brothers - "Little Latin Lupe Lu."

Jody Miller - "Saved."

Delaney Bramlett - "Gambling Man"

The Angels - "Chapel of Love."

Pat and Lolly Vegas - "La Bamba" & "Twist and Shout" medley.

Delaney Bramlett - "Memphis."

The Blossoms - "(I Do The) Shimmy Shimmy."

The Righteous Brothers - "Koko Joe."

Finale (with closing credits):
Little Richard - "Bama Lama Bama Loo" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"

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This time, it was the network's turn to grit their teeth and smile. While the finished program was visually striking and musically unassailable, it had to be obvious to everyone in the executive suite that there could be, er... **problems** ahead.

Jack Good had presented ABC with a polished, updated program that had a swinging beat, a phenomenal visual pace, a clutch of popular songs (even one written by The Beatles!)... and had capped it off with a frenetic, sweaty performance by Little Richard that was shot in such a way that it guaranteed that it would never be allowed to air in the southern United States.

Little Richard had forsaken his rock-legend past some six years before, to pursue his religious beliefs. But with that, had come a corresponding lack of publicity and even relevance in the popular marketplace. So 1964 found him at a crossroads-- and his resolution of the conflict between stardom & salvation was, if not to embrace the rock and roll lifestyle, to at least work within it. And though he opened the show with a smattering of the traditional gospel standard "Joy, Joy, Joy", his finale left no doubt that (to paraphrase the title of his then-current album) "Little Richard Was Back"!

His blistering versions of "Bama Lama Bama Loo" and (somewhat surprisingly) Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On", shot largely in extreme close-up by director Rita Gillespie, comprise one of the most compelling performances of the entire "Shindig!" series.

Jimmy O'Neill, reflecting on the reactions to the show:

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"Left to Jack Good's own devices, the show would've had a very rough, Rock 'n' Roll, rowdy look and feel to it, even more so than finally got on the air."

"... the [proposed first show], which starred Little Richard, was rough and rowdy, and you know, pretty heavy Rock for the early 1960's. I knew anybody who knew anybody that had any authority in network television, and the response was almost identical from every one of them. They'd all watch it, glued to the television monitor, and then at the end they would all go, "Wow, fantastic, but too much for American television. The Midwest isn't ready for it." Somebody was always not ready for it. We were just horrified that they could have such a personal positive reaction to the show, and then make the judgment that the public wasn't ready for it."

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Despite whatever potential misgivings they may have had, faced with the necessity of allowing the program to continue production, ABC issued the final green light for "Shindig!" to join the network's lineup. Surely, they reasoned, any production disputes could be smoothed out, once the show was underway...

[As a final note-- although the money was spent for its production, no part of this intended debut episode was **ever** incorporated into the run of the show-- instead, a new episode featuring the Everly Bothers and Sam Cooke was commissioned to lead off the season in September of 1964. This "lost" "Shindig" debut episode remains unaired to this day.]

 

Couple of links added, and some updated information...

- Kevin

 

Thanks, James...

At the risk of editorializing a bit, I have never seen a network kill a golden goose the way that ABC did after they wrestled "Shindig!" away from Jack Good.

Season 1 (Sept. 1964 through mid-Sept. 1965): Astounding, and frequently mind-blowing in its diversity.

Season 2 (Mid-Sept. 1965 through Jan. 1966): Frequently embarrassing, and often a thinly-disguised shill for the network's unrelated projects, with little-to-no tie to popular music.

- Kevin

 

Well, I see what you're saying, but he's actually not bad-- with the Shindig! house band & the Blossoms as support, he's actually a decent solution to the budget-breaking prospect of having to hire more on-camera "star" performers.

- Kevin

 

Wow-- thanks!

I just sort of fell into researching the history of "Shindig!" somewhat unexpectedly... but I have to say, it's compelling viewing. Even with the inevitable amounts of fluffy "filler" that comes with producing a weekly show, the program is so incredibly rich with stunning performances (particularly during Jack Good's tenure), that it's a pleasure to watch, again & again.

