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‘Idol’ not an American original
(by Ed Flynn - March 19, 2008)
I don’t watch “American Idol,” but I couldn’t help but notice in the news that there’s a minor controversy concerning one of the current contestants on that popular television program. It seems that David Hernandez, who sang “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” failed to mention his previous three year career as a professional male stripper on his resume. However, he apparently has enough talent even with his clothes on because he’s now one of the 12 finalists in the three-month ritual which will produce the next “Idol.”
“American Idol,” incidentally, isn’t even an American show. Like a number of our TV programs today – “The Office” is another one – it’s an offshoot of a British production. Over there it was known as “Pop Idol.”
But, of course, if you want to go back to the beginning of so-called talent shows you’ll have to go back a lot further than that, all the way back to the days of the Great Depression when just about every small town movie theater across America, including those in Bergen County, held their own “Amateur Shows.”
In those days before television, going to the movies was just about the only way for people to escape the reality of life and for a quarter – children got in for a dime – the family could spend an entire evening in a place like Pop’s Palace in Bergenfield watching the newsreel, a cartoon and a double feature. As an added attraction, particularly on weekday nights, the local theater would frequently feature some special event to attract customers.
One of the more popular was “Dish Night.” That was generally on Wednesdays and it was the night on which mom would get another free dish to add to the set she’d been collecting, one of the cups or saucers or plates that would later become a collectable known as “Depression Glass.”
Then there was “Community Sing” night when an organist – most local theaters had organs back then – would play popular songs and the audience would sing along in unison – “Daisy, daisy, give me your promise true…” or “Happy days are here again…” – while a bouncing ball highlighted the words as they were projected onto the screen. It’s hard to believe now that there was a time when Americans enjoyed such simple pleasures.
And, there were the “Amateur Nights.” People you knew, friends and neighbors who had enough nerve, would get up on the stage and perform; singing or tap dancing, playing a violin or even some strange instrument like a musical saw. At the end, the contestants would line up on the stage and the theater manager would go down the line, holding his hand over the head of each one, and the winner was determined by the amount of audience applause. The prize was a free pass to the theater.
In
New York City vaudeville theaters the competition was more serious and an off-stage judge would actually reach out from behind the curtain with a hook on a long stick and literally pull a particularly bad contestant from the stage while the audience howled its approval. It was an abrupt way of cutting short someone’s fifteen minutes of fame and led to the show business term “getting the hook.”
A refinement of the hook was brought to radio in the 1930s. That was when Edward Bowes, manager of the Capitol Theatre in
New York , launched “The Major Bowes Amateur Hour” locally on WHN. Since this was radio and you couldn’t see someone being pulled off the stage by a hook, Bowes substituted a large brass gong.
The “Amateur Hour” eventually made it to early television with Ted Mack as the host and it spawned a string of imitators including Chuck Barris’ “Gong Show,” Arthur Godfrey’s “Talent Scouts,” and “Star Search,” which was presided over by Ed McMahon in the days before he became Johnny Carson’s sidekick.
But to return to “American Idol. ” In the course of its six year history the show has launched a few successful careers. Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson come to mind. However, it has a long ways to go if it is to equal the record of its predecessors. To drop a few names; Pat Boone, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, and Tony Bennett were among the contestants on Arthur Godfrey’s “Talent Scouts” and Robert Merrill, Beverly Sills, Dorothy Collins, Gladys Knight and the “Hoboken Four” all appeared on the Major Bowes “Amateur Hour.”
The “
Hoboken Four?” OK, so maybe you never heard of them. They broke up shortly after winning the competition in 1935 but you might have heard of one of the members who went on to do pretty well on his own. His name was Frank Sinatra.
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