If the boys dared to sport chino pants, the crease had to be razor sharp. If you were a teenager in Baltimore in the late 1950s and early 1960s, you watched The Buddy Deane Show. When the final bell rang you sprinted home from school, saddle shoes smacking the sidewalk, knee socks sliding down your shins, until you skidded to a stop in front of your black-and-white TV and turned to WJZ Channel 13 to watch Marylands answer to American Bandstand. Chances are you wanted to be on The Buddy Deane Show, whose stars were ordinary teens turned local celebrities. You received demerits for almost anything: Chewing gum. Deaners seem to come out of the woodwork, drawn by the memory of their stardom. He went steady with committee member Bobbie Lanham, a heartthrob to legions, and got lots of telegrams inviting him and Bobbie to lead dances. Vicki Defeo: Some of the people who were popular way back that Im friends with now, back then I wouldve been like, wow! TheCommitteeToHonorBuddyDeane@gmail.com. I dont think Ill ever get over missing it, if you want to know the truth., Many of the Committee members spouses faced an even bigger adjustment. When I get depressed, I dont go to the psychiatrist, I go to the jeweler, she says. But it went something like this: Buddy Deane was an exclusively white show. They were the Mouseketeers! [citation needed]. Vicki Defeo: Ive tried to think this through, because it sounds ridiculous, but [integration] was a non-issue to us. They were both Committee members back then. So the rules were bent a little; the big ones, the ones with the fan mail, were allowed to stay. Over lunch at the Thunderball Lounge, in East Baltimore, Kathy remembers, I could never get used to signing autographs. To this day, Im reluctant to tell some of my black friends I was on Buddy Deane because they look at it as a terrible time.. Come share the songs & dances of the Buddy Deane Show with us! Baltimore Sun. So the NAACP targeted the show for protests. . (One female committee member supposedly teased and sprayed her hair so much it caught fire one night as she slept. I even won the twist contest with Mary Lou Raines (one of the queens of The Buddy Deane Show) at the Valley Country Club. I'll send you Larry's info. In the beginning, there was Arlene. . On the show you were either a drape or a square, explains Sharon. Not show biz, Arlene answers, hesitating, but the record biz, the people. The core group of teenagers who appeared on the show every day were known as the "Committee." Marie Fischer was the first Joe to become a Committee memberchosen simply because she was such a good dancer. 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. About a dozen of the old Buddy Deane gang showed up to watch a delightful, energetic production of the John Waters inspiration. Yet Joe was a dropout when he went on the show and then, once famous, went back to finish. It was a target maybe of people who didnt even watch the show. I had to wear stockings and cha-cha heels. Get off that furniture!? When you dance you'll squeeze her, yes, with all your might. Every day Id come to the studio in knee-highs, and Id have to take them off. Acts that appeared on the show first were reportedly barred from appearing on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, but if they had been on Bandstand first they could still be on The Buddy Deane Show. I was nervous because I was celebrating a great moment in their youth, but I was bringing up something theyve swept under the rug, because they were kids. But boy do we love the times, the memories that we have from the past. I never got the chance to meet him and would love to hear stories or see pictures of him. I can still remember them calling us in one by one, former Committee member Carl Parks said. . I was honored, touched by it all.. Looking forward to seeing as many of us old dancers that are still cutting the rug.Corky. Like many couples, Joe and Joan met through the show and became an item for their fans. It was really blown up big. Buddy Deane Committee - Facebook Marie Shapiro: Youd dance with one of the Committee members. John Waters: Theyre my idols in a way. Deane also presented British artist Helen Shapiro, who sang her Baltimore hit, "Tell Me What He Said," at about the time that she was touring England with The Beatles as one of her support acts. To be selected you had to bring a character reference letter from your pastor, priest, or rabbi, qualify in a dance audition, and show in an interview (the Spotlight) that you had personality. At first the Committee had a revolving membership with no one serving longer than three months. Buddy noticed my eyes staring and said, Do the same eyes. And the camera got it. Kathy went even further. Sure, as a teenager I was a guest on the show. On the show: Gene joined in February 1958; Linda was on from September 1958 to February 1961. