‘twenty flight rock’ from the film ‘The Girl can’t Help It’, December 1956 ‘cotton picker’ from the film ‘Untamed Youth’, March 1957 ‘c’mon everybody’ on ?, 1959 ‘somethin’ else’ on ‘Dick C;arke’s Beechnut Show’, October 1959 ‘just a sittin’ in the balcony’ on ‘Dick Clarke’s Beechnut Show’, October 1959
Music/Dance/Reads
50s performances of Bill Haley and his Comets
‘crazy, man, crazy’ & ‘straightjacket’ & ‘shake, rattle and roll’ from film short ‘Roundup of Rhythm’, 1954 ‘rock around the clock’ over the opening credits of the film ‘Blackboard Jungle’, March 1955 ‘rock around the clock’ on the ‘Milton Berle Show’, Spring 1955 ‘rock around the clock’ on the ‘Ed Sullivan Show’, mid 1955 ‘rock […]
50s performances of Little Richard
‘tutti frutti’, unknown provenance, 1956-57 ‘long tall Sally’ & ‘tutti frutti’ from the film ‘Don’t Knock the Rock’, December 1956 ‘the girl can’t help it’ from the film ‘The Girl can’t Help It’, December 1956 ‘ready, Teddy’ from the film ‘The Girl can’t Help It’, December 1956 ‘she’s got it’ from the film ‘The Girl […]
Fun YouTube clips of rock’n’roll songs
The dearth of surviving video material of 1950s rock’n’roll artists, even for well-known stars, means that almost none of the less well-known singers were ever captured performing before a camera. However, the energy and inventiveness of fans in the new media age means that there are some excellent videos out there on YouTube despite having […]
50s performances of Gene Vincent
‘be-bop-a-lula’ from the film ‘The Girl can’t Help It’, 1956 ‘dance to the bop’ on Dick Clark’s ‘American Bandstand’, 1957 ‘dance to the bop’, unknown provenance with crazy editing, 1957-58 ‘dance in the street’ & ‘baby blue’ from the film ‘Hot Rod Gang’, 1958 ‘dance to the bop’ from the film ‘Hot Rod Gang’, 1958 ‘be-bop-a-lula’ […]
50s performances of Johnny Burnette, Conway Twitty, Ronnie Hawkins and Jack Scott
Burnette’s ‘hound dog’ from the ‘Ted Mack Amateur Hour’, September 1956 Burnette’s ‘lonesome train’ from the film ‘Rock, Rock, Rock!’, 1956 There are two videos on YouTube which purport to show Johnny Burnette performing ‘the train kept a rollin” but are edited with other film with excerpts from the two above clips. Burnette’s ‘you’re sixteen’, 1960 […]