A Different Look At The "Bandstand" Days In New Book
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A soon to be published book takes a look at the American Bandstand craze through the eyes of those who lived it.
Fifty plus years ago, kids from coast to coast dreamed of taking the floor at 46th and Market as one of the TV show's regular dancers. But Sharon Sultan Cutler, one of the co-authors of Bandstand Diaries, says deep down, those regulars didn't get all caught up in their celebrity then, or now.
"They had thousands of fan letters a month, stuff like that," Sultan Cutler told KYW Newsradio. "And they all ended up very, very normal. There were a few that were very wistful about their past and wished that they were popular again."
More than 40 people, many of them regular dancers on the program, were interviewed for the book that took three years to write. One of the co-authors is Arlene Sullivan, one of those regulars and one of the most popular dancers during its run on ABC before the network took it west to Los Angeles.
Longtime host Dick Clark passed away before the project started, but there's a whole chapter dedicated to his career and the role his predecessor, Bob Horn, played in Bandstand's pre-network days in Philadelphia.
Bandstand Diaries is due to come out this summer. You can get more information on the book, and even pre-order a copy, by going to BandstandDiaries.com.