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Buddy Deane Committee: 2009 - Blogger Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. I think Im honoring their great stardom. You learned how to be a teenager from the show. The 25th anniversary of the movie Hairspray provides an opportunity for members of the dance group of Baltimores The Buddy Deane Show to get back together and reminisce about the TV show that the movie is based upon. Faced with pressure to integrate the show, something the station (and some Committee members parents) refused to allow, WJZ canceled Buddy Deane in 1964. [1], Deane's dance party television show debuted in 1957 and was, for a time, the most popular local show in the United States. Even as a guest, your friends and relatives saw you basking in your temporary fame. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Linda Snyder (then Warehime): Buddy was the star . Wayne Hahn: If you were late, you couldnt get in the door. The Committee is back in session - The Washington Post Bringing back the old rhythms - Baltimore Sun The whole day on the show was devoted to me.. Its like anything you see today. Linda Snyder: We were on the show Monday through Saturday, six days a week. September 17,2011 Parkville American Legion Hall Putty Hill Rd & Old Harford Rd 8PM til' Midnite $25.00 per ticket Sometimes youd wrap your hair at night. There wasnt a person against it. 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. * Indicates person was on the show until the last episode. It aired for two and a half hours a day, six days a week. This undated photo shows dancers on "The Buddy Deane Show." But he was, and busted me courtesy of that close-up shot, seconds before my fragile teen-age ego was shattered by Pixie, or whatever her name was. . Now a receptionist living near Towson with her husband and two grown children, Arlene remains fiercely loyal, organizing the reunions and keeping notebooks filled with the updated addresses, married names, and phone numbers of my kids. She met Winston J. As one report stated, the Deane show "Teeded [ sic] off last Monday and bowed an impressive array of guests, including Kitty Kallen, June Valli, Terri Stevens, Lou Monte, The Chordettes . The Buddy Deane Show (the name was changed) created what sociologist Craig Calhoun . "The Nicest Kids In Town" -former dancers from the Buddy Deane Show (1957- 1964). You could throw her down on the ground, and her hair would crack, recalls Gene. . Tom Wheeler Now: She worked in finance and retired as an executive administrative assistant. Mary Lou Barber: My hairstyle was the biggest. Not one of the Committee members, the ones chosen to be on the show every daythe Baltimore version of the Mouseketeers, the nicest kids in town, as they were billed. Until the day she passed away [in 2007], we were still friends. Everybody wanted to kick a Buddy Deaners a, says Gene, recalling thugs waiting to jump Deaners outside the studio. Teenagers who appeared on the show every day were known as "The Committee". The punitive consequences weren't significant; I think he threw an ashtray at me. . Many came away from the movie Hairspray thinking that Buddy Deane, and not WJZ's management, was responsible keeping black teen-agers off the show. She smelled like a garden of flowers and could crack her chewing gum discreetly. And a couple of us have yearly dances, and we all get together. The show was the highest-rated local program in the country. 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. If you [broke any rules], you got the points taken off. Buddy Deane and his kids flashed into our living rooms nearly 40 years ago. He was to have been the host of the first Buddy Deane Fan Fair and Dance in September at the Fairgrounds in Timonium, an event that is still scheduled. God forbid, in school, if you didnt smile, you were conceited. After you sprayed it, youd get toilet paper and blot it. She became so popular that she was written up in the nationwide Sixteen Magazine. Please contact me. . Friends now joke that Baltimore was the cha-cha capital of the world. What happened to the teen stars of The Buddy Deane Show after the program that made them famous went off the air? Teenagers who appeared on the show every day were known as "The Committee". . . . We faked a feud. > The Buddy Deane Show, 1957-1964, WAAM/WJZ. The Buddy Deane Show - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia I didnt mean to, because I never would have messed up the makeup.. We don't have any cast added to this TV Show. It was a real kick! Her fame even brought an offer to join the circus. At first I was so shy I hid behind the Coke machines., But Evanne used to come right home and head for the TV. Such was life in Baltimore. We just dont know what to do with the show.. Buddy Deane - IMDb Because there were starting to be some demonstrations outside of the studio. Corky,My name was Judy Kerr and I was on the committee in1958/59. One of the first ponytail princesses was Peanuts (Sharon Goldman, debuting at 14 in 58, Forest Park, Chicken Hop), who went on the show because Deaners were folk heroes. She remembers Paul Anka singing Put Your Head on My Shoulder to her on camera as she did just that. . Every day after school kids would run home, tune in, and dance with the bedpost or refrigerator door as they watched. Mary Lou Barber: Ive only been able to watch [Hairspray] a couple of times because so much of it