- Kevin

 

More coming... I promise!!

- Kevin

 

Be careful what you wish for...

-Kevin

 

September 16, 1964. After a tumultuous period of further re-tooling and behind-the-scenes negotiation with the network, Opening Night was here.

What sort of negotiation & re-tooling…? Well, it turned out that the featured stars of the show weren’t the only target of the network executives…:

Even before the series was picked up, Jack had already been going back and forth with the ABC executives about The Blossoms— after seeing them perform live in late 1963, he enthusiastically wanted to sign the group for the show. At that time, the group consisted of Darlene Love & Fanita James, and their newest member, Gracia Nitzsche (wife of pop arranger Jack Nitzsche) who had recently joined the group, replacing Gloria Jones.

However, in perhaps a foreshadowing of things to come, even this relatively minor decision proved problematic. To begin with, Jack discovered to his chagrin that more than a few of the executives at ABC were, in his words, “rednecks”. After a while, it was clear that while Jack **might** be able to sell the idea of three Black girls as background singers, the network executives were adamant that a portion of their crucial viewing demographic were simply not going to accept the current mixed-race line-up of The Blossoms on their TV screens, in the background or not. In an effort to appease the network, Gracia Nitzsche left the group, and was then replaced by Jean King before the first show was recorded.

Even after that, however, ABC wasn’t satisfied…:

Darlene Love:

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“We had already been told by Jack Good that the network didn’t want the Blossoms on that show, because we were black. Nobody knew this. This was 1964. They didn’t feel that the audience would accept a black group on a television show every week in their homes, that’s the way they put it. Especially in the South. Jack Good told them, 'Well, if you don’t want my girls, then we’ll take the show somewhere else.”

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With that, the matter was settled… for now. Taping for the first program was set for August 10, 1964.

Having had the “practice” of Episode #0, The taping for what became Episode #1 went fairly smoothly. On a strictly technical note, even from this first show, the hours of advance preparation showed—the innovative mix of live vocals sung to pre-recorded backing tracks, allowed for the possibility of multiple takes, if necessary, without losing the “spirit” of the performance. From a production standpoint, this also meant that the show could be plotted & timed extremely accurately, since each song’s length would not vary.


Darlene Love, on the show’s production:

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"When we taped Shindig!, we had to be at the studio at six o'clock in the morning on our tape day. And it ended up being a four-day job, 'cause we'd go into the recording studio and do the tracks — we put all the backgrounds down of all the singers, or whoever was going to be on the show that week, which would take two days. And then we'd go into the television studio and block [plan the camera movements for the taping]. Then the next day we would go in and tape the show. So that was a four-day week, no matter what (else) we did, for two years."

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The final product was typical for Jack Good’s tenure: a polished, rapid-fire affair that strongly reflected his wide-ranging musical sensibilities, albeit with some key concessions to the network’s concerns. It was a little something for everyone… along with a typically sly bit of Jack Good subversion stuck in near the end.

A good example of the uneasy compromise between the network brass and the program’s production staff is the show’s opening medley— which, it’s easy to see the network clearly intended should more closely resemble an “Up With People” TV special than a televised teenage rave-up. Unlike Little Richard in the rejected Episode #0, this episode’s special guest star, Sam Cooke, is nowhere to be seen in the opening.

