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Kinks and Klem Kadiddlehopper?

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 4, 2013

The Dorsey Brothers, Tommy and Jimmy saw the rock'n'roll handwriting on the wall back in 1956. The big banders invited Elvis Presley onto their television show. It was Elvis's first TV appearance and it created a sensation.

Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen and the other "straight" TV show hosts also brought rockers to television in the early days. Later "kids" got their own rock showcases, like "Hullaballoo", "Shindig," "Don Kirschner's Rock Concert" and others.

Still, the comedy/variety shows of that era, like "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" were happy to showcase the up and comers, from The Mamas and the Papas to The Byrds to The Doors. Some were just lip-synched extravaganzas, but on other shows the groups played live.

If you've been paying attention to the video reissues of these shows you may have thought they've all been exhumed from the archives and released but wait! Theres' more!

Reelin' in the Years Productions has recently licensed the music footage from "The Red Skelton Hour", which aired on CBS from 1962-1971. The show was the first, and for a very long time, the only CBS show to be broadcast in color.

The performances have not been seen since they originally aired. The production company has begun cataloging the performances and making clips available for documentaries but eventually (hopefully) there will be DVDs (can't see the need for Blu-ray) on this.

As you'll see and hear in these YouTube clips, the footage goes from black and white mono to color stereo but some, if not much or all of it, unfortunately, sounds lip-synched (the first one with Manfred Mann sounds live).

Most every major UK act, other than the Beatles, appeared on the program. In addition to The Rolling Stones (before their first Ed Sullivan appearance), other artists include The Kinks, The Animals, The Hollies, Manfred Mann, The Searchers, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, Dusty Springfield, Peter & Gordon, The Honeycombs, Chad & Jeremy, and Freddie & The Dreamers.

One interesting thing: the clip of The Rolling Stones singing "It's All Over Now" is in real stereo. Back then, the LP version was electronically reproduced for stereo, so either they were playing live on that one (doesn't sound like it, or the sound was more recently dubbed in from the later, stereo mixes. Hmmmmm.

Still, the images are fantastic!

By the way, for you youngsters, Clem Kiddlehopper was one of Red Skelton's Komedy Karacters

COMMENTS
Jim Tavegia's picture
Submitted by Jim Tavegia on Thu, 2013-04-04 15:23

Hardly ever missed Red Skelton or Jackie Gleason. Just good clean fun and you knew they were having a blast just performing the skits.  Every time I hear the theme song for the Honeymooners it gives me a great feeling for those old days, kind of like when if you grew up in  "train town" and you hear the whistle of a locomotive in the distance late at night.  I still do in our town.  Unforgetable stuff. 

Billf's picture
Submitted by Billf on Thu, 2013-04-04 19:36

Checking the listings every week for groups on TV, Red was in my second tier, along with Hollywood Palace. The hottest acts would always be on Ed Sullivan, Shindig or Hullaballoo. Red usually got them either before they broke out or after they had peaked. Never cared for his humor much, but the groups he got were always worth sitting through the corny stuff for. Whoever booked his show knew his or her music.

firedog55's picture
Submitted by firedog55 on Fri, 2013-04-05 01:40

In A Gadda Da Vida-

 

Could it be the most overrated song of all time? 

And the album version, what was it 19 minutes long and 100% repetitive after about the first 30 seconds? 

The rest of stuff looks great, though.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Fri, 2013-04-05 08:58

In cases where the performance was lip synched to the record, if better sound sources are now available, they get inserted into the clips and that's what happened with "It's All Over Now" and others in the series. That makes sense to me...

my new username's picture
Submitted by my new username on Tue, 2013-04-09 19:46

Even where legit stereo recordings existed for insertion originally, I can't see how any of the shows' master tapes would have been 2-ch. audio until what -- the '80s?

Consider: There were a few VTRs made in the '70s capable of 2-ch audio but these were portables. The big, studio machines such as Ampex' Quadruplex line didn't regularly feature stereo sound until the late '70s. (The AVR-2 was 1979.)

Paul Boudreau's picture
Submitted by Paul Boudreau on Sat, 2013-04-06 18:58

...back then had performers doing live vocals to pre-recorded backing tracks (karaoke to their own tunes, sort of). 

kozy814's picture
Submitted by kozy814 on Thu, 2013-04-11 06:16

I did a search on the Kinks on Skelton's show.  I don't think this actually is the Skelton appearance, but it's pretty cool, because it shows Annette Funicello in her prime doing the intro and grooving...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9cG2o91A6o

 

The manniquin chicks are kind of odd.  I half expected them to start go-go-ing during the solo or something...

CloverReal's picture
Submitted by CloverReal on Sat, 2013-07-13 22:52

I am really having a hrd time lookingfor the tracks of these musicians, I will give this to my granny as a present for her birthday. - Wesley Upchurch

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