hits home. I was with this guy named Jeff. This undated photo shows dancers on "The Buddy Deane Show." The popular television Baltimore dance show aired from 1957 until 1964. . Youre going to put it on TV? What ever happened to them and do you have recent pictures? After saying goodbye to the Committee members . I couldnt go to a mall without somebody going Oh my God, its Mary Lou! . I was just accidentally obsessed with something that was appealing to more people. ), Concetta, for one, says her connection with the show as a committee member is enduring. She attended Goucher College and then went to law school at the University of Maryland; shes currently a practicing attorney in Baltimore. You have to ease into it. We answered everything back then, except people like Mary Lou, who got bags of fan mail. Art Space: The Drawing Zoo Combines the Joys of Art and Nature, How to Build an Art Collection, According to Local Experts, First-Ever Waverly Book Festival Set for This Weekend, Baltimore Photo Space Makes Room for Art Photography in Remington, Movie Review: Are You There God? . Last spring, five hundred people quickly snapped up the $23 tickets to the third Buddy Deane Reunion, held at the Eastwind, in Essex, to raise money for the Baltimore Burn Center. Apr 14, 1997 at 3:00 am. Check out the latest from the Deaners and get the full behind the scenes story of Buddy Deane and Hairspray here. . Culture shock - Baltimore Sun And although few will now admit to having been drapes, the styles at first were DAs (slicked back into the shape of a ducks tail), Detroits, and Waterfalls (flowing down the front) for the guys and ponytails and DAs for the girls, who wore full skirts with crinolins and three or four pairs of bobby socks. . Then and now: Remember Bruce Hutchinson? The final episode aired on Jan. 4, 1964. My dad use to pick myself and Eva Anne up from Gwynns Falls Junior High and her Mom would then pick us up after the show. The Buddy Deane Show went on the air on Sept. 9, 1957 and became the most popular local show in the United States. 'Buddy Deaners' Reunite, Reminisce at CCBC Essex Buddy wanted it to end happily, but WJZ angered Deaners when it tried to blame the ratings. Some committee guys bought their shoes at Manchester's on Howard Street, pointy-toed footwear that sported various buckles, flaps and other avant-garde touches. We all watched that and the Mickey Mouse Club. [At my audition], I was not quite 14. For the past 17 years, theve owned a travel agency, Francesca & Company Travel. Evanne Robinson was voted the prettiest girl by an entire army base. "Where you been, boy?" Many years later they married. (The Washington Post), Almost 20 of the original stars of The Buddy Deane Show show off their signature dance, The Madison. (Jessica Goldstein/The Washington Post). Here is the new video celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Buddy Deane Show and the former Catonsville Community College (now CCBC). And many of them are not comfortable talking about it, and Hairspray made them, in a way. It's so nice that we all have great friendships to remember & it's so great to sta y in touch. Buddy Deane. Every week she had a different dothe Double Bubble, the Artichoke, the Airlifteach topped off by her special trademark, suggested by her mother, the bow. Chubby Checker. We usually hang out at: http://www.facebook.com/buddydeanecommittee And we became very close to Arlene. I think my father would definitely have not been agreeable to [integration] at that time. Mary Lou Barber: Arlene would throw a spotlight on you, and theyd throw questions at you: What do you like about yourself, what do you like about the show? Ladies and Gentleman . Eating the refreshments (Ameches Powerhouses, the premiere teenage hangouts forerunner of the Big Mac), which were for guests only. For the rest of the time, the show's participants were all white. Former Committee members still meet for reunions. At her appearances at the record hops, kids would actually scream when youd get out of the car: Theres Mary Lou! I wanted to dance., We had a saying: The show either makes you or breaks you,' says Kathy. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. But my mother and father wont let me come down if you do that. In early December, Buddy Deane met with station officials and they said, Weve decided to cancel the program. And Buddy said, So it has to do with integration? And the station said, Thats correct. Because Buddy Deanes competition was soap operas, the budding teenage romances were sometimes played up for the camera. It was hilarious., Some of the rumors were fanned on purpose. Hairspray movie was inspired by this show and was based off of the the events but unlike the movies, instead of the show being integrated, it was cancelled. It reminds me of the way people think now of gay marriage, how so many people are shocked about it and they dont agree with it. Mary Lou was the last of the Buddy Deane superstars, true hair-hopper royalty, the ultimate Committee member. Im still a fana Deaner groupie. Now, no one would ever do a commercial for a profit company without getting some compensation.