The show opens from a blackout, and a young woman strides onstage and sits on a stool illuminated by a single spotlight. She picks up a nearby guitar, faces the studio audience and begins to sing…:


“Up above my head, there’s music in the air…”





Shindig!
Episode #1
(Recorded 8/10/64)
Broadcast: 9/16/1964
Director: Rita Gillespie

Opening medley (song excerpts):

1. "(Up Above My Head) There's Music in the Air" (Jackie and Gayle)
2. "Yes, Indeed" (The Wellingtons and the Blossoms)
3. "Gonna Build a Mountain" (Jackie & Gayle)
4. "(Up Above My Head) There's Music in the Air" reprise (Jackie and Gayle, the Righteous Brothers and the Everly Brothers)
(end of medley)

--Shindig dancers (singing to picture of Bobby Sherman) - "If I Had a Talking Picture of You" (1920's song)

--Bobby Sherman - "Back Home Again In Indiana"

--The Wellingtons – "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena"

--Jackie and Gayle - "The Girl from Ipanema"

--Sam Cooke - "Tennessee Waltz"

--The Everly Brothers - "You're the One I Love"

--Donna Loren - "Wishin' and Hopin'"

--The Righteous Brothers - "This Little Girl of Mine"

--Alan Sues (comedian, doing an imitation of Liberace)

--Bobby Sherman - "Hello Dolly" (duet with Shindig dancer Maria Ghava)

--The Everly Brothers - "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo"

--Sam Cooke - "Blowing in the Wind"

--Alan Sues (again, as Liberace)

Finale: The Everly Brothers and Sam Cooke - "Lucille" (with closing credits)


To apply a critical eye, much of the material in the first episode is fairly, well… mild. There are reasonably current pop tunes mixed with some decidedly odd choices (“Tzena, Tzena, Tzena”…?), and perhaps a bit too much of the ever-precious Bobby Sherman; but The Righteous Brothers and The Everly Brothers balance things out nicely.

Sam Cooke’s first guest appearance on the show, about 10 minutes into the proceedings, featured his then-recent update of Patti Page’s 1950s hit, “The Tennessee Waltz”. To what was no doubt the immense relief of the network, there was nothing controversial there.

It should be emphasized at this point that there was no “rock journalism” in 1964. As “Shindig!” went out over the airwaves each week, there was no one noting the significance of who appeared and what was shown. The few TV critics who deigned to mention the program at all dismissed it jokingly as noisy fodder for the teen set, or a welcome surprise for lonely old men. As with many of television’s historic series, the true significance of the show would only become clear in retrospect.

That’s why, with the benefit of history, it’s tremendously thrilling watch the number that provided “Shindig!” with its first truly transcendent performance— Sam Cooke’s second appearance on the show—a swinging, effortlessly-delivered re-imagining of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind”, which featured the singer taking his message directly to the audience, as he strode into the midst of a group of teenage fans in the front row of the studio seats to finish the number.

(Cooke had been tremendously affected by the depth of the lyrics of Dylan’s song, and had incorporated it into his live concert performances during his 1964 tours. It had formed the inspiration for Cooke to pen his own protest classic earlier that summer, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, which would be released after his tragic death, some three months later.)

After a final work-up of the ever-popular “Lucille”, featuring Sam Cooke & The Everly Brothers on acoustic guitars, the show’s closing credits rolled, and the debut was history.

Bill Medley (of the Righteous Brothers):

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“I loved the show so much because it was such a fast-moving, hard-paced, ass-kickin’ show. I think Jack Good was a very, very bright guy. He knew the show had to have all that balls in it, but he was smart enough to know that it was still ABC television. The band was stupid good. They were just unbelievable. Billy Preston, Leon Russell – these are the real guys. Larry Knechtel was playing bass on the show, and he was one of the great piano players. James Burton was in the Shindogs. I mean, those are guys that you’re still hearing about today.

I think that was the greatest thing about Shindig! It was legitimate rock ‘n’ roll, and in those days you didn’t get a lot of that.

And go figure, it took some guy from England to come over and show Americans how to do what they learned from us.”

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Jack Good, of course, knew that the key to the success of “Shindig!” was to keep his youthful audience excited, and coming back for more—and as “some guy from England” who was holding a giant ace in the hole, it was clear that this was the opportune time to play it.

A little while after the debut episode, this 20-second promotional spot began running...:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mSv7VS3tTE

Next: “The Americans are coming…!! the Americans are coming…!!”

 

...and you can quote me on that!

- Kevin